by R. L. Stine
“Nooooooo! It’s talking! It’s talking! It’s so gross!”
“Billy, calm down!” the snail scolded. “Stop screaming! I need … help!”
Sheena and I both gasped.
We both realized the snail wasn’t talking. It was Dr. D.!
“I’m trapped. Under the snail!” he choked out. “Can’t breathe. Get me out. Hurry.”
Dr. D.’s hand waved weakly from under the big snail. His fingers were dripping with the thick white slime.
“The slime—it’s as thick as shaving cream!” I murmured.
“Kids, hurry! Can’t breathe under here! The slime … going up my nose!”
“What should we do, Dr. D.?” Sheena asked.
He didn’t reply.
“He’s suffocating!” I cried. “He’s drowning in snail slime!”
A groan floated out from under the monstrous snail shell.
“We’ve got to hurry!” Sheena cried.
“I’ll tilt the snail over,” I told Sheena. “You pull Dr. D. out.”
“Okay.”
Dr. D. moaned.
“We’re coming! We’re coming!” I cried.
I pushed the shell. It was heavy. It didn’t move.
“Try harder, Billy.” Sheena stood nearby, ready to grab Dr. D. and pull him out.
I lowered my shoulder and threw my weight against the snail. “It’s not budging!”
“I have an idea,” Sheena said. “The slime!”
“Huh? What about it?”
“The slime can help us,” she explained. She stood behind the snail. “Let’s both push the snail from behind. Maybe the slime will make it slide right off him!”
I heard Dr. D. choking under the snail. He was swallowing slime!
I started to gag. But I swallowed hard. Held my breath. Forced the nausea away.
Sheena and I planted our feet behind the snail.
“One, two, three, push!” she yelled.
We threw our weight against the snail. It slid a little bit.
“One more time—go!”
We pushed again.
The snail slowly slid off Dr. D.’s body. It hit the floor with a heavy thud.
Dr. D. slowly climbed to his feet. He was covered with sticky white goop from head to toe.
He coughed and spat out a big glob of slime. “Not tasty,” he muttered, shaking his head.
“Dr. D.—what happened?” I asked.
He smeared the gunk from his eyes. “I don’t know. All of a sudden, the boat started shaking. I fell down. And the next thing I knew—BOOM!—I found this giant snail on top of me!”
I glanced at the snail. It stood quietly in the passageway, oozing slime. Where did it come from? And how did a snail get so big?
“It seemed to come out of thin air,” Dr. D. said.
“It looks a lot like the snail in my fishbowl,” I offered. “But my snail is tiny. It’s the size of my fingernail.”
“Dr. D.!” Sheena cried. “We saw two gigantic jellyfish! One of them tried to squeeze me to death!”
“What?” Dr. D. turned to Sheena. “Giant jellyfish? What on earth is going on in these waters?”
The boat lurched.
“Whoa!” I cried out as I lost my balance.
The boat rocked hard to one side. We all slammed against the wall.
“Now what?” Sheena moaned.
“Grab the rail, kids!” Dr. D. shouted. “We’re tipping over!”
The boat heaved to one side. The huge snail slid across the floor and crashed into the wall.
Tables drifted across the floor. Pictures fell off the walls.
Sheena, Dr. D., and I were pressed against the wall. The boat tilted until we were practically lying down.
“What’s happening?” Sheena cried.
Crash! My cabin door flew open. Something thudded heavily inside.
“What was that?” I asked. “Something’s going on in my cabin!”
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM. I heard a heavy pounding sound from my room.
“What on earth—?” Dr. D. murmured.
Sheena gulped. “It sounds like some kind of monster!”
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM.
“I’m going to check it out,” I said.
I tried to stand, but the tilt of the boat kept me pinned to the wall.
“I can’t get up!” I complained.
Sheena slid along the wall. “Try sliding!”
I inched along the passageway. Sheena and Dr. D. slid along behind me.
I came to a closed door—the door to Sheena’s cabin. I tried to step around it, but the gravity pull was too strong. I leaned against the door …
“Whoa!” It flew open. I was about to fall in!
