*****
Giggle Book One
Bubbles
Ring-a-ling, ring-a-ling sounded the school bell at Willow Pond Elementary School in the quaint community of Hidden Point. Ring-a-ling, the bell sounded again.
“Come on you little fishes, don’t be late for class,” said Miss Sylvia Bass, the teacher.
Hurriedly, the students rushed in for class.
“Good morning, class,” greeted Miss Bass.
“Good morning, Miss Bass,” replied the class.
About that time, in shot Billy Bluegill, “Uh…ah, good morning, Miss Bass,” he said as he rushed to his desk.
“I’m glad you could make it, Billy,” she said. “Since you’re a little late, maybe you’ll enjoy some extra homework.”
“Good grief,” he replied as he took his seat.
She tapped softly on the edge of her desk with her ruler to get the fishes’ attention. They were all talking at once so she had to tap on her desk again, but louder.
“Fishes, FISHES!” screamed Miss Bass.
Silence fell across the classroom as Miss Bass started taking roll.
“Olivia Sun Perch.”
“Here.”
“Bubbles.”
“Here.”
“Charlie Catfish.”
“Here.”
“Billy Bluegill.”
“Here.”
“Judy Brim.”
“Here.”
Unnoticed by Miss Bass, Junior Fin started throwing paper wads across the room.
“Erica Crappie,” she continued with roll.
“Here.”
“Junior Fin.”
“Here.”
Right after Junior Fin said here, Miss Bass caught him throwing the paper wads.
“Now, see here, Junior Fin!” yelled Miss Bass. “School is just about over for the year and I’m not going to put up with you acting up in class. So, Junior, you can stay after school for detention.”
“Yes, ma’am,” replied Junior
The class started laughing; she reached for her ruler again and tapped on the edge of her desk.
Tap, tap, tap went the ruler as Miss Bass cried, “Fishes, fishes, FISHES!”
Silence filled the room once again.
“Now, did I miss anyone’s name?” she asked.
Far back in the room little Bobbye Troutt raised his hand and said, “Miss Bass, you forgot to call my name.”
“Oh, yes, I’m sorry,” she replied. “I’ll mark you present, Bobbye.”
“Thank you,” he said. “Miss Bass, may I be excused to go to the bathroom?” “Yes, you may,” she replied. “But, hurry back.”
It was a typical day at school and everyone was excited. School would be out for the summer in a few days. Everyone looked forward to going to the old swimming hole to have fun. They looked forward to playing games like go fish, hide the bubbles, bobbin for floaters, catch me if you can and snatch the hook.
But, the biggest excitement they had each year was the annual bubble gum blowing contest. Bubbles has been the champion for the last four years. However, one way or another, mean old Junior Fin was determined to do his best to beat Bubbles. Junior definitely had something fishy going on. Bubbles hurried home every day, after school, to practice blowing bubbles. He wanted to do his best; he wanted to win. Most of all, he was determined that Junior Fin, the school bully, was not going to win. Bubbles worked hard, day after day, to be at his best for the contest. He wanted to be in tip-top shape, because he knew his friends would be rooting for him. Junior also prepared to do his best to beat Bubbles.
One day in class, as Miss Bass was teaching, Junior passed a note to Bubbles. Bubbles carefully opened it. He read to himself. I’m going to win the bubble gum blowing contest, fish head.
Miss Bass turned around and caught Bubbles reading the note. She told him to stand up beside his desk and share the note with the class. Afraid and nervous, he slowly stood up.
“If you tell on me, Bubbles, I’m going to get you,” whispered Junior as Bubbles slowly got up.
“Well, Bubbles, are you going to share it with us?” asked Miss Bass.
He tried to read the note but all he did was stutter. The class started snickering and giggling.
“Well,” Miss Bass said.
He never managed to get the words out so she asked him to bring it to her. As Miss Bass was reading the note, she recognized Junior’s handwriting and bad spelling.
“Okay, Bubbles have a seat. Now, Junior, what do you have to say for yourself?” she inquired.
“I…I…I,” he stuttered.
“Just what I thought,” she exclaimed. “You just earned yourself another after school detention for this note.”
The class burst out laughing at Junior; Miss Bass tapped on her desk again and screamed, “Fishes, fishes, FISHES!”
About that time, Junior looked over at Bubbles and said, “I’m going to get you, just wait and see.”
Bubbles’ friends felt sorry for him because they knew Junior would make good on his promise. But, Bubbles was not afraid. His sights were set on winning the bubble gum blowing contest. After school let out for the day, Bubbles’ friends all gathered around him.
“What are you going to do?” they asked.
“What do you mean?” he replied. “Do about what?”
“You know,” said Billy, “about Junior”
“Yeah,” interrupted Charlie. “Junior said he was going to get you and I believe he meant it.”
“I don’t know,” replied Bubbles. “I’ll just have to wait and see. I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.”
Meanwhile, inside the school, Junior sat in detention. He was as mad as he could be. I’m going to get that Bubbles, he mumbled to himself, if it’s the last thing I do. As he sat there, he thought and thought. All of a sudden, it hit him. He knew what he was going to do.
“That’s it!” he yelled. “Now, we’ll see who has the last laugh,” he said as he giggled.
Finally, the last day of school arrived. Everyone was excited; they laughed, talked and swam about the room. Miss Bass came in right on time for class to start. She cleared her voice for them to take their seat, but they didn’t hear her. Immediately, she grabbed for her ruler. But, it was gone. She stood a few minutes with her fins on her hips but they still didn’t stop. She tried to get their attention nicely.
Softly, she cried, “Fishes.”
They still didn’t stop.
“Fishes, fishes, FISHES!” she screamed.
