Chuckie's Masterpiece!

Chapter 1 Part 1: Tommy's New Neighbors

“Tommy!” Danny cried.  “Over here!  I’m open!”

     Danny Fenton was playing catch with Tommy Pickles in the Pickles’ backyard.  The two of them were bored that Sunday, so Tommy suggested to play a game of ‘Don’t Drop the Ball’.  The goal of the game was to see how many times you could catch the ball without dropping it.  The high score so far for Danny and Tommy was seven.

     “Okay, Danny!” Tommy exclaimed.  He was about to throw the ball to his playmate, but paused instead.  “What number comes nextest?”

     “Three.” Danny said, answering the question for him.

     Tommy nodded.  “Okay, then!  Here comes number three!”  He threw the giant star ball as hard as he could, and Danny caught it easily.

     “Alright!” Danny cried.  “I caught it!”

     “Great job, Danny!” Tommy said, happily.  “Now, toss it back to me!”  He raised his hands up in the air as he said it.

     “Okay!” Danny replied.  “Here comes number four!”

     He tossed the ball as gently as he could.  But apparently, Danny threw it a little too hard.  Tommy ran up to try and catch the ball, but missed.  It bounced up about ten feet into the air.  This time, Danny tried to catch the giant star ball.  He almost caught it, but it slipped out of his arms like a giant stick of butter.  The ball then jumped up, going way above and over Tommy’s head, and flew over the fence into Tommy’s front yard.

    “Uh, oh!” Danny cried.  “Sorry about that, Tommy!”

    Tommy sighed.  “It’s okay.  But that was my favoritest ball in the whole wild world!  But now it’s gone!  My Mommy and Daddy told me I’m not apposed to go in the front yard without a growed up!”

    Danny smiled.  “Don’t worry Tommy!  I’ll get your ball back!”  He thought for a moment.  “Tell you what, I’ll give you a lift on my shoulders near the fence, and tell me if you see it!”

    Tommy nodded.  “Okay!  Let’s do it!”

    Danny hoisted Tommy onto his back, and held onto his playmate’s legs.  “Do you see anything?” he asked.

    “Well,” Tommy replied, “I see some houses, and some flowers, and some trees, and-,”

    “I mean, did you find your ball?”

    “Um, no.” Tommy said, disappointedly.

    Danny was about to put Tommy back down when he suddenly cried, “Wait a minute!  I see it now!”  Tommy frowned and glanced down at his playmate.  “But it’s across the street!”

    Danny frowned too.  “But I’m not allowed across the street without a grown up!” he cried.  “Now what are we gonna do?”

    Tommy smiled again.  “Let’s go and see if my Mommy will takes us across the street to gets my ball!”

    “Good thinking!” Danny exclaimed.

    The two of them headed for sliding glass door that led into Tommy’s kitchen.  The Pickles’ kitchen was nice looking, along with the rest of the house.  The walls were painted a light blue color, and the floor tiles were painted yellow and white.  There were cupboards and drawers everywhere  (Sometimes, Danny would forget which ones held the crayons and paper for when he and Tommy wanted to draw things.).  All that was in the middle of the small room was the refrigerator and the big, round kitchen table.

     Danny tugged on the sliding glass door as hard as he could until it opened.  He quickly wiped his white sneakers with red shoelaces on the mat outside the door, and he and Tommy stepped inside.

     “Mrs. Pickles?” Danny called.

     No answer.

     He tried calling again.  “Mrs. Pickles?”

     Still no answer.

     Danny turned to Tommy.  “I wonder where she went.”

     Tommy shrugged.  Then he said, “Usually my Mommy leaves a note for my Daddy saying that she’s went somewheres on the kitchen table.  Let’s see if she lefted one for him!”

     Danny walked to the kitchen table.  It was a little too high for him to see anything, so Danny stood on his tippy toes and looked around the table.  Sure enough, there was a piece of notebook paper with Didi Pickles handwriting on it.  Danny quickly grabbed the piece of paper from the table and showed it to his friend.

     “See!” Tommy exclaimed.  “I told you!  What does it say?”

     Danny read the note to Tommy.  It said:

Stu,

    I’m across the street visiting the new neighbors.  Please give Tommy and Danny their lunch at 1:30.  I will be back in about an hour.

                                   -Didi

   

     “That’s perfect, Tommy!” Danny cried.  “You’re Mom’s just across the street!  Maybe she’ll see your ball and bring it back!”

     “But what if she doesn’t see it?” Tommy asked, worriedly.

     “Then we’ll just ask her when she gets back from visiting the new neighbors!” Danny replied.

     Tommy looked puzzled.  “What are neighbors, anyways?  Are they like horsys or something?”

     Danny laughed.  “No, Tommy.  They’re people who live close to you.  Like these neighbors are just across the street from your house.  Phil and Lil are your neighbors because they live right next to your house.” He paused.  “Is this making any sense to you?”

     Tommy nodded.  “I thinks so.” he answered.  “But I don’t gets why they’re new neighbors.  My Mommy and Daddy have known the peoples across the street for a long time.  So, why are they new all of a sudden?”

     “Because, those people who used to live at that house moved to another town, in another house.” Danny explained.

     Tommy’s eyes widened.  “You can do thats?”

     “Uh, huh!”

     “But what about all of their stuffs?”

     “Don’t worry, Tommy!  Your old neighbors took all of their stuff with them!”

     “Where?”

     “To the new house they’re living in!”

     “Why did they move anyways?”

     “I don’t know!  Probably because one of their jobs moved or something!”

     “Wait a minute!  Jobs can move to different towns, too?”  Tommy glanced at Danny with a puzzled look on his face.  “You’re really starting to confoose me, Danny!”

     Danny opened his mouth to say something, but he thought better of it.  “Forget it, Tommy.” he mumbled.

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