4 What a Horrible Baby!

Chapter 4 WHAT A HORRIBLE BABY! In front of the creature was a gigantic bug with pinching claws. It was a battle of fangs and claws as they slashed and struck at each other. "Holy moly!" Andrew panted. His heart was beating like a bongo drum. "It looks like a horror movie!" He swam against the ripples as fast as he could toward the lily pad. meep… "Diving beetle larva attack adult diving beetle," said Thudd.

"Aaaaack!" screamed Judy. "What a huge, horrible baby!" meep… "Larva baby bigger than adult beetle!" said Thudd. "Adult beetle hungry and fierce, fierce, fierce!" said Thudd. "Larva baby hungry, too. And super fierce! Also called water tiger." Judy reached the lily pad first. She climbed up onto the smooth green leaf and held a hand out to Andrew. Andrew climbed up and sat down next to Judy. "Ugh!" said Judy, dragging her hair back from her face. "I used to think of ponds as peaceful places. I'll never think of them that way again." They watched as the beetle and the larva battled on. The larva dragged the beetle underwater. Then the beetle reared up and clamped a claw on the larva's head. The larva's tail slapped the water. With the larva's head in its jaws, the beetle dove underwater. Then it came up again—at least its

rear end did. It spread its wings and folded them as it dove back down. meep… "Diving beetle collecting air under wings," said Thudd. "Like air tank for scuba diver. Can stay underwater lotsa minutes. Maybe hours." Suddenly Thudd's purple button began to blink. It popped open and a purple beam zoomed out. At the end of the beam appeared a see-through hologram of Uncle Al.

"Hey, guys!" said Uncle Al. "What's with the purple-button emergency? You're supposed to be safe at home." When Uncle Al visited Andrew and Judy by Hologram Helper, he could hear them but he couldn't see them. "Hi there, Uncle Al!" said Andrew. "Hiya, Unkie!" said Thudd. "You won't believe the trouble we're in!" said Judy. Uncle Al's fuzzy eyebrows met in the middle of his forehead. "What's going on?" he asked with a frown. "Um, we're at the pond near the cabin," said Andrew. "You're at the pond!" said Uncle Al. "I told you not to leave the cabin! The pond is an awfully dangerous place for bug-sized kids!" "We wanted to help you find out why the frogs are disappearing," said Andrew.

"Good golly, Miss Molly!" said Uncle Al. "That's a very brave thing to do, but you should leave that to me. "I want you to go back to the cabin right now!" "That'll be hard to do," said Andrew. "The flying machine I invented, the GNAT, got us here. But it sank." Uncle Al shook his head. "SpongeBob SquarePants on a sugar cookie!" he said. "I'll get there as soon as I can, but it will take a while. The roads are bad here. I had to take a horse trail to this mountain lake." Andrew nodded. "We'll just hang out on this lily pad till you come get us," he said. RHUUMMMMM… RHUUMMMMM… RHUUMMMMM… Uncle Al cocked his head. "I hear frogs," he said. "They're bullfrogs, I think." "Yoop! Yoop! Yoop!" said Thudd. Uncle Al's eyes grew dark. "Bullfrogs have enormous appetites for, um, insects," he said. "And you guys are the size of—"

Suddenly a huge brownish green lump lunged through the air and plopped down on the lily pad. The lily pad sank, water splashed, and Andrew's stomach flip-flopped as he bounced into the air.