“Yeah. I think he did!” Regina said through her scornful laughter.
Around the corner from the two girls, Danny and Todd stood listening in shock. Neither of them moved a muscle. Todd’s mouth had dropped open. He could feel his face growing red-hot.
“So today’s the last day?” Beth was saying. “Did you put any worms in his stuff today?”
“Only two,” Regina replied. “Mom gave him a thermos of hot vegetable soup since it’s such a nasty day. I dropped one in the thermos. And I slipped one into his jacket pocket. He’s on his way to school. He probably stuck his hand in and found my little surprise.”
Both girls laughed again.
“And he never guessed it was you the whole time?” Beth asked Regina.
“He guessed,” Regina replied. “But I’m such a good actress. I acted shocked and totally grossed out. Pretty soon, he didn’t know what to think!”
They laughed some more. Then Todd heard them head the other way down the hall.
He turned to find Danny staring at him. “Todd — do you believe it? It was your sister the whole time!”
“I knew it,” Todd lied, trying to sound casual. “I knew it was Regina.”
“Well, what are you going to do?” Danny demanded, still staring hard at Todd.
“Get revenge, of course,” Todd replied quickly.
“Revenge? How?” his friend asked.
“I’m not sure,” Todd told him. “I just know it’s going to take a lot of worms!”
The rain stopped after lunch. The heavy, dark clouds drifted away, and bright sunshine poured down from a clear blue sky.
Todd eagerly watched the weather change through the classroom windows. The sunshine filled him with hope.
This means the worms will be coming up from the ground, he thought happily. Dozens and dozens of worms.
He was desperate to get out and collect them. He was going to need a ton of worms to pay his sister back for her mean joke.
Unfortunately, just before school let out, he and Danny were caught having a glue fight during art class. Ms. Travianti, the art teacher, made them both stay after school and clean up all the paintbrushes.
It was nearly four o’clock when Todd led the way to his favorite worm-collecting spot behind second base of the softball diamond. The playground was deserted. There were no other kids in sight.
Todd and Danny both carried empty cans they had borrowed from the art room. Without saying a word, they bent down and set to work, pulling up long brown and purple worms, and dropping them into the cans.
“How many do we need?” Danny asked, poking in the soft mud till he found a big wet one.
“As many as we can get,” Todd replied. He still hadn’t figured out exactly what he was going to do to Regina. He just knew it was going to be totally awesome. And gross.
“You really should pay back Beth, too,” Danny suggested. He dug a hole with his chubby hand and discovered three big worms tangled together.
“Yeah. You’re right,” Todd agreed. “We’ll save a bunch for Beth.”
Todd stood up and pulled off his jacket. Even though it was late afternoon, the sun still beamed down. He was already sweating.
“Look at this one!” Danny declared. He held up a stubby pink worm.
“It’s just a baby,” Todd said. “Toss it in the can, anyway. I need as many as I can get. Big or little.”
Danny dropped the stubby pink worm in with the others.
Todd pulled up a really long one. He carefully brushed clumps of mud off it before dropping it in the can. “The rain always brings up the really big ones,” he told Danny.
The ground rumbled.
At first Todd didn’t notice.
“Did you feel that?” Danny asked.
“Feel what?”
The ground shook again.
Todd heard a low rumbling sound, like distant thunder.
“Hey!” Danny cried, alarmed. He stopped digging.
“That always happens,” Todd told him. “No big deal. Keep digging.”
Danny dug his hand back into the mud. But he jerked it out quickly when the ground shook again, harder this time. “Hey — why is this happening again?” he cried.
“I told you. It’s nothing,” Todd insisted.
But then a loud roar made them both cry out.
The entire playground seemed to tremble. The roar grew louder, closer.
The ground shook. Then both boys heard a cracking sound.
Todd started to his feet. But the ground shook so hard, he tumbled back down to his knees.
Craaaaaack.
“Oh, no!” Danny cried.
