Judy Moody, Girl Detective - Megan Mcdonald [12]
“I know my head hurts,” said Stink.
“We better hurry up and get outta here,” said Frank.
“Before Fink-Face tattles on us,” said Judy.
“It’s early dismissal today,” said Rocky, checking his watch. “Only twelve minutes before school’s out.”
“Hey, you guys have soap in your bathroom? Pink soap?” Stink asked.
“Since when is everyone I know such a clean freak?” Judy asked.
All four kids made a beeline for the door. They passed Ms. Tuxedo in the hall. “Did you see which way the plumbers went?” Judy and her fellow detectives asked at the same time. “Did they have pointy ears? Did you hear a dog barking?”
“You kids better get back to class,” said Ms. Tuxedo. “The bell’s about to ring any minute now.”
For the last twelve minutes of the school day, Judy Moody had ants in her pants. Bees in her knees. Bug eggs in her legs. Who could sit still when the green van might be back any minute?
Scoo-bee-doo, Nancy Drew! An international ring of thieves, right here at Virginia Dare School! With Judy Drewdy and her crack detectives on the case, those thieves’ dognapping days were numbered.
At last the bell rang. Judy raced out front to the parking lot. Still no green van in sight. “All aboard,” yelled the bus driver. Judy waited till the last possible second. Still no van. She hopped on the bus. The doors whooshed shut as the bus pulled out of the parking lot. Judy pressed her nose to the window of Bus 211.
There it was! A green van! A green van that said WE FIX TOILETS AND OTHER PLUMBING EMERGENCIES. A green van that said CALL 1-555-UNCLOG-U on the side.
That was it! It was them! Stink and Rocky saw it, too.
“STOP!” cried Judy. “Stop the bus!”
The bus driver could not stop for one kid with a not-toilet emergency. The bus driver would not stop for a solve-a-mystery emergency. The bus driver had a way-big important schedule to keep.
Judy took out her Nancy Drew lipstick and wrote SOS on the back window of the school bus.
The bus driver still would not let Judy off the bus. The bus driver told Judy to sit down. The bus driver did not know that in that van might be Mr. Chips.
From the back of the bus, Judy watched the green van disappear until it was no bigger than a bug. The wheels on the bus went round and round. Judy’s detective heart went pound, pound, pound. What if Mr. Chips was never, ever, ever found?
“I’ll find you, Mr. Chips. Don’t you worry,” she whispered to nobody but herself and the universe.
After school, Judy was sitting on her bed, chewing a pencil, trying to think of a plan. A green van plan. All of a sudden, she heard strange sounds coming from the bathroom. Splishing sounds. Splashing sounds. Flushing sounds. Gushing sounds.
Was Stink giving Astro, his guinea pig, a bubble bath? Taking Toady surfing in the tub? She climbed down from her top bunk to investigate. Mouse followed her.
“Stink, who’s in the ba —?” But Stink wasn’t in the tub. Stink was stuffing stuff down the toilet! The Hulk, Iron Man, a rubber ducky, and Mouse’s squeak toy. He poked it with his plastic lightsaber. Wheek! Wheek! Wheek-wheek-wheek! Mouse jumped up on the toilet to see.
Judy peered into the toilet bowl. It was swimming with dead Goldfish. The cracker kind, that is. “Stink, what are you doing? Playing Superhero Tsunami in the toilet?”
“Duh,” said Stink. “What’s it look like? I’m overflowing the toilet. Then we’ll have a toilet emergency, and we’ll have to call a plumber. The bad guys in the green van will come right to our house. We’ll flush ’em out and rescue Mr. Chips! Get it?”
“Genius!” said Judy. Just then, Stink flushed the toilet. Spew! Water sprayed up out of the toilet in a geyser and gushed all over the floor. Judy leaped out of the way. Mouse sprang onto the rim of the bathtub.
“Toilet emergency! Toilet emergency!” Stink yelled.
Mom and Dad came running up the stairs. “Judy,” said Mom, “if this is another one of your Boston Tub Parties —”
“Stink did it!” said Judy, pointing at her brother.
“Mouse did it!” said Stink, pointing at the cat.
“Out of the way, Stink,