Free Fly Frenzy by Ali Sparkes

“Buzz off, you revolting little pest!” Jenny thwacked Danny on the head with her rolled-up magazine.
    Josh tried not to giggle. His sister had been reading peacefully for five minutes. She was unaware that Danny was crouched on the back of the sofa behind her. He was rubbing the backs of his hands together, sticking out his tongue, and rolling his eyes madly. A half-eaten cookie in her hand, Jenny hadn’t even noticed Josh standing in the doorway. He was taking pictures with his little digital camera.
    It was only when Danny started buzzing that things turned ugly.
    â€œGo and play outside, you creepy little horrors!” yelled Jenny. She was fourteen, so she thought she could boss them around. She whacked Danny again. He fell off the sofa and rolled across the living room floor, laughing and buzzing.
    Josh tucked his camera into his pocket. He strolled out toward the front yard with his twin brother. “Of course, if you really wanted to be a fly, you should have spit stomach acid on her cookie. Then walked all over it until it was mush. Then eaten it.”
    Danny biffed the back of Josh’s neat, blond head as they went down the hallway. “And Mom says I’m the disgusting one!”
    â€œIt’s just nature,” shrugged Josh. He biffed Danny back on his spiky, blond head. “Flies are amazing. I can show you one under my microscope if you like.”
    â€œYuck! I don’t like!” shuddered Danny. It was one thing pretending to be an insect to annoy Jenny. He hated the real thing.
    â€œYou ate one quite happily a couple of weeks ago,” Josh reminded him.
    Danny stopped dead on the front doorstep. “I thought we agreed never to talk about that again!”
    â€œWell, yeah, but—”
    â€œNEVER!” said Danny.
    Outside, Mom was by the front hedge. She was talking to Mrs. Sharpe from down the street. Mom’s garden looked fantastic. It was carefully trimmed and mowed. It was full of flowers, bushes, and little trees, all overflowing with colorful blossoms. The hedge, though, was her real pride and joy. For years she had trimmed and trained it into three little bird shapes along the top. It was a special skill called “topiary,” she had explained to Josh and Danny. She called them her “hedge birds.”

    â€œCome to help with the weeding, boys?” she asked when she saw them. Mom was in the best garden competition in their town. Last year she’d come in third. This year she was determined to win. Piddle, their terrier dog, had been banned from going anywhere near the front garden. He was shut in the backyard today, out of harm’s way. “Can’t see any weeds!” said Josh.
    â€œThere are some there,” said Mrs. Sharpe. She pointed at the rose bed. “And over by the marigolds. Quite a few really. Of course, my garden is completely weed free now. With only one day to go before judging, I couldn’t possibly allow anything wild to start messing it up.” She smiled smugly at them all. “Have to make sure I keep the cup again this year, don’t I, Tarquin?”
    A thin, pale boy of about Josh and Danny’s age slithered around from behind his mother. He gave their garden a look of great disdain. “I think your trophy is quite safe, Mother,” he said, in a high-pitched voice.
    â€œWell,” said Mom. She twisted a dead rose bloom off its stalk with some force. “How nice to have a supportive son, Mrs. Sharpe.”

    â€œHe is a darling,” sighed Mrs. Sharpe. “And did I tell you that he scored top in his whole school for math this week? He’s Mommy’s little genius!” She patted Tarquin’s neatly parted hair. “Of course, not every child can be a genius, can they?” She smiled pityingly at Josh and Danny. “But that doesn’t matter, does it ?”

    Danny made being sick noises. Tarquin made ugly faces at them.

    â€œWell, must keep