How I Got My Shrunken Head Read Free Page B

back.
    I didn’t think they
had
mailboxes in the jungle.
    The flight was very long. So long, they showed three movies in a row!
    Carolyn spent a lot of time reading through her notebooks and papers. But when the flightattendants served dinner, she took a break. And she told me about the work Aunt Benna had been doing in the jungle.
    Carolyn said that Aunt Benna had made many exciting discoveries. She had discovered two kinds of plants that no one had ever seen before. One is a kind of crawling vine that she named after herself.
Benna-lepticus.
Or something like that.
    Carolyn said that Aunt Benna was exploring parts of the jungle where no one had ever gone. And that she was turning up all kinds of jungle secrets. Secrets that will make Aunt Benna famous when she decides to announce them.
    “When was the last time your aunt visited you?” Carolyn asked. She struggled to pull open the plastic wrapping around her utensils.
    “A long time ago,” I told her. “I can hardly remember what Aunt Benna looks like. I was only four or five.”
    Carolyn nodded. “Did she give you any special presents?” she asked. She pulled out the plastic knife and started to spread butter on her dinner roll.
    I scrunched up my face, thinking hard. “Special presents?”
    “Did she bring you anything from the jungle when she visited you?” Carolyn asked. She lowered the dinner roll to the tray and turned to me.
    She had her dark glasses on again, so I couldn’t see her eyes. But I had the feeling she was staring at me, studying me.
    “I don’t remember,” I replied. “I know she didn’t bring me anything as cool as a shrunken head. That head is really awesome!”
    Carolyn didn’t smile. She turned back to her food tray. I could tell she was thinking hard about something.
    I fell asleep after dinner. We flew all night and landed in Southeast Asia.
    We arrived just after dawn. The sky outside the airplane window was a deep purple. A beautiful color I’d never seen before. A big red sun rose slowly through the purple.
    “We change planes here,” Carolyn announced. “A huge jet like this could never land in Baladora. We have to take a tiny plane from here.”
    The plane was tiny, for sure. It looked like a toy. It was painted a dull red. It had two red propellers on the slender wings. I searched for the rubber bands that made the propellers spin!
    Carolyn introduced me to the pilot. He was a young man in a red-and-yellow Hawaiian shirt and khaki shorts. He had slicked-down black hair and a black mustache. His name was Ernesto.
    “Can this thing fly?” I asked him.
    He grinned at me from beneath the mustache. “I hope so,” he replied, chuckling.
    He helped us up metal steps into the cabin. Then he hoisted himself into the cockpit. Carolyn and I filled the cabin. There was only room for the two of us back there!
    When Ernesto started the engine, it chugged and sputtered like a power mower starting up.
    The propellers began to twirl. The engine roared. So loud I couldn’t hear what Ernesto was shouting to us.
    Finally, I figured out that he was telling us to fasten our seat belts.
    I swallowed hard and stared out the tiny window. Ernesto backed the plane out of the hangar. The roar was so loud, I wanted to cover my ears.
    This is going to be exciting,
I thought.
It’s kind of like flying inside a kite!
    A few minutes later, we were in the air, flying low over the blue-green ocean. The bright morning sunlight made the water sparkle.
    The plane bumped and jerked. I could feel the wind blowing it, making us bounce.
    After a while, Carolyn pointed out the islands down below. They were mostly green, with ribbons of yellow sand around them.
    “Those are all jungle islands,” Carolyn told me. “See that one?” She pointed to a large egg-shaped island. “Some people found buried pirate’s treasure on that island. Gold and jewels worth millions of dollars.”
    “Cool!” I exclaimed.
    Ernesto leaned over the throttle and brought the