Lizard Loopy Read Online Free Page A

glanced around the garden and across to Petty’s rather scruffy old house. He couldn’t see any sign of anyone watching. Although Petty often warned them that government spies had her under surveillance and were keeping a top secretfile on her, she was a bit bonkers and they didn’t really take her seriously . . . but now . . .”No! You’re turning into crazy Petty Potts! Stop it!” Josh told himself.
    â€œGot ’em!” hissed Danny, leaping back out of the shed, patting his bulging jeans pockets. “She must be in the house, still investigating the broken window. Come on! Let’s go!”
    He was back through the fence, along the side passage, across the street, and back inside the wood in under a minute. Josh caught up with him as he jogged back to the oak tree.
    â€œLook—er—Danny,” he puffed, trying to keep up. “Don’t you think it’s a bit funny . . . Petty’s window getting broken and then us finding the mystery marble? Don’t you think they might be connected?”

    â€œNah—that’s just kids messing about, breaking Petty’s window,” Danny said. “There were two window breaks in Florence Road last week. The Neighborhood Watch guy came around to talk to Mom about it, remember?”
    â€œBut—what if it’s not kids . . . ?” Josh persisted as he and Danny arrived back at the foot of the oak. “What if Petty’s been telling the truth about the government spies? I mean, we thought she’d made up Victor Crouch, but he did show up in the end, didn’t he?”
    â€œYeah, I guess,” Danny said, pulling the spray bottles out of his pockets. “But we don’t know that he was a government spy, do we? Anyone can buy a walkie-talkie and act tough. How can we be sure that he wasn’t just some old boyfriend from bingo who fell out with her? How can
she
be sure, with her messed up memory?”
    Josh shuddered. Victor Crouch was tall and bony and had no eyebrows. He couldn’t imagine Victor Crouch, with his oddly bald brow and extra long pointy nail on one little finger, being anyone’s boyfriend!
    â€œAnd anyway, whether he was a spy or not, she S.W.I.T.C.H.ed him into a cockroach, so that was probably the end of him,” Danny said.
    â€œYeah, but . . . we always managed to survive. And if he did too and S.W.I.T.C.H.ed back . . .” insisted Josh.
    â€œJOSH! You’re turning into Petty!” Danny plonked the spray bottles in his twin’s hand. “Now shut up and S.W.I.T.C.H. me! Use the one with S on it. That must be for sand lizard.”
    The other bottle had a C on it, presumably for common lizard. Petty’s labeling was a bit unreliable, but this time it was correct. Three seconds later a brilliant green sand lizard shot up the oak tree. Josh marveled at the way Danny climbed the slightly slanted trunk, like shiny liquid flowing upstream. He would be sensible and wait for Danny to come back—probably with nothing—after investigating the owl hole.
    Hmmm. Something about that last thought prickled at him. Owl hole. Lizard . . .
    â€œAAAAAARGH! DANNY!!!” Josh shrieked. “DON’T GO IN THERE!”

With a bolt of horror, Josh had come to his senses. There was very possibly going to be an OWL in that hole! Very likely a hungry owl. And Danny had just S.W.I.T.C.H.ed himself into a sparkly green Meals On Heels delivery!
    But Danny didn’t seem to have heard him. He was wriggling up the trunk at great speed, his strong lizard fingers and toes hooking effortlessly into the groovy bark, licking up a few ants as he went.
    Josh groaned and shouted again, but Danny went on climbing. He was so excited about that stupid marble he was just about to offer himself up as owl food without even realizing it!
    There was nothing else for it. Josh couldn’t climb up after him as a boy. He looked at the bottles inhis hand, picked up the C one