Sounds great Dandy Malcolm muttered Bug spray and sweat I’ll have a slime-a-thon Dandy shrugged At least this field trip is cool Then he laughed at his own joke Malcolm groaned again But he had to admit The zoo is cool A head popped up over the seat in front of them Big blue eyes stared at them through round glasses Wild Wonderland Animal Rescue Park isn’t a zoo Malcolm rolled his eyes Rosie Main never missed a chance to show off Does it have lions he asked Yes she answered Three Does it have tigers Just one Does it have bears Two Rosie said 6
Then it’s a zoo Rosie glared at him and opened her mouth to argue Rosie Main Mrs Goolsby yelled Sit down while the bus is moving Rosie disappeared Good Malcolm said Now I can melt in peace You should try thinking about something other than being hot Dandy held up his book I checked out this animal book from the library It’s great You gave yourself extra homework for the bus ride Malcolm wrinkled his nose Sometimes I worry about you No really Listen Dandy placed his finger on a page and read aloud A giraffe can clean its own nose and ears with its tongue I would love to be able to do that 7
Malcolm tried to picture Dandy with a superlong tongue slurping at his own ear He shuddered I prefer to leave my ears alone Dandy sighed Me too But my mom says I have to wash them Dandy read more facts as the bus rumbled along to the zoo Malcolm learned anteaters have spiny tongues He also learned that the tongue of a blue whale weighs more than an elephant Why are all your facts about tongues Malcolm asked Dandy held up his book so Malcolm could see the title Lickity Spit Besides tongues are cool Then he grinned again In fact dogs cool down by panting with their tongues hanging out Dandy lolled out his tongue and panted 8
Malcolm crossed his arms and watched his friend Are you cooling off Dandy shook his head He slurped his tongue back into his mouth I'm mostly getting thirsty Do you have an extra water bottle I didn't have room in my backpack with the bug spray Sure Malcolm leaned forward to unzip his backpack He pushed the Ecto Handheld Automatic Heat Sensitive Laser Enhanced Specter Detector out of the way His water bottle was buried under it Malcolm tried always to be prepared On a hot day you needed water And on any day you needed to be prepared for ghosts Ghosts could be anywhere He'd learned that much as a Ghost Detector Just as he grabbed the water bottle the bus driver slammed on the brakes Malcolm 9
