Judy Moody Saves the World! (5 page)

“Not unless you bring a northeast beach tiger beetle with you.”

“Okay,” said Frank.

“You found one?” Judy asked. “For real?”

“Not a live one. But I found a picture of one. Do you have any stamps at your house?” asked Frank.

“What’s stamps got to do with anything?”

“Just go see if you have any stamps. Stamps with bugs.”

Judy put down the phone and ran to find some stamps in her parents’ desk.

“Just boring old flags,” she told Frank.

“Well, I have gazillions of stamps and —”

“How come you have so many stamps?”

“I collect them. I was pasting some in my album when I saw your beetle on one of the stamps.”

“Bring it over right away,” said Judy. “Tell your mom it’s an emergency.”

Half an hour later, Frank rang the doorbell. “Finally!” said Judy, pulling him into the living room.

Frank put his stamp album on the coffee table and opened it up. He turned to the Insects and Spiders page. “Look at all the beetles,” said Frank. “That’s a lady beetle — those are good luck. And there’s a dung beetle, a Hercules beetle, and a spotted water beetle. Even an elderberry longhorn beetle.”

“Which one is it?” Judy shrieked. Frank pointed to a beetle with a shiny green head and eyes like an alien. Printed below the beetle it said
Cicindela dorsalis dorsalis.

“That’s not a northeast beach tiger beetle,” said Judy. “It’s some kind of a Cinderella beetle.”

“It’s Latin,” said Frank.

“Latin? Don’t they have any beetles that speak English?”

“Read what it says underneath.”

“My beetle’s a beach bum! Thanks a million gazillion, Frank. Now I can work on my report. First I’ll draw a picture for the cover.”

“Want some help?” asked Frank.

“Sure,” said Judy. “You can put the caps back on the markers.”

Judy drew many-legged northeast beach tiger beetles all over the cover of her report. “Make sure they have biting mouth parts,” said Frank. “And wings.”

“Oh, yeah,” said Judy.

“Can I help color them in?” asked Frank.

“Okay. Thanks,” Judy said. “Did you already draw your cover for the monkeyface mussel?”

“Yeah,” said Frank. “It’s a seashell with bumps on it that look like a monkey’s face. No lie. You can see eyes and ears and everything.”

“I got to see that,” said Judy. She printed the title of her report in all capitals. SAVE THE NORTHEAST BEACH TIGER BEETLE.

“Rare!” said Judy.

“Double cool,” said Frank.

Just as she finished her cover, Stink came into the room and looked at Judy’s drawing. “Why did you draw fat, flying footballs all over your report?”

Judy worked on her report all weekend. In Science on Monday, the class presented its endangered species. Frank told the class how a monkeyface mussel got its name. Jessica Finch showed a shiny pigtoe shell that looked like a striped Hershey’s Kiss. Judy bragged about the importance of the northeast beach tiger beetle.

“Tiger beetles recycle dead trees and eat tons of harmful insects, so don’t step on them. They are really fast and tricky, like tigers. Their rain forest cousin, the Hercules beetle, is six inches long! Tiger beetles make a loud buzzing sound, like this.
Bzzzzzzzz!
The end.”

When they were all finished, Mr. Todd said, “Good job! Thank you all for raising our awareness of these special creatures. Remember, if you find one of these animals in the wild, put it back. It’s important not to remove creatures from their natural habitats.”

Suddenly, Judy had an idea. An Einstein idea! It was time to call a secret club meeting. She passed a note to Frank:
Emergency meeting of the Toad Pee Club today! Pass this to Rocky — J.M.

Jessica leaned forward, trying to see Judy’s note. “I’ll bet you can’t spell the word
endangered,
” hissed Jessica.

“Yes I can,” said Judy. “G-O-N-E, gone.”

Judy had ants in her pants all through Spelling.

Bzzzzzzzz!
At last the bell rang, like a sweet chorus of buzzing tiger beetles, and she, Judy Moody, was G-O-N-E, gone.

After school, Frank, Rocky, and Judy crawled inside the blue tent in Judy’s backyard. While they waited for Stink, Judy whispered the plan to Frank and Rocky.

“I’ll get rid of Stink,” said Rocky.

“And I’ll keep an eye on Toady,” said Frank. Finally, Stink crawled inside the tent, carrying Toady, their mascot, in a yogurt container.

“Where are we gonna put Toady?” asked Stink.

“Over here in the corner by me,” said Frank. “I’ll guard him.”

“And don’t pick him up with your bare hands, Stink, or he’ll get you.
If
you know what I mean,” Judy warned him.

“Hey, did you know if you change two letters around in
T-o-a-d-y
you get
t-o-d-a-y
?” asked Stink.

“That’s nice, Stink,” said Judy. “Did you know if you add three letters to Stink you get Stinkbug?”

Stink ignored her. “It’s squishy in here,” he complained.

“Try making yourself a little smaller, Stink. People take up way too much room on the planet. That’s why we have so many problems.”

“Oh brother,” said Stink. “Why are we here anyway?”

“No reason,” said Rocky. He kicked Frank’s shoe and Frank nudged Judy and all three cracked up.

“Let’s brainstorm,” said Frank. “You know, think up stuff we can do in our club. Even though it’s really hot and crowded in here.”

“I’m too squished. It’s too hot in here to brainstorm,” said Stink.

“It’s global warming,” said Judy. “Right here in Virginia.”

Stink panted like a dog. “Stink. Don’t breathe so much. You’ll ruin the ozone,” said Judy. “There’s already a hole over Antarctica!”

“You’re in the ozone,” said Stink. He crawled out of the tent.

“Perfect!” said Judy. Judy, Rocky, and Frank double high-fived each other.

“And he forgot to take Toady!” said Rocky.

“T-o-d-a-y is your lucky day, T-o-a-d-y. Today is the day we save the world, starting with you,” Judy said.

Frank picked up Toady. Toady blinked. “He doesn’t look endangered!”

“No, but your hand is endangered,” said Judy. “Better put him back.”

“I kind of hate to see him go,” said Frank.

“But Mr. Todd said! Remember? If you catch a creature in the wild you have to put it back. Toadnapping is the same thing as hurting the planet,” Judy explained.

“Just think how happy he’ll be,” said Rocky.

They carried Toady down to the stream behind Judy’s house. “I’ll miss you, Toady,” Judy said. “But the time has come for you to join your toady friends and do your toady things. Go make this planet a better place.” On the count of three, Judy, Rocky, and Frank gently tipped the yogurt container on its side and let Toady go.