The sunshine beamed down on me as Vicky opened the lid of our mint tin. I was doing my best to convince the twins to hide beneath the snack scraps and the cotton ball. We were all covered in a thick layer of mustard camouflage, but still I was totally freaking out that we’d just been caught!
“Oh my gosh! It’s even worse on the inside! I’m going to hurl! These aren’t mints at all,” Vicky said. Then she made a gagging noise that made me want to gag.
“Step away from the mint tin and nobody is going to be fed to the lions today,” Lin said.
Vicky kept making the gagging noises. But she dropped the mint case on the window ledge of the otter cage. “You can keep my mint tin. I don’t want it anymore. You are the worst, Lin. The WORST!” was the last thing I heard her say as she disappeared into the crowd.
We were totally exposed for a second, hiding inside the open box. But then, in a flash, Lin was there to rescue us. She scooped up the mint tin and turned to face the gawking crowd.
“Well, that’s it, folks. That’s the end of our new one-act play, The Troubled Waters of the Otter House. Go ahead and move along to the next exhibit, and we’ll be doing the show again soon,” Lin said, waving her hands at the crowd to shoo them away.
Through the airhole I could see the crowd shaking their heads in confusion, but after a couple of seconds of Lin’s shooing, they went right back to their busy lives. Lin waited for them to leave, then she opened the case and stared in at us with wide eyes. “Are you guys in there? Are you okay?” she said.
I waved up at her. My arms were covered in yellow mustard.
“We’re down here,” I said. “A little roughed up, but we’re fine.”
Lin opened Vicky’s old mint tin case and dumped her mints in the trash as we walked toward the zoo exit. Then she put me and the twins in the new, mustard-and-snack-free tin. It smelled minty fresh, and Cornelia started licking the walls immediately.
“What do you say we get out of here?” Lin asked.
“I say that is the best idea you’ve had all day.”
CHAPTER 10
PIBBS TO THE RESCUE
Before returning to the Microterium, Lin whizzed by my house to pick up the big box of PIBBs I kept in my bedroom closet. The trip there had gone as smooth as it could, but still, it took time to travel from the zoo, to my house, and then back to Professor Penrod’s house.
By the time we left my house, the smell of tiny-saurus rex pepperoni-and-corn-dog burps mixed with the overpowering smell of mints was making me dizzy, so I rode in Lin’s shirt pocket for the last leg of our journey.
I tapped on my Invisible Communicator to call Lin. “Hey, Lin. I almost forgot to ask. Did I hear you shout tiny-saurus rex to that zoo crowd?”
“Uh, maybe. Okay, yes,” Lin said as she leaned and screeched around the corner. “But I needed a distraction. Icky Vicky had your very life in her hands!”
“I understand, but maybe yell something like ‘FREE DOUGHNUTS’ next time. We’re already living on the edge by taking the twins out of the Microterium. We don’t want people asking questions about Microsaurs,” I said. Lin crouched down to zoom under a low-hanging tree branch that covered the sidewalk, then shot back up, kick-flipped her skateboard, then tucked as we headed downhill, gaining more speed every second.
“Sorry,” Lin said. “I panicked.”
Which I could also understand. “Talk about panic. Professor Penrod will be home in one hour and thirteen minutes, and we need to build a new Fruity Stars Lab 3.0, make a special place for the twins, and fix the Expand-O-Matic. That’s not one hour’s worth of work, that’s more like days of work.”
“We’ll be fine,” Lin said, sounding totally calm as we rocketed down the sidewalk like a fireball on a skateboard. “We can work together.”
“Speaking of that. While riding around in a mint tin all day, I’ve come up with some plans,” I said.
“I was hoping you’d say that,” Lin said as she jumped from her skateboard. We were back at Penrod’s house, and she slipped through the iron bars to enter his backyard.
“Well, if you want to build a quick, safe lab for us out of PIBBs while you’re big, I can get started on the Expand-O-Matic repairs. I’ve been studying the plans in the professor’s notebook, and I think I can get it working again.”
