Looniverse #1: Stranger Things (A Branches Book) Read online

“Stop that!”

  Rex sat at the edge of

  the hole. He was panting

  with that dog expression

  that looks kind of like a

  smile and also kind of

  like he has a stomachache.

  I rushed over to rescue Willow. But Rex

  began to dig again. A moment later, Willow

  leaped out of the hole and started to lick

  herself clean.

  Great. Most cats get hair balls. My cat is

  going to cough up mud balls.

  Rex walked to a different part of the

  yard and started to dig another hole. Willow

  followed him. So did I.

  I couldn’t stand all the strangeness. I had

  to do something.

  Anyone who’s ever been on a merry-go-

  round knows how slowly it turns when you

  stand at the center. The farther out you go,

  the faster things spin. My brother, my sisters,

  my pets, and my friends were standing far

  from the center, way out in the Looniverse.

  They’d always been strange, but now it was

  like they were clinging to the very edge, with

  their feet flying in the air. I was in the center,

  the only normal person of us all.

  After Rex finished digging, I waited until

  he picked up Willow. Then I tossed the coin

  into the hole.

  Rex instantly dropped Willow.

  “Good boy,” I said.

  Rex started to fill the hole. I went to check

  my fish. They were swimming around like

  normal. Burying the coin seemed to have

  worked.

  Just to be safe, I went

  out back to make

  sure the coin

  was still

  buried.

  When I got there, I found Sarah Beth,

  Derwin, Libby, Quentin One, Moose, and

  Mouse all there. They stopped talking the

  instant they saw me.

  Now I really felt left out. “What’s going

  on?” I asked.

  “We want to talk to you,” Sarah Beth said.

  “Right now,” Moose added.

  I felt a ripple in my stomach. I’d never

  seen them look so serious.

  “What do you want to talk about?” I asked.

  They stood there, looking at one another,

  and at the ground, and at the clouds — but

  not at me. What could be so terrible that they

  were afraid to tell me? I wondered.

  chapter

  10

  STRANGE

  TRUTHS

  Finally, Derwin stood on his tiptoes and

  whispered something to Moose. Then Moose

  stepped forward.

  “Well,” he said, “we wish you’d try to be a

  little less strange.”

  “Me?” I asked. I couldn’t have been more

  surprised if he had told me there was a

  kangaroo on my head.

  “You,” Moose said.

  “What are you

  guys talking about?”

  I asked. “There’s

  nothing strange

  about me. Right

  now, I’m the only

  normal person

  around here.”

  “No way,” Moose said. “Strange stuff

  happens when you’re around.”

  “It sure does,” Libby said. “After you read

  that story to me, all those mice showed up.”

  Mouse nodded. “I got stuck in the air

  when you came over.”

  “I got the strangest twisty feeling when I

  rode my bike past you,” Quentin One said.

  “You’re the one who told me about the

  thousand words,” Derwin said. “My hand

  still hurts!”

  “I only have trouble with my food when

  you’re at dinner,” Sarah Beth said.

  “Things have always been a little strange

  around you,” Moose said. “But they seem

  to be getting even stranger lately.”

  “Definitely stranger,” Sarah Beth said.

  “Stranger for sure,” Derwin said. I felt

  like I’d been punched in the stomach. How

  could they blame me for the way they had

  been acting? “This isn’t fair,” I said. “And I

  don’t like the way you’re ganging up on me.”

  “Look,” Derwin said, “all we’re asking is

  that you try to be a little more normal.”

  “Think about it,” Moose said.

  I watched, shocked and hurt, as all the

  two-legged creatures left the backyard. I went

  up to my room, alone, and thought about

  everything.

  If I did nothing, and let the coin fade

  without giving it to the Stranger, I would

  remove all strangeness from the world.

  Was that what I wanted?

  I thought about how both

  Derwin and Moose had

  shouted, “What a great

  idea!” I thought about all the

  wonderful paintings, movies, and

  books that must have started out

  as strange ideas. Did I

  want a world without any

  strangeness?

  No!

  I ran out back, grabbed

  a shovel, and dug up the coin.

  STRANGER

  FOR SURE

  GETTING

  EVEN STRANGER

  LATELY

  DEFINITELY

  STRANGER

  When I saw it, my heart sank. The face

  was smooth and blank. I looked closer, but I

  could barely make out the “r” in “stranger.”

  I needed to give the coin to the Stranger

  immediately. But I still don’t know who it is.

  “Think!” I told myself.

  I remembered Mr. Sage’s words. Let your

  experiences guide you.

  I thought about my experiences since I’d

  found the coin. Derwin made a saying become

  real. Sarah Beth’s train moved. Libby’s mice

  showed up. Moose got a swell idea. Mouse

  lifted himself. My pets acted weird. Then

  everyone blamed me for their strangeness.

