10 A Villain Gets Herself into Hot Water I won’t lie to you Strange things had been going on for a while but I didn’t realize how truly exceptional I was until the day of the dancing alligator attack It was noon at the track and field semifinals Top athletes from my school Gledhill Elementary our rival school R R Reginald and all the other elementary schools in the city of Gleason were gathered at Blinkstone Park We were supposed to be eating our packed lunches at the picnic tables near the duck pond then doing our warm-up stretches while we waited for Coach Shipley to hand out the race numbers But because I’m kind of a natural at the hundred meter dash I wasn’t too worried about preparing Instead I was putting the finishing touches on my newest comic strip Cat the Kibble Catastrophe In this action-packed episode 1
Cat the hero who’s part-computer part-cat and all awesome must once again use her cleverness cuteness and state-of-the-art circuitry to defeat her archenemy Poodle Noodle the villainous balloon-animal poodle Heh heh heh I will use this bomb to blow up the cat food factory Not on your life Poodle Noodle I Cat will stop you ACK Water Heh heh Watch me float across this lake with ease 11
Cat was in a tight spot again that was for sure and I hated to leave her there but my best friend Bradley was peering over my shoulder Is she going to use her repulsor beam or her telescopic claws he asked I shrugged I didn’t really know yet Even though I was her creator Cat often kept me guessing as much as she did her readers which was fine with me Not knowing the end of each adventure was my favorite part about writing it Well you should probably stop drawing and eat now anyway Bradley pointed out reasonably I know you said you’re a naturally fast runner but it’s important to load up on carbs before the race For maximum energy He was right of course Bradley was always thinking ahead I unzipped my backpack hoping my dad had remembered that I’d asked for pasta but no such luck What is that Bradley asked I pulled a bubblegum-pink bottle out of my lunch bag and 12
set it down on the picnic table It was a recycled Pepto-Bismol container but it was nestled in one of those foam drink holders that are supposed to keep cans of soda cold when you go on a picnic except this bottle was steaming hot and there was a string coming out the top I held the thing turning it quickly to keep my fingers from overheating I have no clue I said It’s practically boiling though Do you think it might explode Bradley’s eyes went wide with hope A small explosion would have definitely been Normal Bradley face exciting but even though my dad’s packed lunches were sometimes unusual leftover ground beef wrapped in lettuce leaves macaroni and cheese stuffed into pita bread half a toasted bagel with an egg cooked inside the hole they’d never been dangerous before Excited-about-minor-explosions face Doubt it I said Still I twisted the 13
