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LarryBoy and the Abominable Trashman
Big Idea Books / LarryBoy
By Doug Peterson, Cindy Kenney ZONDERVAN
Copyright © 2011Big Idea Entertainment, LLC
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-310-70652-6
Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
CANNED MONSTER
Junior Asparagus hated taking out the trash at night—especially on a foggy night like this one. Wind whipped through the trees. Leaves spun around on the ground. The swings on the swing set were creaking in the breeze. Every sound made Junior's heart beat faster.
The Asparagus family kept two garbage cans out back by the garage, which were buried deep in shadow. At any moment, Junior expected something snarling to leap out at him.
"That's strange," he said, edging closer to the garbage cans. As his eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, he could see three garbage cans. "I thought we had only two cans. Mom and Dad must've bought a new one," he said, as a shiver ran up his spine, did two laps around his neck, and sprinted back down.
Then it happened.
Just as Junior was about to lift the lid on the new can, the container began to move. It shook and rattled as if something was inside trying desperately to get out.
Junior dropped his garbage bag. His mouth opened wide, but he made no sound.
One heart-stopping second later, the silver lid on the new can popped off and shot eight feet into the air. That was something Junior didn't see every day. Inside the can, the garbage swirled around and around, like a whirlpool of gunk, slop, and litter. Faster and faster it spun. Then, with a roar and a WHOOOOOSH, the trash came together and rose up out of the can.
The garbage was alive!
Even stranger, the trash took on the shape of a creature. It had arms made out of discarded paper-towel tubes and Chinese take-out containers. Its head looked like it was formed out of wrinkled wrappers of all sorts. And the creature's chest was nothing but stale donuts, banana peels, and a half-eaten fish.
Even worse—the monster smelled like moldy meat, spoiled milk, and rotten eggs.
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
That was Junior screaming, in case you hadn't already guessed.
The creature rose out of the garbage can, swinging his trashy arms wildly and bellowing like a gorilla in bad need of a breath mint. The little asparagus wheeled around and dashed back to the house.
Boy, did Junior hate taking out the trash!
CHAPTER 2
EYE WITNESS
Meanwhile, at Bob the Tomato's house on the other side of Bumblyburg ...
"What story do we have for the front page?" Bob said into his cordless telephone. Bob was the busy editor for the Daily Bumble newspaper. And like all busy editors, he was doing two things at once. He was taking out the garbage while talking on the phone.
"What!?" Bob shouted into the receiver as he bounced out the back door of his house. "Winklesteen Walks Dog?! What kind of front-page story is that? If the dog had walked Winklesteen, then you'd have a story. But not Winklesteen Walks Dog. It's boring!"
On the other end of the phone was Vicki Cucumber, the photographer for the
Daily Bumble.
"Sure, Phil Winklesteen was big news last month when he rescued seven puppies from Bumbly Bay," Bob said. "But since then, we've done twenty stories about Phil Winklesteen. Yes, I know that Phil is a big movie star. But that doesn't mean we have to report on every little thing he does!"
It was true. Phil Winklesteen was a big star in action movies. But Phil became more than just another movie star last month when he jumped into Bumbly Bay to rescue those poor little puppies.
He became a real action hero!
"I know ... I know," Bob muttered into the phone. "Hey, hold on a second, Vicki."
Bob stared at his garbage cans lined up along the side of his house.
"That's odd," he said. "Somebody put a new garbage can next to my house. Yes, I'm sure it's new. I wonder where it came from."
As Bob moved closer, the garbage can began to shake.
"You aren't going to believe this," he said to Vicki over the phone. "But I think there are raccoons in my trash again."
Carefully, Bob lifted up the lid of the shiny, new can. What he saw was the last thing he ever thought he would see.
On the other end of the line, Vicki heard Bob mumble, "What in the world?" Then she heard him gasp, drop the trash-can lid, and scream.
The line went dead.
CHAPTER 3
TALES FROM THE TRASH CAN
Bumblyburg was buzzing.
The next morning, everyone was talking about the monster that had appeared all over town. The creature had leaped out of garbage cans and scared the living daylights out of everyone—including Bob the Tomato. The good news was that Bob survived his "close encounter of the trashy kind."
At the Daily Bumble, Bob called an emergency meeting to talk about the monster. Ten staff members crowded around the long oak table as a team of body-gourds barged through the double doors. These were buff-looking gourds in dark suits and dark sunglasses. They encircled the trash can in the Daily Bumble meeting room.
"Target secure," said one of the gourds through a tiny radio. "I repeat. Target secure."
It wasn't until the gourds gave the all-clear signal that Larry the Janitor entered the meeting room—cautiously.
"I just need to empty this trash can," Larry explained to Bob as his bodygourds x-rayed the can. "With a trash monster on the loose, one can never be too careful around garbage. So don't mind us."
Bob sighed and shook his head. Then he turned to his staff and said, "So what headline do we have for today's paper?"
"What do you think of this?" Junior asked Bob. He held up the front page of the Daily Bumble, which said in big, bold type: MONSTER TRASHES CITY!
"I love it!" Bob declared, scribbling on the news story with his red pencil. "But throw on a couple more exclamation points. That monster is really scary!"
That day the entire newspaper was devoted to the mysterious monster and the twenty-seven eye-witness accounts.
"We also need a name for the monster," Bob said excitedly. "Something that'll really grab 'em."
"How about the Incredible Trash Thing?" suggested Vicki. "People like monsters that have the word thing in the name."
"I like the Smelly Slop Stomper," said Lois Lemon.
The names came fast and furious.
"How about the Trash Mummy?"
"The Can-Man!"
"Can Kong!"
"The Loch Mess Monster!"
"Not bad," commented Bob.
"Gunzilla!" interjected another.
"Even better."
"How about the Abominable Trashman?"
"Who said that?" Bob shouted, bringing a sudden hush to the table.
"I did," chirped Larry the Janitor, as he sifted through the garbage can. Larry cleared his throat and continued. "You've heard of the Abominable Snowman, right? Well ... this guy seems pretty abominable?"
Bob spun around in his swivel chair as he gave it some thought. Then ...
"I love it!" Bob shouted, scribbling the name on a sheet of paper and handing it to an assistant. "Good work, Larry. Now, the next thing we need to do is get a photo of the Abominable Trashman. Of all the twenty-seven places he showed up last night, we don't have a single picture to prove that he exists."
"What you need, Chief, is a stakeout," said Larry, glancing up from the trash can.
"Huh?"
"A stakeout," Larry repeated. "Somebody should watch a trash can all night and be ready with a camera."
"That's not a half-bad idea," Bob said. "Vicki, are you up for a job like tha
(Continues...)
Excerpted from LarryBoy and the Abominable Trashman by Doug Peterson, Cindy Kenney. Copyright © 2011 by Big Idea Entertainment, LLC. Excerpted by permission of ZONDERVAN.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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