Super Happy Party Bears
Gnawing Around
Marcie Colleen
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Copyright Page
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TO ALL THE TINY NUTS OUT THERE.
REMEMBER, THE TALLEST OAK IN THE
FOREST WAS ONCE JUST LIKE YOU.
CHAPTER ONE
Welcome to the Grumpy Woods!
Ha! That’s impossible to say with a straight face.
Welcome to the Grump—ha-ha-ha! See?
No one is welcome in the Grumpy Woods.
So you may as well skedaddle before Sheriff Sherry hauls you off to City Hall. They don’t like trespassers here.
The Grumpy Woods has seen its fair share of intruders, and every one of them has damaged the Woods in some way. First, the beavers came and chewed down all the trees to build their huge dam in the river. Second, a woodpecker pecked holes in everyone’s homes and the Grumpy Wall. Third, a swarm of bees buzzed the townscritters and drowned their precious homes in honey. It’s been disaster after disaster!
Now do you understand why everyone here is GRUMPY?
Mayor Quill’s list of rules, called Mayoral Decrees to sound more official, keeps getting longer and longer. And his angry quill storms have been coming with greater frequency. He gets so mad when a rule is broken that he shoots out quills everywhere. In fact, the Bee Incident left him with a really big bald spot.
The townscritters chipped in and created a special wig for the mayor to wear until new quills can grow in. Opal Owl donated some of her feathers, Dawn Fawn offered an old dust mop, and Humphrey Hedgehog, the mayor’s own assistant deputy, collected twigs and flowers. The wig was quite large and very heavy, but it covered the bald spot nicely. However, Mayor Quill won’t wear it and instead hides in his office, refusing to
be seen.
At a recent town hall meeting, the mayor spoke from behind a curtain and said again that something needed to be done to keep outsiders out.
“We could try weaving a giant net to catch tresssspasssserssss,” suggested Sherry. “Like a web.”
At the word web, Dawn Fawn grew exceptionally nervous and waved her duster wildly in the air.
“Cobwebs! Cobwebs! Icky sticky cobwebs!” she sang.
“We could booby-trap the entire perimeter,” said Humphrey.
Squirrelly Sam poked his head under the curtain. “Maybe we should put up more curtains! After all, they have kept everyone away from the mayor.”
Mayor Quill quickly covered his bald spot with his paws and glared at Sam as the others dragged him back out by his bushy tail.
The townscritters don’t agree on much, except one thing—they all agree they don’t like the Super Happy Party Bears.
Why, you might ask?
Well, for one thing, the bears live at a cheery and welcoming place called the Party Patch, the Headquarters of Fun. Life is very different there. Life is super. Life is happy. And life is full of parties.
The townscritters don’t do happy.
Instead, everyone in the Grumpy Woods wakes up with their knickers in a bunch and orders up some breakfast—a piping-hot mug of grouchy with an extra dash of Get off my lawn!
While the Super Happy Party Bears wake up BRIGHT-EYED AND BUSHY-TAILED to order up some breakfast—pancakes on a pogo stick, served with an extra dollop of WOO-HOO!
Nothing annoys the Grumpy Woods more.
Except when the bears have a party.
And they are always having a party.
CHAPTER TWO
The welcome-mat roof of the Party Patch rattled as a wheelbarrow rumbled through the door and dumped a heap of assorted tree nuts, mostly acorns, all over the dance floor.
“That’s the last load!” announced Jacks as he high-fived Stan the honeybee.
“Yay!” cheered the bears, who gathered eagerly around the nut pile.
Big Puff hit his drumsticks together. “ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR!”
The Super Happy Party Band jammed out some crunching tunes as the rest of the bears stomped and clomped, crushing the nuts as they danced.
“This is the best doughnut-making ever!” yelled the littlest bear over the music.
“Simply smashing!” declared Mops.
Once the nuts were sufficiently trampled, they were sprinkled on the iced doughnuts that lined every surface of the Party Patch. The doughnuts were then placed in pretty boxes, which were tied with string.
These doughnuts were not for the bears to eat. They were being shipped all over the world through Stan the honeybee’s online Getsy shop. Buyers were especially crazy for these nutty honey-glazed doughnuts—a special product made only by the Super Happy Party Bears.
“You still haven’t told me where you got all these nuts,” buzzed Stan as he flipped through a tall stack of sales orders.
“We stumbled upon them,” said Jacks.
Shades giggled. “Well, maybe not stumbled—more like danced.”
During a particularly happy moment out in the Woods—as most moments are, for the Super Happy Party Bears—the bears began their Super Happy Party Dance. But when Shades slid to the right, he slipped on an acorn and kept on sliding right into a large rotten tree stump. Out tumbled the biggest stash of nuts this side of the Grumpy River!
“Well, my customers are loving these Nuts About Honey doughnuts,” said Stan. “Sales have been through the roof! You bears put the dough in doughnuts. Ka-ching, ka-ching!”
“NUT-TASTIC!” cheered the bears.
They had just finished boxing up the last batch when there was a knock on the Party Patch door. The bears sent the shipment off with Stan’s delivery bees and hurried over to the door to welcome their visitor.
“ONE! TWO! THREE! WHO CAN IT BEEEEEEEEEEEE?” sang the bears before swinging the door open wide.
