It was weird being all alone in the room. Well, I guess I wasn’t really alone, if you count the bazillions of balloons, flowers, stuffed animals, and a gi-normous poster that said, “Live like Bones.”

Who would ever want to live like me right now? I thought. I felt like a giant slug, and looking at my arms, I was possibly the skinniest slug that ever lived. If there was a world record for Skinniest Slug, I, Hank “Bones” Martin was definitely in the running. Even my toes sticking out from the bottom of the sheet at the end of the bed looked starving. But the weird thing was, I didn’t feel hungry at all . . . which got me to thinking, when was the last time I had eaten? 

Right then, Lumpy came bursting through the door. Funny how he walked in right when I was thinking about food. But Lumpy didn’t look like he was thinking about food. He looked all panicky. Seeing his face that way, my body froze up and my heart started racing. The monitor next to my bed was beeping faster and faster, in unison with my heart. 

“Bones, I found you!” he said. “We gotta get out of here! They’re gonna be up here any minute!” 

His face looked like a giant tomato about to explode. I could tell by the way he was looking at me that he was serious. Only problem was, I had no idea what he was talking about. 

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