Mitch pulled out a headphone set and microphone from his drawer. “Here, put this on it,” said Mitch. “It’s my Animal Communication Translator. It can tell you what an animal is saying.”

            “Why couldn’t you have called it a Hear-What-The-Animals-Are-Saying device? It’s a lot simpler,” said Josh.

            “Well, I had to think of something fancy so more people will buy it,” explained Mitch.

            Josh put Mitch’s invention on the penguin. “Do you want to know why there is so much volcano dust in the air?” it asked. Josh and Mitch nodded their heads.

“It is because the Abominable Snowball has built a mechanical volcano-“

“Wait a second!” interrupted Josh. “Who is this Abominable Snowball?”

“I don’t know, and stop interrupting me. It’s not polite.”

“Oh, sorry,” apologized Josh.

“That’s okay. As I was saying, the Bonnie (that’s his nickname) has built a mechanical volcano that acts just like a real volcano, under his control.”

“But why is he doing this?” asked Mitch. “Doesn’t he know that we enjoy summer?”

“I don’t know that either. Maybe because he’s a snowball and he likes the cold.” said the penguin.

“And how do you know all this?” asked Josh suspiciously.

“I was one of the many animals he captured in Antarctica to bring here to give this place a more ‘wintery’ feel,” said the penguin.

Mitch gave Josh a ‘stop-asking-so-many-questions’ look. “Well, all apologies to Bonnie, but we have to stop his wintery summer. The farmers won’t be able to grow crops and all the crops they do have will be wasted by the snow. And we won’t be able to have our summer festival or the Annual Swimming Race.”

“Well, we could change it to the Annual Ice Skating Race,” suggested Josh. Mitch gave Josh ‘the look’ again.

“Let’s go to Bonnie’s lair and see if we can do something about this.”

“Sounds like a good idea,” agreed the penguin.

So off they went, riding Mitch’s old snowmobile since the roads were buried in snow.

“So Waddles,” started Josh (Waddles was the nickname Josh gave to the penguin), “how’s it in the Arctic?”

Waddles gave an annoyed look. “I’m not from the Arctic, I’m from Antarctica.”

“Oh yeah! I knew that. I watched March of the Penguins three times, you know,” remarked Josh.

Mitch gave an exasperated sigh. “Who do you think knows more about penguins, you or an actual penguin?” he asked Josh.

“Well of course I do!” exclaimed Josh. “Penguins can’t even talk!”

“Um, excuse me?” asked Waddles, even more annoyed now.

“Well, I was just saying that humans could probably take better care of penguins than they can themselves. Why look at the penguins in the zoo –“

“We’re almost at Bonnie’s lair,” interrupted Mitch.

            They arrived at the mechanical volcano. Sneaking in from the back entrance, Mitch led them to the control room. He pressed the ‘Vacuum’ button. The volcano sucked back all the dust it had emitted.

            “Good. Now let’s get out of here!” said Mitch. Suddenly the alarms went off.

            “INTRUDER ALERT!”

            “RUN!” shouted Waddles. Several security guards started chasing them. Mitch ran toward the exit, but it was blocked by guards too.

            “Up the stairs!” he commanded. When they were on top of the volcano, Mitch took a sled and sat Josh, Waddles, and himself on top of it. Then he pushed off the edge and they slid down the volcano.

            “WHOOAAA!!!” they yelled as they escaped to safety. But they were not safe for long. Bonnie had come out of his lair and was chasing them, getting bigger with each second!

            “Quickly, stand between these two trees!” said Mitch.

            “But he’ll be able to get us!” Josh told him.

            “I don’t think so. You see, these trees are ten feet apart. So if Bonnie has a diameter of six feet while he is about ten yards away, and his diameter gets larger by one foot every two yards, then by the time he gets here he should be…”

            THUMP! Bonnie jammed himself between the two trees.

            “…eleven feet wide, too large to pass between these trees.”

            Bonnie growled. “Mitchell, I command you get me out this instant!”

            “Don’t think so, fluffy,” snapped Josh.

            “You sound familiar,” Mitch said suspiciously.

            The sun was starting to come out now that the volcano dust in the sky was clearing. Mitch’s eyes widened.

            “The snow is melting!” he gasped. Sure enough, in the next few seconds Josh and Mitch were waist deep in the water, which was getting higher every moment. Bonnie was melting too.

            A big wave (created from all the snow on the volcano) hit them, washing them all the way back to Mitch’s house. Everything everywhere was soaked. Mitch looked at Bonnie and saw…

            “Al! My old student! So you’re the Abominable Snowball!” Mitch declared. Al was sitting in what looked like a car in the shape of a sphere, previously covered by snow.

            Al growled. “Whatever you’re going to say, say it now.”

            “Why did you do all of this?”

            “”I wanted to make everyone think global warming was real so they would attend my Live Earth concerts and see my ‘save-the-planet’ movies. It’s a business, you know.”

            “So you took what you learned from me and thought up this? It’s a wonder so many people fall for that money-making trick. Has anyone ever thought of how much energy you’re spending with your concerts and airplane flights and your million dollar mansion?” Mitch said, nearly yelling.

            “People can’t handle the truth! The media loves hearing about these end-of-the-earth stories!”

            “People can help the environment by not supporting you, Al! You can fool some of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time,” Mitch replied. “That gives me an idea…”

            The next day, Mitch got to work on his book. He looked at Josh, who was making more strawberry smoothies. He sat at his computer and started to type:

            It was a warm, summer day…

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