1 Toilet Bowling

Chapter 1 TOILET BOWLING When you wake up in the morning, thought Andrew, you never think about getting flushed down the toilet! At 12:01 that afternoon, Andrew had accidentally shrunk himself, his older cousin Judy, and his robot pal, Thudd. They were smaller than the point of a pin! Now they were huddled inside one of Andrew's inventions, the round, rubbery Umbubble. The Umbubble was whirling round and round a toilet bowl. Judy's neighbor Mrs. Scuttle had just

flushed it—along with a pile of poop from her dog, Harley. "Cheese Louise!" said Judy. "It's like we're at the top of a water tornado!" meep… The sound came from the little silver robot that Andrew held tight in his hand. It was Thudd. "Why do elephants got trunks?" Thudd asked. "Cuz they don't got pockets to put stuff in! Hee hee!" Andrew looked at Judy. He was worried. Thudd had gotten wet in the bathtub. Now he was telling silly jokes. The Umbubble picked up speed as it was pulled to the middle of the twisting water. Down, down, down they rushed! The light above them faded away meep… "'Fraid of dark!" said Thudd. GLOOOGGHH! The toilet roared. Judy leaned very close to Andrew. "If this thing springs a leak," she said, "I'm using your head to

plug it!" The Umbubble slammed to a stop. "Yerggh!" said Andrew. "Oof!" said Judy. "Eek!" said Thudd. "We're stuck on something," said Andrew. The roar of the water outside got softer and then stopped. "I think all the water flushed," said Andrew.

Suddenly a light blinked in the darkness. It was the big purple button in the middle of Thudd's chest! Snap! The purple button popped open. A beam of light shot out. At the end of the beam floated a clear purple hologram of Andrew and Judy's Uncle Al. "You're back!" said Andrew. "Hey there!" said Uncle Al, smiling. Andrew and Judy had talked to Uncle Al earlier that day. They were hoping he could help them somehow. But Andrew could tell his uncle was worried. His bushy eyebrows were scrunched together.

"It's 5:15," Uncle Al said. "My plane is over Canada. I'm trying to get to you before 8:01, before the Atom Sucker—er—blows up. Where are you guys now?" "We got flushed down the toilet," explained Judy. "Now we're stuck somewhere in the drainpipe." "Good golly, Miss Molly!" said Uncle Al. meep… "What is biggest ant on Earth?" Thudd interrupted. "Eleph-ant! Hee hee!" "Uh-oh," said Uncle Al. "Thudd is telling elephant jokes. That means his thought chips are dangerously soggy! You've got to get him dry.

And he needs to be rubbed with butter so he doesn't get rusty." Judy frowned. "I know you can't see us when you're a hologram, Uncle Al. But we've got a big shortage of dryness and butter down here in the toilet!" Uncle Al nodded, "What you need is a kitchen," he said. "The pipes that leave the toilet and the tubs and the sinks all connect to one big drainpipe." meep… "Look!" said Thudd. His face screen lit up with a picture of the plumbing in Mrs. Scuttle's house.