“I’m sure you can. But what about the lab? Do you have plans for the lab? I’m not sure what to build,” Lin said. She approached the old barn door that would take us to the secret Microsaur sanctuary.
“I don’t have plans, but I have ideas. It just needs to be big enough for Professor Penrod’s books and lab equipment. Oh, and of course it needs to protect the Expand-O-Matic. I don’t even think it needs a floor at this point. Just put it down in the dirt, and we can worry about floors later,” I said.
“Okay. That sounds easy,” Lin said.
“It will be. And we also need something for the twins. Like a big fence or something that we can keep them in until we have time to train them better. You can build that out of PIBBs, too,” I suggested.
“Okay. I can do that,” Lin said. “Any other suggestions?” Lin lowered the back wall of the barn-lab, revealing the Microterium.
“Yeah. Three. Number one, no red bricks,” I said.
“Of course. Makes perfect sense,” Lin said.
“Number two. Hurry. This doesn’t need to be the greatest thing ever built. These are PIBBs. We can always add on more stuff later,” I said.
“Gotcha. No red bricks, and make it quick,” Lin said. “Can do.”
“And number three. Be creative and have fun. That’s when you always come up with the best ideas,” I said.
Lin stepped into the Microterium and placed me down among the mess of the destroyed Fruity Stars Lab. It wasn’t as bad as I remembered, but there was still a ton of work to do. Bruno and Honk-Honk were sitting in the shade, quietly watching as the oviraptors pecked at the ground and squawked.
“All right. Let’s get this going,” I said.
As I dragged the scattered parts of the Expand-O-Matic back to one central spot, Lin worked on building the new Fruity Stars Lab 3.0 around me. Occasionally, I had her lift the heavy parts for me, and from time to time she asked my advice about the lab. It was nice working together like this, and things were starting to take shape.
I could already tell that the new lab was going to work out great. Using clear bricks, Lin added skylights to the roof to brighten the place up, then she added windows in the side walls, which was great because they let in a nice breeze but still offered loads more protection than the cardboard box. Now she was working on the new playpen area for the twins, while I was ready to begin assembling the Expand-O-Matic.
I quickly got lost in my own thoughts, studying the plans for the Expand-O-Matic and trying to match parts as best I could. Time flew by, and I didn’t notice that my hour and thirteen minutes had nearly evaporated until I tightened the last circular momentum bolt into place and stepped back to check out my work. The machine looked pretty good, especially with new brightly colored PIBB walls protecting it. I tapped on my Invisible Communicator.
“How’s it going, Lin?” I asked.
“Look out the back window and check for yourself,” Lin said. “I have a nice surprise for you.”
I walked over to the back of the lab and leaned out the window. Lin had truly outdone herself. She’d dug out a nice cliff wall below the back of the new lab. Then, using the cliff wall as a starting point, Lin had built a huge play area for Pizza and Cornelia. Bright white, yellow, green, and blue bricks lined the playpen twice as high as a basketball hoop, blocking off enough space for the twins to run and play. A gate hung from shiny black hinges, and I watched Lin try it out with easy motions, although I knew it would be a lot harder to push open at my size. She’d placed a tennis ball in there for them, and Cornelia was already trying to rip all the fluff off it, while Pizza was busy sniffing the ground, searching for worms or other nice things to eat.
“S
o. What do you think?” Lin asked.
“I think it’s perfect! They look so happy,” I said.
“They are happy, and it’s big enough for them to grow. I’m pretty proud of my new creation,” Lin said.
“You should be. And I think I’m ready to try the Expand-O-Matic again,” I said. “Wanna come watch me grow?”
“Of course. That’s my favorite part,” Lin said. I was realizing that Lin had a lot of favorite parts. Pretty much everything she saw became her new favorite part.
I flicked the switch to turn on the CEP warmer, checked the temperature gauge, then walked out the door Lin had installed next to the Expand-O-Matic. I looked to make sure the copper penny was aligned perfectly beneath the carbonic dispersal nozzle and smiled as I heard the Expand-O-Matic bubble and gurgle from inside the new lab.
“I think it’s going to work just fine,” I said to Lin.
