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Splarb?” The entire line of slugs slowed. A couple tiltedtheir heads at Keats, their eyes going wide. They all stared, almost like they couldn’t believe what they were seeing.
    It was a super slug’s dream come true—a giant cheese puff!
    The slugs started moving again, faster than before. Feeling like a cowboy in a Western, Keats stood his ground. He had to keep them from going to the picnic.
    “Come and get me,” he whispered.
    Keats let them get close. He could see the whites of their eyes. They were only forty feet away. Thirty. Twenty. Keats waited just one more second—
    And then he ran.

8
SLUG SHOWDOWN
    FOR THE SECOND time that day, Keats was in a race. But this time he couldn’t trip.
    He sprinted down the street past the beauty parlor and the post office. He could hear the slugs oozing along behind him. The thought of a cheese-puff dinner seemed to give them extra speed.
    Keats wanted to shout for help. But no one was around to hear him. And if he did, the slugsmight decide he wasn’t actually a cheese puff. Then they’d head off toward the picnic again.
    Besides, Keats figured he could keep them running around the small town until Henry arrived. He’d lived here his whole life. He knew every nook and corner. And though the slugs were fast, he was faster.
    Still, with thirty giant slugs chasing him, he got distracted. Keats ran by the library and down the street toward the diner. Without thinking, he took a quick left.
    And just like that, Keats found himself in the town’s one and only dead end. He was in the alley between the diner and the movie theater … and the alley ended in a brick wall.
    Uh-oh.
    Keats spun around. The slugs were close. With no time to backtrack, he ran up to the brick wall. Was there a door? No luck.
    Keats gasped. Now he knew why they called it a dead end.
    Squirt and the rest of the slugs flooded into the alley, filling it with their slimy bodies. They chittered away, excited to have trapped the world’s largest cheese puff. Their mouths opened.
    “Wait!” Keats held up his hands.

    At the sound of his voice, Squirt cocked hishead again. Keats could imagine him thinking,
Weird, I’ve never heard a cheese puff talk before
.
    “Splurp?” Squirt said. He sounded unsure.
    One of the slugs inched forward. It gave Keats a quick lick and then jerked back as if to say,
Blech!
    Keats knew he must taste awful. Barbecue sauce mixed with octopus legs and clementine juice couldn’t be tasty. The slug took another lick. Again, it jerked back with a
blech!
    Squirt’s eyes opened wider. He knew he had been tricked. This wasn’t a giant cheese puff!
    “Splurp!” Squirt commanded. His voice sounded as furious as a slug’s can sound. “Splarb!”
    The slugs crawled forward. Their mouths gaped, showing crooked rows of pointy teeth.
    “I’m not a cheese puff!” Keats shouted.
    Squirt didn’t seem to care anymore if Keats was a cheese puff or not. The slugs were so close now, he could smell the cheese on their cold breath.
    Keats pressed his back against the brick wall. The slugs inched even nearer, getting ready to bite down—
    “Hold it right there, Squirt!” Henry screeched into the alley on his bike. He had an orange vacuum-bag ball under one arm.
    The slugs paused. They twisted around to look at him.
    “Henry!” Keats shouted. “Holy moly, am I glad to see you!”
    The slugs eyed Henry for a moment. Squirt gave a slug shrug, and they all turned back to Keats. He shuddered as their eyes fixed on him again.
    “I know I said to knock off the World’s Greatest Plans,” Keats called to Henry. “But if you have one, I promise to never make fun of them again!”
    Henry smiled. “I thought you’d never ask.” He unpinned the second-place medal from his shirt. “My World’s Greatest Plan is to share this medal.”
    Henry threw it like a disk. It spun through the air toward Keats, who reached up and caught it. But what was he supposed to do with it?
    “Don’t worry,