21 - Go Eat Worms! (8 page)

He tried playing a Nintendo football game to pass the time. But he was so
excited and nervous, he kept using the wrong fingers on the controller, and the
machine beat him easily.

Then he paced back and forth in his room, watching the clock slowly slide
from number to number.

At ten-thirty, he and Regina said good night to their parents and returned to
their rooms. Todd changed into his pajamas, turned out the lights, then sat on
the edge of his bed, waiting.

Waiting for his parents to go to bed.

He heard their door close at eleven-fifteen. Then he waited another fifteen
minutes, sitting tensely in the dark, listening to the soft creaks and groans of the house,
listening to the heavy silence.

A little after eleven-thirty, Todd climbed out of his bed and tiptoed
silently out of his room.

It’s time, he told himself, creeping down the dark hall to the stairs. Time
to get to the bottom of this.

Time to solve the mystery of the worms.

The basement stairs creaked loudly under Todd’s bare feet. But there was
nothing he could do about that.

He tried to move as silently as a mouse. He didn’t want to alert anyone in
his family that he was awake. He grabbed the wall and caught his balance as he
started to stumble on the basement steps.

Taking a deep breath, he stopped and listened. Had anyone heard him?

Silence.

The wooden steps were steep and rickety. But Todd couldn’t turn on the
lights. He didn’t want anyone to see him.

Not even the worms.

A pale square of light spread across the basement floor, moonlight pouring
through the narrow window up near the basement ceiling. Todd stepped around the light, keeping in the dark shadows.

His heart pounded as he made his way slowly, carefully across the room. “Ow!”
He let out a whispered cry as he banged his waist into the corner of the
Ping-Pong table. He quickly covered his mouth before he could cry out again.

The pain slowly faded. Rubbing his side, Todd picked up a tall stool and
carried it over to one of the concrete beams that rose from floor to ceiling.

He set the stool down slowly, carefully. Gazing around the beam, he could see
the worm tank on its table. The glass tank reflected the glow of the moonlight
that invaded the dark basement.

Todd lifted himself silently onto the stool. Hidden behind the square
concrete beam, he could watch the worms—but they couldn’t see him.

He gripped his hands around the beam and steadied himself on the tall stool.
Glancing up, he saw the high window, filled with moonlight, glow like silver.
The light cast eerie shadows over the entire basement.

Todd forced his breathing to slow to normal.

Got to take it easy. It may be a long wait, he told himself. I may be sitting
here, watching the worm tank all night.

What did he expect to see?

He wasn’t sure. But he knew something would happen. Something would happen to explain the mystery of the worms to him.

Leaning against the beam, Todd stared at the glass aquarium tank. Were the
worms plotting and planning inside? Were they deciding which ones of them would
crawl upstairs and climb into Todd’s things?

Todd suddenly imagined a different story. Glancing back at the silvery
basement window, he imagined it opening. He imagined a dark figure sliding into
the basement. Patrick. He imagined Patrick lowering himself onto the basement
floor, then crossing the room to the worm tank.

He imagined Patrick pulling up worms from the tank and sneaking upstairs with
them. Todd could see Patrick grinning as he dropped the worms into Todd’s
backpack, slipped one into the cornflakes box, hid one in Todd’s sneaker.

It’s possible, Todd told himself, turning his attention back to the worms. It
isn’t a totally crazy idea. It isn’t as crazy an idea as a bunch of worms
planning their revenge….

He yawned, covering his mouth so the worms wouldn’t hear.

How long will I have to sit here? he wondered. He felt a chill at the back of
his neck. It was creepy down here in the dark.

What were those soft skittering sounds?

Mice?

He didn’t have long to think about them. A loud
creak
behind him made
Todd gasp.

He gripped the concrete beam.

The stairs began to groan.

He heard the slow thud of footsteps. Footsteps growing louder, moving down
the stairs.

Todd lowered his feet to the floor. He pressed himself tightly behind the
beam, trying to hide.

The stairs creaked and groaned.

The
thud
of footsteps stopped at the bottom of the steps. Todd
squinted hard into the darkness.

