Be Gentle. Cheese's Children Story

[Cheese]

Not to hijack the thread but, yes I do:

The Little Booger that Can’t
A short story by Cheese (aka Michael Gifford)


In a little house in a little town, there lived a little boy with a runny nose.
Looking close, you can see a whole town of boogers inside the little boy’s nose.
One little booger always went to the front of the nose and said:
“Today I will hang further than any booger!”

All the other boogers would laugh because that little booger always ran away scared.
“I can’t, I can’t, I know I can’t!”
That little booger tried doing booger exercises, booger stretches, and watching booger movies about being brave. But, every day was the same: running away scared.
“I can’t, I can’t, I know I can’t!”
That little booger needed to change “I can’t” into a good thing.
Most boogers are wiped away by the big, bad booger-pad, (or a finger) before they touch the lips, but some famous boogers pass the neck, touch a shirt, or more. That little booger needed to do something special, something never done before.
That little booger pushed to the front of the nose and sat down. It sat down for not one day, not two days, but three whole booger days. On the fourth day that little booger had an idea:
“I can’t” is good thing!
That little booger stood up and said:
“I can’t, I can’t, I know I can’t break today! Nothing, no nothing can stop me today.”
“Today I will touch the boy’s shoes, Hooray!”

All of Boogertown watched as that little booger slid right out of the nose and stretched and stretched and stretched. Past the lips, past the chin, all the way down to the little boy’s shirt.
The little boy saw that little booger and raised the big, bad booger-pad to wipe it away, but that little booger just closed its eyes and said:
“I can’t, I can’t, I know I can’t break today! Nothing, no nothing can stop me today.”
The big, bad booger pad got closer and closer, and closer. Suddenly the little boy’s door flew open with a crash. His sister screamed:
“Was it you who threw my dollies in the trash!?”

The little boy looked at his sister and said:
“Dollies? Oh no, not me. I can’t, I can’t, I know I can’t do anything bad today. I’m already grounded today.”
The little boy’s sister’s eyes grew as wide as dinner plates and she screamed: “GROOOOOOOOSSSSS! That booger is as big as a house!” and dashed out of the room as fast as she could.
The brave little booger wibbled and wobbled as the boy looked around, but it wouldn’t be broken until it hit the ground. It just bravely said:
“I can’t, I can’t, I know I can’t break today! Nothing, no nothing can stop me today.”

Now that everything was ok and that little booger started stretching again. It closed its eyes and stretched with all its booger might. After a long booger time that little booger opened an eye and saw a little booger eye looking back! It opened both eyes and saw the little boy’s belt buckle. That little booger smiled really big and said to its reflection:
“I can’t, I can’t, I know I can’t break today! Nothing, no nothing can stop me today.”

The little boy stood completely still, he was quite happy watching this booger of his grow and grow. He got so still and so quiet that the little boy could hear all the cheers coming from Boogertown:
“You can’t, you can’t, we know you can’t break today.”
There were hundreds and hundreds of boogers holding onto that little booger’s feet helping it stretch and stretch and stretch some more. Every booger from baby to grandpa let out a roar:
“You can’t, you can’t, we know you can’t break today.”

After a long booger time, that little booger was too tired to stretch, too tired to move. It had done all that it could, that little booger knew it’s journey was done. Before it gave up, that little booger gave one last big stretch and said:
“I can’t, I can’t, I know I can’t break today! Nothing, no nothing can stop me today.”

That little booger opened its eyes and saw a bunch of blurry fuzz, could it be? Oh yes it was!
That little booger was looking at the little boy’s shoelaces! It stretched out a little booger hand and grabbed a piece of shoelace and said:
“I couldn’t, I couldn’t, I knew I wouldn’t break today! Nothing, no nothing stopped me today.”

Then it snapped back up to the nose like a wibbly, wobbly, green rubber band.
All of Boogertown and the little boy cheered as loud as they could. That scared little booger had become the bravest and most famous little booger with one little line:
“I can’t, I can’t, I know I can’t break today!”

So the next time a long, drippy booger dangles out of your nose, don’t be so soon to wipe, don’t be so soon to blow. It might just be a legendary booger you know.

 

[Ruxandra]

Ok so I will be completely honest. I cringed when I read the title. Now this has nothing to do with anything other than my aversion to boogers. However...I took a deep breath (quite literally) and with a slight wince I decided to read this because I did, after all, ask in the first place.

Now, aside from the mild gagging sensation you elicited with the description of the booger touching the kid's lips (again quite literally...I read that and I imagine my face looked like Grumpy Cat for the rest of the story with perhaps a half squinted eye - because obviously if I only partly see the text it won't be as gruesome or gross...right?), it was an enjoyable story. I liked that there was a clear message and you captured the essence of small children and their antics.

I'm not sure if it was your intention to put them in (perhaps it was because it seems very thought out!) but I liked the rhymes. They reminded me a bit of reading a Dr. Seuss book but not so much so that your own style was lost.

Overall, well done sir (even if it WAS a story about a booger....EW!) <3

P.S. I hate boogers!!

