Teeny Weenies: Fishing for Pets Read online

  Riley, who seemed unaware he was being followed, walked past the last block of houses in town, turned off the main road, and headed down a narrow road with fields on one side and woods on the other.

  “Maybe he lives in a tent,” Norbert said.

  “Or a tunnel,” Andrea said.

  It turned out she was right. Riley cut away from the road and headed into the woods, following a barely visible trail. About two hundred yards in, he knelt and lifted a flap that covered an entrance.

  He went inside.

  Norbert and Andrea exchanged glances. This was stranger than they’d expected, and a bit creepy. They both wanted to leave, but neither wanted to be the one who suggested they go back home. So they tiptoed to the edge of the hole, where a steep slope ran into the darkness beneath the ground, but they went no farther, at first.

  Down below, they heard Riley say, “Happy Mother’s Day, Mom! I brought you a present.”

  Curiosity beat caution. Norbert and Andrea each took a single step forward.

  That turned out to be one step too far.

  Slimy hands grabbed their ankles and yanked them into the tunnel. More hands grabbed them from all sides and carried them deeper under the ground. The darkness finally gave way to light when they entered a chamber where green, glowing moss coated the walls. Norbert and Andrea might have been happier if they hadn’t seen what awaited them.

  Creatures the height of toddlers surrounded them. They looked like eyeless worms with three pairs of arms and one set of legs. Past them, dominating half of the cavern, a bug that looked like Riley, if Riley had been inflated to twenty times his size and painted with buckets of slime, stared down with five pairs of insect eyes above a mouth filled with tiny black teeth.

  Beneath this monster an egg the size of a beach ball emerged with the sound of a shoe being pulled free of mud. Workers carried the egg to a pile of other eggs. The eggs all pulsed, as if eager to hatch.

  “See, I do have a mom,” Riley said. “You were right, Norbert. She’s sitting on eggs. And I have lots of brothers and sisters.” Riley pointed to the creatures who were holding Norbert and Andrea. “They haven’t gone into their cocoons yet. When they come out, they’ll look like me.”

  Norbert and Andrea were now too terrified to think. The creatures dragged them toward Riley’s mom, who opened her mouth, but not to speak.

  “I love you, Mom,” Riley said. He tossed the carnation aside. “I hope you like what I brought.”

  As the carnation hit the ground, Norbert and Andrea realized that the flower wasn’t the present. The flower was a trick to get them to follow Riley.

  They were the present. And, ironically, that present had no future.

  STARSCAPE BOOKS BY DAVID LUBAR

  Novels

  Emperor of the Universe

  Flip

  Hidden Talents

  True Talents

  Monsterrific Tales

  Hyde and Shriek

  The Vanishing Vampire

  The Unwilling Witch

  The Wavering Werewolf

  The Gloomy Ghost

  The Bully Bug

  Nathan Abercrombie, Accidental Zombie series

  My Rotten Life

  Dead Guy Spy

  Goop Soup

  The Big Stink

  Enter the Zombie

  Story Collections

  Attack of the Vampire Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales

  The Battle of the Red Hot Pepper Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales

  Beware the Ninja Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales

  Check Out the Library Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales

  The Curse of the Campfire Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales

  In the Land of the Lawn Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales

  Invasion of the Road Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales

  Strikeout of the Bleacher Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales

  Wipeout of the Wireless Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales

  Teeny Weenies: The Boy Who Cried Wool and Other Stories

  Teeny Weenies: The Eighth Octopus and Other Stories

  Teeny Weenies: Freestyle Frenzy and Other Stories

  Teeny Weenies: The Intergalactic Petting Zoo and Other Stories

  Teeny Weenies: My Favorite President and Other Stories

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  DAVID LUBAR credits his passion for short stories to his limited attention span and bad typing skills, though he has been known to sit still and peck at the keyboard long enough to write a novel or chapter book now and then, including Hidden Talents (an ALA Best Book for Young Adults) and My Rotten Life, which is currently under development for a cartoon series. He lives in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, with his amazing wife, and not too far from his amazing daughter. In his spare time, he takes naps on the couch. You can sign up for email updates here.

  ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR

  BILL MAYER is absolutely amazing. Bill’s crazy creatures, characters, and comic creations have been sought after for magazine covers, countless articles, and even stamps for the U.S. Postal Service. He has won almost every illustration award known to man and even some known to fish. Bill and his wife live in Decatur, Georgia. They have a son and three grandsons. You can sign up for email updates here.

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  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  Dedication

  Fishing for Pets

  Pack Rats

  Rising Waters

  The Wish List

  The Haunted Camp

  Milk-Bottle Magic

  Hat Trick

  Cookies for Sam

  Passed Over

  Figured Out

  Easter Boogey

  The Invention of Mothers

  Starscape Books by David Lubar

  About the Author and Illustrator

  Copyright

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  FISHING FOR PETS AND OTHER STORIES

  Copyright © 2020 by David Lubar

  Illustrations copyright © Bill Mayer

  All rights reserved.

  A Starscape Book

  Published by Tom Doherty Associates

  120 Broadway

  New York, NY 10271

  www.tor-forge.com

  The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

  ISBN 978-1-250-18783-3 (hardcover)

  ISBN 978-1-250-18784-0 (ebook)

  eISBN 9781250187840

  Our ebooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by email at [email protected].

  First Edition: May 2020