The Monster Detector

by Ellen Potter

  There was a little stream that ran right into Hugo’s bedroom through a hole in the bottom of the wall. It wiggled across the room and then went out another hole in the wall by Hugo’s toy chest. In a funny way, that little stream was Hugo and Boone’s personal floating post office, since that’s how they sent messages to each other.

  Opening up his toy chest, Hugo pulled out a little wooden boat. He had carved it himself, and it could float as well as a boat twenty times its size. This is the note that Hugo wrote to Boone:

  HI, BOONE.

  WHEN I WENT BACK TO CLASS TODAY, MRS. NUKLUK WAS PRETTY MAD AT ME FOR LEAVING. BUT WHEN I TOLD HER ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED, SHE SAID IF I WROTE IT ALL OUT IN MY BEST HANDWRITING, IT WOULD COUNT FOR THE ENGLISH CLASS THAT I MISSED. I EVEN INCLUDED THE PART ABOUT THE POISONOUS SNAKES. HA-HA!

  ALSO, GUESS WHAT? THE SQUIDGES WANT YOU TO COME BACK TO OUR SCHOOL! THEY SAID ANYONE WHO WOULD RUN OFF TO HELP A MONSTER WOULD NEVER EAT A FLOOF (WELL, RODERICK WASN’T CONVINCED, BUT TOO BAD FOR HIM). SO PLEASE COME BACK TO SCHOOL, BOONE. THINK OF ALL THE ADVENTURES WE COULD HAVE IF WE SAW EACH OTHER EVERY DAY!

  YOUR FRIEND ALWAYS,

  HUGO

  Hugo rolled up the note and put it in a little glass bottle with a stopper. He put the bottle in the toy boat and carefully placed the boat on the stream. Then he took a deep breath and blew it out on the little boat’s stern. The boat wobbled at first before it floated down the stream, through the little hole in the wall, and out into the Big Wide World.

  16

  Blueberry Ink

  The next day, however, Boone was not at school.

  Hugo was crestfallen. Even though Boone had only been at the Academy for Curious Squidges for one day, the classroom just wasn’t the same without him. The empty seat beside Roderick seemed like it was waiting for Boone to sit in it. Even helping to name the Floofs didn’t cheer Hugo up. (The class finally settled on the names Daisy and Mr. Biggles.)

  Art class was first. They were learning how to make ink out of blueberries. It was something Hugo had been looking forward to doing for weeks, but he just couldn’t feel happy about anything today.

  Mrs. Nukluk gave everyone a wooden bowl full of blueberries and a wooden pestle. The first thing they had to do was smash all the berries to get the juice out of them. The squidges smashed and bashed so loudly that no one heard the footsteps running down the hall outside the school and into the classroom.

  “Sorry I’m late!” a voice cried from the back of the room.

  Everyone turned around and there was Boone, with his thirty-eight freckles and his brown paper bag.

  “You’re here!” cried Hugo.

  “Of course. I would have come sooner, but I just got your note a few minutes ago,” said Boone. “The river’s current is running a little slow.”

  Which, by the way, is one of the drawbacks of a floating post office.

  “Mrs. Nukluk,” said Boone, “if it’s okay with you, I’d like to go to squidge school. I don’t know a lot about snuds and stuff like that, but I’m a quick learner.”

  “Boone, we would be honored to have you in our class,” said Mrs. Nukluk.

  The whole class cheered. Well, everyone except Roderick, but he didn’t yell “Boo!” or anything like that either. Some squidges (and people, too) just take a little longer to change their minds about things.

  Right then Hugo had an idea. He raised his hand, then waved it around to show that he had something extra important to say.

  “Yes, Hugo?”

  “I have an idea,” Hugo said.

  “What is it?” Mrs. Nukluk asked.

  “I don’t want to say it out loud.”

  Mrs. Nukluk considered. “You can come up here and whisper it to me.”

  Hugo walked up to Mrs. Nukluk’s desk. He leaned close to her ear. He had never been that close to Mrs. Nukluk’s head before. It smelled like bananas.

  Hugo cupped his hand around his mouth and whispered his idea into Mrs. Nukluk’s ear. Then he leaned away so he could see her face. It looked happy.

  “That’s an excellent idea, Hugo,” she said.

  “Thanks,” Hugo said. “Can I whisper something else?”

  “All right.”

  Hugo cupped his hand and leaned close. He didn’t really have anything else to say. He just wanted to smell her head again. But since he had to say something, he asked, “Why does your head smell like bananas?”

  Mrs. Nukluk looked at him. He looked back at her. Then she leaned over and whispered in his ear, “Banana shampoo.”

  Hugo nodded. “Got it,” he said.

  Mrs. Nukluk liked Hugo’s idea so much that she went right to the art closet and gathered up all the supplies. Then, without telling the class why, she led everyone out of the classroom and into the hallway just outside the school’s entrance.

  Hugo climbed onto Mrs. Nukluk’s shoulders. Mrs. Nukluk climbed on a chair. She handed Hugo a container of blueberry ink and a pine-needle paintbrush. In his best, most careful handwriting, Hugo added two new words to the school sign:

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Sasquatches know that we all need help if we want to do things right, and that’s why I want to thank my wonderful “Sasquatch Community.” Major thanks to my editor, Erica Finkel, for her clear-sighted wisdom. I am forever grateful to my agent, Alice Tasman, who is even better than thirty jars of acorn butter. Thanks to Felicita Sala for bringing Hugo and his friends to life with her beautiful illustrations. Big thanks to my publicist, Kimberley Moran, and the entire Abrams team for spreading the word about Hugo and Boone. And finally, as always, thanks to my practically perfect husband, Adam, and my own squidge, Ian.

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