3 Pipe Down!

Chapter 3 PIPE DOWN! "Yeuuuw!" said Judy. "It's so squishy out there. I haven't done anything this disgusting since I ate a fried cricket in Australia." "Don't think about it," said Andrew. They grabbed on to the hair and began to pull the Umbubble down into the goop. Mushy shapes moved like ghosts in the darkness outside the Umbubble. "Andrew, look!" said Judy, pointing. "It's one of your initials!" A white letter A was floating by outside.

"And there's a B!" she continued. "I guess Mrs. Scuttle likes alphabet soup," said Andrew. Then an enormous green flower the size of a dump truck floated up through the letters. "Bizarre-o!" said Judy. meep… "Broccoli flower!" said Thudd, awake again. Suddenly the beam from the flashlight caught a sparkle of color outside. It flashed red and yellow and blue and white. "Wowzers!" said Andrew. Judy leaned over to see. "It looks like part of a rainbow!" she said.

Thudd pressed the "What's It?" button on his chest, and a thin red ray shot out at the twinkling thing. The "What's It?" ray told Thudd what things were made of. meep… "Diamond!" said Thudd. "Diamond made of stuff inside pencils!" "It sure doesn't look like pencil lead," said Andrew. meep… "Diamond come from deep inside Earth," said Thudd. "Hot, hot, hot! Pencil stuff get squished into diamond!" Andrew looked at Judy. "Maybe Mrs. Scuttle is always grumpy because she lost her diamond ring." Judy shook her head. "Mrs. Scuttle would be grumpy if she had a diamond as big as a barn." They dragged the Umbubble past the diamond. The underwater world was quiet and spooky. There was no way to tell where they were, or if the hair would lead them all the way through the trap.

Andrew squinted. It seemed that the icky blackness all around them was turning into yucky grayness. "Wowzers!" said Andrew. "It's getting lighter!" Judy pushed her face close to the wall of the Umbubble. "I think we're getting close to the top of the trap!" she said. Andrew and Judy pulled the Umbubble along the hair faster. At last the Umbubble popped to the top of the water. "Yay!" cheered Andrew. "Yeep!" squeaked Thudd. "We did it!" said Judy. The Umbubble was covered with slimy, seaweedy gunk from the trap. But there were a few places where they could see out. Andrew pointed at a circle of light above the Umbubble. "It's the kitchen drain!" he said. "Now the problem is to get there," said Judy. "Help me pull the Umbubble a little further up."

Once they were off the water, Judy and Andrew pulled their arms back into the Umbubble. Andrew wiped his slimy hands on his pants. "Super gross!" he said. "We've won the lottery of grossness," said Judy. Judy got out her pen tube again and pushed it through the bottom of the Umbubble. She looked at Andrew. "Okay, Disaster Master," she said, "it's your turn to blow the Umbubble." "Sure," said Andrew. He started to blow. They floated up. Thwunk! The Umbubble had bumped into something. "It's probably the side of the pipe," said Judy. Andrew puffed and puffed, but he couldn't make the Umbubble move. "We're stuck again!" said Judy. Andrew stopped puffing. The Umbubble started moving. But it wasn't floating. It was sort of…

scampering! Judy and Andrew tried to find clear spots on the Umbubble wall to see what was going on. "I see a hairy tree branch," said Judy. "I see a wall of shiny tiles," said Andrew. Suddenly Thudd's antennas started twitching. Thudd used his antennas to hear. He also used them to smell with. Something was making them wiggle!