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on my lap and started to purr. He liked me a lot more now that he was stupid.
    I scratched him under the chin. “What are we going to do? Huh, Chester? I guess you don’t know, either.”
    Tubby came barreling into the room and jumped up on the sofa next to me. “I know you haven’t got a clue, Tub-man.”
    I sighed and closed my eyes. I pictured my brain filled with orange slime. “Ewwwww!” I cried out. Chester jumped off my lap. Tubby just thumped his tail.
    I have to stop the ooze. I can’t just sit here all night and let myself get dumber and dumber.
    I know! I leaped up from the couch. I’ll read the manual that came with the chemistry set. Maybe it would have some answers.
    I really didn’t want to go back in the basement—at least not alone. So I made Tubby come with me. I didn’t even glance at the cooler. I just grabbed the manual out of the box and ran back upstairs.
    I raced to my room and slammed the door behind me. Then I sat down at my desk and turned on my reading lamp. Tubby plopped down at my feet.
    You can do this, I told myself. I opened the manual to the first page.
    â€œOh, no!” I groaned. The words were so hard. “Compounds. Elements. Neutralize.” How was I supposed to understand big words like that?
    Miss Scott would say to look them up in the dictionary. She was always making us look up words.
    I pulled my dictionary off the shelf and flipped to the words beginning with the letter C .
    I ran my finger down each page. “Com,” I muttered. “Com-p. Com-p-oun-d.”
    Found it. “Composed of or resulting from union of separate elements, ingredients, or parts.”
    â€œWhat does that mean?” I wailed. Okay, okay, don’t give up, I told myself. Start with a smaller word.
    I flipped to the words beginning with the letter P . “Parts,” I mumbled. “Parts, parts, parts.”
    Here it is. “One of the often indefinite or unequal subdivisions . . . ”
    I slammed the dictionary shut and pounded my head on my desk.
    â€œThis is hopeless!” I shouted. “I’m stupid. I’m just too stupid.”
    Then I had a horrible thought.
    How dumb would I be tomorrow?

10

    T he next morning I didn’t have to wonder why I felt so weird. I knew what was wrong. I knew I was dumber. But that was about all I knew.
    If I took everything slowly—and didn’t say much—I figured I could make it through the day without doing anything too stupid.
    I managed to put on jeans and a shirt and my socks. Now came the hard part. My shoes.
    I picked up one shoe, flipped it upside down, and studied it. Then I studied my feet. I found a match!
    I slipped my shoe on. It felt comfortable.
    I didn’t even have to think about the other shoe. I stuck it on the other foot and I was set.
    You are doing good, I told myself. Very good.
    Now I had to brush my teeth and comb my hair. I headed into the bathroom.
    I just needed three things—a comb, a toothbrush, and toothpaste. Simple, right?
    Well, sort of. It didn’t take too long to wash the toothpaste out of my hair.
    I rinsed the toothpaste off my comb, put some on my toothbrush, and brushed my teeth.
    I didn’t bother eating breakfast. I wanted some extra time—in case I got lost on the way to school.
    Mom handed me the plastic container with my lunch in it as I headed past her.
    â€œYour dad and I talked about you and the chemistry set last night,” she said.
    Great, I thought. I have enough to deal with today without a lecture from Mom.
    â€œIt was irresponsible of you to use that set without the safety lesson,” she told me. “But we know how hard you’ve been working lately to prepare for the Science Bowl. So we have decided to let you off this time.”
    Whew! That wasn’t bad at all.
    â€œThanks, Mom,” I called. Then I headed out the front door. Concentrating on each step I took, I