8 Slime City

chapter 8 SLIME CITY "Great!" said Judy. "Now what do we do?" All the water was out of the tub. But the sponge was still shoving the Umbubble slowly through a slush of dirty gray soap scum and dog hair. Outside the tub, Harley was howling. "You get your tail over here!" Mrs. Scuttle hollered. "I'm not finished with you yet!" Suddenly the Umbubble came to a jolting stop. "The sponge must have hit the front of the tub," said Judy.

"Uh-oh," said Andrew. They were hanging over an enormous dark hole. It looked as if it went down forever. "We're hanging over the drain!" he said.

Thudd crept down to Andrew's knee to get a look. Sticking to the sides of the drain were all the things that get washed away in bathtubs— eyelashes and nose hairs and nose goo and pieces of toenails and skin flakes and old scabs and all kinds of dirt. And all of that was covered with a thick coat of oozy slime. "Euuw!" said Judy. She yanked her legs inside the Umbubble. "Slime gravy!" said Andrew. He yanked his legs in, too. "Everything is grosser when it's slimy!" meep… "Slime alive!" said Thudd. "Look at—" Just then Thudd's purple button started blinking again. It snapped open and beamed out the Uncle Al hologram. This time, Uncle Al was inside the drain! Judy chuckled. "Uncle Al, do you know you're up to your belt buckle in slime?"

"Good golly, Miss Molly!" said Uncle Al. "I wish I could see it! Slime is amazing stuff! It's made by bacteria, which some people call germs. Bacteria cover themselves with slime blankets to protect themselves from stuff that can hurt them! Bacteria build whole cities out of slime! They even send messages to each other through slime! Thudd, show Andrew and Judy a slime city." meep… "Look!" said Thudd. "That's interesting, Uncle Al," said Judy. "But we have more important things to worry about right now." "Oops!" said Uncle Al. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get carried away! Andrew, you were

about to tell me something when we were cut off last time. I think I know what it is. Did Thudd get wet?" "How did you know?" said Andrew. Uncle Al nodded. "That's why we were disconnected," he said. "The soapy water removed the protective coating from Thudd's antennas. Has Thudd been snoozing?" "Yes," said Andrew. Uncle Al scratched his chin. "What about jokes? Is Thudd telling jokes?" he asked. "Uh-huh," Andrew said. "I'm awfully worried about him." "It sounds like Thudd's thought chips are soggy," said Uncle Al. "Thudd hasn't told any elephant jokes, has he?" "No," said Andrew. "Good," said Uncle Al. "Telling elephant jokes would be much more serious." Uncle Al looked thoughtful. "This is important," he said. "You must keep Thudd from

getting wet again. And you need to stop him from rusting. Rubbing him with something greasy would do the trick. Something like—butter!" Judy spoke up. "Uncle Al, how in the world are we supposed to get butter? We're the size of pinpoints and we're stuck to the bottom of a sponge!" "An unusual problem," said Uncle Al, nodding. "But solving unusual problems is what we Dubbles do best!" "Could you come help us?" asked Andrew. "I'm leaving right now," said Uncle Al. "But I'm all the way up at the Arctic Circle," he added. Uncle Al was starting to fade away. "Wait!" yelled Judy. "I'm sorry!" called Uncle Al. "I can't hear you! But remember this: When you've got an unusual problem, look at everything in an unusual way! You have everything you need… in your… heads… and… in… your… pockets.…" Uncle Al disappeared. And in his place was—