6 Mad As a Hornet

Mad As a Hornet

The next morning, Stink woke up on the sunny- side-up side of bed. He did not even count his jawbreakers or play with his microbots. Today was the day he got to wear glow-in-the-dark pajamas to school! Double kool-with-a-k! He ran downstairs. He looked under Mouse. He looked in the laundry-pile jumble on the couch. He looked on top of the washing machine. Where were his glow-in-the-dark pajamas? That's when he saw it.

A great big ball of lint. Not just any old mousy gray lint. A super-galactic, neon-bright, glow-in- the-dark ball of not-gray lint. UH-OH! If this was what he thought it was, Stink was going to be mad as a hornet! He ran to find Mom. "Stink, honey," she told him, "I'm sorry to tell you that there was a problem with the new pajamas." Problem pajamas? Pajamas should not have problems. Math tests should have problems. Brainteasers should have problems. Inventors should have problems. "This?" Stink held out the super-galactic planetsize lint ball. "I'm afraid so," said Mom. "One wash and all the glow stuff rubbed off." Just then, Judy rushed into the room. "Look at me! My brand-new Bonjour Bunny shirt. It turned alien green. I look like a lime lollipop!" "You mean my glow-in-the-dark stuff rubbed off on her?"

"Huh?" asked Judy. Mom held up the pajamas. The bacon was just black wavy lines. And the sunny-side-up eggs were sunny-side-down brown mud pies.

"No way can I wear those!" said Stink. "Think of it as scrambled eggs, Stink," said Judy. "I could try sending them back to Grandma Lou," said Mom. "Maybe she can take them back. But you won't have any new pajamas to wear today. Your choice." Pajama Day was going to be a big fat flop. Instead of way-cool glow-in-the-dark PJs, all Stink had to wear was a lousy lint ball. "Send them back," said Stink. "Those bacon and eggs are toast." Mom still made him write a thank-you letter to Grandma Lou, to send back with the pajamas.

While Stink was writing his letter, Judy took the pajamas upstairs. She was up there all during breakfast. When she came back down, she announced, "Stink, I solved your pajama problem!" "Huh?" asked Stink. Judy dragged Stink by the arm into the coat closet and shut the door. Hey! Something glowed! Like a night-light! Like a thousand and one fireflies! "My pajamas!" said Stink. "What did you...? How did you...?"