7 A Distant Relative

chapter 7 A DISTANT RELATIVE Sploooosh! Mrs. Scuttle's hand plunged into the suds in front of the Umbubble. "Now, where is that plug?" they heard her mumble. GLOORP! "Maybe Mrs. Scuttle will get the plug back in," said Andrew nervously. Judy looked around the tub. Sponge Island was beside them. It was moving toward the drain, too. "Paddle us to the sponge, Andrew!" she said. "What about the ant?" Andrew asked. "Either we get ourselves onto that sponge or we go down the drain!" Judy said. "Here, I'll help."

She pushed her legs through the Um-bubble and started kicking. But the current held the Umbubble like a train on a track. They couldn't get to the sponge! The drain was getting closer and closer. Ahwooooo! Water splashed and soap bubbles popped as Harley bounded out of the tub. The Umbubble bounced and spun in the rough water. "You come back here, mister!" screamed Mrs. Scuttle. She rushed after Harley—and left the drain open! Out of the corner of his eye, Andrew caught a glimpse of something big coming up behind the sponge. It looked like a smooth white iceberg! "Holy moly!" said Andrew. "Look at that!" meep… "Bar of soap!" said Thudd. "It's as big as the Titanic!" said Judy. The soap bashed into the sponge. The sponge smashed into the Umbubble! Thump!

"Oof!" hollered Andrew and Judy as they slammed back against the wall of the Umbubble. The next thing they knew, Andrew and Judy were looking into the yawning mouth of a huge, spooky cave. The Umbubble was stuck to the bottom of the sponge! Almost all the water had drained out of the bathtub, but the sponge was still sliding slowly toward the front.

Suddenly Thudd's purple button started blinking. The button popped open. Out came the purple beam. Outside the Umbubble, at the edge of the sponge cave, a purple, transparent Uncle Al was waving at them. "Unkie!" said Thudd. "Uncle Al, is it really you?" Andrew asked. "It had better be," said Judy. Uncle Al laughed. "That sounds like Judy. And is that Thudd and Andrew, too?" Andrew and Judy looked at each other, confused. "It's us, Uncle Al," said Andrew. "Can't you see us?" "Oh! I guess I should explain!" said Uncle Al. "I can hear you but I can't see you. Not with this model of the Hologram Helper. I'm still working on it. Are you okay? What's the purple-button emergency?" "Well," said Andrew. "The first thing is, we're really small—"

"Of course you're small!" said Uncle Al. "You're only ten years old! You'll grow! I don't think that's a purple-button emergency Andrew." Judy rolled her eyes. "Uncle Al, we're smaller than flyspecks! We've been up a dog's nose! We got dragged off by a flea! We've been attacked by eyelash mites! Now we're inside this rubbery Umbubble thing and stuck under a sponge that's sliding toward the drain in Mrs. Scuttle's bathtub!" Uncle Al's eyebrows went up. "Ah! Well, that's a different story!" Judy went on. "We've got to get back to the Atom Sucker. That's the gizmo Andrew invented that shrunk us. It's in my backyard." "And we've got to get back by 8:01 tonight," Andrew added. "What happens at 8:01?" asked Uncle Al. "The Atom Sucker might kind of… blow up," said Andrew. "And we'll be stuck like this forever!" said Judy.

"Humpty Dumpty on a Ritz cracker!" exclaimed Uncle Al. "This is a purple-button emergency." Suddenly the left half of Uncle Al disappeared. "I hope this doesn't mean you're leaving, Uncle Al," said Judy. "What do you mean?" asked Uncle Al. "Half of you isn't there!" said Judy. Uncle Al's voice sounded far away. "There must be a problem with Thudd's antennas. I may not be able to stay long." The right half of Uncle Al started to fade. "Come back!" said Andrew. "I've got to tell you about Thudd!" But Uncle Al turned as clear as a raindrop and disappeared completely.