Crane Fly Crash Read Online Free PDF

loomed back into Jenny’s bedroom. It was all too big to take in properly. He could see a long shining thing, moving in front of the gigantic figure. The long shining thing was making the
VROOOOOOOO
noise. It was moving from side to side. And getting closer.
    â€œWhat
is
it?” asked Josh. Jenny squeaked and shut her wings up tight and scrunched her four legs close together.
    â€œIt’s Mom,” said Danny. “And the vacuum.”
    â€œOh dear,” said Josh.
    â€œOh help!” yelled Danny. “It’s coming this way.” And it was. The long shiny thing was waving through the air. Mom always vacuumed the cobwebs off the wall, ceilings, and … windowsills!
    CRASH!
    Suddenly the shiny metal tube, with an enormous round, black sucking mouth, was at the far end of the windowsill. A cloud of dust and cobwebs was swirling up in front of it and then being whipped away into the dark tunnel. A tunnel from which there could be no escape.

    â€œFLY! FLY!” shrieked Danny. They all shimmied up into the air, shrieking with fear. The sucking nozzle swept along the sill to the corner where they’d been crouched seconds earlier. Then it began to climb up toward the top corner of the window. The three crane flies were flapping about in a kind of multi-legged disco dance of terror.
    â€œOutside again!” yelled Danny. But Josh saw the black arrow shape flicker past, seeking more insect munchies.
    â€œNO—THIS WAY!” bawled Josh. He shot across the glass at an angle, past the upper end of the nozzle. He dropped down as fast as he could go, off the edge of the sill and into a dark narrow chasm.
    Plop! Plop! Jenny and Danny skidded in behind him. They all clung to the dusty wallpaper, jiggling up and down with shock. “We should be safe here,” whispered Josh. “We’re down behind the radiator.”
    â€œWhat about spiders?” said Danny, looking around edgily. He’d come horribly close to getting eaten by a spider when he spent some time being a housefly earlier that summer.
    â€œCan’t see any,” said Josh.
    â€œOK—what about when she changes back?” said Danny. “It can’t be long now before she cha—I mean, before she
wakes up from her dream
,” he added, realizing that Jenny was listening. “She’s going to end up a bit flat!”
    Josh nodded. Changing back to normal would be impossible behind the radiator. Jenny would get squished. She would look like a human waffle.
    â€œLook—I don’t know what I’m doing here,” said Jenny, suddenly. “This is a stupid dream, and I’ve had enough of it. I’m going to meet the sucky monster and get it over with. Then I’ll wake up.”
    â€œNo! Jenny—don’t!” yelled Danny and Josh.
    She looked quite surprised. “You
don’t
want me to get sucked up by a monster? Man, that’s a shock. Well, in that case, I’ll just have to wake myself up!” She scrunched up her horsey brown face. The little fingery bits on her mouth twiddled through the air as she concentrated hard.
    KER-LANGGGGG! VROOOOOOOOOOOOOO
    Josh and Danny and Jenny all looked up and shrieked. Mom had changed over to the thin nozzle. The one that could fit down behind the radiator! And it was hurtling straight toward them!

Danny went first. He was the closest. He suddenly found his wings were being dragged upward by the sucking vortex of air that was funneling up into the nozzle. The end of the nozzle was flattened and narrow. But it was still wide enough to suck him right through.
    â€œHEEELP!” he yelled as he tried to hang on to one of the fixings that held the radiator to the wall. First, his back legs flew up behind him … then the middle ones … then … “AAARGH!” he screamed as he lost his grip and shot up through the air, spinning and twisting.
    â€œDANEEEE!” shouted Josh, trying vainly to catch him as