4 Curse of the Zombie Baloney

CURSE OF THE ZOMBLE BALONEY

Sophie and Webster came over. Stink was sitting on the floor with Toady in his lap. He fed his toad two freeze-dried mealworms. "I brought face paint," said Sophie. "So we can practice zombie makeup." "I brought bloodshot eyeballs," said Webster. "They're really for bike spokes but we can glue them onto stuff." "And I have tofu, erasers, and Silly Putty," Stink told them. "Stuff that looks like brains. And glow- in-the-dark gummy worms for maggots crawling all over us." Sophie shivered. Webster decided to dress like a zombie soccer player. Sophie was going to be a zombie Girl Scout. Stink could not decide on a costume.

"It has to be scary. And creepy." He opened his lunch box. He took a bite of leftover baloney sandwich and ketchup. Toady croaked. Stink's elbow knocked over the puppet that was sitting on his desk chair. The puppet had great big glarey eyes, creepy red lips, and scary eyebrows. And it was wearing a tuxedo. Sophie picked up the puppet. "You could dress up like this doll. He's creepy." "Charlie's not a doll. He's a dummy. A ventriloquist dummy." "A whosie whatsit dummy?" asked Webster.

"Ven-tril-o-quist. You know, like a guy with a puppet who can throw his voice. See, I make Charlie talk without moving my lips." "Let's see!" said Webster. Stink sat Charlie on his knee. "I may be a dummy," said Charlie, "but I'm not dumb." His head snapped back and forth. His mouth clacked open and shut. "And I'm not afraid of zombies." Sophie cracked up. "I saw your lips move," Webster said, pointing at Stink. "Hey, let's zombify Charlie!" said Stink. Stink dropped his baloney sandwich. Plop! Out fell the baloney. Toady hopped out of his lap. Stink took out scissors and cut Charlie's tux to shreds. Sophie painted Charlie's face green, with black circles under his eyes and drips of red blood. Webster stuck a big gob of chewed-up ABC gum on Charlie's head for brains.

Stink held up Charlie. "Me. Zombie." "He's a little scary," said Sophie. "Toady's scared, too. Look at him go!" Toady hopped across the rug, heading straight for the baloney.

"Spooky!" said Webster, shaking off a chill. "Charlie's like the dummy in that freaky old movie. The one where he hides in the kid's closet?" "Yipes. I think I have auto-ma-ton-o-phobia," said Stink. "What's that?" asked Sophie and Webster. "Fear of dummies. No lie." All of a sudden, Stink heard a creepy sound. The heater hissed. A clock ticked. The pipes moaned. The light buzzed. Pop! Stink saw a flash, and the light on his desk lamp burned out. The room went dark. "Aagh!" Stink tossed Charlie up in the air and jumped up to flick on the overhead light. "Look! Charlie! Zombie!" said Webster in a shaky voice, huddling in the corner. Sophie gasped. Charlie was sitting on Stink's race-car bed, head backward, one black and bloody eye open. Webster leaned in closer. "Did he just say something?" "Did who just say something?" Stink asked. "Charlie."