They both saw the dirt pull apart between them. It looked like a dark wound opening up.
Another rumble. The ground quivered and shook. The mud split open. Wider.
Wider.
And something poked up from under the ground.
At first, Todd thought it was a tree trunk.
It was dark brown like a tree trunk. And round like a tree trunk.
But it was moving too fast to be a tree, rising up from the opening in the mud.
And as the ground shook and the rumbling rose to a roar, Todd and Danny both realized that they were gaping in horror at a giant worm.
A worm as thick as a tree trunk.
Up, up it stretched, up from the mud, darting and dipping its enormous head.
Todd uttered a shriek of terror, and turned to run.
But his feet slipped on the wet, quivering mud. He fell forward, landing hard on his knees and elbows.
And before he could pull himself up, the enormous worm swung around him, swung around his waist, circled him, pulled itself tight.
“Ohhh!” he uttered a cry of panic.
A crazy thought burst into Todd’s head: This is the mother worm. She’s come up to protect her babies.
And then another crazy thought: The worms are really getting their revenge this time!
And then he had no more time for crazy thoughts. Or any other kinds of thoughts.
Because the enormous worm was tightening itself around Todd’s waist, choking off his breath, choking him, choking him.
Pulling him. Tugging him down into the mud, down into its cavernous hole.
He tried to call for help.
But no sound came out of his mouth.
He couldn’t yell. He couldn’t breathe.
The huge, wet worm was crushing him, crushing him as it pulled him down.
And then a dark shadow rolled over Todd. And everything went black.
Danny grabbed Todd’s feet and tried to pull him free.
But the worm had wrapped itself around Todd’s waist like a tight belt. Danny pulled Todd’s ankles. Pulled hard.
But he couldn’t free his friend.
And now the worm was disappearing back into the gaping hole in the mud, and taking Todd down with him.
And suddenly they were all covered in shadow.
“Huh?” Danny let out a startled gasp.
And raised his eyes to see what caused the shadow.
And saw the enormous robin bouncing along over the grass.
“Hey!” he frantically called out. “Regina! Beth!”
They were carrying the big papier-mâché bird home from school. He couldn’t see their faces. They were hidden on the other side of the enormous robin.
“Regina! Help us!”
And then the bird’s shadow rolled over Danny and Todd.
And the worm jerked straight up. And began to tremble.
Did it see the shadow of the bird?
It jerked straight up — and let go of Todd.
Todd slid to the ground. And the quivering worm began to lower itself. Instantly, with a sickening sucking sound, it dove back into the mud.
Gasping for breath, Todd scrambled away on all fours.
The worm — it thinks Christopher Robin is a real bird! he realized.
When he glanced back, the worm had vanished back under the ground.
<
br /> “Regina! Beth!” Todd and Danny shouted together.
The two girls slowly lowered their science project to the ground. “What do you want? What are you two doing here?” Regina demanded, poking her head around from the other side of the enormous robin.
“Did you see it?” Todd cried breathlessly. “Did you see the worm?”
“It was so huge!” Danny added, pulling Todd to his feet. “It was as tall as a building!”
“Ha-ha,” Beth said sarcastically. “You guys must think we’re really dumb.”
“No way we’re going to believe you caught a giant worm!” Regina added, shaking her head.
“You didn’t see it?” Todd cried weakly. “You really didn’t see it?”
“We’re not making it up!” Danny shouted angrily. “It grabbed Todd. It was huge and brown and slimy! It was pulling Todd down.”
“Give us a break,” Beth groaned.
“Go eat worms,” Regina said.
They hoisted up their giant robin and continued their slow trek toward the street.
Todd watched the bird’s wide shadow roll over the grass. The shadow that had saved his life.
Then he turned to Danny with a weary shrug. “Might as well go home,” he said softly. “I’m not sure I believe it myself.”
* * *
Todd tossed all of his worms into the garden that afternoon. He told everyone he never wanted to see a worm again.
