In Uncle Al : In Uncle Al (9780307532572) Read Free Page A

poked Andrew in the eye!

    “Holy moly!” hollered Andrew. “A big eater!” He let go of the cell edges and pulled himself completely inside his red blood cell.
    A stream of bright red cells whooshed Andrew and Judy off again.
    meep …
“Blood got lotsa oxygen now,” said Thudd. “Gonna leave lungs.”
    Judy ran both hands along the capillary wall. “We’d better find another hole,” shesaid. “Or else we’ll be stuck in Uncle Al forever!”
    The capillary tube widened.
    meep …
“Too late!” said Thudd. “Going back to heart now. Heart gonna pump blood into body.”
    The blood river drove them through the flaps of another heart valve. It slammed them into tough heartstrings. It whooshed them up again, then down.
    “Holy moly!” said Andrew. “Where are we going now?”
    meep …
“Brain, maybe,” said Thudd. “Foot, maybe. All kindsa places to go in Unkie Al.”
    Andrew and Judy tumbled through a cloud of prickly orange specks. The specks stuck to their red blood cells like dust.
    Eek!
squeaked Thudd. “Virus!”
    “Viruses!” said Andrew. “Viruses give us colds and flus!”
    meep …
“And lotsa worse stuff, too,” said Thudd.
    “They’re so tiny!” said Judy.
    meep …
“Virus tiny” agreed Thudd. “But virus can get into cell. Change way cell work. Can make Unkie sick, sick, sick!”
    Suddenly long, sticky tentacles wrapped around Andrew’s red blood cell, then Judy’s.
    “Oh no!” said Judy, ducking inside her cell. “These red blood cells were supposed to keep the stupid big eaters off of us.”
    “Wowzers schnauzers!” said Andrew, peeking out of his cell. “The big eaters are pulling the viruses off of our cells!”
    They tossed about in the river of plasma as the big eaters crept over their cells, tugging at the prickly viruses.
    After a while, Andrew felt no tentacles slithering outside his cell. He poked his head up. The big eaters were gone, and most of the orange specks were gone, too.
    They were in a narrow capillary now. The blood sent them lurching through a zigzagging path.
    meep …
“In Unkie’s intestines now,” said Thudd. “Part where food get into blood through capillary spaces.”

    “If food gets in,” said Judy, “we can get out. Let’s find a space in this capillary.”
    Andrew and Judy ran their hands along the capillary wall, feeling for an opening.
    “Found one!” said Andrew. He grabbed the edge of the cell and hung on as a stream of red blood cells rushed by him.
    The opening was loose. Andrew quickly began pushing himself into it. He poked his head out of the capillary and into Uncle Al’s intestines. “Holy moly!” he whispered.

WHO WANTS TO EAT A SCAB?
    Andrew was staring into a tube that looked bigger than a train tunnel. Sticking out from its walls were thousands of finger-shaped things that stretched and wriggled like strange worms.
    Andrew pulled himself farther into Uncle Al’s intestines. He pulled Thudd up, too.
    “The blood is dragging me away!” came Judy’s voice.
    Andrew jerked the Drastic Elastic.
    “Yoof!” cried Judy.
    Andrew smiled. “She’s back!”
    He ran his hand over the finger-y things. They were as soft as velvet.
    meep …
“Called villi,” said Thudd. “Stomach turn food into mush. Intestines break mush into tiny molecules.
    “Villi pick up food molecules like sponge. Send molecules into blood to feed body.”
    A clump of rod shapes was slithering slowly toward Andrew.
    “What’s
that?”
asked Andrew.
    meep …
“Bacteria,” said Thudd.
    “What’s going on up there?” shouted Judy from inside the capillary.
    “Herds of germs are crawling around like slime carpets,” said Andrew.
    “Yuck-a-roony!” Judy exclaimed. “That’s
soooooo disgusting!”
    “Noop! Noop! Noop!” said Thudd. “Lotsa good, good germs here.
    “Animals not live without bacteria in intestines. Bacteria help break down food. Make vitamins.”
    “It’s
still
disgusting!” said Judy from below.
    Glurg glurg glurg