TheAttackoftheAquaApes(修订完结版).doc

1、 The Attack of the Aqua Apes1“You have the power to create life!” that was what the ad in the back of the comic book claimed.“Pretty cool,” Scott Adams said as he studied the ad carefully.Scott sat on the porch steps in front of his house, reading comic books with his friends, Glen Brody.“Check this

2、 out!” Scott handed Glen the ad. It showed a picture of a mad scientist. He was peering into a giant tank of water full of strange-looking creatures. Creatures was called aqua apes.”“ Aqua apes?” Glen laughed. “They look more like lizards to me.”“You grow em. Thats whats so cool. They come from magi

3、c crystals. See? Scott pointed to the magic crystals in the mad scientists hand.“Oh, right.” Glen rolled his eyes. “Swimming monkeys from magic crystals. I dont think so.”“Yea, well, they say its guaranteed. Or you get your money back,” Scott said.” They wouldnt say that if it didnt work.“Maybe.” Gl

4、en didnt sound convinced. “You want to send away for them?” Scott asked.“No way,” Glen replied.“Come on. What have we got to lose?”“Three dollars and ninety-five cents,” Glen answered. “Plus postage and handling.”Scott knew it would be hard to convince Glen to spend the moneybut he had to. You see,

5、almost all the kids in school could tell creepy storiesstories about totally weird things that happened to them. Like being chased by ghosts in the Fear Street Cemetery. Or getting attacked by half-human, half-animal creatures in the Fear Street Woods.But Scott didnt have a single story to tell. Not

6、 one. Which, when you think of it, was the weirdest thing of all. Because everyone knew that if you lived near Fear Street, scary things happened to you. Period.But Scott had lived near Fear Street his entire life. And he didnt have a single creepy story to tell.Until-maybe now. If he could just con

7、vince Glen to send away for the magic crystals.“Such a small price to pay for the power to create life. ?” Scott repeated the ads promise in his best mad scientist voice. He wished to look more like a mad scientist. It was hard to be really scary with blond hair, blue eyes, and freckles.“Forget it,”

8、 Glen declared. “First of all, Ive never seen a swimming monkey. Not even in the zoo. And second of all, its impossible to grow a living animal from a magic crystal. In case nobody told you this, you need a mommy monkey and a daddy monkey to get a baby monkey.” “Theyre not monkeys!” Scott protested.

9、 “Theyre” Scott struggled to come up with an answer. “Theyresomething else.”“Yeah, aqua apes. Aqua apes.” Glen pointed to the words. “Same thing as swimming monkeys.”“Well, Im getting them,” Scott insisted, grabbing the comic book out of Glens hands.So get em,” Glen answered. He shoved his curly bro

10、wn hair off his forehead.“I will,” Scott assures him. “As soon as you lend me some money.”“Im not paying for some stupid water monkeys. Youre the one who wants them.”“Im not asking you to pay for them. Just the postage and the handling,” Scott said. “And I wouldnt even ask you for that. But you did

11、eat up half of my allowance yesterday at the Ice Cream Castle. Rememberyour sundae to celebrate the last day of summer vacation?”“Okay, okay,” Glen said. Then he stuck his fingers into his mouth and made gagging sounds. “Ill give it back to you.”“You are so gross!” Scott slid away from Glen as fast

12、as he could. The last time Glen pulled this stunt he rally did throw up. “Just forget it,” Scott said miserably.“Oh, all right,” Glen groaned. “Ill pay for half.”Glen reached into his pocket and pulled out his money. He counted out three dollars and shoved it into Scotts hand. “Go ahead. Order the s

13、wimming monkeys. But when the magic crystals dont come to life, Im not waiting for this stupid company to send my money back. Youre gonna give it to me.”“Fine,” Scott agreed. “But what if they do come to life?”“Then Ill be a monkeys uncle.” Glen cracked himself up.” Get it?”“Ha, ha,” Scott said, not

14、 at all amused by Glens lame joke. “Youll see.”In a few weeks, Ill finally have a cool story to tell at school, Scott thought. And maybe even scary, too.Scott had no idea just how scary his story would be.2“No!” Scott shouted. “No!”Scott couldnt believe his bad luck. It was the first day in three we

15、eks that he hadnt been home to wait for the mailman. And sure enough, that was the day his package arrived. But that wasnt the bad part. The bad part was that the mailman had just handed over Scotts package to Scotts older sister, Kelly.Kelly thought she was the coolest thing on earth. She constantl

16、y reminded Scott she was almost thirteen. Almost a real teenager. Not a baby likeScotteven though Scott was only a year younger.Scott and Glen chased Kelly around the kitchen table.“We can do this the easy way, or we can do it the hard way,” Scott said, closing in on Kelly. He shoved his open hand o