 

[Cheese]

Yeah, I hear that same reaction from time to time.
Some people just hate the booger aspect and I've even been accused of encouraging kids to pick their nose....
Not wipe it, maybe. Pick? whatever.

Kids, they think its the best thing ever.
And let's face it, this is a story for kids. Some fun rhyming (thanks for the nod, I'm still looking for more places to put more in), a good message, lots of silliness = happy kids, that's who these kinds of stories are for. Why not have fun on their level?
My only problem is every time I read it I want to change it so it's never been properly published. It was illustrated and distributed to kids in the school once. Fantastic teaching aid.

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[Cheese]

Now that it's my own thread, here's book number two~

Kisses the panda bear

A short story by Cheese (aka Michael Gifford)


At the back corner of a shop in the big, busy airport, was a pile of cutie toys, at the back corner of that pile there was a little, little cutie. She was a little scared and a little confused being at the big busy airport so she always hid behind all the other panda bear toys.

One day, a little girl, who was also a little scared and a little confused being at the big, busy airport thought she saw a cutie eye peeking out from the shop and went to have a look.

She found that little, little panda bear hiding way in the back and as she picked the little, little cutie said, “Hi, you’re cute.”

The little, little cutie was a little worried about all this new person, but very happy someone thinks she’s cute. The girl takes that little, little cutie to the counter, gives the person there something shiny and together they go out into the big, busy airport..

They went through so many machines! and so many doors!, so many more than any little girl, or little, little panda bear had ever seen. The little, little cutie was very confused and more than a little scared, so she looked up at the girl who was also very confused and more than a little scared. But, when they saw each other they smiled, a little happier they were together.
At the airport there were so many new people too. Short people, Thin people, big people, Small people, Tall people, all people! But, any time that little, little cutie or the girl would get a little scared, all they had to do was look at each other to get a big smile and feel better.

After a long walk through all those doors and machines they sat down together, a little more relaxed. The little, little cutie felt good she had a friend and wanted to say something but didn’t know what to say. After lots of cutie thinking she picked an easy word and gave it a try:
“Hi” the little cutie said as it waved its little, little arm to the girl.

A smile so big and warm it was almost as bright and shiny as the sun came on the girls face. Looking at the smile, the little cuties heart pocket grew 10 times bigger and filled with love. It was the best feeling a cutie could have. The girl said “so cute, so cute!” and gave the little panda a big, big, big hug. (which is really big when you’re a little, little cutie)

That little, little panda bear was so happy that she just kept saying “Hi” to the girl and soon enough was saying “Hi” to everyone, even all those kinda scary new people!
The short people got a “Hi,” the thin people got a “Hi,” the big people got a “Hi,” the small people got a “Hi,” the tall people got a “Hi,” all the people in the Airport got a “Hi” from this little cutie.
The girl thought this was very cute and she wasn’t so afraid of the big, busy airport either. She was starting to think all these new things were a little interesting and fun to see.

Slowly the girl started to saying “Hi” to the people too, but she did it in a very, very little voice because she was a very, very little girl.
Sometimes, someone would hear and say “hi” back with a big bright smile. It was very nice to see some of those strange, new faces get a friendly smile when they said “hi” back to the little girl. Now she didn’t feel scared of the big, busy airport at all.

Much happier, the little girl got on the plane with her little, little panda bear and together they said “hi” to the people on the plane and they weren’t scared of anything anymore.
Together they rode the plane all the way to the next airport. Sometimes they would look down at each other, but they weren’t scared or confused anymore. Now, they were happy and having fun looking at everything they could see out the window.
“Hi cloud,” “Hi road,” “Hi car,” “Hi other plane.” They would take turns saying “hi” to all the new things they could see.

Before they knew it they landed at the bigger, busier airport. But no one was at all scared or at all confused, they were too busy having so much fun saying “hi” and waving to all the fun things, “Hi stewardess,” “Hi Pilot,” “Hi suitcase,” “Hi taxi,” and on the way to the hotel they were still saying “hi” to all those neat, new things to see, “Hi tall building,” “Hi dog,” “Hi policeman,” “Hi business lady,” smiling and giggling to each other all the way.

They didn’t even stop when they got to the hotel! ”Hi keys,” “Hi elevator,” “Hi door,” “Hi television,” and kept going until it was time for bed, “Hi toothbrush,” “Hi pajamas,” “Hi bed,” and “Hi pillow” they said with a yawn. They had said “hi” so many times and waved to so many things that the little, little panda’s waving arm had grown longer so she could wave even better when she said “hi” to even more new things tomorrow.

Happy as they could be they both started to drift off to sleep, but just before they did the little girl thanked that little, little cutie panda for making a scary and confusing day at the big busy airport a whole lot of fun.
“I’ll call you Kisses the Panda bear. Because you say Hi to everyone, but only I get to shower you with kisses.” and that little panda bear got another big, big, big hug with her shower of sleepy kisses as they both drifted off into a dream.

A dream about flying through space saying “Hi” to everything in the cutieverse.

 

[Ruxandra]

Oh my gosh...that was so..."cutie" pie cute. You definitely have a knack for great children's stories (and apparently making 30 somethings get weepy from the cuteness of your stories when they're well into their cups...well played sir...well played.)