The Ooze (8 page)

Toad stood up with his shoulders back and his head up. “Ecology is how much money people make and what they spend it on,” Toad said loudly.

“That is incorrect,” Mr. Emerson told him.

“Are you sure?” Toad asked.

“What?” Mr. Emerson asked in disbelief.

“Check the answer!” Toad insisted. “My dad's an ecologist—so I know I got it right!”

“I'm an economist! An economist!” a man yelled from the back of the auditorium.

“Are you sure, Dad?” Toad began. “I thought—”

“Toad!” Mr. Emerson interrupted. “Please sit down. The answer is incorrect.”

Mr. Emerson turned to Tanya and Melanie. “Girls?” he asked. “Want to give it a try?”

Melanie twisted her charm bracelet around her wrist. “Isn't Ecology the name of that bear who says ‘Only you can prevent forest fires'?”

“No, it is not,” Mr. Emerson said. I could see sweat shining on his face. “It is not even close.”

“Next question. For the Green Team. What year was Louis Pasteur born?”

“Who?” Tanya asked.

“Huh?” Melanie said.

“Red Team?” Mr. Emerson pulled out a handkerchief
and wiped off his forehead while he waited for me and Alix.

Alix shook her head. She brushed the back of her hand across her eyes.

I felt my stomach knot. Was Alix crying? She never cried.

“I'm letting everyone down, aren't I?” Alix exclaimed. “I shouldn't be in the Science Bowl. I'm not smart enough.”

“Neither is Geoff,” Toad interrupted. “He lost us the DNA question.”

“You didn't know the answer, either!” Geoff yelled.

“Did, too!” Toad shot back.

“Did not!” Geoff answered. “And you thought your dad was an ecologist!”

“He is an ecologist!” Toad said.

“Is not!” Geoff growled.

“That is enough!” Mr. Emerson snapped.

“Is, too,” I heard Toad whisper.

Melanie and Tanya weren't paying any attention to Toad and Geoff or Alix or Mr. Emerson. Melanie had another huge bubble going. And Tanya started braiding her hair.

“I don't even know what two plus two is!” Alix suddenly cried out. “Something's wrong with me! I let you down, Al! I'm sorry!” Then she ran off the stage.

I leaped up and started after her. “Stop, Alix!” I shouted. “It's not your fault. It's my—”

Mr. Emerson grabbed my arm. “One of the teachers will see to Alix,” he told me. “Sit down!”

I sat.

“Let's try another question,” Mr. Emerson said in a shaky voice. “This is for the Blue Team. Who discovered that the earth revolves around the sun?”

The sun. That reminded me of something. Breakfast—Michelle quizzing me.

“Toad? Geoff? Do either of you know the answer?”

“I don't want to be on his team anymore!” Geoff blurted out.

“Well, I don't want you on my team!” Toad answered.

“Stop!” Mr. Emerson shouted. He closed his eyes for a long moment. “Stop,” he said more quietly. “Would the Green Team like to answer?”

Melanie raised her hand.

“Yes, Melanie!” Mr. Emerson sounded so happy.

“Can I get some more gum? I think better when I'm chewing gum, and I just swallowed mine,” Melanie said.

Everyone in the audience laughed. I couldn't wait to get off the stage. I couldn't wait for the Science Bowl to end.

“No, you may not have more gum,” Mr. Emerson said firmly. I could see a little muscle twitching near his left eye.

“Then I can't answer the question,” Melanie replied.

“Tanya?” Mr. Emerson said.

Tanya jerked her head up. “Huh?”

Mr. Emerson shook his head. “Anyone? Can
anyone
tell me who discovered that the earth rotates around the sun?”

I glanced out into the auditorium. My parents were both nodding and smiling at me.

Wait. Wait. I knew this.

I pressed my hands against the sides of my head. If I pressed hard enough, maybe the answer would come out of my mouth.

Something about my dad? No, something about a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.

“Galileo!” I exclaimed.

A big smile broke out on Mr. Emerson's face. The audience burst into applause. My mom and dad clapped the hardest.

I scored the first point in the Science Bowl!

U
nfortunately, it was also the
last
point anyone scored in the Science Bowl.

Mr. Emerson asked three more questions—and no one even tried to answer them.

Geoff and Toad got into a shouting match over who was stupider. All Melanie would talk about was gum. And Tanya kept trying out new hairstyles.

Finally Mr. Emerson threw his stack of questions on the floor. “I don't know what's wrong with you!” he cried. “We have always had outstanding students in the Science Bowl! You are all bright kids. Just what kind of stunt are you trying to pull?”

“I studied,” Toad protested. “Every night. I knew all this stuff before lunch!”

But Mr. Emerson wouldn't listen. I had never seen him so angry. “The Science Bowl is over,” he declared. “This school will not hold another one until the students are able to convince me that they are mature enough to take part.”

Most of the kids and teachers and parents filed out of the auditorium quickly and quietly. But my parents waited for me at the edge of the stage.

I walked slowly down the steps and followed them out of the school. I didn't know what to say to them.

None of us spoke until we were a block away from home. Then my father broke the silence. “I don't understand what happened today. You aren't dumb, Al,” he said.

