The African Safari Discovery Read Online Free Page A

dim light of his tent, “the flat skull of Rufiji!”
    Stanley, Arthur, and Mr. Lambchop all gasped.
    The skull was flattened the wrong way!
    Instead of being flat the way Stanley was flat—front and back—its edge was down the middle. Dr. Fallows turned the skull sideways, and Stanley could see right in one eye socket and out the other.

    Nobody spoke for a long while.
    Arthur shook his head. “Look at its teeth,” he said almost to himself. Stanley saw that they were very small and jagged.
    “That’s not a person,” Arthur said suddenly.
    “Not anymore!” beamed Dr. Fallows.
    “It’s a big fish!”
    At once, Stanley could see that his brother was right.
    Dr. Fallows rotated the skull in his hand. Something changed in his eyes, and he swung around to his assistant. “You fool!” he cried. “Of course this is a fish! How dare you suggest otherwise!” With a grunt, he flung the skull out of the tent.

    Stanley’s eyes welled up with tears, and he ran from the scene.
    “Stanley!”
    Mr. Lambchop and Arthur found Stanley where he had folded himself at the edge of the jungle. “Stanley, what’s wrong?”
    Arthur kneeled down. “What is it, Stanley?”
    Finally, Stanley lifted his wet face and wiped it with the back of his hands.
    “It’s just that . . .” He let out a heavy sigh. “We came all this way, and . . . I didn’t find out anything about . . . about why I’m flat.” His voice broke, and his face crinkled into a sob.
    “Stanley.” His father squeezed his shoulder. “Don’t you see? These last few days have been the most remarkable of my entire life.”
    “It’s the best vacation ever,” said Arthur.
    “What a time we’ve had! We jumped from a plane and went on a safari. We met Masai tribesmen and canoed through deepest Africa. And it’s all because of you.”
    A smile crept across Stanley’s face. “We have had a lot of fun,” he admitted.

    “I wouldn’t trade any of it,” said Mr. Lambchop. “Except maybe for a new paddle.”
    Stanley chuckled as his father and brother wrapped him in a hug.
    “We’re glad you’re flat, Stanley,” Arthur said.
    Surrounded by his family, Stanley thought of the long-necked giraffe on the plains, surrounded by all the other animals. They liked having him around. He helped them to see farther.

Chapter 8
A Souvenir
    At the airport in America, Harriet Lambchop shrieked with excitement when Stanley, Arthur, and their father came through the door at ARRIVALS . She ran up and threw her arms around Stanley.
    “How I missed you!” she cried. She squeezed Stanley’s edges. “You’ve lost weight!”
    “How’s my little explorer?” She ruffled Arthur’s hair.
    “We saw an elephant!” said Arthur.
    Then she spun and gazed into Mr. Lambchops eyes. They kissed deeply.
    “Ew,” said Arthur. “We’re in public .”
    Harriett said, “Wait until you see what I got for you!” She pulled two large, oddly shaped pillows out of shopping bags. She handed one to Arthur and one to Stanley.
    The pillows looked like curved rain-drops.
    “What is it?” said Arthur.
    “I won them in the silent auction at the Grammar Society fund-raiser! That,” she said, pointing to Arthur’s, “is a crocheted comma. And yours, Stanley, is a single quotation mark!”
    “What’s the difference?” asked Arthur.
    Mrs. Lambchop blinked. “Proper usage, of course!”
    Back at home, Stanley stood in front of his enormous bulletin board. It was dotted with souvenirs from his travels: a postcard from Calamity Jasper, a newspaper clipping from Canada, and photographs from Mexico and Japan. In his hands, he held the newspaper article that the Lambchops had carried with them on their African adventure: FLAT SKULL DISCOVERED IN AFRICA . It was crumpled and torn in several places, stained by water and mud, but it was still in one piece.
    Stanley pinned it carefully to the bulletin board.
    Arthur’s hand appeared beside Stanley’s. Arthur fiddled with a pushpin