The monster turned back, but kept his eyes on the ground. “It’s disgusting. I know.”
“Oh! Sorry! It’s not that bad, really,” I said. “I was surprised, that’s all. I’ve never seen mold on fur before. But then again, I’ve never seen monster fur. Is this something that happens to lots of monsters?”
“No, just to me.” He sighed sadly. “It’s so embarrassing. We monsters take great care with our appearance. But no matter how often I bathe, this awful mold always grows. It starts on my back and spreads until I’m covered with it!”
“I’m so sorry.” I felt bad for the poor monster. What a terrible problem to have.
“Can you help me? There must be some way to stop the mold from growing in my fur.”
“I’d be happy to help. Ummm, I could . . .” I pressed a finger to my lips in thought. Molds can be dangerous. I’d need to think of a solution where I didn’t touch the mold, or I’d have to wait until my mom was home to help.
Sassafras meowed. Then he reached a paw up and bopped me on the head!
“Hey! What was that for?” I frowned at him. But then I realized Sassafras was reminding me to use my Thinking Goggles. It sounds silly, but it always works. Wearing my lucky pair of goggles on my head always gives me fantastic ideas.
“Um, just a minute, Mr. Monster. I’ll be right back. I’ve got to grab something from our house.”
The monster humphed. “My name is Gorp. Not Mr. Monster.”
“Oh, sorry, Gorp! One second.”
As soon as I put my Thinking Goggles on, I thought of more questions to ask. Phew. I could probably figure out this whole problem before my mom got home. I grabbed a pen and my science journal and ran outside.
I adjusted my Thinking Goggles and opened my science journal. It flipped to the page with the photo of Sassafras riding Marshmallow the dragon. I slowly ran my fingers over the photo. The shimmering light from Marshmallow’s scales jumped right out of the page. It made the magical photo seem alive.
Gorp cleared his throat.
I quickly found a new page in my journal and wrote my problem at the top:
PROBLEM:
Gorp’s fur is molding.
“So Gorp, how often do you take a bath? And where?”
“I bathe every day in the stream.”
“And then what? You dry off and go home to your . . . monster house?”
“Well, sort of. I shake my fur off, and then I go sleep in my warm cave up in the mountains.”
I wrote down:
Aha! That was it. I circled the words damp and warm in my notes. This was actually just like my bread experiments.
“Gorp, I solved your problem!”