Crane Fly Crash Read Online Free PDF Page B

he was flung past.
    â€œDANEEEE!” cried Jenny. And she lost her grip too and was whipped away up after her little brother.

    â€œNO! JENNY! DANNY! COME BACK!” wailed Josh, even as his own back legs were pulled off the wall. He was tugged up, up, to the swirling black funnel of death. He could just imagine spinning and flailing all the way up the metal nozzle. Along the wobbly plastic tube into the big chamber full of dust and fluff and old chips and dried-up peas and toenails and dead flies and dead spiders and dead … he gulped … crane flies. It was a vacuum tomb. And he was going into it…
    THWIP!
Up he shot, and he had only time to notice the black rim of the nozzle whacking his legs together when all of a sudden there was a
CLUNK.
And the
VROOOOOO
noise went
VROOo-oo-ossssssssssssss
. And stopped.
    Josh clung on to the rim of the narrow nozzle, staring around in amazement. Someone had switched the vacuum off! It was OFF.
    Then, in the silence, he heard a whimper. He turned, peering up into the dusty gloom of the nozzle tube. He could just make out a tangle of skinny brown limbs and wings and four eyes a little way above him.
    â€œDanny? Jenny?! Are you OK?” he squeaked. They squeaked back. And then they wriggled, and a second later, they were tumbling down to him. All three of them fell out of the nozzle in a leggy knot and hurtled down to the floor. They didn’t have much time to get any of their wings going, but fortunately it was a soft landing. They fell on one of Jenny’s slippers.
    For a moment they just stared at one another. Then they began the job of untangling and counting limbs. Jenny was sniffing a bit. “You tried to save me,” she murmured. “You know, even though it’s just a dream, that was quite sweet of you both … ”
    Danny and Josh stared at her for a few astonished moments. Then they shook their heads and carried on with the leg sorting.
    â€œHow many legs have you lost?” said Danny.
    â€œTwo,” said Josh. “You?”
    â€œOne. And a half,” said Danny, inspecting the one that was snapped off at the knee. “It does sting a bit, doesn’t it?”
    â€œHow about you, Jenny?” asked Josh.
    â€œI feel funny,” said Jenny. She had only three legs left. Her wings were all scrunched up. There was something about the look on her face that warned Josh and Danny to back away. Fast.
    â€œHere she goes!” yelled Josh. “Fly for it! N OOOW! ”
    Mom unplugged the vacuum and then wound up the cord. There was a thud. She turned around. She stared in astonishment at her daughter, who was lying down next to the radiator, waving her legs in the air and going, “One—two! One—two! I’ve got two legs! Two legs! Not three! Phew!”
    â€œHow did you get down there?” Mom asked, mystified. She didn’t notice two crane flies that flapped past her left ear and out onto the landing.
    â€œI don’t know,” said Jenny, scratching her head. “I think I’ve been working too hard at school. I just had the freakiest dream …”

Mom looked into Danny and Josh’s room. “Oh! So you’re back now, Josh. Where’s Danny?”
    Josh turned around, with his hands cupped together. “Oh—he’s around,” he smiled, brightly. He seemed quite out of breath.
    â€œWhat have you got there?” asked Mom, warily. She knew how much Josh loved creepy-crawlies.
    â€œOh—just a little friend,” said Josh. He opened his fingers to reveal a crane fly with only four and a half limbs.
    â€œHe’s been through the wars!” said Mom, squinting at Danny.
    â€œMmmm,” said Josh, giving her a rather hard stare.
    As Mom went outside again, she heard another thud and grinned, shaking her head. Danny must have been hiding! The boys were playing one of their games.
    Danny and Josh ran into Jenny’s room.
    â€œGet OUT of