Horrid Henry and the Mega-Mean Time Machine by Francesca Simon Page A

Simon
    Illustrated by
Tony Ross

Copyright © 2009 by Francesca Simon
Cover and internal design © 2009 by Sourcebooks, Inc.
Cover and internal illustrations © Tony Ross
Sourcebooks and the colophon are registered trademarks of Sourcebooks, Inc.
    All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from its publisher, Sourcebooks, Inc.
    The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
    Published by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, an imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc.
P.O. Box 4410, Naperville, Illinois 60567–4410
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    Originally published in Great Britain in 2005 by Orion Children’s Books.
    Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
    Simon, Francesca.
  Horrid Henry and the mega-mean time machine / Francesca Simon ; illustrated by Tony Ross.
    p. cm.
     Originally published: Great Britain : Orion Children’s Books, 2005.
     [1. Behavior—Fiction.] I. Ross, Tony, ill. II. Title.
     PZ7.S604Hoam 2009
     [Fic]—dc22
    2008039687
     
    Printed and bound in the United States of America.
    VP 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For my sister,Anne Simon, who reminded me about our time machine

1
HORRID HENRY’S HIKE
    Horrid Henry looked out the window. AAARRRGGGHHH! It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining. The birds were tweeting. The breeze was blowing. Little fluffy clouds floated by in a bright blue sky.
    Rats.
    Why couldn’t it be raining? Or hailing? Or sleeting?
    Any minute, any second, it would happen…the words he’d been dreading, the words he’d give anything not to hear, the words—
    “Henry! Peter! Time to go for a walk,” called Mom.
    “Yippee!” said Perfect Peter. “I can wear my new yellow boots!”
    “NO!” screamed Horrid Henry.
    Go for a walk! Go for a walk! Didn’t he walk enough already? He walked to school. He walked home from school. He walked to the TV. He walked to the computer. He walked to the candy jar
and
all the way back to the comfy black chair. Horrid Henry walked plenty.

    Ugghh. The last thing he needed was more walking. More chocolate, yes. More chips, yes. More
walking?
No way! Why oh why couldn’t his parents ever say, “Henry! Time to play on the computer.” Or “Henry, stop doing your homework this minute! Time to turn on the TV.”
    But no. For some reason his mean, horrible parents thought he spent too much time sitting indoors. They’d been threatening for weeks to make him go on a family walk. Now the dreadful moment had come. His precious weekend was ruined.
    Horrid Henry hated nature. Horrid Henry hated fresh air. What could be more boring than walking up and down streets staring at lampposts? Or sloshing across some stupid muddy park? Nature smelled. Uggh! He’d much rather be inside watching TV.
    Mom stomped into the living room.
    “Henry! Didn’t you hear me calling?”
    “No,” lied Henry.
    “Get your boots on, we’re going,” said Dad, rubbing his hands. “What a lovely day.”
    “I don’t want to go for a walk,” said Henry. “I want to watch
Rapper Zapper Zaps Terminator Gladiator
.”
    “But Henry,” said Perfect Peter, “fresh air and exercise are so good for you.”
    “I don’t care!” shrieked Henry.
    Horrid Henry stomped downstairs and flung open the front door. He breathed in deeply, hopped on one foot, then shut the door.
    “There! Done it. Fresh air
and
exercise,” snarled Henry.
    “Henry, we’re going,” said Mom. “Get in the car.”
    Henry’s ears pricked up.
    “The car?” said Henry. “I thought we were going for a walk.”
    “We are,” said Mom. “In the countryside.”
    “Hurray!” said