5 Bye-Bye, Umbubble!

Chapter 5 BYE-BYE UMBUBBLE! Bzzzzzz! Big black flies zoomed through the open door. Mrs. Scuttle hurried over and slammed it shut. Slamming the door sent a little gust of wind through the kitchen. It caught the Umbubble and sent it spinning toward the kitchen counter. "Hang on!" said Judy. "We're going to crash into Veggie Mountain!" Andrew grabbed Thudd and shoved him into his shirt pocket. He saw a wall of red and smelled a familiar, spicy smell. Then the Umbubble crashed.

Thorns pierced the wall of the Umbubble everywhere! "Yikes!" hollered Andrew. "The Umbubble is shredding!" The Umbubble collapsed around them like a party balloon. They were caught on a tomato stem. It was as thorny as a monster cactus! Then Andrew saw something move. A pair of long, hairy antennas twitched at the bottom of the tomato. "Holy moly!" said Andrew. "The cock-roach!" Judy snapped off two prickles from the tomato stem and gave one to Andrew. "If it comes this way, use this!" she said. "Um, thanks," said Andrew. "But this thing is about as scary as a speck of dust!" "Do you have a better idea, Mr. Smarty-Pants?" asked Judy.

The cockroach played its antennas over a strawberry that was next to the tomato. meep… "Strawberry only fruit that have seed on outside!" said Thudd.

Judy rolled her eyes. "That might be interesting, Thudd," she said, "if we weren't about to be devoured by an enormous insect!" The cockroach started to climb up the tomato. Andrew, Judy, and Thudd stared down at two walls of cockroach eyes. The cockroach's jaws snapped like giant, jagged scissor blades in front of them. Andrew and Judy waved their tomato prickles. The cockroach didn't seem impressed. meep… "Cockroach not like light," said Thudd. "Get flashlight, Drewd!" But before Andrew could grab it, there was a flash of yellow. THWAAAP! The cockroach was gone! Andrew looked up to see Mrs. Scuttle waving a banana and searching the sink. meep… "Cockroach too fast for human," said Thudd. "Got antennas in rear end that tell when stuff move."

"Like having eyes in back of your head," said Andrew. "Like having eyes in your behind!" said Judy. Mrs. Scuttle was muttering again. "First, my dog gets in the garbage. Then there's ants in my bathtub and spiders on my ceiling. Now there's a cockroach in my sink! I can't take it anymore. I've got to calm down." Mrs. Scuttle put down the banana and took a sip of tea. "I know!" she said. "I'll make myself a teensy-weensy grilled cheese and tomato sandwich! Yes!" "No!" said Andrew and Judy together. "We've got to get off of this tomato!" said Judy. She started to climb through the thorny spikes of the tomato stem. Andrew followed. But it was like climbing down a cactus.

"She'll be comin' round the mountain when she comes," sang Mrs. Scuttle. She slipped a slice of bread onto a blue plate. Then she slapped a slice of orange cheese on top of the bread. Her giant fingers grabbed Andrew and Judy's tomato. Andrew's shorts got caught on the tomato