8 Stink Moody, O.S.H

Stink moody O.S.H

At school the next day, it poured rain. Class 2D had indoor recess. Stink went up to his teacher's desk. "Mrs. D.," said Stink, "can I borrow a dollar?" "Did you forget your lunch money, Stink?" asked Mrs. D. "No. I'm not going to keep it. I'm going to make you a money tree. I'll give it right back. I promise." "Money tree," said Mrs. D. "I like the sound of that." She took out a dollar bill and handed it to Stink. "Thanks!" said Stink. Stink folded an origami dollar-bill tree. That's when he found a spider hiding on Mrs. D.'s dollar bill. Stink showed his friends. He pointed to the corner of the dollar bill. "That's not a spider, it's an owl," said Webster, squinting. "Or an elf," said Sophie of the Elves. "Nah-uh. That's a spiderweb. Owls do not live in spiderwebs. Neither do elves." Stink could not wait to show his teacher. "Mrs. D, guess what I found on your dollar bill. A

spider." His teacher took out a magnifying glass and peered at the thing behind the number one on the dollar bill. "That does look a little like a spider," said Mrs. D. "I can't believe I've never noticed it before." "Me either," said Stink. "Are spiders a new interest, Stink? No more solar system? Shakespeare? Slime?" "Brand new. A few days ago, I had arachnophobia. But I'm over it."

"Arachnids are interesting," said Mrs. D. "They've been around for more than five hundred million years." Stink shivered. But it was not the fearful shiver of an arachnophobe. It was the shiver of excitement that came with learning a new scientific fact. For the rest of the school day, Stink could not stop thinking about Lula. Had anybody seen his sign? Did somebody come to get the lost spider? What if he never saw Lula again? Down came the rain and washed the spider out. Stink splashed his way home from the bus and barged inside the front door. "Is Lula still here? Did anybody—" "She's still here," said Mom. "You're dripping! Boots, Stink." Stink yanked off his boots and his slicker. "So nobody came? She doesn't belong to anybody?" "Stink, remember what we talked about," said Mom. "But it's raining out. Can't we give my sign some more time? Lula's helping me to get over my arachnophobia."

"Our bathroom has serious spider cooties now," said Judy. "This morning I found a tarantula hair in my toothbrush. No lie." Stink's eyes got wide. "Uh-huh," said Judy. "That means Lula got out and was wandering around in there— all over the bathroom." Gulp! "I think the rest of us are starting to catch arachnophobia," said Mom. "Put your boots back on, Stink. Dad said he'll take you to the pet shop."

When Stink got to Fur & Fangs, he looked for Mrs. Birdwistle. She was the owner of the world's best pet store and expert rescuer of one hundred and one guinea pigs. Mrs. Birdwistle would know just-exactly-forsure what to do about Lula. Stink found her feeding the Chinese water dragon in the reptile section. "Stink! My favorite guinea-pig rescuer!" said Mrs. Birdwistle. "What brings you to Fur &