The Zucchini Warriors Read Free Page B

that way,” said Mark Davies slowly, “I guess we owe it to the Hall to do our best.”
    “I’m with you,” said Larry.
    The other boys present all murmured their assent.
    Boots looked half amused and half disgusted. “All right, Bruno, you’ve done it again. You’ve convinced everybody. What do you want us to do first?”
    Bruno smiled engagingly. “The first thing we do is get over to the wagons and pig out on those zucchini sticks!”
    * * *
    “I don’t get it,” said Boots, scrambling to keep up with Bruno, who was striding purposefully down the hallway of Dormitory 2. “Why do we have to see Elmer Drimsdale?”
    “With Hank the Tank on our side, and the football team in motion and bound for greatness,” Bruno replied, “we’re going to be up for a rec hall soon. We can’t take any chances. We’re going to the smartest guy in the school to get the perfect layout.”
    “Why do we have to submit a plan at all?” asked Boots.
    “Because if we don’t tell them exactly what we want, they’ll build us the kind of thing
they
want us to have.” He rapped sharply at the door of room 201. “Hi, Elm. It’s us.”
    Bruno kicked the door, and the two boys stepped inside. Both Bruno and Boots had once been roommates of Elmer’s, but each time they entered his living space there was cause to gawk afresh. Elmer was a one-man research and development team for everything, and the small dormitory room was completely cluttered with experiments and inventions. Books were piled everywhere, with rare potted plants on top of the stacks. A complete chemistry laboratory dominated the left side of the room, forcing Elmer’s formidable collection of computers and electronic gadgetry to the right. And tools, coils of wire, voltage meters, microscopes and crystals were piled in and around the ant farm and the fish tank. On the walls were various charts and graphs of ongoing experiments, and a large labelled diagram of the Pacific salmon, Elmer’s pride and joy.
    “Oh, hello.” Elmer appeared in the bathroom doorway. “What can I do for you?”
    “Elmer. Just the man I wanted to see,” said Bruno. “We need you to help us with the new floor plan for the rec hall.”
    “But I understood that the new facility will be constructed only when the football team begins to meet with some success,” Elmer protested.
    “In other words, soon,” said Bruno. “So see what you can come up with. The Fish dumped all over our last plan. I think he hates staircases. Maybe we should go for a one floor, ranch-style layout.” He looked thoughtful, and mused, “Then how would we get in the scenic overview?”
    Suddenly Boots’s sharp eyes detected some movement by the base of the computer, and he grabbed Bruno’s shoulder. “Look!”
    “A rat!” Bruno exclaimed. “They’ve got rats in Dormitory 2!”
    “No!” Elmer bent down and picked up a small brown creature. “It’s my latest experiment.”
    “Experiment?!”
chorused Bruno and Boots in horror.
    “You’re not going to — like —
dissect
it or anything?” Bruno added.
    “Of course not,” said Elmer, highly insulted. “This is a Manchurian bush hamster, a rare species descended from both the cat and rodent families.”
    Both boys stared. The Manchurian bush hamster was about the size of a kitten, only thinner, with shorter fur all over its body, except for the neck. There the hair was long and stiff, forming an elaborate frame for the small head.
    “Well, what are you going to do with it?” asked Boots.
    “The Manchurian bush hamster is in danger of becoming extinct,” lectured Elmer. “They breed very seldom, and no one knows how to make them reproduce more frequently. If an answer can’t be found soon, I’m afraid we might lose the whole species.”
    Bruno brightened. “Well, those bush hamsters’ troubles are over if you’re on the case, Elm. You’ll figure it out, no sweat.”
    Elmer shook his head sadly. “I’m not doing very well, Bruno.”