4 Open-Shark Surgery

CHAPTER 4 OPEN-SHARK SURGERY CUT OPEN A SHARK? No Way! You've got to hand it to Jill. She really loves animals. Even sharks. I mean, I like animals, and I think sharks are really cool, but there's NO WAY I'd ever get in a tank and operate on them, not even if they're too sick to move.

GULP! shark inspection opening Help. me And judging by the way Terry is trembling, he's not too keen on the idea, either. "Well," I say, "I guess we'll leave you to it. Good luck!"

"Where do you think you're going?" says Jill. "To the kitchen," I say. "I'm kind of in the middle of telling the readers a story." Kitchen. "Yeah," says Terry. "I'd better go as well—Andy will need me to draw the pictures."

"Oh no, you don't," says Jill. "Both of you are staying right here—I need you to help me with the operation." "But what about the readers?" I say. "Don't worry," says Jill. "I'll deal with them." "Excuse me, readers! Unfortunately, we've got a bit of an emergency here and I'm just going to have to

borrow Andy and Terry for a moment. Is that okay? Great! Thanks for understanding. And do feel free to watch! Just try not to sneeze—we don't want any more germs getting into these poor sharks." She turns back to us. "I've explained the situation to the readers and they're fine with it, so get your diving suits on and let's get started." We shrug, put on our diving suits, and follow Jill into the tank. Stupid tight wefsuit.

I don't know if you've ever been in a tank full of man- eating sharks before but, believe me, it's pretty scary. The sharks look even bigger down here than they do from up there. My, what big teeth, you have, grandma. "What if the sharks wake up and get hungry while we're doing the surgery?" I say. "They won't," says Jill. "Trust me. But just to be sure, I'll give them each a dose of Dr. Numbskull's Sleepy Shark Sleeping Potion."