Story Hour
Glicker's First Fourth
Written by Gene B. Williams
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It had been a wonderful day, with a great picnic. And Glicker loves picnics! (Maybe even more than Nicker does.) (Don’t you?) It also gave her the chance to play with her favorite human, Danny. Emily and Simon both trusted Danny to take care of their baby Glicker – and Danny loved doing it. He’d helped teach her how to speak, and all about good manners. Now he was at the big Fourth of July picnic. He could show all sorts of new things to her. In doing that, he often saw familiar things in a whole new way.
Hmmm, do you remember the first time you had popcorn? Danny had eaten popcorn many times. He loved popcorn. But, you see, Glicker had never seen it before. She had never tasted it before.
“Crunchy sea snow,” she called it.
Danny had to think about that. It’s crunchy and white, but … then he thought, “It’s salty!”
As Glicker had her nose deep in the bag of popcorn, Danny got them some corn dogs.
Glicker wasn’t so sure about the corn dogs. She looked and sniffed. “No corn,” she said. “No dog, just a popsickle tail.”
He convinced her to take a nibble. Then she took a bite, then the entire corn dog disappeared in one gulp. And then Danny had to go back to get ten more … popsickle dogs … for Glicker (and a few more for himself). He also brought a big handful of napkins to wipe her mouth. And to wipe off his shirt. And his pants. And his shoes. And his hair.
Getting ketchup and mustard out of your hair with paper napkins isn’t easy! Maybe you already know this. Human babies can be messy, but sea dragon babies … WHEW! A fire hose or a jump in the sea would sure work better than a handful of dry paper napkins.
And that’s not all! Glicker wanted to try everything. Corn on the cob. Tiny donuts. Ice cream. Philly Cheese sandwiches. Gyros (that’s pronounced gear-o’s). Indian fry bread. Cotton candy. Balloons – but “those aren’t for eating,” Danny had to tell Glicker.
Captain Kazoo came to the carnival, and RePeet with him, and lots of others. Carsten and Destiny and Ashley and Dylan and Rebecca and Tess and Erin and Kira and Becca and Anya and Billy and Thomas and David and Vicki and Linda and Donna and Laura and Dianna and Adam and Marilou and Chris and Don and Kelly and Susan and Cindy and Beth and Gracie and Elanna and Neska and Gordie and Mabel and Gus and Sophie and a partridge in a pear tree and …. Well, it was pretty crowded.
Tummies were full of good things to eat. Arms and legs were tired from games. The sun was finally going down. But the day wasn’t over yet. Not quite yet. In fact, just about the biggest part of the day was about to begin at night.
Glicker cuddled up happily with Danny and smeared his shirt with more “fluff stuff” (Glicker’s word for cotton candy) and “sweet snow” (Glicker’s word for sno-cones) and “sticky fruit ” (Glicker’s word for caramel apples). He taught her the new words – while trying to keep himself reasonably clean.
Here’s a hint. If you ever get asked to babysit a sea dragon, double the price and be sure that you have enough for food. Be sure you get plenty of money for that! Sea dragons, even the little ones, can get very hungry.
And if that sea dragon likes you, guess what. You become the napkin. So, be sure if you babysit a sea dragon, you also get money for doing your laundry. You’ll need it!
The sun went down. Glicker’s tummy was full (well, almost). She had a happy tummy. Danny’s shirt (and face and pants and shoes and …) were a sticky mess. Being a human napkin for a baby sea dragon might sound fun (and it is), but it’s messy.
As it became dark, Danny told her stories. He didn’t get them quite right sometimes, because he doesn’t know history as well as you do, but he tried. (Maybe your parents can figure it out and help?)
“Paul Revere rode out on his horse with three flashlights,” Danny told her, “because the Minute Men had broken watches. Then Ben Franklin flew a kite with George Washington’s key in a big storm, and just then ….”
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There was a loud bang, and fireworks exploded in the air. Glicker buried her face into Danny’s shoulder. He wanted to put his hands over his ears, but Glicker needed to be comforted. That was more important than the noisy fireworks in the sky. “Sky falling?” Glicker asked nervously. Danny smiled and said, “Those are fireworks.” It was noisy. “Far works?” she asked. “No, fireworks,” Danny answered. A streak of sparks shot up into the air. BOOM went the sky. “Fire worms?” asked Glicker. “Fire WORKS,” Danny said. “Fire warm?” asked Glicker. |
Glicker cuddled closer. Her eyes were wide. She’d never seen anything like this. (Sea dragons don’t have fireworks, as you might imagine. The fuses get soggy in the water and are hard to light.) This was her first Fourth of July. Well, that’s not quite true. She’d had several before, but never one on land. Never one with fireworks.
She nuzzled against Danny and whispered, “Loud!”
WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH came sound from the ground as the rockets went up high into the sky.
POP BOOM BOOM came from the sky (and sometimes BOOM!BOOM!BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!BOOM!).
| Red, blue, green, white, yellow, purple, orange. All the colors glowed against the black sky, and trickled down, sparkled, and disappeared. If you’ve seen fireworks – even though Glicker hadn’t – you know what I mean. As they shot upward, many left the stems of sparks behind. WHOOSH BANG BOOM FLASH |
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As she did, the sky lit up with another garden of boom flowers. Then another. In what is called the grand finale (the “big finish”), the whole sky opened up to noise and color. Glicker’s mouth opened. So did Danny’s. I bet a lot of mouths opened as the entire sky blossomed with what Glicker called “boom flowers.” It went on and on and on, then went on still more.
Suddenly, everything was quiet again. They could see smoke drifting in the dim moonlight. The fireworks were over.
Some went back to the carnival to get more hot dogs and cotton candy and … well, all sorts of good things. Danny wanted to go, but Glicker had fallen asleep on his shoulder. It was time to take her home. It had been a big day for Glicker.
As he tucked her in, she wanted a story. (Danny often told Glicker stories as she went to sleep.) I wonder what kind of bedtime story Danny told to her – don’t you?
What kind of story would you tell to a tired baby sea dragon after her first Fourth?
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