3 Rumpel-STINK-skin

Rumpel-STINK-skin

"I'm home!" Stink called, bursting through the front door. "How was your field trip?" Mom asked. "You mean my smell trip!" said Stink. He reached into his backpack and handed his mom the flyer for the smelly sneaker contest. "I think it really stinks that Stink got to go to the Stinky Museum and I didn't," said his big sister, Judy. "It was so way fun. And gross. I learned a ton of smelly stuff." "Like what?" Judy asked. "Like everybody has their own smell, except if you're twins. And guess what? We can smell stuff even when we're sleeping, and, oh yeah, a boy moth can smell a girl moth a block away."

"Mr. Nose-It-All," said Judy. Stink stuck his expert sniffer in the air. "Is something burning?" "Ack!" said Mom, rushing to the kitchen and whisking the skillet off the stove top. She waved her hand through the smoke. "I was making toasted cheese sandwiches for you kids."

"And now your cheese sandwiches are toast," said Judy, cracking herself up. "Good thing you smelled something, Stink," said Mom.

"Human Smoke Alarm!" said Judy. "At the museum, kids were calling me The Nose," said Stink, tapping his right nostril. "I found out today that I can smell stuff really, really great, better than anybody in my whole class. Sophie says I smell better than a dog." "I should hope so!" said Mom. Mom and Judy cracked up. "Woof!" said Stink. "And here I thought you just had a nose for trouble," said Mom. "Laugh all you want," said Stink. "But this nose could make me famous." "My elbow's famous," said Judy, holding up the elbow that once starred in a picture in the newspaper. "No, I mean it. When I grow up, I'm going to do something great with this nose." said Stink. "You can't waste a nose like this." He admired himself in the mirror, turning his head from left to right and studying The Nose, his best feature.

"You could be a circus freak!" said Judy. "Like that guy with the seven-and-a-half-inch-long nose!" "No, I mean like a professional smeller." "I thought you wanted to be president of your own candy store." "That was before The Nose," said Stink. "What happened to being an inventor?" asked Mom. "I can still invent stuff. Like an alarm clock that wakes you up with a smell." "There's no such job as a Smeller, is there, Mom?" Judy asked. "I don't really know," said Mom. "Maybe you could work for a perfume company. Or you could test smells for new products."