Free In Uncle Al : In Uncle Al (9780307532572) by Jan (ILT) J. C.; Gerardi Greenburg Page B

Thudd. “Plasma kinda like river that carry red blood cells. Plasma carry food to body, too. Carry bad stuff away.”
    “How do we get it to carry us out of— Aaack!” Judy hollered. “Something just landed in my hair!”
    Andrew felt something plop onto his head, too. Long, twisty spirals dangled overhis eyes like wet pasta. A few of them sped off into Uncle Al’s blood.
    meep …
“Bacteria!” squeaked Thudd. “Germs! Can make Unkie sick, sick, sick!”
    Suddenly a giant white blob covered with shaggy tentacles squooshed through a slit in the capillary. The blob was bigger than the red blood cells. It squashed Andrew and Judy against the side of the rubbery capillary wall.
    “Oh
NOOOOO
!” hollered Judy. “It’s
horrible!”
    meep …
“White blood cell,” said Thudd. “Called macrophage. Macrophage mean ‘big eater.’ White blood cell eat up lotsa germs.”

    The tentacles swarmed over Andrew in the tight capillary. They were touching his cheeks and tickling his neck. They were tugging off the spaghetti-like bacteria. Tentacles were poking into his nose!
    Eek!
squeaked Thudd. “Big-eater cell can tell that Drewd not belong inside Uncle Al! Big eater wanna eat Drewd!”
    “Yaargh!” hollered Andrew, struggling to pull tentacles out of his nose.
    meep …
“Gotta hide!” said Thudd.
    “Hide?” said Andrew. He battled the tentacles fiercely as the blood river swished them along. “There’s nowhere to hide!”
    meep …
“Hide inside red blood cell,” said Thudd. “Quick! Quick! Quick!”
    Andrew kicked the red blood cell that smooshed against him. It was like hitting a soft balloon.
    Macrophage tentacles were wrapping tightly around his chest. They were pulling him into the big cell!
    Andrew shoved a hand into a pocket. Coins. Soggy packets of sugar. Two rough stones.
    “Ooooog!” hollered Judy. “There are tentacles around my neck!”
    Andrew reached back and pushed one of the stones toward Judy.
    “Rip a hole in the red blood cell behind you,” he said. “Hide inside.”
    Andrew slashed at the red blood cell in front of him. It was like cutting through a plastic bag. Red stuff oozed out through the slit.
    Andrew struggled against the sticky tentacles of the big eater. They had him by the waist. They were dragging him into the big-eater cell.
How will I ever get inside the red blood cell before the big eater eats me?
thought Andrew.

IT’S JUST NOT RIGHT TO BE INSIDE YOUR UNCLE
    Andrew slashed at the big-eater cell with his stone chip.
    Woofers!
thought Andrew.
This guy is a lot tougher than the red blood cell.
    Through the Schnozzle’s earpieces, he could hear Judy’s screams.
    As Andrew sliced through the white blood cell, clear goo began to leak out of it.
    The tentacles stopped wriggling and fell away. The white blood cell got floppy.
    “Erk! Oook!” came Judy’s voice.
    Andrew felt her poking his back and kicking his legs.
    “Judy,
relax,”
sighed Andrew, still catching his breath. “The big eater is dead.”
    “I know,” said Judy. “I’m just trying to squash myself into this red blood cell.”
    Just then, Andrew caught sight of his own empty red blood cell getting dragged off by the rushing blood. He snagged the baggy cell with the toe of his shoe and squeezed inside.
    “How did the big-eater cell know I didn’t belong inside Uncle Al?” said Andrew.
    meep …
“All cells got special code on outside,” said Thudd. “Like label. Big eater read code. Code on Drewd cells say that Drewd not belong inside Unkie. Code on Unkie’s red blood cell say it belong to Unkie.
    “Big-eater cell is part of immune system. Immune system protect body from invaders.”
    WHAPPP!
    The capillary shook.
    “Got it!” came Uncle Al’s voice.
    “Uncle Al must have smacked the mosquito!” said Andrew.
    “Why hasn’t he answered our purple-button call?” asked Judy.
    Another big-eater blob began squeezing through the capillary. Andrew and Judy pulled their heads inside the red blood