My Hairiest Adventure by R. L. Stine Page B

the stripe of fur and ripping it out of my
head.
    I couldn’t bear to look at myself. The hair was so gross, so disgusting.
    I decided there was no way I could wait for Mom and Dad to get home. I
couldn’t leave that horrible hair on my face. Spinning away from the mirror, I
ran upstairs to shave it off.
    I lathered up the strip of hair with shaving cream. Then I began to scrape my
dad’s razor over it.
    “Ow!” It hurt, but I didn’t care. I had to cut it off. Every thick, bristly
strand of it.
    Watching the hair fall into the sink, I suddenly knew what I had to do. I had
to find the INSTA-TAN bottle. I had to find it and take it to Dr. Murkin.
    “If I bring him the bottle, I can make him believe me!” I told myself. Then
Dr. Murkin can do tests on it. He can figure out why it’s making hair grow on
me.
    And once he knows that it’s the INSTA-TAN that’s growing hair, Dr. Murkin
will give me a cure, I decided.
    But where did we toss the bottle?
    I shut my eyes and struggled to remember.
    After I discovered the bottle, we had all run into Lily’s house to splash the
stuff on. Then we had gone back outside to mess around in the snow.
    Did we toss the INSTA-TAN bottle back in the trash Dumpster next door?
    I had to find out.
    I scribbled a note to my parents, telling them I left something at Lily’s and
would be back soon. Then I grabbed my coat and hurried out the door.
    The air had become a lot colder. Clouds had rolled over the sun, making the
evening sky gray. I zipped up my parka and pulled the hood over my head. My
forehead still tingled from where I had shaved it.
    The three blocks to Lily’s house seemed like three miles! As I turned the
corner, her house came into view.
    I don’t want her to see me, I realized. If she sees me poking around that
trash Dumpster, she’ll want to know why. And I’m not ready to tell her the whole
story.
    She wouldn’t tell me the truth, I thought bitterly. Instead, she
slammed the door on me.
    So I’m not ready to tell her the truth, either.
    I felt glad that it had become so dark out. Maybe Lily wouldn’t see me.
    I kept my eyes on her house as I approached. The lights were on in the dining
room. Maybe her family was having an early dinner.
    Good, I thought. I’ll dig into the trash Dumpster, pull out the bottle, and
disappear before they finish, before anyone has a chance to glance out the
window.
    I stopped short when I saw that there was just one little problem.
    The trash Dumpster was gone.
    The workers must have hauled it away.
    I let out a long sigh and nearly slumped to my knees. “Now what?” I murmured
out loud.
    Now how do I prove to Dr. Murkin that the INSTA-TAN is making me grow hair?
    The cold wind swirled around me as I stared at the curb where the Dumpster
had stood. Fat brown leaves, blown by the twisting wind, fluttered around my
legs.
    I shivered.
    Turning to leave, a memory flashed through my mind.
    The INSTA-TAN bottle. We hadn’t dropped it back into the Dumpster. We
had tossed it into the woods on the other side of the neighbors’ house.
    “Yes!” I cried happily. “Yes!”
    We had chased each other across the neighbors’ yard—and I’d heaved the
bottle into the trees.
    It will still be there, I told myself. It has to be there.
    I darted past Lily’s house, glancing up at the front windows. I couldn’t see
anyone looking out.
    Past the neighbors’ house, dark and empty. The remodeling work not finished.
    Into the woods. The dead leaves wet and slippery under my shoes. The bare
tree branches shook and rattled in the shifting, sharp wind.
    Where had the bottle landed? I asked myself. Where?
    It hadn’t gone far, I remembered. Just past the first trees.
    It had to be nearby, I knew. Somewhere near where I stood.
    A blanket of deep shadow had fallen over the woods. I kicked at a pile of
dead leaves. My shoe hit something hard.
    Bending quickly, I tossed leaves away with both hands.
    Only a tree branch.
    I moved deeper into