if you could ignore the fact that the room was starting to smell like
All Aboard Animals
. Mom had been giving him gentle reminders lately about using deodorant.
The nurse sighed. “Well, if this continues, I’m going to have to get in touch with your pediatrician.”
Ben swallowed hard. His doctor might not be as smart as the sleep experts at the DuPont Youth Academy for Sleep Science, but he would probably notice a ferret living inside his patient’s shirt.
He could feel the walls of the Health Office closing in on him. He had to talk to Griffin.
“Ah-choo!”
Logan’s sneeze was completely unconvincing. He grimaced in annoyance. He was never going to get that allergy commercial if he couldn’t come up with a better sneeze than that. And then Logan Kellerman would never get to be as famous as Ferris Atwater, Jr., already was.
Practice!
“Ah-choo! Ah-choo! Ah-
choo
!”
He was sneezing so loudly that he almost missed his mother’s scream. By the time he ran downstairs, she was on the phone, wide-eyed and ranting:
“It’s the biggest rat I’ve ever seen in my life! Right in my basement! There’s no way those little mousetraps are going to work on this monster! Bring a shotgun!”
Heart sinking, Logan opened the doorand peered down the cellar stairs. It was too dark to make out much detail, but the beaver’s eyes burned up out of the gloom, red and wild.
He had a giddy vision of the coverall-clad exterminator coming up out of the basement. “Mrs. Kellerman, you don’t have rats; you’ve got beavers. And turtles and salamanders and frogs. In fact, you’ve got a lot of stuff that disappeared off that zoo boat. And your son bears a striking resemblance to Ferris Atwater, Jr.!”
This called for drastic action. As soon as his mom hung up the phone and left the room, he pounced on the handset and hit redial.
“Cedarville Pest Control,” came a voice on the other end.
“Hi. Did you just get a call from the Kellerman house, 414 DeWitt? I’m calling to cancel. It was all a misunderstanding. It wasn’t a rat. It was a stuffed otter. Sorry for the mix-up. Don’t come.”
Man, that was close! Logan didn’t want to think about what might have happened if he hadn’t been home.
But an hour later, he was experimenting with different combinations of pepper andsmelling salts, looking for the perfect sneeze, when he heard his mother on the phone again.
“Where are you people? You said right away! … Cancel? Of course I didn’t cancel! Why would I cancel? There’s a rat downstairs that could eat my children! Come
now
!”
And when Logan called to nix the appointment yet again, the exterminator was so angry that he vowed he would refuse to come to the Kellerman house even if there was a T. rex chewing on the roof shingles.
Logan let out a breath. He was safe — for now. But there were other exterminators in other towns. Mom wasn’t going to let this lie. They had to get rid of the animals. And fast!
Cleopatra was the first to sense that something was not right. She danced nervously around the kitchen, swinging on the cabinet knobs, chattering in agitation.
“What is it, Cleo?” Savannah asked. “What’s wrong?”
Ding-dong
.
The monkey jumped into Savannah’s arms and clung there, trembling.
“Come on, sweetie, we’ll see who it is.”
She threw the front door wide open. There stood Mr. Nastase and Klaus.
“I knew it!” the zookeeper exclaimed in triumph. “I knew I’d find Eleanor here!”
Savannah slammed the door in their faces. “
Dad!
”
In a split second, Mr. Drysdale was at her side. He opened the door again. “Is there any reason why you two are trespassing on our property?”
“That monkey was stolen from my zoo!” Mr. Nastase said coldly.
“I’ll tell you what you told our lawyer a couple of weeks ago,” said Mr. Drysdale. “All capuchins look alike, and you can’t prove this one is yours. My daughter’s pet was lost, and now she’s home. That’s all
All Aboard Animals
. Mom had been giving him gentle reminders lately about using deodorant.
The nurse sighed. “Well, if this continues, I’m going to have to get in touch with your pediatrician.”
Ben swallowed hard. His doctor might not be as smart as the sleep experts at the DuPont Youth Academy for Sleep Science, but he would probably notice a ferret living inside his patient’s shirt.
He could feel the walls of the Health Office closing in on him. He had to talk to Griffin.
“Ah-choo!”
Logan’s sneeze was completely unconvincing. He grimaced in annoyance. He was never going to get that allergy commercial if he couldn’t come up with a better sneeze than that. And then Logan Kellerman would never get to be as famous as Ferris Atwater, Jr., already was.
Practice!
“Ah-choo! Ah-choo! Ah-
choo
!”
He was sneezing so loudly that he almost missed his mother’s scream. By the time he ran downstairs, she was on the phone, wide-eyed and ranting:
“It’s the biggest rat I’ve ever seen in my life! Right in my basement! There’s no way those little mousetraps are going to work on this monster! Bring a shotgun!”
Heart sinking, Logan opened the doorand peered down the cellar stairs. It was too dark to make out much detail, but the beaver’s eyes burned up out of the gloom, red and wild.
He had a giddy vision of the coverall-clad exterminator coming up out of the basement. “Mrs. Kellerman, you don’t have rats; you’ve got beavers. And turtles and salamanders and frogs. In fact, you’ve got a lot of stuff that disappeared off that zoo boat. And your son bears a striking resemblance to Ferris Atwater, Jr.!”
This called for drastic action. As soon as his mom hung up the phone and left the room, he pounced on the handset and hit redial.
“Cedarville Pest Control,” came a voice on the other end.
“Hi. Did you just get a call from the Kellerman house, 414 DeWitt? I’m calling to cancel. It was all a misunderstanding. It wasn’t a rat. It was a stuffed otter. Sorry for the mix-up. Don’t come.”
Man, that was close! Logan didn’t want to think about what might have happened if he hadn’t been home.
But an hour later, he was experimenting with different combinations of pepper andsmelling salts, looking for the perfect sneeze, when he heard his mother on the phone again.
“Where are you people? You said right away! … Cancel? Of course I didn’t cancel! Why would I cancel? There’s a rat downstairs that could eat my children! Come
now
!”
And when Logan called to nix the appointment yet again, the exterminator was so angry that he vowed he would refuse to come to the Kellerman house even if there was a T. rex chewing on the roof shingles.
Logan let out a breath. He was safe — for now. But there were other exterminators in other towns. Mom wasn’t going to let this lie. They had to get rid of the animals. And fast!
Cleopatra was the first to sense that something was not right. She danced nervously around the kitchen, swinging on the cabinet knobs, chattering in agitation.
“What is it, Cleo?” Savannah asked. “What’s wrong?”
Ding-dong
.
The monkey jumped into Savannah’s arms and clung there, trembling.
“Come on, sweetie, we’ll see who it is.”
She threw the front door wide open. There stood Mr. Nastase and Klaus.
“I knew it!” the zookeeper exclaimed in triumph. “I knew I’d find Eleanor here!”
Savannah slammed the door in their faces. “
Dad!
”
In a split second, Mr. Drysdale was at her side. He opened the door again. “Is there any reason why you two are trespassing on our property?”
“That monkey was stolen from my zoo!” Mr. Nastase said coldly.
“I’ll tell you what you told our lawyer a couple of weeks ago,” said Mr. Drysdale. “All capuchins look alike, and you can’t prove this one is yours. My daughter’s pet was lost, and now she’s home. That’s all
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