Read Online RARE BEASTS by Charles Ogden, Rick Carton - Free Book Online

thing’s skull made out of ?”
    “Do NOT touch the animals! They need their rest—some of them are jet-lagged from their journeys.” Ellen pushed back the kids who were poking and prodding the valuable items.
    “If each one of you takes home one of these rare exotic creatures,” she added, “it won’t be long beforeyou forget all about your old, plain pets. You’ll be the proud owners of the most unique animals in the world!”
    “But we don’t
want
to forget about our pets!” cried Annie.
    “They’re part of our
families
!” wailed Seth.
    “And who wants exotic animals when they’re creepy and ugly and weird?” asked Willa. “How can I curl up in bed with
this
one?” she continued, pointing at a Lompa. “Those pointy horns would scratch me all night. Anyway, we’re kids! Sondra’s paper route, Burl and Seth’s lawnmower service, and all of our allowances together couldn’t buy a single one of these things, even if we wanted them. Your prices are
outrageous
.”
    Edgar and Ellen stared at each other. Their hands curled into fists.

24. Fuel to the Fire
     
    A loud screech of tires made everyone turn around. Marvin Matterhorn tried to get out of his car, but his seatbelt held him fast. Finally he gave up and rolled down his window. His fellow executives, eachstrapped into their own cars, followed suit.
    “What’s the meaning of this?” Marvin Matter-horn spat at the firefighters, holding a newspaper out the window and jabbing his finger at the front page.
    It was a special evening edition of the
Nod’s Limbs Gazette.
The headline screamed:

     
    “First, we’re up all night tending to our crying kids! Then we had to spend all day conducting meetings from our cars! And now, you’re creating a panic by telling us something might eat our kids? This is unacceptable!”
    “Unacceptable, indeed!” piped up the other businesspeople.
    Mr. Matterhorn was about to unleash further insults about the fire department’s incompetence when he caught sight of Edgar and Ellen.
    “Oh, it’s you two,” he said crossly. “Have you lowered your prices yet? That five dollars is still burning a hole in my pocket!”
    And that sent the twins over the edge.

25. Edgar and Ellen Face Off
     
    “No one has any money!”
screeched Edgar.
    “Everybody wants us to just
give
these things away!” said Ellen.
    “How are we going to finance all our greatest schemes?” they yelled at each other.“It’s all
your
fault!”
    “
My
fault?”
    “Arrgh!”
    The twins stood nose to nose in the midst of a crowd silenced by their sudden outburst. The adults were taken aback by the siblings’ ferocity. Most of the children weren’t surprised by it at all.
    “We haven’t made one single dollar all dreary day! Where are our riches? Where are our buckets of money?” said Edgar.
    Ellen snatched an orange traffic cone that had fallen from Lucky Engine Number 7 and plunked it down hard atop Edgar’s head.
    “How’s this for a bucket, you amateur! I should get a reward for putting up with you and your useless plans!”
    Edgar yanked fruitlessly at the cone. It didn’t budge. “You thankless hack!” He ripped a squishy bicycle horn from Calvin Hucklebee’s handlebars and threw it at Ellen. It deflected off her perspiring forehead with an insulting
squonk
! “If your sales skills weren’t so pathetic, we’d have enough cash to employ all of my brilliant blueprints!”
    “
Brilliant?
Ha! You’re about as bright as a black hole!” Ellen retorted, strings of spittle flying between them.
    “Oh,
yeah
?” shouted Edgar as he stomped on Ellen’s foot.
    “Yeah!”
hollered Ellen as she reared back and kicked Edgar in the shin.
    The children encircled the fray and watched the twins hop around in pain.
    “What are they doing?” asked Carolyn South.
    Ellen swung her arms and tried to box her brother’s ears, but succeeded only in knocking the traffic cone sideways on his head.
    “It’s called
fighting
. They do this