Chapter 9

Chapter 9 Phinneas Daniels had already had two warnings today. The first was after he dropped a water balloon on his mother's shoes (an accident). The second was after he dropped one on his little sister's head (not an accident). If

his water balloons made contact with one more person, they would be taken away. That was his mother's promise. So Phinn had decided to fill up every last one of his balloons with water. That way, when he drenched his dad with all the balloons he had left, there wouldn't be any to take away. Phinn understood he was a genius. Eighteen of Phinn's nineteen balloons were filled and sitting in his red wagon. He was about to fill the

last one when a million or so squirrels stormed the playground. Most of the playground players had jumped onto benches. A few climbed the fence. Phinn leaped up onto the water fountain. He did not know that he had landed on the fountain's push button. Nor did he know that he was causing water to trickle out. At first, he was distracted by the three tough-looking squirrels below him. After that, he was too busy watching a real live Super Hero fight. Then Spider-Man and Squirrel Girl came flying through the air and landed next to Phinn. He was so surprised that he did not realize Spider-Man was talking to him. "What?" Phinn asked. "I said, wasting water is kind of rude, dude," Spider-Man repeated.

"Slow the flow, save H2O." He pointed at the water coming from the fountain. "Oh, sorry," said Phinn. He shifted his weight off the button. "Chitta chit!" barked one of the red squirrels below. "It's okay, Buddy," Squirrel Girl replied. "We'll rinse you off when the battle's done." Phinn looked at the squirrel, who was covered in wet, sandy glop.

"Hey, Spidey. Wasting water also gets Buddy muddy," Phinn said. He hoped the Super Hero would appreciate his rhyme. Maybe give him a thumbs-up. What he got was way better. "That's it!" Squirrel Girl said. "The water! Kid, you're a genius!" Phinn beamed. He didn't know what Squirrel Girl was talking about, but it was nice that someone appreciated his smarts. "Can we borrow your balloons?" Spider-Man asked. Phinn nodded. The Super Heroes took the red wagon into battle. Phinn picked up Buddy the squirrel and rinsed him off. Then he filled up balloon nineteen, just in case.