The Judy Moody Double-Rare Collection - Megan Mcdonald [3]
Stink flipped a page.
“Are you coming, or are you just going to sit there?” she asked.
“Sit there,” said Stink.
Judy tapped her feet. She tap-tap-tapped her fingers.
“S is for Shh!” said Stink. “I’m reading about a lizard with a tail that turns blue. A skink.”
“Skinks stink,” said Judy. Stink ignored her.
She, Judy Moody, liked those blue-tailed skinks as much as the next person. But she was not in an S-is-for-Sitting-Still mood. She had to get Stink outside. Fast!
“I’ve seen a stinky skink before.”
“Where?” asked Stink.
“The backyard. C’mon, Stinker. We can look for skinks!” said Judy.
“You think?” asked Stink. He closed the encyclopedia.
“Rain is perfect skink-hunting weather!” said Judy.
Stink looked for skinks in the cracks on the back porch. He looked in the flowerpot. He looked under Mouse’s dish.
“What makes you think we can find a skink anyway?” asked Stink.
“ESP. Extra-special Skink Powers. Keep looking.”
“I’m looking, I’m looking.”
“Whoever finds a skink first gets an ice cream at Screamin’ Mimi’s. Wait. What’s that?”
Judy closed her eyes. “Humm, baba, humm. Nee nee nee nee nee. Ohmmmm. I feel a presence.”
“A skink?”
“I hear . . . a sound.”
“Is it a skink or something?” asked Stink.
“Or something,” said Judy. She closed her eyes again. She pressed her fingers to her forehead. “Yes! I’m getting a color. Greenish brown.”
“Everything in the backyard is greenish brown.”
“I see bumps. It’s bumpy,” said Judy.
“Skinks are not bumpy,” said Stink.
“Definitely bumpy,” said Judy.
“Is it bumpy like dead leaves? Skinks love dead leaves,” said Stink.
“Bumpy like warts,” said Judy. “Now I see something to do with water.”
Stink looked around. “It’s raining. Water is everywhere.”
“I said something to do with water,” said Judy. Bucket. Bucket. She tried hard to send Stink an ESP, but he wasn’t getting the message.
“Wait! The presence is saying something,” said Judy. “Yes. It’s speaking to me. Ra-reek! Ra-reek!”
“A toad?” asked Stink. “Is the presence a toad?”
“Yes,” said Judy. “No. Wait. Yes!”
“A toad? For real? Toady?” asked Stink. “Is it Toady calling?”
“YES!” said Judy. “It’s Toady. Toady is calling to me. RARE!”
“Where? Where is he?” asked Stink.
“Wait. No. Sorry. I had it. But I’m losing it now.”
“NO!” cried Stink. “Close your eyes again. Concentrate. Feel the presence or something.”
“Do it with me,” said Judy. Stink and Judy held hands. They closed their eyes. “Say eeny meany green zucchini,” said Judy.
“Eeny greeny mean zucchini.”
“Yes! I see it! I see a bucket. And I see something blue. A blue roof? No. It’s a tent. Yes. A blue tent!”
Stink raced inside the tent and went straight for the bucket. He lifted it up.
Ra-reek!
“Toady Two!” said Judy.
“Toady Two?”
“I mean Toady, t-o-o. As in also. As in not just some crummy old bucket.”
“Toady! You’re back!” cried Stink. He hugged the toad in his hands. He grinned a loose-tooth grin. “I missed you. You came back. For real. Just like Judy said.”
“Like I predicted,” said Judy. “Just call me Madame Moody. Madame M for short.”
“Is it really him?” said Stink.
“Who else?”
“Toady, I didn’t let you go. Judy did. Honest. Don’t ever leave again.”
Stink held Toady in both hands. “I don’t even care if he makes me a member of the Toad Pee Club again,” said Stink.
“Ick,” said Judy.
Stink kissed Toady on his beady-eyed, bumpy little head.
“Now can I have my ring back?” she asked.
Judy and Stink came in out of the rain. They ate Fig Newtons and sipped hot chocolate with fancy straws.
“You really are psychic,” said Stink.
“Told you,” said Judy. She chomped on her cookie.
“I thought it was just another one of your tricks,” said Stink.
“Uh-huh.” Chomp, chomp.
“Toady came back. And you knew. You predicted it.”
“Uh-huh.”
“At first I didn’t believe you,” said Stink. “But then I saw the little black stripe.”
Judy’s Fig almost fell out of her Newton. “What little black stripe?”
“The little black stripe over Toady’s right eye. No other toads have it. Just Toady. That’s how I knew it was him.”
“Let me see