* * *
When Danny came over to Todd’s house a few weeks later, he found Todd down in the basement, busy with a new hobby. “What are you doing?” Danny asked.
Todd’s eyes remained on the fluttering creature inside the glass jar on the worktable. “I’m chloroforming this butterfly,” he told his friend.
“Huh? What do you mean?” Danny asked.
“I dipped a wad of cotton in chloroform and dropped it into the jar. It will kill the butterfly. Watch.”
When the gold-and-black butterfly stopped fluttering, Todd carefully opened the jar. He lifted the butterfly out with long tweezers and gently spread its wings. Then he hung it on a board by sticking a long pin through its middle.
“You’re collecting butterflies now?” Danny asked in surprise.
Todd nodded. “Butterflies are so gentle, so pretty,” he said, concentrating on his work.
“Todd has changed a lot,” Regina announced, appearing at the bottom of the stairs. “He isn’t into gross anymore. Now he’s into things that are soft and beautiful.”
“Let me show you some of my most beautiful butterfly specimens,” Todd told Danny. “I have a few monarchs that will knock your eyes out.”
* * *
Everyone was happy about Todd’s new hobby. Especially Regina. There were no more cruel practical jokes played in the Barstow house.
Then, one night, Todd gazed up from his worktable — and uttered a horrified cry as he saw the big creature fluttering toward him.
An enormous butterfly.
As big as a bedsheet!
Carrying an enormous silver pin.
“What are you going to do?” Todd cried.
I thought I was going to hate moving into a new house. But actually, I had fun.
I played a pretty mean joke on Mom and Dad.
While they were busy in the front room showing the moving men where to put stuff, I went exploring. I found a really neat room to the side of the dining room.
It had big windows on two sides looking out onto the backyard. Sunlight poured in, making the room brighter and a lot more cheery than the rest of the old house.
The room was going to be our new family room. You know, with a TV and sound system, and maybe a Ping-Pong table and stuff. But right now it was completely empty.
Except for two gray balls of dust in one corner, which gave me an idea.
Chuckling to myself, I bent down and shaped the two dust balls with my hands. Then I began shouting in a real panicky voice: “Mice! Mice! Help! Mice!”
Mom and Dad came bursting into the room at the same time. Their mouths nearly dropped to the floor when they saw the two gray dust mice.
I kept screaming, “Mice! Mice!” Pretending I was scared of them. Trying hard to keep a straight face.
Mom just stood in the doorway, her mouth hanging open. I really thought she was going to drop her teeth!
Dad always panics more than Mom. He picked up a broom that was leaning against the wall, ran across the room, and began pounding the poor, defenseless dust mice with it.
By that time, I was laughing my head off.
Dad stared down at the glob of dust stuck to the end of the broom, and he finally caught on it was a joke. His face got real red, and I thought his eyes were going to pop out from behind his glasses.
“Very funny, Jerome,” Mom said calmly, rolling her eyes. Everyone calls me Jerry, but she calls me Jerome when she’s upset with me. “Your father and I sure appreciate your scaring us to death when we’re both very nervous and overworked and trying to get moved into this house.”
Mom is always real sarcastic like that. I think I probably get my sense of humor from her.
Dad just scratched the bald spot on the back of his head. “They really looked like mice,” he muttered. He wasn’t angry. He’s used to my jokes. They both are.
“Why can’t you act your age?” Mom asked, shaking her head.
“I am!” I insisted. I mean, I’m twelve. So I was acting my age. If you can’t play jokes on your parents and try to have a little fun at twelve, when can you?
“Don’t be such a smart guy,” Dad said, giving me his stern look. “There’s a lot of work to be done around here, you know, Jerry. You could help out.”
He shoved the broom toward me.
I raised both hands as if shielding myself from danger, and backed away. “Dad, you know I’m allergic!” I cried.
“Allergic to dust?” he asked.
“No. Allergic to work!”
