8 Bad Stuff at the Bottom

Chapter 8 BAD STUFF AT THE BOTTOM Just then, a big fish darted toward the little fish at the edge of the shell and bit it. A cloud of tiny dark specks puffed out of the shell. The specks rained down on Andrew and Judy and the big fish. The big fish backed off and swam away. Andrew and Judy shook off the specks. They looked like teeny clams with hooks.

meep… "Big shell buried in mud belong to animal called mussel," said Thudd. "Mussel got strange life cycle. Mussel larva got hooks. Hook on to gills of fish. Suck blood from fish for a while. Then drop off. "To get fish to come close, mussel got lure that look like little fish. When real fish come to bite fake fish, mussel shoot larva at fish. Mussel make millions and millions of larva babies." "Wowzers schnauzers!" said Andrew. "That's amazing!" Andrew and Judy kept shuffling through the silky mud and tangled stems. Andrew tripped over a twig. But as he got up, he saw it wasn't a twig. It was a tube made of grains of sand and tiny pebbles. It was moving and something was sticking out of one end of it. meep… "Caddis-fly larva," said Thudd. "Larva make silk. Use silk like glue. Stick stuff together. Make case to hide in." "There are a lot of these cases," said Andrew. "Some of them are empty."

meep… "When caddis-fly larva grow, leave old case," said Thudd. "Make bigger case to move into. "Later, caddis-fly larva turn into flying bug." "Cheese Louise!" said Judy. "A lot of bugs start out not looking like bugs at all! And they spend most of their stupid lives in the water!" "Yoop! Yoop! Yoop!" said Thudd. "But bugs not so stupid. Bugs been living on earth longer than any other animals. More kindsa bugs than any other animals. Many million times more bugs on earth than humans." Suddenly a large, flat, round shape tumbled through the water and landed a few inches away from Andrew and Judy. Then another plopped down closer. "We're getting bombed!" yelled Judy. A dark, oval shape scooted sideways and buried itself in the mucky bottom. "Hmmmm…," said Andrew. "This reminds me of something…."

Judy kicked Andrew's leg. "Move it!" she said. "Before we get smooshed." "I've got it!" said Andrew. "People are skipping stones up there! If we get back to the surface fast, we can find them!" "Noooo!" said Judy, bounding toward the big rock. "We've gotta wait till the stones stop falling. We could get crushed." She arrived at the rock and quickly scooped muck from under it. Then she squeezed herself into the hiding place. Andrew wiggled in beside her. "Stop shoving me," said Judy. "I'm not shoving you," said Andrew. "Yes you are," said Judy. "No I'm not," said Andrew. "You're shoving me." Andrew reached over to touch what was nudging him. He felt something cold and hard and sharp. A shiver ran down his spine.