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

…
    A rumbling sound was coming from above.
    Suddenly a waterfall of glop began pouring into Uncle Al’s intestines.
    meep …
“Unkie’s lunch coming!” said Thudd.
    The villi wriggled and stretched wildly.
    meep …
“Villi trying to soak up lotsa food,” said Thudd.
    Andrew pulled himself back into the capillary before the flood of food hit him. He let the stream of blood carry them off.
    “I’m glad we’re not getting out of Uncle Al
that
way,” said Judy.
    The walls of their capillary widened. Streams of dish-shaped red blood cells and squid-like white blood cells swirled by. Small odd-shaped bits and pieces mixed among the crowds of cells.
    “Where
are
we?” asked Judy.
    meep …
“Going down Unkie’s leg now,” said Thudd.
    “Ouch!” came the voice of Uncle Al. It sounded far away. “Now, how did I get this sliver in my leg? Must have rubbed up against the side of the boat. There! I’ve got it.”
    Suddenly, ahead of Andrew and Judy, stringy strands began growing in the stream of blood. The strands tangled together like a messy spiderweb. Red blood cells and white blood cells were getting trapped in the web. A second later, Andrew and Judy were tangled in the web, too!
    “Yaaargh!” yelled Andrew.
    “Aaaaack!” hollered Judy.
    Andrew ripped at the strands, but new strands kept appearing out of nowhere. He got more and more tangled.
    meep …
“Unkie got cut from sliver,” said Thudd.
    “When someone bleed, molecules inblood come together, make sticky strings. Strings trap blood cells and other stuff. Make plug to stop bleeding. Called clot. Clot turn into scab.”
    “I’m not going to be part of anybody’s
scab!”
said Judy battling the strands. “How do we get out of here?”
    meep …
“Sticky strands made of same kinda stuff as spiderweb and meat,” said Thudd. “Called protein. Remember how Drewd and Oody escape from spiderweb?”
    “Yuck-a-rama!” said Judy turning a little green. “We had to
eat
the spiderweb!”
    “Yoop! Yoop! Yoop!” said Thudd. “Now gotta eat stringy stuff!”
    “Uggggh!” said Judy, watching Andrew begin to gobble the sticky strands.
    “Tastes like raw hamburger,” said Andrew.
    Judy rolled her eyes, but she pushed a small wad of the webby stuff into her mouth. “Tastes
awful!”
she gagged.

    Andrew stuffed the strands into his mouth till he felt he would burst. Judy kept chomping away, too. When just a few strands were left, they ripped their way out.
    Soon they were tumbling through Uncle Al’s blood again.
    meep …
“In Unkie’s foot now,” said Thudd.
    “Oof!” hollered Andrew, whamming into something soft that blocked their way.
    “Umph!” yelled Judy, crashing into Andrew.
    Andrew’s flashlight lit up something awful.
    “Yaaaaargh!” hollered Andrew.
    “Nooooooo!” screamed Judy.
    I’m face to face with the Loch Ness Monster!
thought Andrew.
    But the head of this monster had no eyes. It had no nose. It did have a huge, black mouth cave with four gigantic, jagged teeth at the top.

BLEEP, BLOOP, BLURP …
    The horrible head waggled back and forth. Andrew and Judy desperately dodged away from the humongous mouth, but the rushing blood kept pushing them toward it. It was blocking the capillary.
    meep …
“Hookworm parasite!” said Thudd. “Parasite take food from other living thing, called host. This parasite wanna get food from Unkie Al.
    “Hookworm chew through skin. Get under skin. Creep around. Suck blood. Lay eggs. Make lotsa little hookworms.
    “Hookworm get into Unkie’s foot whenUnkie walk through river. Lotsa parasites live in river water.”

    “Cheese Louise!” said Judy, fighting to stay away from the jagged teeth. “This monster’s going to eat us, and poor Uncle Al will have disgusting worm families crawling around under his skin!”
    “Don’t worry,” said Andrew, struggling to stay out of the horrid mouth. “The big-eatercells can tell the parasite doesn’t belong inside Uncle Al. They’ll be