“I’m sure it will. Give it a try already, would ya?”
I ran back into the lab, hit the button to free a little burst of CEPs, then ran back out to the penny to wait for my orange shower.
The machine coughed. And I waited.
The machine burped and boiled. And still, I waited.
And waited. And waited. AND WAITED!
“Is everything okay?” Lin asked.
A single drop of bright orange Carbonic Expansion Particle liquid dripped from the nozzle and fell right on top of my head. It was just enough to make my hair grow longer. So long, in fact, that it reached down past my toes and flowed over the edges of the penny. I felt like screaming. All the hope I had stored up while rebuilding the Expand-O-Matic melted away in an instant as I stood on the copper penny in dire need of a haircut.
Just then my phone blipped, and I saw something I did not want to see: Professor Penrod’s smiling face. I didn’t want to answer it, but what could I do? Ignore him and hope the problems I’d created would go away? Well, that would never happen, so I tapped on my phone, answering his call.
I pushed the hair out of my eyes, then tried to smile a little. “Hello, Professor Penrod,” I said.
“Well, hello there, Danny,” the professor said, and my worries only grew as I could tell from the video on my phone that he had just entered the barn-lab. The professor had returned.
“Oh my goodness! It’s Penny,” Lin shouted, and it felt like a thunderstorm erupted in my earpiece. She jumped up and took a few big steps, shaking the ground I stood on like an earthquake.
The image on my phone went bonkers for a minute, then it came back into focus as Lin hugged Professor Penrod so tight I thought he was going to crumple over.
“Ha-ha! It’s so good to see you again, Lin. And you’re just in time. I need you to identify a strange, hairy creature on my phone,” the professor said. He turned the phone so Lin could see me on the other end.
“Danny? Is that you?” Lin said as the two of them smiled into the camera.
“Yeah, it’s me,” I said slowly. I wanted to run away and hide in the deep forest of the Microterium forever. But I knew it was too late. The Expand-O-Matic hadn’t worked. I had to face the problems I’d created, and the two people waving back to the hairy beast on the camera were the only two people on earth who could help me out. “And well, Professor Penrod, there’s something I need to tell you.…”
“That you need a haircut? We’ve noticed,” Lin said, and the two of them burst into laughter.
I silently reconsidered my plan to live on my own in the wilds of the Microterium. I could survive on my own. Especially if I knew where Lin kept her stash of Microbites.
CHAPTER 11
HE’S BACK!
As the laughter died down, Lin must have noticed my annoyed face because she said, “Relax, Danny. We’re gonna shrink down right now so you can tell Penny in person.”
“NO!” I shouted back. They both jumped, shocked at my sudden response. “You can’t shrink yet. In fact, you might never be able to shrink again.”
“What? Why not?” Professor Penrod asked.
“Sure we can. The Shrink-A-Fier is right here, ready to go,” Lin said.
“Well, of course you can shrink down. It’s just that you might not ever be able to expand back up,” I said. Professor Penrod looked confused. Lin looked like she finally knew what I was talking about. I took a few steps toward the lab, my heavy hair dragging behind me, then I was YANKED to a stop so hard I fell back and landed right on my rump.
I looked over my shoulder to see Bruno was following close behind me. So close, in fact, that he was standing and slobbering a little on my new hairdo.
“Oh, come on!” I shouted. I stood back up, grabbed my hair in both hands, and tried to pull it out from under Bruno. “This is ridiculous!”
Bruno didn’t understand my frustration. He wagged his tail, slobbered a little more, then made a chuffing-barking sound.
“Dude. You’ve got to get off my hair!” I said, which is definitely a sentence I never thought I’d say in my entire life. Bruno tilted his head and looked at me like I was trying to teach him algebra.
Realizing that pulling my hair from under Bruno was not going to work, I went to the big puppylike Microsaur and tried to push him off. “Move, you big lump of horns,” I said as I heaved into Bruno’s back. He finally got the idea, stood up, and walked toward the PIBBs lab.
