2 More Fun than Earwax

More Fun than Earwax

Stink took an up-close-and-personal tour of the giant nose. He got attacked by giant nose hairs, peered down a big ugly bumpy throat, and skipped through the Hall of Mucus. He even learned how boogers are made— not pretty! "Having fun?" Mrs. D. asked him. "Are you kidding? This is more fun than earwax!" Stink told Mrs. D. "And educational, too," he added. Grown-ups loved the e word. They liked to think you were learning stuff no matter what. Mrs. D. smiled. "Stink, you seem to be interested in the sense of smell. Maybe you'd like to try the Everybody Stinks exhibit? Nobody else seems to want to go near it." Mrs. D. pinched her nose and shook her head.

"How smelly can it be?" Stink said bravely. Mrs. D. pointed to the far end of the exhibit. Stink strolled over and read the instructions. "Match the body odor with the body parts they come from," Stink read aloud. Before Stink knew it, the whole class had gathered around. Webster announced to the class, "Hey, everybody! Stink's going to smell B.O.!" Stink wasn't so sure he wanted to smell B.O. But he hated to let Webster and everybody down. So Stink mustered up all his courage, leaned over, put his nose right up to the bottle, and squeezed. He took one sniff, then scrunched up his face, clutched his chest, and crumpled to the floor. "Uhh!" everybody gasped, taking in what sounded like one big breath.

"Ha, ha, ha! Gotcha!" Stink cried, jumping back up. "What did it smell like?" Sophie asked.

"Feet!" said Stink. "It's not that bad. Just smells like dirty socks when your feet sweat and you take your shoes off." "Sounds bad to me," said Webster. Stink squeezed the next bottle. "Uck. This one smells like onion. Maybe garlic. Phew! Bad breath," Stink said, waving his hand in front of his face. "P.U. This one smells like my soccer shirt! Armpit alert!" "It's B.O.!" somebody shouted. "He did it! He really smelled B.O.! And he didn't even faint!" After Stink smelled all the body-part smells, he moved to the next station. Rotten eggs! Dirt! Perfume! Moth balls! Skunk! Rotten cabbage! Dog breath! Old fish! Dead broccoli?

Stink sniffed and snuffled his way through a dozen yucky, rotten smells. He made a few faces, but he guessed every single smell right. "P.U.! How do you do that? You didn't miss one!" said Webster. "I just follow my nose," said Stink, sticking his expert sniffer in the air. "You always were nosy," said Sophie of the Elves, laughing. "Some people have an excellent sense of smell," Mrs. D. explained. "I smell something, too," said Sophie. "Hamburgers!"