11 This Trip Stinks!

Chapter 11 THIS TRIP STINKS! "Mrs. Scuttle's got a broom!" Judy screamed. The broom smacked the Umbubble, smashed through the web, and hit the bathroom wall. Whaaap! The Umbubble whizzed through the air like a tiny baseball. Then, in a few seconds, the Umbubble began to slow down. It drifted gently through the air. "Whew!" said Judy. "At first it was like being in a speeding car. Now it's like a hot-air balloon ride!" They were getting close to the edge of the shower curtain.

Andrew leaned forward. "What are those spots on the shower curtain?" he asked. "They look like little black islands." "It's just dirt," said Judy. meep… "Fungus," said Thudd. Little currents of air dragged the Um-bubble closer to the shower curtain. The black spots began to look like something else. "It looks like a forest of black trees," said Judy. meep… "Fungus not plant," said Thudd. "Fungus special kind of living thing. Watch out! Stay way from fungus!"

"Oh, come on," said Judy. "A mushroom is a fungus. There's nothing dangerous about a fungus." meep… "Fungus roots turn Drewd and Oody into juice and suck them up," said Thudd. "That how fungus eat!" "Super yucky!" said Andrew. The Umbubble touched the thin black branches at the top of the fungus. "Cheese Louise!" said Judy. "I am not going to get turned into people juice by a stupid fungus!" Judy shoved her legs through the Umbubble and gave her biggest soccer kick. The Umbubble bobbled away from the fungus. "Whew!" sighed Judy. "Now that we're small, it seems like everything is alive—even specks on shower curtains." They were drifting over the edge of the tub and past the shower curtain. "Super duper pooper-scooper!" said Andrew. "We're away from the bathtub! And there's the window over the toilet! It's open! Now we just

have to get into Harley's ear and find the helicopter." Mrs. Scuttle was on her feet again, standing by the sink. She had Harley by the collar and was wiping his ears with a washcloth. Judy looked toward the window. "Wait a minute!" she said. "Maybe we don't need the helicopter! If we could find a way to steer the Umbubble… Hmmm. Uncle Al said to look at things in unusual ways. And he said we have everything we need in our pockets. Andrew, you've got more pockets than a herd of kangaroos. You check your pockets and I'll check mine." Andrew was still looking through his pockets when Judy pulled a pen out of one of hers. "That's interesting," she said. She opened the pen and pulled out the ink cartridge. She poked the hollow tube of the pen through the wall of the Umbubble. Then she started to blow through it. The Umbubble bobbled forward! She moved the tube down and the Umbubble went up. When

she moved the tube left, the Umbubble went right. "YES!" Andrew cheered. "Now we can steer the Umbubble. We can float ourselves back to the Atom Sucker!" "Yup," Judy said, smiling. "I think this will work." As Judy blew, they floated slowly away from the tub. They watched Mrs. Scuttle pull a pink towel from a shelf piled high with towels. The whole pile tumbled to the floor! "This is the worst day of my life!" moaned Mrs. Scuttle.

Harley ran over to the laundry basket near the bathroom door and started to shake himself dry. A hurricane of water drops flew up into the air! meep… "Get hit by water drop, Um-bubble crash!" said Thudd. "Like when Drewd get sunk before." "I'm trying to get us away," said Judy, puffing hard into the tube. "Stop that!" Mrs. Scuttle yelled at Harley. She shook out the towel and threw it over him. "HARLEY!" screamed Mrs. Scuttle. "Don't you dare! NOOO!" A gusty breeze from the tossed towel caught the Umbubble and sent it tumbling toward the ground. "Eek! Errrgghh! Ooof." cried Thudd and Andrew and Judy as the Umbubble crashed on the hard white tile of the bathroom floor. "I feel like a tossed salad," Judy said. She sniffed the air. "Peuuuw! What's that smell?"