17、ut. “Now give it to me.” But he knew she wouldnt. Kelly never did anything the easy way.“How do you even know this package is for you?” she teased. Scott inched closer and closer. “Because my name is on it” he said as he ripped the package from her grip.“Jerk!” she huffed, punching him in the arm.Sc

18、ott ignored her. He couldnt wait to open the package. The minute the brown wrapping was off, Glen held out an open palm.“What?” Scott said, staring down at it.“You might as well just give me my three bucks back right now,” Glen answered. “I told you it was gonna be a total rip-off.”Scott hated to ad

19、mit it, but Glen was probably right. The box didnt look anything like the ad in the comic book.There was no picture of a mad scientist.No magic crystals in his hand. Only lots of goofy-looking creatures. With antennae popping up from their heads. And pink and blue bows tied to them. They swam around

20、 in a fishbowl, wearing silly grins.“Maybe they sent the wrong box,” Scott suggested, turning it around in his hands.Kelly snatched it from him. “Ooooh, the power to create life,?” She read from the box.“Give that back to me,” Scott demanded.But Kelly just laughed. “You two such losers. Whats the ma

21、tter? Cant find any real friends to play with so you have to grow some?”Then she tossed the box on the table and strolled out of the kitchen.“So are we going to make these things, or what?” Glen asked, opening box.“I guess.” Scott sat down at the kitchen table and watched Glen slide a small round ta

22、nk from the box. Another disappointment. The tank was nowhere near as big as the one the mad scientist held in the ad. It was too small for even a goldfish. And it was made of plastic.The only cool thing about it was that it had a lid with a light you could turn on and off. And the bottom of the tan

23、k looked like the surface of the moonwith a big crater in the center of it. Next, Glen pulled out some aqua ape food and the package of magic crystals. It was smaller than a package of sugar. This is going to be a total failure, Scott thought to himself. Then he asked, “How big are the ape things su

24、pposed to get anyway?”Glen flipped through the instructions. “It says that happy, healthy adult aqua apes can grow to half an inch long.”“A half an inch?” Scott moaned. “The ones in the ad were monsters”“The instructions say we need distilled water,” Glen said, continuing to read. “Got any?”“No.” Sc

25、ott answered. “And I am not going to spend any more money to buy some either.”“Then you are not to grow any aqua apes,” Glenn informed him. “Because it says right here that you have to use distilled waster.”“I have a better idea,” Scott said, suddenly feeling more enthusiastic. “Lets go down to the

26、Fear Street Woods and scoop some water from the lake.”“Are you crazy?” Glen exclaimed. “Havent you heard about the gross things that live in the Fear Lake?” I know a guy who drank some of the lake water on a darehe had to go in the hospital. Who knows what well get if we use that water?”“Exactly!” S

27、cott smiled his mad scientist smile. “Who knows what well get!”3The moment Scott came to the end of Park Drive, hid heart started to beat a little faster. With just one step he would cross the imaginary safety line into dangerous territoryFear Street. Even in the middle of the day, Fear Street was d

28、ark and scary. Enormous old trees lined both sides of the street. And as the sunlight tried to sneak between some of the huge branches, it cast strange shadows on the ground below. Shadows that looked like they could swallow you up. Once you have walked down Fear Street, Scott thought, you know all

29、the creepy stories youve heard about it are true. “The adventure is about to begin!” Scott announced to Glen. He took a deep breath and started toward the Fear Street Woods. They were creepier than Fear Street. Scarier, too.The trees in the woods grew thick and gnarledwith black twisted branches tha

30、t seemed to reach out. Reach out to struggle you.Glen hesitated.“Well, are you coming, or what?”“This is a really stupid idea,” Glen replied. “It is not. Youre just chicken,” Scott taunted. Then he started flapping his arms and squawking at Glen. “Bawk, bawk, bawk!”“I am not a chicken,” Glen insiste

31、d.“Then come on.”“There.” Glen stepped into the woods. “Are you happy now?”“This way.” Scott pointed to the path ahead. The path that led directly to Fear Lake. “Wed better hurry. These woods get real dark, real early.”As they followed the trail, Scott noticed how quiet the woods were. He couldnt he

32、ar any birds chirping or bugs humming. Or any sound of life at all. Creepy. Really creepy.Scott kept his eyes glued to the trail. He had to make sure they stayed on the right path. No way was he getting lost in the Fear Street Woods.“Can we hurry it up?” Glen asked. He followed Scott so closely that he stepped on the back of one of his sneakers.“Do you have to walk on top of me?” Scott complained, yanking his sneaker back up. “The la