I expected them to laugh, but they just stormed out of the room, muttering to themselves. “You can at least look after Bonkers,” Mom called back to me. “Keep her out of the movers’ way.”
“Yeah. Sure,” I called back. Bonkers is our cat, and there’s no way I can keep Bonkers from doing anything!
Let me say right out that Bonkers is not my favorite member of our family. In fact, I keep as far away from Bonkers as I can.
No one ever explained to the stupid cat that she’s supposed to be a pet. Instead, I think Bonkers believes she’s a wild, man-eating tiger. Or maybe a vampire bat.
Her favorite trick is to climb up on the back of a chair or a high shelf — and then leap with her claws out onto your shoulders. I can’t tell you how many good T-shirts have been ripped to shreds by this trick of hers. Or how much blood I’ve lost.
The cat is nasty — just plain vicious.
She’s all black except for a white circle over her forehead and one eye. Mom and Dad think she’s just wonderful. They’re always picking her up, and petting her, and telling her how adorable she is. Bonkers usually scratches them and makes them bleed. But they never learn.
When we moved to this new house, I was hoping maybe Bonkers would get left behind. But, no way. Mom made sure that Bonkers was in the car first, right next to me.
And of course the stupid cat threw up in the backseat.
Whoever heard of a cat who gets carsick? She did it deliberately because she’s horrible and vicious.
Anyway, I ignored Mom’s request to keep an eye on her. In fact, I crept into the kitchen and opened the back door, hoping maybe Bonkers would run away and get lost.
Then I continued my exploring.
Our other house was tiny, but new. This house was old. The floorboards creaked. The windows rattled. The house seemed to groan when you walked through it.
But it was really big. I discovered all kinds of little rooms and deep closets. One upstairs closet was as big as my old bedroom!
My new bedroom was at the end of the hall on the secon
d floor. There were three other rooms and a bathroom up there. I wondered what Mom and Dad planned to do with all those rooms.
I decided to suggest that one of them be made into a video game room. We could put a flat-screen TV in there to play the games on. It would be really neat.
As I made plans for my new video game room, I started to feel a little cheered up. I mean, it isn’t easy to move to a new house in a new town.
I’m not the kind of kid who cries much. But I have to admit that I felt like crying a lot when we moved away from Cedarville. Especially when I had to say good-bye to my friends.
Especially Sean. Sean is a great guy. Mom and Dad don’t like him too much because he’s kind of noisy and he likes to burp real loud. But Sean is my best friend.
I mean he was my best friend.
I don’t have any friends here in New Goshen.
Mom said Sean could come stay with us for a few weeks this summer. That was really nice of her, especially since she hates his burping so much.
But it didn’t really cheer me up.
Exploring the new house was making me feel a little better. The room next to mine can be a gym, I decided. We’ll get all those great-looking exercise machines they show on TV.
The movers were hauling stuff into my room, so I couldn’t go in there. I pulled open a door to what I thought was a closet. But to my surprise, I saw a narrow, wooden stairway. I guessed it led up to an attic.
An attic!
I’d never had an attic before. I’ll bet it’s filled with all kinds of great old stuff, I thought excitedly. Maybe the people who used to live here left their old comic book collection up there — and it’s worth millions!
I was halfway up the stairs when I heard Dad’s voice behind me. “Jerry, where are you going?”
“Up,” I replied. That was pretty obvious.
“You really shouldn’t go up there by yourself,” he warned.
“Why not? Are there ghosts up here or something?” I asked.
I could hear his heavy footsteps on the wooden stairs. He followed me up. “Hot up here,” he muttered, adjusting his glasses on his nose. “It’s so stuffy.”
He tugged on a chain suspended from the ceiling, and an overhead light came on, casting pale yellow light down on us.
I glanced quickly around. It was all one room, long and low, the ceiling slanting down on both sides under the roof. I’m not very tall, but I reached up and touched the ceiling.