I gathered my hair up in my arms and sighed. Time was up. There was no more putting off what had to be done. I had to tell Professor Penrod the truth. All of it. Every drop, even though I was super worried that he’d be so disappointed that he’d never let me back in his Microterium ever again. I dragged my hair into the lab after Bruno, put the camera down on the dice that served as a lab table, then sat down on a pushpin Lin had helped me push into the ground earlier for a chair.
I let out a deep breath, then:
“Okay. Here it goes. Basically, I’m probably stuck little forever, except for my hair, but that’s only part of the story. I am the master of disasters. While trying to protect the egg that held the twins, I led an entire pack of wild oviraptors right to the Fruity Stars Lab. They nearly tore it to shreds,” I started.
“Well, actually, it was Honk-Honk who led them to the lab,” Lin said.
“True, but we were the ones that tied the egg to Honk-Honk’s back, so it was really our fault, not hers,” I explained. “But that’s only the start of the troubles. After chasing the egg and Honk-Honk all throughout the Microterium, we ended up directly below it, once again leading the pack of tiny-raptors back to the lab. Only this time, Honk-Honk had nothing to do with it. The second time, they really destroyed the place.”
“Why didn’t you tell me? I always like to know how things are going while I’m away from the Microterium,” Professor Penrod said.
“We didn’t want to worry you,” Lin said.
“And we thought we could fix it before you got back from China,” I said.
“I appreciate that, but not knowing is sometimes worse than worrying,” Professor Penrod said. “Besides, I might have been able to help.”
“We thought about that as well. But in the end, we decided to take care of it ourselves. We made a new Fruity Stars Lab,” I said.
“I might have broken the world record for fastest time eating a box of Fruity Stars cereal without milk. We’re still going to look into that, right, Danny?” Lin said, looking into the camera.
“Um, sure. Soon as we can. Back to the story. We put the new Fruity Stars Lab 2.0 in place, and it lasted about thirty seconds before Pizza and Cornelia spooked the other Microsaurs and destroyed the new lab before we had even set up shop,” I said.
“Who?” Professor Penrod asked.
“The twin tiny-saurus rexes. That’s right. You haven’t met them yet. They are the most amazing things EVER! Just wait until you see how cute they are when they growl and show their teeth!” Lin did her impression of a grinning T. rex, looking an awful lot like the goofy Cornelia.
“Oooh, scary! I am excited to meet them,”
Professor Penrod said.
“Well, turns out letting two wild tiny-saurus rexes roam the Microterium was also a mistake. They terrified the other Microsaurs, especially Zip-Zap and the oviraptors,” I said. “I should have known it would be a problem.”
“Well, it’s true. You might have seen that one coming,” Professor Penrod said.
“We both thought that they were ready to explore the Microterium on their own,” Lin said. “But it didn’t work out too well, did it?”
“Not one bit. We left them here unsupervised, and they scared Bruno, Zip-Zap, and the tiny-raptors enough to immediately trash the new lab! Turns out Microsaurs and cardboard labs are a recipe for disaster,” I said.
“It was always meant to be a temporary solution,” Professor Penrod said. The camera shifted as he moved toward the Microterium. “It looks like you’ve found a more permanent solution, though.”
“Yes, but that’s when the REAL disaster started. While stress-testing the PIBBs with Bruno, the Expand-O-Matic was destroyed. Lin was expanded just in time, but I wasn’t so lucky,” I said.
The professor’s face went very grave. “I see. That IS a serious problem.”
“I knew it,” I said, feeling more guilty than ever. “I wanted to fix it before you got back, but…” I trailed off with a sigh, my shoulders slumping.
Lin didn’t look much better. Her head was tilted down toward the ground, and she held her helmet in her hands. She looked over at me, then started to explain the rest of our day as fast as she could. “Then I took microsized Danny and the twins to the zoo. They got covered in mustard and bananas. Nearly got discovered by my nemesis, Icky Vicky Van-Varbles, too. And almost drowned in the otter tank. Okay, I might have made that last part up, but it kind of fits with the rest of our crazy day. Then we came back here and installed the new lab. The Fruity Stars Lab 3.0,” Lin said all in one breath.
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