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“Like Jaws when it ate that hamburger!” said Frank.

“Like Stink when he takes his smelly shoes off,” said Judy.

“Is this you?” Frank asked.

“That’s me in my magician hat, making a fishbowl disappear.”

“Too bad you can’t make Stink disappear,” said Judy.

“Too bad I’m done,” said Rocky. “It would have been really funny to put the rubber hand on my collage.”

That’s when it happened. An idea. The funniest of all funnies. It orbited Judy’s head and landed like a spaceship, the way good ideas do.

“Rocky! You’re a genius! Let’s go to my house,” Judy said. “And bring the hand.”

“You’re not a genius,” said Rocky. “Nobody’s home at your house. We could get into all kinds of trouble.”

“Exactly!” said Judy. “C’mon. There’s a key hidden in the gutter pipe.”

“Did you forget something?” asked Frank.

“Yes,” Judy said. “I forgot to play a trick on Stink!”

Once inside, Judy raced around her house, looking for the perfect spot to leave the hand, a place where Stink would be sure to find it right away. The couch? Toady’s aquarium? The refrigerator? Under his pillow?

The bathroom!

In the downstairs bathroom, Judy lifted up the toilet seat, just a crack, and perched the hand there, its fingernails hanging over the edge. “It looks real,” said Rocky.

“This will scare the president right out of him,” said Judy. “For sure.”

Back at Rocky’s, Judy, Frank, and Rocky knelt on Rocky’s bed, looking out the window. Every time a car zoomed by on Jefferson Street, they yelled, “It’s them!” Finally Judy saw a blue van, for real. “Run!” she yelled. “They’re pulling into the driveway!”

Stink was so excited telling Judy, Rocky, and Frank all about the president’s house that Hawaii and Alaska fell off his hat.

Why doesn’t he go to the bathroom? thought Judy.

“There’s a movie theater — I swear! Inside the president’s house. And a room with a secret door. No lie. Even a clock that tells you when it’s time to take a bath,” said Stink.

“Rare!” said Judy. “You need one of those.”

Go into the bathroom, Stink, she wished silently. As if he had heard, Stink stopped his story. Balancing his hat on his head, he walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind him. The lock clicked.

Mom and Dad asked Judy about the Mr. Tooth assembly, but her ears were tuned to the bathroom. “AAAAAHHHHH!” screamed Stink. He burst out of the bathroom, hat crashing to the floor, stars flying.

“Hey! Dad! Mom! There’s somebody in the toilet!”

Judy Moody, Rocky, and Frank Pearl fell on the floor laughing.

Stink watched Judy finish her collage after school the next day. “Almost done,” said Judy. “It’s due tomorrow.”

Stink pointed. “You still have a bald spot right there next to the picture of Jaws.”

Judy carefully taped a doll hand from her collection over the empty space. “Not anymore,” she said.

“That hand? Is it for the trick you played on me?” asked Stink.

“Yes. It’s THE FUNNIEST THING EVER,” said Judy, with a grin.

“You mean you’re going to tell your whole class I thought there was somebody in our toilet?”

“Stink, I’m making you famous.”

“Couldn’t you change my name or something?” asked Stink.

“Or something,” said Judy.

When Judy got up the next morning, it was pouring rain again. Something told her to get ready for a bad-mood Friday.

“Let’s put your Me collage in a garbage bag so it won’t get wet,” Dad suggested when she brought it downstairs.

“Dad, I’m not carrying my Me collage in a garbage bag.”

“Why not?”

“Did Van Gogh put his Starry Night in a garbage bag?”

“She’s got a point there,” said Mom.

“Garbage bags probably hadn’t been invented yet,” said Dad. “If Van Gogh had garbage bags, believe me, he would have been smart enough to use them.”

“Honey, why don’t you take the bus, and Dad’ll bring your collage to school after he takes Stink to the dentist?” Mom said. “Stink’s taking Toady to school today, so Dad has to drop him off anyway.”

“I want to take my collage to school myself. That way I can be sure nothing will happen to it.”

“What could happen to it?” asked Mom.