8 So N-ear, Yet So Far

Chapter 8 SO N-EAR, YET SO FAR The blob plopped onto a bumpy purple place dotted with spiky pollen. meep… "Land on daisy petal," said Thudd. "Ah-choooooof!" sneezed Judy. "Bless oo!" said Thudd. Andrew tugged himself off the blob and walked to the edge of the petal. From there he could see most of Mrs. Scuttle's garden. There were lots of people now. Mrs. Scuttle was serving food from a tray. She was talking to a tall man with knobby knees and bushy eyebrows. "Oh! Mr. Ditzworth!" she said. "I hope Boot-a- Pest got rid of those nasty bats in your bathroom!"

Mr. Ditzworth shook his head. "Tsk, tsk," said Mrs. Scuttle. "Don't worry. We'll be back to boot your bats again!" She pushed her tray toward him. "Have another teensy cheesy sandwich. These have caviar." Mr. Ditzworth's eyebrows rose. He picked up a sandwich and nodded. Jeremy Snarfless reached up to the tray. He grabbed a sandwich and sniffed it. "What's caviar?" he asked. "Fish eggs!" said Mrs. Scuttle coldly. "YUCK!" hollered Jeremy. He pitched the sandwich into the garden. It landed a few feet away from the daisy. Harley came running over. He snuffled among the leaves, found the sandwich, and gobbled it down. One of his long ears flopped against a lily. He raised his rear leg and scratched his ear. "Look!" said Judy. "If we can get him to come over here and scratch his other ear, maybe he'll shake the helicopter out."

"Harley!" yelled Mrs. Scuttle. "Get out of there! Now!" She rushed toward Harley. Suddenly she wobbled on her high-heeled sandals. The sandwich tray flew out of her hands! The sandwiches flew into the air. One of them landed beneath the daisy. "This could be good!" said Judy. Harley wagged his tail and bounced into the leaves, searching for sandwiches. The tray hit the fence and clanked to the ground.

BZZZZZZZZ Angry buzzing filled their ears. Yellow-and- black-striped insects were flying low above their flower. meep… "Yellow jackets!" said Thudd. "Yellow jackets got nest underground. Mrs. Scuttle hit nest with tray. Make yellow jackets angry. Yellow jackets attack!" Yellow jackets zoomed toward the garden party. "Duck!" yelled a woman. "I don't see a duck," said another. "Yellow jackets!" Mrs. Scuttle's guests waved their arms and bumped into each other as they scurried away from the yellow jackets. meep… "Rumble, rumble underground!" said Thudd. "Are you hearing worms again?" asked Judy. "Noop! Noop! Noop!" said Thudd. "Cicadas comin' out soon, soon, soon, soon! Millions!" "And here comes Harley!" said Judy.

In an instant, Harley's big black nose was sniffing the top of their daisy. Judy pushed Andrew down onto the petal. "Stay low!" she said. "I love Harley, but I am not going swimming in dog snot again!" Harley's nose moved away from the daisy and headed down to the sandwich. "How do we get Harley to scratch his ear?" asked Andrew. "Hmmmm…," murmured Judy. "I have an idea. Give me the Drastic Elastic." Andrew unzipped the secret pocket under his collar and pulled out the Drastic Elastic. Judy grabbed it. It was incredibly stretchy and had a little cup at each end. Judy went to the center of the daisy which looked like a big pincushion. She tied one end of the Drastic Elastic around one of the tall, pin-like parts. She pointed to a thick lily stem on the other side of Harley's head. "I'm going to throw the other end of the Drastic Elastic around that stem," she said. "When Harley

raises his head, the Drastic Elastic will pull our daisy onto his ear. Let's hope he'll want to scratch it!" Judy squinted at the thick stem. "It's time for my best curveball pitch," she said. Judy swung her arm. Her tongue touched the top of her lip, as it did when she pitched in Little League. She threw the end of the Drastic Elastic way over Harley's head toward the stem. It stretched and s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d—and caught! The end spun around the stem. Now the Drastic Elastic stretched above Harley's head.