I was in the barn, trying to think of a new experiment to run with the last few pieces of bread, when the doorbell rang. I jumped to my feet so quickly, my Thinking Goggles tumbled off. I grabbed them and ran.
Sassafras practically danced over to the back door.
“What sort of animal do you think it will be this time, Sassafras?”
“Meow?”
“Yeah, I don’t know either. Hopefully a baby something, though. Little Marshmallow was the cutest!”
“Meow!”
I opened the door slowly so I wouldn’t startle the animal who had come for help. My shoulders slumped. It wasn’t a new creature at all. It was Gorp. And he was still moldy. Oh no!
Gorp sighed. I frowned. The only happy one was Sassafras. He pranced around purring and oozing happiness. He was so happy, in fact, he didn’t even notice the fly buzzing around. This was huge because Sassafras is obsessed with chasing and eating bugs. I snatched him up before he had a chance to scare Gorp again.
“It didn’t work at all.” Gorp kicked at the ground. “I tried everything you said. I bathed early in the day. I used your towel. I made extra sure that my fur was dry before I went to sleep. But I am still moldy!”
He looked like he was about to cry. Then the fly circled around Gorp’s head. He tried to swat it away, but it wouldn’t leave.
“I’m so gross that this fly won’t even leave me alone!” he wailed.
“Gorp, please don’t cry! Don’t give up yet. The first thing we tried didn’t work, but that doesn’t mean we can’t solve your problem. We’ve just got to try something else.”
“But what?” cried Gorp. “Nothing will fix my moldy fur. I’ll be covered in mold forever and ever. I’ll never get to go to the dance! Never!”
Sassafras wrestled out of my arms and ran up to Gorp. Sassafras’ snuggles always make me feel better when I’m crying, but Gorp saw him coming and backed up.
I managed to grab Sassafras. “Stay!” I instructed.
He gave me a stinky look, but sat down by my feet.
“I know you don’t see a lot of cats, but they aren’t mean, and they don’t eat monsters. You really don’t need to be scared of Sassafras. He wouldn’t hurt a fly!”
Just as I said it, that pesky fly flew by Sassafras. And he ate it.
Gorp shrieked.
Whoops. I tossed Sassafras in the barn and shut the door. I patted Gorp’s arm until he started to breathe more normally. Then it was time to get to work.
“What to try . . . what to try,” I muttered as I tapped my Thinking Goggles. “Oh! I should try lots of things. I should run an experiment!” I could try adding a bunch of different things to Gorp’s fur to stop it from molding.
“Bingo! Give me a minute, Gorp. I need to grab something from my house.”
I held on to my goggles and dashed into the house to grab some ziplock bags and scissors. I wasn’t sure what to try on Gorp’s fur yet, but I knew I’d need several fur samples to get started.
When I returned to the barn, I didn’t see Gorp anywhere. Oh no.
“Gorp? Gorp, are you here? Where did you go?”
The trees rustled, and I heard someone breathing hard. I looked up, and Gorp peered down at me.
“Your cat was scratching at the barn door with his ferocious claws. He was trying to get out so he could eat me while you were gone. It was safer to wait in a tree. Is it OK to come down? Did he break through the door?”
“No, he’s still in the barn. I promise I’ll protect you if you come down.”
Gorp slowly climbed to the ground. “What are those bags for?”
“I’m going to find something we can put on your fur that will stop the mold from growing. To figure out what works best, I’ll try a bunch of things and compare them. I’m going to need some fur samples for my experiment. Is that OK?”
Gorp sighed and dropped his shoulders. “I guess that makes sense. Just don’t take too much. Or give me a funny haircut.”
I nodded. How many things should I try? I wasn’t sure. Maybe five samples would be good. I’d need to leave one sample alone. That way I could see how much mold normally grew on Gorp’s fur. Then I could add different things to the other samples to try to stop the mold from growing.
I used the length of my pointer finger to measure a piece of orange fur on Gorp’s back. I needed some way to make sure I’d have the same amount of hair each time. In an experiment, you change only one thing and keep everything else the same. Since I was changing what I was adding to the fur, I’d need to keep the amount of fur the same.
Gorp wiggled and peered over his shoulder. “You’re going to cut hair off of my back? Maybe this is a bad idea. Having weird bald patches on my back might be even worse than having mold.”
I sighed. “How about I take the samples from down here by your foot? I don’t think anyone will notice if you have less hair all the way down at the ground.”
“I guess,” grumbled Gorp. “If you really mess up, I suppose I can always wear socks to the Monster Ball.”
He was finally holding still, so I worked quickly. I was careful not to touch any of the mold. “Ta-da!” I announced. “I’ve got five fur samples. Bet you can’t even tell that I took any hair.”
Gorp held his foot out and twisted it left and right. He grunted in approval. “So if I come back later today, you’ll have a fix for the mold?”
“Well, no. It’ll probably take me at least two days to get results.”
“Two days? But you’ll definitely have an answer then?”
“Well, I hope so,” I said cheerfully.
“You hope so?!” he yelped. “But the Monster Ball is in six days! What if you don’t figure it out in time?”
“You know, you could always go even if we don’t solve this. Sassafras and I love being your friends. We don’t mind that you have a little mold on your fur. I’m sure you have some nice monster friends who don’t mind either.”
Gorp threw his hands in the air. “I can’t show up at the dance moldy. It would be the worst. I hate being moldy. I hate it!”
Poor Gorp. He was super worried about this moldy fur. We had to figure out a solution!
“Don’t worry. I’m going to try a bunch of things in my experiment. I’m sure that one of them will work!”
Gorp sniffled and wiped his nose. He nodded.
After he left, I ran back to the house with my bags of monster fur and washed my hands carefully. I had two days to figure out a solution. The clock was ticking.