10 SCHLOOOOOOORP!

Chapter 10 SCHLOOOOOOORP! Andrew reached into his pocket and pulled out the bottle of Bug-Goo. He took the top off the bottle, leaned out of the helicopter window, and squeezed. Glug, glug, glug! Gloppy green drops of Bug-Goo dripped down onto the red switch. "Better fly higher!" yelled Andrew. Down below, rivers of insects began streaming into Judy's yard. Cicadas and ants and termites and beetles! A cloud of flying bugs swirled around the Atom Sucker! Fleas and flies! Lightning bugs and ladybugs! Mosquitoes and moths and mantises!

Soon bugs were piled a foot high on the red switch! And still more piled on! Andrew smiled as he watched. "The weight of all of those bugs should push the switch down to the UN-SHRINK setting!" he said. Suddenly the Atom Sucker stopped jostling and jolting. It was completely still.

Then, under the blanket of bugs, it looked like the tubes were beginning to twirl slowly in the opposite direction. They picked up speed! They zinged around so fast, the bugs got thrown off! The big iron pipe in the front wagged just as it did when they got shrunk! "I think it's ready to un-shrink us," said Andrew. "Let's fly to the front of the big pipe." Judy rolled her eyes. "I think it's ready to shrink us even more," she said. "We should just wait for Uncle Al to come get us." Before Andrew could say anything, a big bug foot slammed into the helicopter's windshield. "Hold on!" screamed Judy. "We're going to crash!" The helicopter tumbled through the bug-filled air. SCHLOOOOOOORP! Suddenly Andrew felt as though he were being tickled by monkeys and squashed into a suitcase.

There's something awful happening in my pants! thought Andrew. His legs felt prickly and tickly—and so did everything else! Andrew opened his eyes. Bugs were crawling all over him! Ants and cicadas were marching up his seat belt. A praying mantis was perched on his knee. They were all normal bug size! And Andrew was back to normal boy size! Andrew smiled such a big smile, it felt as though his lips stretched all the way around his head. "This sounds stupid," said Judy. She was shaking bugs off of her jacket and scooping bugs out of her socks. "But it's great to be big enough to have bugs crawling on me!" "Yoop! Yoop! Yoop!" said Thudd from Andrew's shirt pocket. Through the bug-covered windshield of the helicopter, they saw they were in front of the Atom Sucker. The Atom Sucker and the helicopter were just where they were before they got shrunk.

Judy turned off the helicopter engine. She and Andrew unbuckled their seat belts and stepped out into Judy's yard. The Atom Sucker was quiet. "Wowzers!" said Andrew. "Someone must have switched off the Atom Sucker!" "Christopher Columbus on a buttered bagel!" came a familiar voice. Uncle Al was making a path through the bugs. "I am so happy to see you guys!" said Uncle Al, wrapping his arms around them. "And don't worry about the Atom Sucker. I unplugged it!" Woof! Harley bounded over to Judy. She gave him a big hug and kissed him on his wet black nose. Mrs. Scuttle was right behind Harley. "Oh, Professor Dubble!" said Mrs. Scuttle. She was blushing. Beetles were hanging from her hair. Termites were creeping out of her dress. Cicadas were crawling over her sandals and up her legs.

"My party is a total disaster. But it's worth it to have a visit from such a famous person! I saw you on television! You were explaining how dolphins started out as cow-like creatures millions of years ago! Who could believe it?" "Ah, Mrs. Scuttle," said Uncle Al, "Andrew and Judy have even more amazing things to tell. But right now they look very hungry. Pizza, anyone?" "Yes!" said Andrew and Judy together. meep… "Look for water bear?" said Thudd. "Thudd!" said Uncle Al. "You found a water bear?" "Yoop!" said Thudd. "Amazing!" said Uncle Al. "It's getting dark now, but we'll come back tomorrow, if that's all right with you, Mrs. Scuttle." "Oh, please do, Professor Dubble!" said Mrs. Scuttle. She blushed even more. A firefly flew out of her ear. Uncle Al led the way out of Judy's backyard. "By the way, guys," he said, "I've been working on this new gizmo, the Water Bug. It's for deep