I grabbed the door frame. Sheena’s cabin floor tilted down behind me. It was like being in the fun house at a carnival.
“Hold on, Billy!” Dr. D. said.
The floor tilted like a steep hill. If I let go of the door, I’d slide down the cabin floor. Then I’d have to crawl my way back up to the passage—if I could.
I clung to the door frame. The gravity pulled me into Sheena’s room.
“Help!” My feet slipped out from under me. I felt the wood giving way under my fingernails.
“Pull yourself back up!” Dr. D. instructed. “Don’t let go!”
I hauled my body uphill and threw myself to the left. I felt my back slap against the passage wall.
I made it. I made it past Sheena’s room. Now all I had to do was slide down the passage to my cabin.
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM. The pounding sound again, inside my cabin.
Behind me, Sheena and Dr. D. struggled past the gaping door to Sheena’s cabin.
At last I reached my cabin. The pounding grew louder. BOOM, BOOM, BOOM.
What was going on in there?
I peered through the doorway.
“My goldfish!” I gasped. “Oh, nooooo!”
My goldfish bowl had smashed to the floor. My two fish lay in a puddle, flopping their tails.
At least they looked like my goldfish. But there was one difference—one huge difference.
My goldfish were gigantic!
They filled my cabin. They were the size of small whales!
Well, maybe not that big. But they were at least as big as me.
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM. They flopped on the floor, their tails pounding into the wood.
“They—they’re giants!” I gasped.
“What’s going on?” Sheena cried. “How did everything get so big?”
“Oh, my. Oh, my!” Dr. D. muttered over and over. “Oh, my!” He seemed to be in shock.
We all stared at the fish. First the minnow, then the snail, and now this. It was hard to believe.
What was happening? Why was everything suddenly growing so huge?
“I feel like I’m living in some kind of dinosaur world,” I said. “Only instead of dinosaurs, we’re surrounded by giant sea creatures!”
Dr. D. shook his head to clear it. “I’ve got to get a grip on myself. We’ve got big problems here!”
“Huge problems!” Sheena added.
“No wonder the boat’s tipping over,” Dr. D. said. “Those fish are monstrous! Their weight is pulling the boat over.”
“My goldfish, my goldfish!” I couldn’t believe it.
They looked beautiful, all golden and shiny. You could really see them now that they were so big—nearly as big as horses. Little brown specks on their gills and their scales glittered in the sunlight that spilled through my porthole.
“We’ve got to get rid of them,” Dr. D. said. “Otherwise, they’ll tip over the boat.”
“Can we shove them through the window?” Sheena asked.
“They’re too big,” Dr. D. said. “We’ll have to haul them up to the deck somehow.”
“And then what?” I asked.
“Throw them overboard,” Dr. D. declared. “We can’t keep them here, that’s for sure.”
“Maybe they’ll be happier in the ocean,” Sheena
reasoned. “They probably hated being cooped up in that little bowl, anyway.”
“But goldfish are freshwater fish!” I protested.
“We have no choice, Billy,” Dr. D. said grimly.
“We won’t survive out here. We won’t be able to sail anywhere—unless we get these giant fish overboard.”
I knew he was right. The fish had to go.
“You two grab the tail. I’ll push from the other side,” my uncle said.
I tugged on the slick golden tail. “Unh—it’s so heavy!” I grunted.
The fish flopped. The tail slapped Sheena’s hand.
“Ow!” she cried. “That hurt!”
“Hold him still!” Dr. D. ordered.
We dragged the first fish out of my room—uphill—and into the passage. The snail no longer blocked our path. The snail slime in the passage helped us slide it out.
We hauled the big fish up the steps. It flopped on the deck.
“Good-bye, goldfish,” I said.
We shoved it overboard. It flipped its tail and swam away.
“Now we have to do it all over again,” Sheena complained.
“And what about the snail?” I said. “It’s even heavier than these fish!”
“One monster at a time,” Dr. D. said.
As soon as we dragged the other fish overboard, the boat righted itself.
“What a relief,” Dr. D. said. “I can stand up straight again!”
“I’m beat,” Sheena whined. “This has been the worst day of my life.”
