New Kid Catastrophes: 1 (TJ and the Time Stumblers) Read Online Free PDF Page B

groaned.
    “Way oh no,” Herby moaned.
    Blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink , TJ blinked.
    “Open the knife,” Tuna said as he headed for the door. “Let us Freeze-Frame him.”
    “Got it,” Herby said as he scooped up the knife and followed his partner.
    Tuna opened the bedroom door, and there stood Chad in all of his wonderful . . . Chadness.
    “Uh, you’re not TJ,” he said.
    “No, I am,” Herby said in his TJ voice.
    Chad looked over to Herby and scowled. The voice may have been TJ’s, but the body sure wasn’t.
    “Now!” Tuna shouted.
    Herby opened the blade, and

    Chad was morphed into a goldfish.
    “You morphed him?” Tuna yelled. “You were supposed to Freeze Frame him!”
    “The blades are all mixed up!” Herby cried.
    Both boys (and the floor lamp) looked down at the goldfish flopping on the floor.
    “What do we do now?” Herby shouted.
    “Place him in water before he dies,” Tuna yelled.
    “Right!” Herby dropped to his knees and tried to scoop Chad up into his hands. But the little guy was like a greased pig wearing a banana-peel suit covered in ice.
    Translation : He was slippery.
    TJ watched in horror as her next-door neighbor slipped out of Herby’s hands, once, twice, three times, before Herby finally caught the little fellow and rose to his feet.
    Herby turned to her. “A glass of water? Do you have a glass of water?”
    Blink-blink-blink-blink .
    “I believe that’s a no!” Tuna cried.
    “What do we do?” Herby shouted.
    “The bathroom! Down the hall!”
    Herby nodded and raced out the door.
    “But not the sink!” Tuna shouted. “He’ll jump out of the sink.”
    “Then where?” Herby called over his shoulder.
    “The toilet bowl!”
    “Right!” Herby yelled. “Good thinking!”
    “Of course it is!” Tuna agreed. “That’s what I do best!”
    But apparently TJ didn’t agree. Which explains her response:
    Blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink . . .
    A minute later, Herby was back.
    “Is everything secure?” Tuna asked.
    “Cool.” Herby nodded. “Chad is swimming his little heart out.”
    “Excellent.” Tuna turned to TJ, who was busy flashing her little bulb out.
    “What’s with her?” Herby asked.
    “Perhaps she is experiencing some sort of electrical malfunction.”
    Of course, if they would have bothered to ask TJ what she was saying (and given her a mouth to say it), they might have heard something like:
    “YOU PUT CHAD STEEEEL IN OUR TOILET?! ARE YOU NUTS?! DON’T YOU KNOW THAT WITH THREE GIRLS AND ONE BATHROOM, HE’LL BE FLUSHED AWAY IN 1.2 MINUTES!”
    But they didn’t know because they didn’t ask. And they didn’t ask because, as TJ had already figured out, neither one of them was the brightest crayon in the box. Actually, as far as she could tell, they didn’t even know what a crayon was.
    “Perhaps instead of explaining why we are here,” Tuna said, “we should show her.”
    “Groovy,” Herby said as he reached for the Swiss Army Knife.
    “Actually—” Tuna cleared his throat—“do you mind if I do the honors?”
    “You don’t trust me?” Herby asked.
    “Should I?”
    Herby paused to think, then nodded. “Good point.” He tossed the knife to Tuna, who opened another blade.
    TJ closed her eyes, fearing the worst.
    But this time there were no bug translations and no morphing. Instead, everything was perfectly normal. Well, except for the part where they were
     . . . transported to Washington DC
     . . . watching a future president being sworn in
     . . . who just happened to be a woman
     . . . who just happened to look like an older version of TJ.
    Other than that, everything was perfectly normal. (Although being the only flashing lamp in the