1 Gotta Wear Your Wannabee

Chapter 1 GOTTA WEAR YOUR WANNABEE "Ergh!" grunted ant-sized Andrew Dubble. Andrew, wearing a furry black-and-yellow-striped jumpsuit, was on a ledge outside a kitchen window. His arms were covered by black metal tubes, jointed at the elbows. He was struggling to get his legs into pants made from the same tubes. "You're not supposed to be outside, Bug- Brain," came a voice from the window sill behind

him. "And what's with that stupid outfit?" It was Andrew's thirteen-year-old cousin, Judy. Judy was ant-sized, too. "I'm dragging you back inside," she said as she climbed through a hole in the screen and onto the ledge. Andrew stood up stiffly in his metal pants. "I figured that since we're bug-sized, we need some bug advantages," he said. "So I made us these suits. They're called Wannabees." Judy rolled her eyes. "Bug advantages!" she said. "I don't want anything that bugs have! I just want what humans have—like being human size!" A few weeks ago, Andrew was working on his latest invention, the Goa, short for Garbage Goes Away. The Goa was supposed to squash garbage down to the size of specks. Andrew did shrink some apple cores and stinky cheese, but he also accidentally shrank himself and Judy down to bug size. "Uncle Al is working on getting us big again," said Andrew. "But we're so small that we need

protection right now. We're so soft, we could get crushed or eaten if something big comes along. Bugs are little, too, and they've got lots of ways to protect themselves." meep… "Hit Drewd!" came a squeaky voice from a pocket in Andrew's Wannabee. It was Andrew's little silver robot and pocket- sized best friend, Thudd. "That's the best idea I've heard since we got shrunk," said Judy. She made a fist and punched Andrew hard in the chest. "Ooof!" she said, rubbing her hand. "It's like you've got a hard shell!" "Super-duper pooper-scooper!" said Andrew. "Our skeletons are on the inside. But all insects and spiders have their skeletons on the outside, like this." meep… "Called exoskeleton," said Thudd. "Exo mean 'outside.'" Andrew nodded. "If you fall from a high place when you're wearing the Wannabee, you won't

get hurt. If something tries to bite you, you'll be hard to chew." He pulled the hood of the Wannabee over his head. Andrew clomped over to a peanut shell on the window sill. He reached in and pulled out a Wannabee like the one he was wearing. He held it out to Judy. "This one's for you," he said. "Try it on. I think it's your size." "You've got to be kidding!" said Judy. "It looks so uncomfortable. Besides, every one of your stupid inventions has gotten us in trouble. If we just stay in the house, we won't need this junk." Andrew shook his head. "We can't just hang around the house," he said. "We've got to help Uncle Al save the frogs." Uncle Al had rescued Andrew and Judy from jungles and deserts—and even from inside himself! He had also invented Thudd. Now he was trying to figure out why frogs were disappearing all over the world.

Judy rolled her eyes. "Ever since Uncle Al told us about the disappearing frogs, that's all you think about," she said. "Some frogs have even gone extinct," said Andrew. "Uncle Al and the frogs need our help. There's a frog pond just beyond this yard. We've got to go there and see what we can find out." "Right," said Judy. "At our size, it will take us a year to get to that pond." "No it won't," said Andrew. Andrew reached into a pocket and pulled out a tiny black remote control. He pressed some of its buttons. Suddenly a dead leaf at the end of the window ledge fluttered. It lifted. Beneath it was an odd flying machine. At the top was a pair of large, buggy-looking wings that had been wired together. Beneath the wings were two little seats, and under them, three wheels. "Cheese Louise!" said Judy. "What is that?" Andrew smiled and cocked his head. "It's the GNAT," he said. "GNAT is short for Global

Navigation and Transportation. "I made it from a pair of dragonfly wings I found in the garden and stuff in Uncle Al's workshop." "Global!" said Judy. "That stupid-looking thing wouldn't get you from here to the kitchen sink." "You wanna bet?" said Andrew. "I'll bet you the last crumb of Uncle Al's super-delicious fudge. I've got it in my pocket." "Hmmmm…," Judy pondered. "I'm so hungry. Okay." Andrew pressed more buttons on the remote. Whrrrrrrrrrrr… The GNAT's wings fluttered slowly at first, then faster, then so fast that they seemed to disappear. Whirring softly, the GNAT lifted a couple of inches off the window sill and set itself down in front of Andrew. Andrew packed Judy's Wannabee gear in a box beneath the GNAT's seats. "You'll want your Wannabee later," he said.