9 A Patch of Blue

Chapter 9 A PATCH OF BLUE Oh no! Andrew thought. He grabbed Thudd and started to run toward the edge of the butter. But it was far away, and the butter was slippery. Mrs. Scuttle opened the door of the toaster oven, put in a slice of bread, closed the door, and flipped a switch. Then she stomped back to the refrigerator. The next second, Andrew and Thudd were zooming out of the refrigerator into the warm air of the kitchen. It was as if the butter dish were a flying saucer!

They landed on the kitchen counter, right next to the plate where Mrs. Scuttle had made her tomato-and-cheese sandwich. Ding! Mrs. Scuttle took the hot toast out of the toaster oven and put it on the plate. Then Andrew saw a silver flash. It was the knife again! The blade slammed into the stick of butter and peeled the butter away in a huge wave of yellow. It curled toward Andrew and Thudd, picked them up, and swept them away!

They lifted off into the air and then swooped down. Andrew could see they were headed for the huge brown field of toast below! The butter landed, and Andrew began to feel warm—toasty warm. meep… "Warm, warm, warm!" squeaked Thudd. "Getting dry!" Andrew smiled. "Super-duper pooper scooper!" The butter was melting. Andrew was getting as buttery as Thudd! The knife started smooshing the butter around the bread like a snowplow. Andrew and Thudd ended up on the very edge of the bread crust. Andrew looked down over the bread crust to the plate below. He saw lots of breadcrumbs and some sparkling, cube-shaped boulders. meep… "Salt!" said Thudd. "Salt come from salt cave. Salt cave happen when old ocean dry up!" Then Thudd got excited. meep… "Look!" he squeaked. "Blue!"

Andrew squinted in the direction Thudd was pointing. There was a speck of blue behind one of the salt boulders. Above the blue was a bit of frizzy brown! "Judy!" said Andrew. "Oody!" said Thudd. Judy didn't look up. She was too far away to hear their tiny voices. "Hmm," murmured Andrew. "I have an idea." He threw the end of the Drastic Elastic toward Judy. It zoomed past her and bounced off a salt crystal. Judy spun around to see what had happened. Then she looked up. But she didn't see them. Andrew snapped the Drastic Elastic back. He whirled it over his head like a lasso and threw it again. This time the little cup on the end got caught on a salt crystal next to Judy. Judy ran over to the cup. She picked it up and looked it over. Then she put it up to her mouth. Andrew put the other end up to his ear.

"WELL, HELLO, MR. BUG-BRAIN!" Judy yelled. She yelled so loudly that Andrew's ear hurt! "Wait till I get my hands on you! Where have you been!" "We've been chilling in the refrigerator," said Andrew. "But the good news is that Thudd got buttered. And the toast is so warm it's getting him dry! What happened to you? We were afraid you got microwaved on Mrs. Scuttle's sandwich!" "Almost!" said Judy. "But I got knocked off a slice of tomato by a grain of salt!" Suddenly the toast started rising into the air. Mrs. Scuttle was about to take a bite! Andrew felt a tug on the Drastic Elastic. Judy was trying to pull them off the crust and down to the plate. But the Drastic Elastic was caught on the crust!

Judy got dragged off the plate as Mrs. Scuttle raised the toast to her lips. Andrew yanked the Drastic Elastic free from the crust and gave it a sharp snap. Judy bounced up and landed beside him! "Oh, great!" said Judy. She let go of her end of the Drastic Elastic and climbed over a buttery crumb. "Now we're both going to be slurped up by rubbery Scuttle lips!"