9 A Bright Idea

Chapter 9 A BRIGHT IDEA "What's that?" asked Andrew. meep… "Big, big lizard," said Thudd. "Called Perentie lizard. Eight feet long. Only bigger lizard is Komodo dragon." "Uh-oh," said Andrew. "It's sneaking up on the dunnart." "That brave little guy kept me from getting eaten by a spider," said Judy. "I wish we could save it." "Hmmmm…," mused Andrew. "Bright lights in your eyes can blind you for a few seconds,

especially when your eyes are used to the dark." Andrew pulled the flashlight off his forehead. As he swept the beam over the ground toward the lizard, light fell on the dunnart and its scorpion prey. The dunnart looked up for a second—just enough time for the scorpion to escape and scuttle away. Andrew's beam found the lizard's eye. The lizard stopped in its tracks. Then it turned and lumbered off in the direction it had come from. The dunnart was still. It was staring at Andrew and Judy. It crouched. Eek! squeaked Thudd. "Dunnart lose scorpion prey! Drewd and Oody gonna be dunnart prey!" "Quick!" said Andrew. "Our only chance is to climb up the witchetty bush. Maybe the dunnart won't be able to follow." They scurried up into the branches. The dunnart was scrambling up behind them. In the distance, Andrew could see Uluru glowing golden in the moonlight. The wind

whooshed. Tumbleweeds bumped each other as they rolled toward the faraway rock. "Wowzers schnauzers!" said Andrew. "I know how we can use the wind! We'll get a tumbleweed to take us to Uluru!" "But the tumbleweeds aren't close enough for us to grab on to," said Judy. Andrew tugged his ear. "Hmmm…," he murmured. He turned up the tip of his shirt collar and unzipped a secret pocket underneath. He pulled out something that looked like a short piece of rubber band with a black rubber cup at each end. It was the Drastic Elastic. It could stretch just about forever, but if Andrew gave it a big jerk, it would snap back instantly. "I've got the Drastic Elastic," he said. "And I've got an idea. Come on, Judy." Andrew attached one of the Drastic Elastic suction cups to his flashlight. He crept along to the edge of a witchetty bush twig. He wrapped the Drastic Elastic around himself and around Judy,

then he tossed the flashlight at a tumbleweed rolling by. The flashlight hooked the tumbleweed like a big fish! Andrew jerked the Drastic Elastic. In an instant, Andrew and Judy zoomed through the air! They landed on the prickly tumbleweed. "Yeeeouch!" hollered Andrew. "Yiiiiiikes!" hollered Judy. They pulled themselves off the prickles of the tumbleweed and hung on. The bush rolled along like a beach ball. "UUUURRRRF!" Andrew burped. As the tumbleweed rolled, all around them were spooky night sounds—the howls of the dingoes,

the clatter of the crickets and katydids, the screams of invisible birds. meep… "Purple button blinking!" squeaked Thudd.