A hush fell in the classroom and the whole class turned toward the front.
“Well, class!” shouted Miss Bass. “Does anyone know where my ruler is?”
She waited patiently as the fishes looked at each other with puzzled looks.
“Well, do you?” she asked.
About that time, Bubbles pulled his desk drawer open and there was the ruler; it was broken into three pieces. When he looked around, he saw Junior sitting at his desk with a big smile on his face. Bubbles slammed his desk drawer shut. It startled Miss Bass and the class. Everyone turned quickly and looked at him.
“What’s wrong, Bubbles?” asked Miss Bass. “Do you have something in your desk drawer that you don’t want me to see, like my ruler?”
She slowly eased over to him and politely asked him to open his desk drawer.
“But, but, but, Miss Bass,” pleaded Bubbles.
“Open the drawer now, Bubbles. I want to see what’s inside,” demanded Miss Bass.
The class sat completely still, held their breath and waited to see what was going to happen next. Junior just sat there and smiled. Miss Bass looked over at Junior and saw the big smile on his face. It made her think that Junior had something to do with her missing ruler. I have never had any trouble out of Bubbles, she said to herself. But, Junior gives me trouble all the time; he is something else. There’s something not quite right here.
She looke
d back at Bubbles; he was trembling. With sweat running down his face, he swallowed hard and slowly pulled open his desk drawer. Miss Bass reached down and put her fin on his and told him there was no need for him to open it. The class sighed in relief.
“But, but, Miss Bass,” spoke up a surprised Junior.
“Shhh,” she hushed him. “It’s the last day of school and it’s not important. I’ll get another ruler for this fall.”
“Thank you,” whispered Bubbles as his eyes looked upward and Junior’s smile fell down.
“Now, class, we are going to play a few games, roast some worms and later on we will have our contest,” Miss Bass announced.
“Hooray!” yelled the class.
As the day went on, they played games and roasted worms. Junior acted like he hadn’t done anything wrong. The others knew it was Junior who had tried to get Bubbles in trouble; it was always Junior. While the fishes played, Miss Bass went back and looked in Bubbles’ desk drawer. She found her ruler broken into three pieces. Then she looked in Junior’s desk drawer and found a fillet knife along with shavings of her ruler.
“Just what I thought,” she said as she started laughing. “Oh, well, school’s out anyway. Fishes will be fishy sometimes. May I have your attention, please!” yelled Miss Bass. “It’s time for our bubble blowing contest.”
“Hooray,” they all cried as they swam over to her.
“Of course, this year, Bubbles is going to try to hold on to the title of King Bubble Gum Blower.”
“Hooray!” yelled the class.
“Go for it, Bubbles,” cheered one of the fish.
“This year we have four contestants that will be challenging Bubbles. They are Sammy Mudcat, J. W. Hogsucker, Prissy Perch…” stated Miss Bass before she was interrupted.
“Alright!” yelled one of the fish.
“And Junior Fin,” she proceeded.
“Boo, boo!” shouted a voice in the back.
“Now, contestants, the one who blows the biggest bubble and holds it for three minutes will be crowned King Bubble Gum Blower. Okay, contestants, there is a bag with your name on it right in front of you. You each have three pieces of gum and will get three tries. On the count of three, start chewing,” she instructed.
“Go, Bubbles, go. Go, Bubbles!” yelled the class. “We are counting on you.”
“Ready,” she said, “one, two, three go.”
Quickly, the contestants grabbed their bubble gum, opened their mouths and popped it into their mouths. They chewed and chewed. They chewed, stretched and pulled the gum over and over until they thought it was just right for a big bubble. As the contest went on, J. W. was all popped out. Prissy was down to her last pop and Sammy had two pops to go. But, Junior was smacking away with a big smile across his face. As Bubbles blew and blew, the fishes held their breath as the bubble grew and grew. As it grew, the fishes rooted him on. All of a sudden, out of nowhere Bubbles started hiccupping.
“He has the hiccups,” cried one fish.
“Oh, no,” cried another.
They watched in amazement; the more he hiccupped, the bigger the bubble got.
“It’s going to burst!” screamed one.
Without warning, Bubbles hiccupped and sucked himself inside the bubble.
“Awesome,” said one.
“Cool,” said another.
“If he can hold it for three minutes, Bubbles will be king again this year.”
They all watched the clock. Sammy was popped out and Prissy had given up. Junior tried with all his might. He broke out in a sweat but he didn’t give up. He chewed and stretched his gum; he puckered up and blew with all his might. Pop went the tiny bubble; Junior had blown too hard.
“Forty-five more seconds to go,” Miss Bass instructed.
Hurriedly, Junior popped in another piece of gum and began to chew. He chewed as hard as he could, but it was too late.
“Time’s up!” cried Miss Bass. “Bubbles is our winner.”
As the class cheered, they all rushed over to Bubbles and congratulated him. Well, everyone except Junior. He just dropped his head and swam away.
“This old hiccup powder isn’t worth a flip,” whined Junior
He tossed the can off to the side and swam off.
“Phooey,” he said. “Hiccup powder! Who ever heard of such? Putting the powder on his gum was supposed to cause him to lose, not win.”
About that time, Bubbles swam up to Junior
“Friends,” said Bubbles as he stuck his fin out for a handshake.
“I guess,” replied Junior, “why not? If you can’t beat them, join them!”
“You’re alright, Junior,” said Bubbles.
“Hey, Bubbles, can you show me how you blew those big ones?” asked Junior
“Why, sure, Junior,” gloated Bubbles.
*****
Bobby A. Troutt is a southern writer who writes a variety of short stories and children’s books.
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