My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish Read Free Page A

fishy.” She giggled. She stared at Frankie in the bag. “Swishy little fishy,” she said.
    I ran back to the cupboard and searched. Flour, sugar, sprinkles, icing, tiny little icing polar bears … Aha! Food coloring. I grabbed the little green bottle and ran back to Sami and Frankie.
    Sami was still holding the bag, but she was much quieter now. She just whispered “swishy little fishy” over and over. Frankie stared at her with his big green bulging eyes and she just stared ahead. What was with this goldfish? He could survive toxic gunge, jump out of windows, and now he could make the noisiest little kid on the planet go quiet. As I looked at Frankie a little lightbulb went on somewhere in the back of my head.

    Frankie’s glowing green eyes. They looked like the “Undead Gaze” that the zombies in Mark’s comics used to hypnotize people. And Sami’s stare! One of her eyes was looking at the wall and the other one was looking up my left nostril at the same time.
    It was a goldfish stare!
    Maybe I hadn’t saved Frankie’s life at all when I shocked him with the battery? Maybe I brought him back from the dead … and now Frankie was a Big Fat Zombie Goldfish! And somehow he had hypnotized my best friend’s sister.

 

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    I had to get back to Pradeep. He’d know what to do. Maybe they’d learned about hypnotized little sisters in Cub Scouts? I grabbed Sami’s slimy, chocolatey hand and headed for the back door just as Pradeep’s mom came back into the kitchen.
    â€œOh, hello, Tom. I thought you and Pradeep were playing at your house. Isn’t Pradeep with you?”
    â€œUm, hi, Mrs. Kumar, um, Pradeep asked me to come and get Sami ’cause my mom said she could play with the new goldfish we got,” I mumbled. “Is that OK?”
    â€œSwishy little fishy,” Sami said again.
    â€œTell your mom that’s fine, but Pradeep should bring Samina back in half an hour for dinner. Would you like to come as well? I can—”
    â€œOK,” I blurted out, pulling Sami by the hand. Pradeep’s mom was still talking as we ran out the door and around the back of my house. I pushed Sami through the dog flap in the kitchen door (Escape Route 14) and then squeezed through myself.
    Sami was still doing the freaky goldfish-stare thing and I knew I had to get Frankie back up the stairs and into his bowl with clean green water or Mark would completely kill me. I peeked around the corner into the living room, but Mark and Pradeep were gone. Then I heard Mark’s mumbling voice upstairs.
    Frankie started thrashing around in the water like mad at the sound of Mark’s voice and I swear his eyes started glowing more than ever. I quickly pushed Sami and Frankie back into the kitchen.
    â€œJust wait here,” I said. “And remember, shhhh.”
    Sami put a chocolatey finger to her lips as she held the bag in the other arm like a baby doll. “Shhhh,” she said.
    OK, I know that it might seem strange to leave my friend’s hypnotized little sister alone with the zombie fish that hypnotized her, but I don’t know how to explain it, I just kind of knew she wouldn’t be in danger with Frankie. I also knew, even back when my brother was mostly evil, Pradeep would totally be in danger with Mark. Zombie goldfish are like Code Blue in jelly bean terms, but EVIL SCIENTIST big brothers are definitely Code Red.
    I snuck upstairs and slowly peered around the corner into Mark’s room. Pradeep was on the floor. Oh no, I was too late! I could see his feet but not his body or his head, because Mark’s desk was in the way. Pradeep wasn’t moving at all. Mark must have knocked him out. He’d gone completely evil now. The millipedes in my stomach were having a squirming party.

    Mark stood in front of Pradeep and looked at the goldfish bowl. “Fine,” he said. “If you won’t tell me