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They sat in a line, one behind the other, like desks in a row. First Judy, then Frank, Rocky, and Stink.

“Hey, I’m always last!” said Stink.

“You’re the rear end,” said Judy.

“Tie one shoelace to the person in front, and one to the person in back,” she called.

“How are we ever going to stand up?” asked Stink.

“On the count of three,” Judy began. “One, two . . .” Judy took the first step. Frank’s foot shot up and out from under him. Like bowling pins, Frank toppled sideways, Rocky fell over on his ear, and Stink crashed on his elbows.

Frank snorted first. Rocky cracked up so bad he sprayed everybody.

“Hic-CUP!” said Stink.

When they were finally standing, without anybody falling or snorting or hiccupping, they each tried to take a step. One . . . two . . . three.

“The human centipede!” called Judy. She pictured the human centipede in her imagination — growing longer and longer, all wiggly and squiggly with tons of legs, and she, Judy Moody, at the head with biting fangs and poison claws!

“Hssss!” said Judy.

“No hopping, Rocky,” called Frank.

“My lace is all twisted,” said Rocky.

“Hold up!” yelled Stink from the end of the line.

That’s when it happened.

Judy stopped, but the rest of the centipede kept going! They all began to fall. Crunch! Judy stepped on Frank’s hand. Frank’s other arm socked Rocky in the stomach. Stink’s foot landed in Rocky’s hair.

Three steps, and they had crumbled into a human pretzel.

“Hey! Watch it!” Stink yelled.

“I’m all twisted,” Rocky said.

“OWWWWWWWWWWWW!” Frank screamed. Frank was holding up his right arm with his left hand.

Frank Pearl’s right pinky finger looked all floppy. It looked all floopy. Frank Pearl’s pinky was twice as fat as normal and dangled down the wrong way.

“OOOH! What happened?” asked Judy.

“It hurts . . . bad,” said Frank, tears streaming down his face. “Real bad.”

“Stink, run and get Mom. Fast!”

What if Judy had broken a finger, not a record? If Frank’s pinky was broken, it was all Judy’s fault.

Judy no longer felt like a human centipede. She, Judy Moody, felt more like a human worm.

“So which one of you’s the patient?” asked a tall man with a red beard in a long white coat.

Frank held up his little blue sausage of a finger.

“Ouch!” said the man. “How’d this happen?”

Frank looked over at Judy. Judy stared a hole in the carpet.

“We were playing,” Frank answered.

“We were making a human centipede so my sister could be famous!” said Stink. “And she stepped on Frank!”

Judy sent Stink her best troll-eyes stare, complete with stinging-caterpillar eyebrows. The man laughed. “Okay. Well. I’m Ron, the emergency-room nurse. I’ll take you back, and the doctor’s gonna fix you right up, Frank. Is your mom or dad here?”

“My mom went to call Frank’s mom,” said Judy.

“Okay. Tell you what. The children’s wing is right through those red doors. Why don’t you two wait in the playroom there. It’ll be more fun. I’ll tell your mom you’re there, when she comes back.”

Too bad Rocky went home. Now she was stuck with Stink. They pushed through the red doors and into a long hallway. At the end of the hall was a room marked THE MAGIC PLAYROOM. Judy and Stink went in.

The walls were papered with teddy bears in hospital gowns, holding balloons. Each bear had crutches or bandages or sat in a wheelchair. There was a couch, a table with crayons and paper for coloring, a plastic castle, and a bookshelf with books about going to the hospital. There was even a miniature operating table on wheels. The only kid in the playroom was a girl in a wheelchair.

“How come you’re in a wheelchair?” Stink asked her.

“Stink, you shouldn’t ask stuff like that.”

“It’s okay,” said the girl. “I got a new heart. They can’t let me walk around yet. They have to keep me at the hospital for a long, long time to make sure it works.”

“A whole new heart! Wow!” said Stink. “What’s wrong with your old one?”

“Stink!” said Judy, even though she wanted to know too.

“It broke, I