Who was it? Who was sneaking down to the basement?

Who was sneaking down to the worm tank?

Who?

Todd gasped as the ceiling lights flickered on. It took a second or two for
his eyes to adjust to the bright fluorescent light.

Then he saw the figure standing at the light switch.

“Dad!”
Todd cried.

Mr. Barstow jumped in surprise. He had a yellow bathrobe slung loosely around
him. He carried one of Todd’s baseball bats in both hands, raised waist high.

“Dad—what are
you
doing down here?” Todd cried shrilly.

Todd’s father lowered the baseball bat. His mouth dropped open as he squinted
across the room at Todd. “What are
you
doing down here?” he demanded.

“I’m… uh… watching the worms,” Todd confessed.

Mr. Barstow let the bat drop to the floor. It clanked noisily at his feet. He made his way quickly over to Todd, carefully
stepping around the Ping-Pong table.

“I heard the basement steps creaking,” he told Todd. “I heard a crash down
here, someone banging into the Ping-Pong table. I—I thought it was a burglar.
So I grabbed the bat and came down to investigate.”

“It’s just me, Dad,” Todd said. “I had to find out how my worms are getting
into my stuff. So I decided to watch them all night and see if—”

“I’ve had it with those worms!” Mr. Barstow exclaimed angrily.

“But, Dad—” Todd protested.

“What’s
going
on down there? Are you okay?” Mrs. Barstow called from
the top of the stairs.

“Everything is okay, dear!” Todd’s father called. “It’s just more worm
trouble.”

“Those disgusting worms again? Come up here and get back to bed,” Mrs.
Barstow ordered. Todd could hear her padding back to her room.

“Those worms are out of here tomorrow,” Mr. Barstow said sternly, tightening
the belt of the yellow robe.

“What?” Todd cried. “Dad, please—”

“Enough is enough, Todd. I don’t understand what’s been going on with your
worms,” his father said, frowning, resting his hands on his waist. “But I can’t
have you scaring everyone in the house, sneaking around in the middle of the night, sitting in the dark,
staring at a tank of worms instead of getting your sleep.”

“But—but—” Todd sputtered.

Mr. Barstow shook his head. “My mind is made up. No discussion. The worms go.
Tomorrow afternoon, take them outside and dump them all in the garden.”

“But, Dad—”

Mr. Barstow raised a hand for silence. “I mean it. In the garden. Tomorrow
afternoon. I’m sure you can find something better to collect than worms.”

He placed both hands on Todd’s shoulders and marched him toward the stairs.

Todd sighed unhappily, but didn’t say any more. He knew better than to argue
with his father. When his dad made up his mind about something, he could be very
stubborn.

Todd climbed the rest of the way to his room in silence, feeling angry and
disappointed.

As he dropped onto his bed and jerked up the covers, he grumbled to himself
about the most disappointing thing of all—he hadn’t solved the mystery.

All that planning. All that sneaking around.

He’d had such high hopes for getting to the bottom of it once and for all.

But, no.

Not only was he about to lose all of his worms, but now he would
never
know how the worms got into his things.

I don’t
care
about those stupid worms! he told himself. I don’t
care
that I have to throw them all away!

All I really care about is solving the mystery!

Angry and frustrated, Todd turned and started to punch his pillow. Hard. With
both fists. Again. Again.

He didn’t realize that the whole mystery would be solved—accidentally—just a few hours later.

It rained the next morning. Todd didn’t even notice as he walked slowly to
school. His thoughts were darker than the storm clouds over his head.

He dropped his jacket in his locker and pulled out his Trapper-Keeper.
Stuffing it into his rain-drenched backpack, he spotted Danny.

As planned, Danny was waiting outside the classroom door. Waiting to hear how
Todd had solved the worm mystery.

Well, I guess Danny will just have to be disappointed, too, Todd thought
glumly. He straightened his Raiders cap and, hoisting his wet backpack onto his
shoulders, made his way across the hall to his friend.

Danny’s red hair was soaked and matted down on his head. It looked more like
a helmet than hair.