“I knew Galileo, didn't I?” I mumbled. “I got more points than anyone else, didn't I?”

“But you should have been able to answer every question,” Dad replied.

“I'm disappointed in Al's performance, too,” my mother said. “But all the kids had a difficult time this afternoon. It was their first Science Bowl. They were all nervous.”

“Michelle did brilliantly in her first Science Bowl,” my father pointed out. “A little nervousness gets the juices flowing—as long as you know your stuff. And Al obviously didn't.”

We turned into our driveway. “Your father and I have to go back to work,” my mother said. “You stay
in your room and think about what happened this afternoon. We'll talk about it when we get home.”

“We have to make sure this never happens again,” my father added. “If you aren't careful, you'll ruin your chances of getting into a good college.”

College! I probably wouldn't make it through the sixth grade after what the ooze had done to me.

I watched my parents climb in their cars and drive off. Then I headed up to the house. I turned the doorknob and pulled. The door wouldn't open.

I pulled on it again—as hard as I could. It still wouldn't open.

Then I turned the doorknob and
pushed
. The door flew open and I stumbled inside.

My pulse thudded in my ears. I could hardly remember how to open a door. What was I going to do?

I walked down the hall to my room and sat down on my bed. Tubby wandered in and jumped up next to me.

I noticed a magazine on my nightstand. It had a photo of a pair of in-line skates on the cover. I tried to read the name of the magazine. But after the
S
I gave up and threw the magazine on the floor.

I flopped back on my bed and stared at the ceiling. The ooze had destroyed my life. I couldn't read. I couldn't think clearly. I couldn't open a door.

Mr. Emerson was furious at me. My science teacher, Mr. Gosling, probably felt humiliated.

And my parents—my parents thought I was a total loser.

I didn't even want to think about what Michelle would say to me when she heard how I blew it at the Science Bowl.

But here was the worst thing—four other kids touched the ooze. Their lives would be ruined, too. And it was all my fault.

How stupid were we going to get? I wondered.

I decided I really didn't want to think about it anymore.

I didn't want to think about what else could happen to us before the ooze completely destroyed our brains.

I didn't want to think about it—because I had absolutely no way to stop it.

B
uzz
.

I sat up in bed and listened.

Buzz
. There it was again.

I should do something when I hear that sound. But what?

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz
.

I left my room and followed the noise—to the front door.

“Al, let me in!”

It was Colin.

The doorbell. That's what the buzzing sound was—the doorbell. And when you hear the doorbell, you open the door, I told myself.

I pulled open the front door—on the first try!—and
Colin rushed in. His face was red and sweaty. He must have run all the way from school.

“It was the ooze, wasn't it?” Colin asked, panting.

I nodded. “Everyone in the Science Bowl touched it. Now they're dumb, too.”

“What are you going to do?” Colin exclaimed.

“I don't know,” I moaned. “I have to find some way to get our brains back. But I'm too stupid to figure out how!”

“Don't worry,” Colin said. “I'll help you.”

What could Colin do? He was smarter than I was now. But that didn't make him smart enough to solve this problem.

“We have to kill the ooze,” Colin declared.

“Wait,” I said. I knew there was something wrong with that idea. But what? “Wait. If you kill the ooze . . . maybe you would kill our brains with it.”

“Oh, yeah,” Colin answered. He shut his eyes. His forehead wrinkled as he thought.

Then his eyelids popped open and he smiled. “I have a plan. We have to, um, what's that word? I know I got it right on the science quiz.”

“Don't ask me,” I told him.

“Neutralize!” Colin burst out. “That's it. We have to
neutralize
the ooze.”

“Neutralize?” I repeated. That word sounded familiar. But I had no idea what it meant.

“We find a chemical and add it to the ooze, and then the ooze loses its power,” Colin explained.
“Maybe if you touch it after we neutralize it, you'll get your brains back. Come on. Let's go down to the basement.”

What Colin said seemed to make sense—but, then, what did I know? I was stupid.

“The first thing we'll do is get a little piece of the ooze,” Colin said, racing down the basement steps. “Then we can try different chemicals on it until we figure out what will neutralize it.”

Colin hurried over to the cooler. He dragged it from under the table. Then he reached for the lid.

“Stop!” I yelled. “Open it only a little,” I warned him.

“Okay, okay,” he replied. He opened the lid a crack.

Thud-thud. Thud-thud
.

What was that? It was a familiar sound, I knew that. One I'd heard a million times.

Thud-thud. Thud-thud
.

A heartbeat! That's it! A heartbeat!

But it wasn't my heartbeat.

I broke out into a cold sweat.

I inched up behind Colin. He opened the lid a little wider. I leaned down and peered inside.

Deep in the center of the ooze I saw it. A heart. Bigger than my fist. Much bigger. With tangles of thick twisted veins running through it.

The hideous heart pumped and pumped. The huge veins throbbed with every
thud-thud
.

“A heart!” Colin gasped. “It grew a heart!”

Bam!

Without warning, the ooze exploded out of the cooler in a giant wave. It crashed against the lid, sending it flying across the room.

Colin jerked me back as the quivering orange mass sprang from the cooler. It landed on the floor in front of us with a horrible plop.

Then it started to grow. And grow.