Fibles (5 page)

"Who smeared charcoal on the garage wall?" grumbled Father Pika.

"Who smeared lipstick on the bathroom mirror?" gasped Mother Pika.

"Who smeared crayons on the refrigerator door?" yelled Sister Pikaboo.

"Pikasso, you have a lot of explaining to do," demanded his parents.

"I got sooty from cleaning the grill. Then I got the thrill of honing my art skill on the wall, but my paws got all messy. After washing up in the bath­room, I tried tracing my face on the mirror, but my paws kept getting out of place. Then I went back to the refrigerator, and when I was drinking juice, my creative juices started flowing," said Pikasso.

"You're supposed to "ask" for art materials to use for practice," his parents reminded him.

"But the Show-and-Tell for parents night is tonight, and I won't have enough time to get the art materials that I need, nor will I have enough time to create more of my new artwork for props," stated Pikasso.

"We'll figure something out," replied Father Pika.

Show-and-Tell parent's night began with all the kids showing and telling their career choices on who they wanted to be when they grew up. It came down to the final three kids.

Ty the firefly came dressed in a new firefighter suit, complete with fire hat, and was shooting water from the water cannon on his toy fire truck as he was explaining the art of putting out a fire. Everyone in the audience thought Ty was the best at show.

Pink the piglet came dressed in a new evening gown, complete with high heels, and was sashaying up and down the aisle as she was explaining the art of walking the model runway. Everyone in the audi­ence thought Pink was the best at tell.

Pikasso the pika was the last one in the arts and crafts class to give his presentation. When he was lifting the sheets off his new artwork, everyone in the audience was aghast at seeing a huge section of a wall, a huge bathroom mirror, and a huge refrig­erator door.

"Wow! Those props are huge!" said all the kids.

Pikasso introduced his new artwork as "De Burnt Forest," a charcoal wall mural; "La Oops Image," a lipstick self-portrait; and "Und Cool Fridge," a crayon coloring.

The audience responded by asking, "What do you call your new artwork?"

"I call my new artwork Smearism," said Pikasso.

"Awesome!" said the audience, and they voted Pikasso the best at show and tell, and his spirit was lifted to a new height.

"I have a question," Vinnie Van Goat said. "You're so small and your artwork is so huge. How did you get it here?"

"All I had to do was "ask" my father for a lift," said the Smearist Pikasso the pika.

Ma the shepherd dog was sharing and caring for the farm kids with a watchful eye over them, while they were inside the barn, running, jumping, and landing in the hay piles without a worry.

One late afternoon, the farm's owner asked for a big favor from Ma, which was to round up all the young sheep in the pasture and bring the flock back to the barn for the night.

"I will give you an extra big treat if you do this for me," the farm owner said.

The farm owner then put on the table the biggest two-sided cookie with a yummy cream filling that any of the farm kids had ever seen. The cookie looked so delicious and the aroma so pleasing that it got all the farm kid's mouths to water from excitement.

Barney the barn owl started hooting and hollering, Doris the dormouse was eeking and shrieking, and everyone could hear Bumble the bee, hiving and jiving.

"Whoa!" said Horace the horse. "Remember, the cookie is for Ma and not you."

Ma noticed all the commotion surrounding the cookie and decided to find someone to guard the cookie, so it wouldn't be eaten before she brought the flock of young sheep back to the barn.

"Would anyone like to volunteer to guard the cookie while I'm gone?" asked Ma.

Wormsworth the worm looked over and noticed that Bugingham the bug's eyes were bugging out, so he slithered over to him and said, "Let's volunteer for guard duty so we can eat that delicious cookie all for ourselves."

"We'll guard it for you!" shouted Wormsworth and Bugingham.

"Why should I trust you two not to eat the cookie?" asked Ma.

Wormsworth and Bugingham simultaneously replied, "Look, Ma, no hands!"

"Okay, you two will be my guards to keep the cookie safe, but should any of the farm kids try to eat the cookie, you're to notify Stoolie the pigeon. He will fly over to the pasture and tell me," ordered Ma.

Ma left the barn and headed down the dirt road to the pasture, where the young sheep were grazing, and soon she was over the rise and out of sight.

"Now that Ma is gone, what part of the cookie would you like to eat?" asked Wormsworth.

"I like the yummy cream filling, but I'm afraid if I eat the middle first, the top of the cookie will fall on my head and squish me," replied Bugingham.

"I like the cookie parts because they're crunchy," savored Wormsworth.

"Do you have any ideas on how to eat the cookie?" asked Bugingham.

Wormsworth thought for a minute and declared, "Since I'm long and slender, I'll wrap my body around the top half of the cookie to "twist" it off. That way, you'll be able to eat the yummy cream filling with no worries."

"That sounds great to me, but we still have one more problem. How do we get on top of the table to eat the cookie?" pondered Bugingham.

"You can jump on my back, and I'll crawl up the table leg to the table top, and the cookie will be all ours!" Wormsworth smirked.

Hanging out in the rafters was Ding the bat, and with his sonar-hearing ears, he heard the plot to eat the cookie. Ding silently dropped down to the hayloft where Stoolie was and whispered in his ear what Wormsworth and Bugingham were up to.

Stoolie gasped and retorted, "I've got to fly to the pasture as fast as I can and tell Ma."

Ma was just coming over the rise with the flock of young sheep. Stoolie quickly flew out of the barn and relayed the urgent message to her about the two cookie plotters and their desire to eat the cookie.

"Don't worry, Stoolie, I have a surprise in store for those two when they reach for the cookie," Ma said with a wink.

Wormsworth and Bugingham were on top of the table, reaching for the cookie, just as Ma and Stoolie entered the barn. That's when they tripped the motion sensor Ma had placed secretly over the cookie.

Wham! All the bright floodlights turned on in the barn, and the two cookie plotters froze like deer in headlights.

"Surprise!" said Ma. "I've decided to throw a milk and cookie party!"

The party began as Ma sliced up the cookie for all to share, and MooMoo the cow offered a free glass of milk for everyone to dunk their cookie in. As the farm kids were eating their share of the extra-big treat, they noticed two of the kids were missing from the party.

"Where are Wormsworth and Bugingham?" the kids asked.

"They were grounded and sent to their flower­beds with nothing," said Ma the shepherd dog.