Todd pushed his way through a group of laughing, shouting kids, all shaking rainwater off themselves, puddles on the hall
floor at their feet.

“So? How’d it go?” Danny asked eagerly as Todd stepped up to him.

Todd started to tell his friend the bad news—but he stopped when he heard a
voice he instantly recognized.

Regina!

Around the corner, out of view of the two boys, Regina and Beth were sharing
a good laugh.

“So he has to dump out all those gross worms today!” Regina was gleefully
telling Beth. “Isn’t that awesome?”

“Awesome!” Beth declared.

Both girls laughed.

“Todd is such a jerk!” Beth exclaimed. “Did he really think the worms were
crawling upstairs on their own? Did he really think they were coming to get
him?”

“Yeah. I think he did!” Regina said through her scornful laughter.

Around the corner from the two girls, Danny and Todd stood listening in
shock. Neither of them moved a muscle. Todd’s mouth had dropped open. He could
feel his face growing red-hot.

“So today’s the last day?” Beth was saying. “Did you put any worms in his
stuff today?”

“Only two,” Regina replied. “Mom gave him a thermos of hot vegetable soup
since it’s such a nasty day. I dropped one in the thermos. And I slipped one into his jacket
pocket. He’s on his way to school. He probably stuck his hand in and found my
little surprise.”

Both girls laughed again.

“And he never guessed it was you the whole time?” Beth asked Regina.

“He guessed,” Regina replied. “But I’m such a good actress. I acted shocked
and totally grossed out. Pretty soon, he didn’t know
what
to think!”

They laughed some more. Then Todd heard them head the other way down the
hall.

He turned to find Danny staring at him. “Todd—do you
believe
it? It
was your sister the whole time!”

“I knew it,” Todd lied, trying to sound casual. “I knew it was Regina.”

“Well, what are you going to do?” Danny demanded, still staring hard at Todd.

“Get revenge, of course,” Todd replied quickly.

“Revenge? How?” his friend asked.

“I’m not sure,” Todd told him. “I just know it’s going to take a
lot
of worms!”

The rain stopped after lunch. The heavy, dark clouds drifted away, and bright
sunshine poured down from a clear blue sky.

Todd eagerly watched the weather change through the classroom windows. The
sunshine filled him with hope.

This means the worms will be coming up from the ground, he thought happily.
Dozens and dozens of worms.

He was desperate to get out and collect them. He was going to need a ton of
worms to pay his sister back for her mean joke.

Unfortunately, just before school let out, he and Danny were caught having a
glue fight during art class. Ms. Travianti, the art teacher, made them both stay
after school and clean up all the paintbrushes.

It was nearly four o’clock when Todd led the way to his favorite
worm-collecting spot behind second base of the softball diamond. The playground was deserted. There were
no other kids in sight.

Todd and Danny both carried empty coffee cans they had borrowed from the art
room. Without saying a word, they bent down and set to work, pulling up long,
brown and purple worms, and dropping them into the cans.

“How many do we need?” Danny asked, poking in the soft mud till he found a
big wet one.

“As many as we can get,” Todd replied. He still hadn’t figured out exactly
what he was going to do to Regina. He just knew it was going to be totally
awesome. And gross.

“You really should pay back Beth, too,” Danny suggested. He dug a hole with
his chubby hand and discovered three big worms tangled together.

“Yeah. You’re right,” Todd agreed. “We’ll save a bunch for Beth.”

Todd stood up and pulled off his jacket. Even though it was late afternoon,
the sun still beamed down. He was already sweating.

“Look at this one!” Danny declared. He held up a stubby pink worm.

“It’s just a baby,” Todd said. “Toss it in the can, anyway. I need as many as
I can get. Big or little.”

Danny dropped the stubby pink worm in with the others.

Todd pulled up a really long one. He carefully brushed clumps of mud off it before dropping it in the can. “The rain always
brings up the really big ones,” he told Danny.

The ground rumbled.

At first Todd didn’t notice.

“Did you feel that?” Danny asked.

“Feel what?”