We started back down below. The boat looked like the set of a disaster movie. Broken glass everywhere, pools of water, floors and walls streaked with white slime. And the giant snail sitting in the corner.
“What are we going to do about him?” Sheena asked.
Dr. D. sighed heavily. “Let’s just leave him for now.”
I slipped on a puddle of slime on my way to my cabin.
My cabin. What a mess.
It looked as if a giant had come, turned it upside down, and shaken it.
I headed for the closet to get a mop. I stopped.
I thought I heard something.
I listened. Yes. Footsteps. Up on deck.
“Dr. D.?” I called.
“Right here, Billy,” he answered. He was busy cleaning up his lab.
Sheena popped out of her cabin. “Did you hear that?” she asked.
I nodded. “Someone’s up on deck.”
Dr. D. came out of the lab, wiping his hands on a towel. He glanced at me, then at Sheena. Then he looked up toward the ceiling.
“If we’re all down here,” he began, “then who’s walking around up there?”
We crept up the stairs and stepped out on deck. The afternoon sun beat down on us.
“I don’t see anyone,” I said.
“Look behind you,” boomed a deep voice.
We turned around.
There stood three men. Three total strangers.
The three men stood side by side, wearing shorts, button-down shirts, and boating shoes.
The man who had spoken was tall and thin, with glasses and longish brown hair. On his left stood a burly, sunburned blond man. On the right, a curly-haired guy with a long, beaky nose on a birdlike face.
I’d never seen any of them before. What were they doing on our boat?
Dr. D. cleared his throat. “May I help you?”
The tall man spoke. “I hope we didn’t frighten you. And I’m sorry to barge aboard like this, but we were worried. Are you in trouble? We saw your boat tilting dangerously to one side and became alarmed.”
Dr. D. chuckled, trying to act casual. “We hit some rough water,” he lied. “But everything is all right now, as you can see.”
Where did these guys come from? I wondered. I stepped to the edge of the deck and saw a motorboat tied up to the side.
“I was afraid you were going to tip over,” the man said. “We thought we would have to rescue you!”
“No, no. We’re fine now. Aren’t we, kids?” Dr. D. insisted.
“Fine?” I blurted out. “What about—”
Dr. D. squeezed my shoulder. Hard. I shut my mouth.
Why was Dr. D. acting as if everything were okay?
When goldfish blow up into monsters, everything is not okay.
“It was very kind of you to come and help.” Dr. D. let go of my shoulder, finally. I rubbed it.
“My pleasure.” The tall man smiled. “I’m glad there’s no trouble. Always happy to help a fellow sailor.”
He offered his right hand. “I’m Dr. Ritter. These are my assistants, Mel Mason and Adam Brown.” Mel was the burly blond one. Adam was the curly-haired beaky one.
Dr. D. shook his hand. “Nice to meet you. I’m Dr. George Deep. This is my nephew, Billy, and my niece, Sheena.”
“Hi, kids. Wow, they look like good, strong swimmers.”
Dr. D. grinned. “They are.”
“What kind of doctor are you, Dr. Deep?” Dr. Ritter asked. “A surgeon on vacation?”
Dr. D. shook his head. “No. I’m a marine biologist. The Cassandra is my floating lab.”
“Really?” he asked. “A fellow scientist! Wonderful!”
Dr. Ritter began to stroll around the deck, gazing at the ropes and equipment. His assistants followed him.
“I’ve got a floating lab myself,” Dr. Ritter told us. “Not far from here, as a matter-of-fact.”
He sucked in a big breath of salty air and patted his chest. “Ah, yes. We marine biologists are a noble bunch, don’t you think, Dr. Deep? Studying the mysteries of the sea. It’s the last true frontier on earth, I always say.”
Dr. D. trailed after him. “Yes. The last frontier,” he agreed.
“What are you working on, if I may ask?” Dr. Ritter said.
Dr. D. cleared his throat. “Oh, I’ve got a couple of projects going. I can’t really talk about them now, Dr. Ritter. They’re in their early stages. I’m sure you understand.”
