Zom Says Dirt Is Fine Jolly Phonics · Step 3, Unit 4: /ai/ mixed

Skel likes his brick house a lot. Each day he sweeps the room and sets his books on the shelf in a line. 'A clean house is a fine house,' Skel says. Zom folds his arms. 'Dirt is fine too,' Zom says.

Jack is less good. Skel hands him a mop. Jack drops it. Skel hands him a cloth. Jack drops that too. Then Jack just shrugs and grins a wide, smug grin. 'Cleaning,' Jack says, 'is not my thing.'

Skel looks at the sticky counter. He looks at the muddy boot prints. He looks at the toast scraps Jack left by the rug. Skel grips his broom hard. 'Fine,' he says. 'I will stop cleaning up. Clean it, or stay in the mess. Good luck, Zom and Jack.'

Zom and Jack see Skel go out the gate. They look at the sunny yard and grin. 'No more sweeping!' Jack says. 'No more scrubbing!' Zom says. They flop on the grass and laze like kings. No jobs. No Skel. Life is fine.

On day one, a sock sticks to the wood. No big deal. The next day, the kitchen starts to smell. Zom sniffs it and shrugs. By day three, the muck is so thick it holds his boot print. Zom looks down and grins. 'Still fine!'

It is not fine. The sticky wood gets stickier. Then it gets crunchy. Odd little shapes dart in the shade. Wee legs tap across the wood in the dark. Pests. A dozen pests. They race across the muck like it is a track.

Zom is hungry. He reaches for the last slice on the counter. Pie! Buzz! Flies. A thick cloud gets in his way. He reaches one more time. He leaps. The flies get there first. 'Stop! That pie is mine!' Zom yells.

Jack lifts the cloth he left in a heap three days back. A thing creeps under it. A dark thing. A thing with legs. So many legs! Black bugs rush from a crack in the wall. Jack steps back, arms up. 'Nope. Nope. Nope!' Jack yells.

The pets try hard. They pounce. They chase. But they fail. For each bug they get, ten more come. Pests on the shelf. Flies in the food. Bugs in the sock. One huge pink bug just sits there, bold and smug. Zom and Jack look at each other. 'We need Skel.'

Skel is back! There he stands, bow in hand, with the widest grin. 'So,' says Skel. 'Dirt is fine, is it?' Zom looks down at his boots. Jack looks up high. 'I will help,' Skel says. 'But now we all clean. No slacking. Deal?' Zom grabs a mop. Jack grabs a cloth. This time, no one drops a thing.