“Big wheel,” said Nina.
We came out from under the bus and saw a whole fleet of taxis coming up the hill right at us. The taxi drivers honked and yelled. We dodged and swerved. A taxi’s bumper bumped my pot, but Nina kept me from falling off.
We barely squeaked between the last two taxis. We shot out into an empty lane. There was open road ahead of us, which was good since we were now speeding out of control!
I looked back and saw Lulu Emu’s bus, Koko Dodo’s motorcycle, Mimi Kiwi’s pickup truck, and the sloth’s bicycle all stuck in a huge traffic jam. The giant pegleg pirate had bumped his shin on the ostrich bus and was sitting on the ground, crying like a baby.
“Look out!” yelled Wanda.
I turned around. “Look out!” I screamed.
The street was ending. We were going so fast we couldn’t stop. We were headed straight for a restaurant.
It was Penguini’s Linguini.
“Do you have a cell phone?” I asked Wanda.
“Here you go,” she said, handing it to me.
I dialed the number and waited.
“We’re going to crash!” yelled Wanda.
Penguini answered the phone.
“Hello, Penguini’s Linguini. Today’s special is—”
“HEY, PENGUINI! OPEN THE DOOR!” I yelled.
The door swung open and we zoomed through. Penguini called, “Hey, Inspector Flytrap! Nina, you’re looking good! I see you brought friends.”
We crashed into his kitchen. Pots and pans and goats and skateboards and linguini went everywhere.
Chapter 19
By the time Wanda and I had recovered, the goats were already eating the pots, the pans, and the linguini.
“Hey, Penguini,” I said. “Please bring us two bottles of your finest sparkling water. We have a lot to celebrate.”
Penguini popped the corks and poured the fizzy water into our pots. Ahh . . .
I took Wanda’s leaf, being careful of her thorns, and gazed into her beautiful rosy eyes.
And we lived happily ever after.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The title of Part 1, “Inspector Flytrap in the Da Vinci Cold” is a parody of a famous adult book, The Da Vinci Code, which I have not read. Some books that I have read, though, are by Daniel Pinkwater. Pinkwater is very funny and writes about pickles, which inspired me to try to be very funny and write about pickles.
I would also like to acknowledge some goats I have known: Spooky, Skippy, and Jimmy. I have seen Venus flytraps in person, but we’ve never become friends.
And I’d really like to thank Cece Bell for working so hard to illustrate these books! You wouldn’t believe the amount of research she did. If I wrote that Nina the Goat ate a shoe, then Cece would actually eat a shoe herself! Now that’s an artist!
—Tom
Thanks to the amazing Tom for writing the words, to the magnificent Susan Van Metre for her sharp editing, to the übertalented Maria Middleton and Chad Beckerman for illustration guidance, and to the genius Kyle T. Webster, whose super-cool Photoshop brushes helped me complete my drawings.
No Venus flytraps or goats were harmed as I created the illustrations; as they were completely made up. Seriously.
—Cece
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
TOM ANGLEBERGER is the author of the bestselling Origami Yoda series, as well as Fake Mustache and Horton Halfpott, both Edgar Award nominees, and The Qwikpick Papers series. Visit Tom online at origamiyoda.com.
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
CECE BELL is the author of the New York Times bestselling El Deafo, which won a Newbery Honor. She is also the author of The Rabbit and Robot books. Tom and Cece are married and live in Christiansburg, Virginia.
Tom Angleberger, Inspector Flytrap
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