Free On the Dog by J.C. Greenburg

THE ATOM SUCKER
    “Wowzers!” Andrew shouted. “This is the best thing I’ve ever invented!”
    Ten-year-old Andrew Dubble parked his new machine under a tree. The machine was as big as a doghouse. It looked like a porcupine. Skinny copper tubes poked out all over it. A fat iron pipe stuck out from the front.
    The machine squatted on four big springs. A thick electrical cord hung from the back like a tail.
    On the fat iron pipe, Andrew had painted the words THE ATOM SUCKER. In smallerletters he had written THE MOST POWERFUL SHRINKER IN THE UNIVERSE!
    Andrew dragged the plug to the back porch of an old white house. Andrew’s thirteen-year-old cousin Judy Dubble lived here with her parents. But nobody was home on this sunny summer day. Andrew had the field behind the house all to himself.
    Andrew plugged in the Atom Sucker. Then he walked back to the machine to set the controls.
    On the back of the Atom Sucker were a black power dial and a big red switch. The dial set the shrinking power from 0 to 100. Moving the dial past 0 turned the Atom Sucker on. The red switch could be pushed up or down. Up was marked SHRINK. Down was marked UN-SHRINK.
    Andrew pushed the big red switch up to SHRINK. Then he turned the power dial up to 5—low shrinking power.
    The Atom Sucker began to wobble. The skinny tubes began to twirl. Soon they were whistling like a hundred teakettles.
    “Super-duper pooper-scooper!” Andrew shouted. “What should I shrink first?”
    He looked around the fenced-in field. Judy’s parents kept equipment for their adventure-travel business here.
    At the far end of the field was an airplane with just four seats. A silver speedboat leaned against the fence. A helicopter was parked in front of the tree where the Atom Sucker sat.
    “The helicopter!” Andrew smiled.
“Yes!”
    meep …
“Drewd! Noop!” came a squeaky little voice from Andrew’s pants pocket.
    Andrew looked down. “What’s the matter, Thudd?” he asked.
    Sticking out of Andrew’s front pocket was a little silver robot. Andrew’s Uncle Al, a top-secret scientist, had invented him. The robot’s official name was T he H andy U ltra- D igital D etective. But Andrew called him Thudd for short.

    Thudd’s face was a video screen. His ears were two antennas. On Thudd’s chest were three rows of buttons. All the buttons glowed green except for one. The big button in the center glowed purple.
    Thudd had three fingers on each hand. Thudd was using all his fingers to hang on to the top of Andrew’s pocket. Thudd’s rubbery little feet were like jelly beans with flat bottoms. They were kicking the keys in Andrew’s pocket.
    meep …
“Copter too big!” said Thudd. “Atom Sucker choke maybe! Explode maybe! Small thing first, please!”
    Thudd made the keys jangle in Andrew’s pocket.
    “Okay, okay,” Andrew said. “Calm down. Let’s go see if there’s something good in the garbage.”
    Leaning against the porch were a garbage can and a lumpy black bag. It smelled stinky. Andrew lifted the lid of the garbage can. Inside were empty paint cans, sticky brushes, and an old radio. Andrew pulled the radio out.
    “How about this?” Andrew asked.
    meep …
“Good! Good! Good!” said Thudd.
    Andrew fiddled with the radio as he walked back to the Atom Sucker.
    meep …
“Drewd! Stay way from big pipe!” said Thudd.
    “Whoops!” said Andrew. “Thanks, Thudd.”
    The fat iron pipe at the front of the Atom Sucker was where the shrinking was supposed to happen. The pipe was snorting and wagging from side to side. It was looking for something to shrink!
    meep …
“No shrink us, please!” Thudd squeaked.
    “Don’t worry,” said Andrew.
“I’m
not worried.”
    meep …
“Worried!” said Thudd.
    Andrew crouched behind the Atom Sucker. He double-checked the controls.
    “Ready.”
    He raised the radio over his head.
    “Set.”
    He tossed it toward the front of the machine.
    “Go!”
    A cloud of orange smoke whooshed out of the twirling