The three strangers paused by the ladder where their boat was tied.
“Yes. Indeed. I guess we should be leaving,” Dr. Ritter said. “I’m glad you’re all safe.”
“Thanks for stopping to help,” Dr. D. said.
Dr. Ritter put his hand on the ladder. Then he stopped.
“By the way—you haven’t seen anything strange in the waters around here lately, have you?”
“Strange?” Dr. D. asked. “What do you mean?”
“Odd fish, unusual creatures, anything like that?”
Odd fish! I couldn’t hold it in any longer. “We’ve seen all kinds of weird stuff!” I gushed. “My goldfish turned into giants! And we saw huge jellyfish bigger than a car! Ow!”
Something sharp poked me in the ribs. My uncle’s elbow.
Whoops.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Dr. Ritter said.
“Yes, it was really scary!” I agreed. “Ow!” Dr. D.’s elbow again. “What did you do that for?”
He frowned at me.
What? I thought. What did I do this time?
“Billy is just joking,” Dr. D. assured him. He played nervously with his glasses.
Dr. Ritter said, “Joking? You weren’t really joking—were you, Billy?”
“Well …” I gazed up at Dr. D. I didn’t know what to say.
“I’m really sorry,” Dr. Ritter repeated. “I’m sorry you saw those creatures, Billy. Because now I can’t let you go.”
“Huh?” I gasped. “What are you talking about?”
“You’ve seen too much,” Dr. Ritter replied solemnly. “And now I have to decide what to do with you.”
He snapped his fingers. The two assistants moved in.
“Hold on, there.” Dr. D. put his arms around me and Sheena. “Don’t pay any attention to Billy. He has a wild imagination.”
“The wildest,” Sheena piped in.
“He’s always making up stories,” Dr. D. went on.
“He’s a big liar,” Sheena added. “Ev
erybody knows that.”
“Believe me, Dr. Ritter,” my uncle pleaded. “We haven’t seen anything strange at all. I mean, a giant goldfish? You’re a scientist, Dr. Ritter. You know as well as I do that that is impossible.”
Dr. Ritter opened his mouth to speak. Something stopped him. A loud noise. A loud, lumbering, thudding sound.
CRASH! PLOP!
Something broke through the doors and bounced onto the deck.
The giant snail.
I dropped my head in my hands. “Oh, no!”
Dr. Ritter raised an eyebrow. “Looks like your brother is not the big liar you say he is.”
“Oh, he’s a liar, all right,” Sheena insisted. “And he’s stupid too.”
I kicked her in the shins.
“Ow!” she cried.
“Kids, quiet!” Dr. D. commanded.
The burly blond guy grabbed me. He pinned my arms behind my back with one hand and gripped me around the neck with the other.
“Let go of me!” I shrieked. “That hurts!”
“Quiet—or I’ll really hurt you!” the blond guy threatened.
The beaky guy grabbed Sheena. She squirmed and tried to kick him. But he was too strong for her.
“Let them go!” Dr. D. cried.
Mel tightened his grip on me.
“I’m so sorry, Dr. Deep,” Dr. Ritter said. “I hate to harm a fellow scientist. But you shouldn’t have snooped around here. I hate snoops.”
He sighed. “What a shame you wandered into my plankton beds. What a shame you poked your nose into my experiments.”
“What experiments?” Dr. D. asked.
Dr. Ritter laid a strong hand on Dr. D.’s shoulder. “I’m working on such a brilliant project. It could change the world. It could solve all our problems!”
“What is it?”
“Ha-ha. You are a curious fellow!” Dr. Ritter laughed. “Well, I may as well tell you. I’ve been injecting a growth hormone into the plankton beds in these waters. The fish who feed on the plankton grow to be very large. You’ve seen the results yourself.”
Dr. D. nodded. “But how does that solve any problems?”
“In my heart, I’m a good man,” Dr. Ritter said. “I don’t want to hurt anyone. I want to help everyone! I plan to raise huge fish to feed the world. No one will ever have to go hungry!”
“Let go of me!” Sheena screamed. Adam still held her tightly.
“This one is noisy,” Adam complained.