  Their words echoed through my mind:

  It all fell together. I finally knew who the

  stranger was!

  I thought about Derwin’s pencils. A sharpener

  makes things sharper. A sweetener makes

  things sweeter.

  The Stranger makes things stranger!

  “Could it be?” I whispered. Am I the

  Stranger?

  chapter

  11

  NORMALLY

  STRANGE?

  But if I was the Stranger, why were the

  words fading?

  I realized there was one more thing I had

  to do.

  “You’re mine,” I

  whispered to the coin.

  The silver coin glowed

  like the moon. The

  words rose up, solid

  and bold. I watched

  the sky as the moon

  rose and fell.

  This time, I knew it wasn’t my imagination.

  And I knew that strangeness was no longer

  in danger of fading away. I smiled, knowing

  I’d made the right decision.

  The sad part was that my friends and

  family wouldn’t want me around anymore. I

  wasn’t sure I’d be able to get used to that.

  Far off, I heard an ice-cream truck.

  Maybe a strawberry ice pop would cheer me

  up. I w
ent around to the front yard. Derwin,

  Moose, and the others were standing there,

  waiting for me. Quentin One was gone, but

  Quentin Three was there on his skateboard.

  “We’re sorry about what we said,” Sarah

  Beth told me.

  “It’s pretty boring when you’re not

  around,” Moose said.

  “Very boring,” Derwin agreed. “Nothing

  fun happens.”

  “So you want me around again?” I asked.

  “Absolutely,” they all said.

  “That’s great!” I said. The music of the

  ice-cream truck moved closer.

  “Buy me an ice cream,” Libby said.

  “MONEY DOESN’T GROW ON TREES,”

  I told her.

  “Maybe it grows under them,” Derwin

  said.

  “Let’s see.” Mouse lifted up an oak tree

  and looked under it.

  “Hey, I found a dollar bill,” said Derwin.

  I felt a small tingle of excitement. My

  words had caused the strangeness. Could I

  learn to control my strange new power?

  Derwin scooped up the dollar and held it

  out. When the ice-cream truck drove past

  us, the driver handed

  Derwin a cone. He took

  the dollar without even

  stopping.

  “Your cone looks

  like a rocket ship,”

  Sarah Beth said.

  She grabbed the

  ice-cream cone from

  Derwin and turned it

  upside down. It shot

  up into the air. I felt

  another tingle. I guess

  I’d helped make her

  imagination do strange

  things.

  “I’ll get it,” Mouse said. He took off,

  running so fast his feet didn’t touch the

  ground.

  Quentin Three chased after him. The

  wheels fell off his skateboard, but he kept on

  going.

  “Read me a story?” Libby asked.

  “Sure,” I told her. “Go pick a good one.

  No mice, this time. And no snakes or giant

  spiders, either. Okay?”

  “Okay.” She ran toward the house. Halfway

  there, she stopped and asked, “Dragons?”

  “Only if they’re small and friendly,” I

  called back. I spotted Mr.

  Sage across the street. I

  held up the coin in one

  hand, and then pointed at

  myself with the other.

  Mr. Sage nodded and

  smiled. Then he walked

  off. But I was sure I’d be

  seeing him again.

  “I am the Stranger,” I whispered to

  myself. I liked the way that sounded. I

  thought about how I’d had to give the coin

  to myself. I guess it made sense that the

  Stranger would have a strange start.

  It felt good to be standing in the center

  of my very own Looniverse — with strange

  and amazing adventures ahead of me.

  Check out

  the next

  LOONIVERSE book!

  DAVID LUBAR

  is no stranger

  to strangeness, having written all

  sorts of weirdly funny books such

  as Beware the Ninja Weenies and

  Other Warped and Creepy Tales. He

  has a girl cat with a boy’s name,

  a left-handed guitar, and a small

  collection of plush arachnids. He sometimes uses

  a big word like “arachnid” when a small word like

  “spider” would work just fine, but he’s basically a nice

  guy otherwise. Though he grew up in Morristown, NJ,

  and now lives in Nazareth, PA, he makes frequent visits

  to the Looniverse to snatch ideas from Ed and the gang.

  MATT LOVERIDGE

  and strange are

  old friends — they go way back. Right

  from birth there have been strange

  coincidences in his life. When he was

  born he weighed 13 pounds, he wears

  size 13 shoes, and to top it all off he’s 13 feet

  tall. Okay, maybe he’s not 13 feet tall, but he is the tallest

  little brother in his family. Now that he’s all grown up, he

  likes hiking, biking, and drinking milk from the carton.

  He lives in the mountains of Utah with his wife and kids,

  and their black dog named Blue.

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