Free Zoobreak by Gordon Korman Page A

will be, too — starting tomorrow.”
    A contented Cleopatra climbed aboard Luthor for the short trot home.
    Hoo circled high above them, exploring this strange new world.

18
    T he music room faded around Griffin, and the trombone slipped from his nerveless fingers. His head slid backward into the bell of the tuba behind him. The tuba player, Darren Vader, delivered a blast that knocked Griffin out of his chair and into the clarinet section on the riser below.
    It didn’t sound much like the theme from
Rocky
, but at least it woke him up.
    “Griffin Bing!” Mr. Hoberman, the bandleader, exclaimed in exasperation. “Could I trouble you to stay awake?”
    It was morning, a few hours after they’d returned, and Operation Zoobreak was taking its toll on Griffin. He believed in planning 100 percent. But no plan could ever account forgoing to school on eighty-three minutes of sleep.
    “Sorry,” he mumbled, retrieving his instrument. “It won’t happen again.” Now he knew how Ben felt when the irresistible sleepiness stole over him — stunned and helpless.
    The bandleader sighed. “Go to the boys’ room and splash some water on your face. And don’t come back until you’re ready to be a part of this orchestra.”
    “Late night, Bing?” Darren snickered behind him.
    “No,” Griffin hissed. “We had to call it off because some
traitor
didn’t show!”
    Darren reddened. “I
told
you — my uncle came over, and the guy wouldn’t leave! I couldn’t get out of the house.”
    “Sure, sure,” Griffin muttered, setting the trombone on its stand and staggering toward the door. He’d already warned the zoobreak team not to tell Darren anything. He couldn’t be trusted to keep his big mouth shut any more than he could be trusted to follow through on a promise.
    The blast of Darren’s tuba still ringing in his ears, Griffin headed for the boys’ room. He never got there. The door to the girls’ roomwas flung open, and a small arm reached out and pulled him inside. There stood Savannah, her face white, her eyes wild.
    “What’s the big idea?” Griffin complained. “If I get caught in here —”
    “That’s the least of our problems!” Savannah shrilled. She punched a number into a small cell phone and held it to his ear. It rang once before going straight to voicemail:
    “You’ve reached Dr. Kathleen Alford, Curator for the Long Island Zoo. I’m presently in equatorial Africa, supervising the transport of three rain-forest baboons to the United States. I’ll be back in the office on Wednesday, April twenty-second. Please leave a message at the tone.”
    There was a beep, followed by a different voice: “Mailbox full.”
    In an instant, Griffin’s complexion matched Savannah’s. “April twenty-second — that’s two weeks away! You’re going to have to find another zoo!”
    “I don’t know anybody else who works in a zoo!” Savannah wailed. “Dr. Alford’s the only person who could find homes for all those animals!”
    “Well, I hope they’ve got an Internet café at Baboons ‘R’ Us, because we need her
now
!What’s she doing there for so long, anyway? How hard can it be to mail a baboon to Long Island?”
    They heard the squeak of a heavy door and Savannah whispered urgently, “Hide!”
    Griffin locked himself into a stall and stood up on the toilet seat to keep his shoes out of view.
    Savannah commenced washing her hands. “Hi, Monica.”
    “Guess what was on the news this morning!” The newcomer was agog. “Remember that zoo boat from the field trip? Somebody broke in last night and stole all the animals!”
    Griffin very nearly fell into the toilet.
    “Wow,” Savannah managed faintly. “That’s unbelievable.”
    “Totally!” Monica agreed. “The crooks loaded all the animals onto a lifeboat and took them to Connecticut! You know what beats me? Why they’d even bother. That was the lousiest zoo in the world.”
    As soon as Monica was gone, Griffin emerged, looking even