"Hey mom, thanks again for doing all of this babysitting. I know Jonathon loves seeing you and I appreciate it more than you know." David invited her in and called out to Jonathon. "JONATHON? GRAMMY RONNI IS HERE."
Jonathon ran down the stairs holding Mr. Piddles and gave Grammy Ronni a big hug.
“Hi Grammy, thank you for babysitting me today.” Grammy Ronni hugged Jonathon and then walked into the living room to set her purse down.
“Of course sweetie! I thought we might go to the park today if you and Mr. Piddles are up for it?” Grammy Ronni always had good field trip ideas for the two adventurers.
“Yea, yea, yea! Mr. Piddles needs some outdoors time!” Jonathon ran back upstairs to change out of his pajamas.
“Okay well, I have to head out to catch my plane, but thank you again for doing this. I will see you tomorrow!” David grabbed his suitcase and jacket just before Jonathon came bounding down the steps. “Hey buddy, I have to head out now but I’ll be back tomorrow okay?”
“Okay dad, have a safe trip! Oh! And here, Mr. Piddles wanted to give you a hug for luck.” Jonathon wrapped Mr. Piddles’ paws around David’s neck.
“Thank you, Mr. Piddles. Well, I’m off!” David then left the house and drove to the airport.
“Okay Jonathon and Mr. Piddles, are we ready to go to the park?” Grammy Ronni immediately turned her attention to the young boy and his polar bear. Jonathon nodded vigorously and they headed off to the park.
Once at the park Jonathon and Mr. Piddles ran out to their favorite spot on the edge of a forest!
“Mr. Piddles what should we do today? I think that exploring the woods could be fun.” Jonathon turned to Mr. Piddles (now a well and alive polar bear).
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| Mr. Piddles in action (actually Ice Bear on Bare Bears from tvtropes |
“Well Jonathon, I think exploring the woods sounds awesome. We could even try to find some fish!” Mr. Piddles was always up for exploring, especially if there was a chance for fish.
So they were off into the woods, not going too far out of Grammy Ronni’s sight. Jonathon started to collect some of the wild flowers around the area. Mr. Piddles thought of the perfect way to prank Jonathon. He ran over to Jonathon to help him pick flowers.
“Hey Jonathon I’ve heard that this area of the woods is where a famous witch was buried! Do you think we’ll see her burial grounds today?” Jonathon stopped in his tracks.
“What?! No! I don’t want to see some old, dead person’s body! That’s gross, and I have school on Monday. I can’t be killed off by some crazy, old witch!” Jonathon crossed his arms and waited to hear Mr. Piddles’ thoughts.
“But what if she could do something really cool, like do your homework for you?” Mr. Piddles knew Jonathon couldn’t resist that idea.
“Hmm… Well I guess that might be worth it… Okay, let’s do it!” Jonathon and Mr. Piddles shook hands and then split up to search for the woman’s body.
What Jonathon didn’t know was that Mr. Piddles had just made up the whole story! There was no witch’s body, but Mr. Piddles had plans to surprise Jonathon as the witch. As Jonathon searched for the woman’s body, Mr. Piddles covered himself in mud, hid under a pile of leaves, and began to wail like what he thought an old witch would sound like.
“Mr. Piddles is that you? Where are you?!” Jonathon started to get worried because he hadn’t seen his friend in a while.
“ Noooooo, Jooonnnaaathoonnn it is Iiiiiii Ms. Morganaaaaa!” Mr. Piddles began to move around under the leaves.
“Mr. Piddles! I could sure use your help! Ms. Morgana please don’t hurt me, my friend talked me into finding you!” Now Jonathon was really scared! He started to run away from the moving leaves and back to the park where Grammy Ronni was. Mr. Piddles realized he had succeeded in scaring his friend, but maybe too well! He got out from the leaves and Jonathon began to run even faster! Finally Jonathon made it back to the safety of Grammy Ronni.
“Grammy― Ronni―there’s a―witch trying to kill me!” Jonathon was exasperated from running back to Grammy Ronni, but had to tell her what was going on! Just then Mr. Piddles popped his head out from the forest and Grammy Ronni saw him.
“Oh Jonathon, look it’s just Mr. Piddles covered in mud and leaves! See, just go and grab him. I bet he can explain.” Grammy Ronni had grown used to the two pranking each other.
Jonathon ran out and saw that it was Mr. Piddles! Mr. Piddles apologized for scaring him, but also laughed a little at how scared Jonathon had been. Jonathon picked him up and they ran back to Grammy Ronni.
“You were right Grammy, it was just Mr. Piddles planning a trick on me!” Jonathon held the dirty Mr. Piddles by a single paw to keep himself from getting dirty.
“Here Jonathon, put Mr. Piddles in this plastic bag until we can wash him off. Do you want to go get ice cream? I think that might be the perfect way to end our day of adventure?” Grammy Ronni got a plastic bag out from her purse and carefully placed Mr. Piddles into it.
“Okay Grammy! Thank you for taking us out today!” Jonathon took the bag with Mr. Piddles in it and whispered to him, “I told you we would get ice cream!”
Grammy Ronni smiled and thought to herself, “Another successful day with Jonathon and Mr. Piddles”.
Author's Note:
This week I wanted to try and take a few elements from the Sioux stories as well as a few specific details from the story A Little Brave and the Medicine Woman. I really liked how that story combined both the mischievous elements of the Sioux legends and the societal element of the Medicine Woman. I thought having Mr. Piddles act as the little brave who surprises the other boys by pretending to be the medicine woman come alive! I also thought that this would be a great time to have Jonathon and Mr. Piddles go on an adventure. I really loved reading Calvin and Hobbes when I was younger so I thought they could develop a similar relationship, with Grammy Ronni within running distance of course! I hope to continue building on these relationships and hope to see more cool stories develop out of the legends and myths we are reading in class!