Three squirrels stood on the stoop—Squirrelly Sam and two others. They looked extremely grumpy.
“SQUIRRELS!!!” the bears cheered.
The squirrels just glared at them.
Squirrelly Sam adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat. “You didn’t hear this from me, but you bears are in BIG trouble with the Twitchy Tails.”
“The Twitchy Tails? How cute!” said Jigs, and she gave her maracas a shake while all the other bears twitched their tails. “Who are the Twitchy Tails?”
“We are! And there is nothing—” started one squirrel.
“—cute about the Twitchy Tails,” finished the other.
Filbert and Hazel were twin squirrels. Alike in every way except appearance. It was often said that the brother and sister shared a brain. (And squirrel brains are known to be tiny.)
“Let me put this nicely,” continued Sam. “GIVE US OUR NUTS BACK, YOU THIEVES!”
“You mean the nuts on the doughnuts we just shipped off to Honolulu?” asked Mops.
“Hono—?” said Filbert.
“—lulu?” said Hazel.
“Yeah. Hepcats from all over are digging our Nuts About Honey doughnuts,” said Big Puff.
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“Are you saying our nuts are—are—are gone?” Sam’s eyes grew crazy. His tail started to twitch.
The three squirrels panicked and ran around in circles.
“We’re going to—”
“—STARVE!”
“I feel—”
“—FAINT!”
“FEAR MY SQUIRRELLY WRATH!” threatened Sam.
“Now, wait a minute,” said Jacks. “No one is going to starve. There are plenty more nuts in the Grumpy Woods.”
The trio froze and looked at Jacks suspiciously.
“Come on. We’ll show you. Follow us,” said the bears.
CHAPTER THREE
The bears marched like a cheerful parade through the Grumpy Woods. The squirrels scurried along in and out of line, sometimes even climbing up the legs and arms of the bears to ask repeatedly, “Are we there yet?”
“Did you hear that?” asked Hazel.
“It was my stomach growling,” said Filbert.
“No. It was my stomach growling,” said Hazel.
“No. It was mine. I’m famished,” said Filbert.
“I’m more famished,” said Hazel.
The sibling bickering continued as the bears trooped deeper and deeper into the Woods. Sam anxiously sat atop Jacks’s head. But he moved around so much he kept pushing Jacks’s headband down over his eyes.
“Is that it?” Sam asked every few seconds, desperate to find the nuts they were promised.
Finally, they stopped in front of a tangle of brush and shrubs.
“Here we are,” sang the bears, beaming with pride.
“What? Here?” a jittery Sam said. “These aren’t nut-bearing trees. There are no nuts here! WE ARE DOOMED!”
The three squirrels panicked once again and ran in circles until their noses met up with their tails.
“Silly squirrels!” said the littlest bear. “It’s a tunnel.” The bears pulled back the shrubs to uncover a long, dark passageway.
“See?” said the bears.
The Twitchy Tails peered down the tunnel and grew twitchier.
“Is this a trick?” asked Sam, turning his head so he was looking at the bears with one eye only.
“No!” The bears giggled. “It’s nuts!”
“I’ll lead the way,” volunteered Flips, who somehow turned his party hat into a flashlight.
One after another, the bears and their squirrel friends entered the burrow. The dirt walls were scribbled with signs of warning and cartoons of fierce-looking chipmunks.
“‘Turn around!’ ‘Paws off!’ ‘Go back!’” read Shades, who had to push his star-shaped glasses atop his head for the dark journey. “What do you think these mean?”
“They are hieroglyphs,” explained Bubs as he blew bubbles. “Obviously a long-ago civilization’s communications describing their ancient dance moves.”
The bears oohed and instantly turned the burrow into a disco.
But Sam scuttled up Jigs and stood tall on the bear’s head to interrupt the ancient dance party.
“WHAT ABOUT THE NUTS?”
“Easy does it, Bushy Tail,” said Big Puff, shining Flips’s flashlight to reveal the largest heap of nuts any squirrel had ever seen.
The three squirrels froze and turned their heads so they were looking at the stockpile with only one eye each. Their eyes grew bulgier. They stood perfectly still, as if the pile would disappear if they moved.
“Go on,” said the littlest bear. “Take all you want!”
So they did. They stuffed their squirrelly cheek pouches like grocery bags. When they couldn’t squeeze in any more nuts, they darted off and returned with empty cheeks to fill again. And again. And again. Until all that was left was a bare dirt floor in an echoing tunnel.
The Twitchy Tails were happy. The Super Happy Party Bears were happy. All was well.
“Yay! We love happy endings!” cheered the bears, and they turned to journey back to the Party Patch. But not before one last ancient dance.
CHAPTER FOUR
The Super Happy Party Bears returned to the Party Patch all set to party the day away, but they were quickly interrupted by a knock on the door.
Knock, knock, knock.
“ONE! TWO! THREE! WHO CAN IT BEEEEEEEEEEEE?” sang the bears before swinging the door open wide.
Two chipmunks in police uniforms stood on the stoop. They looked extremely serious.
“CHIPMUNKS!!!” the bears cheered.
One chipmunk took off his sunglasses to get a better look at the bears.
“I’m Officer Jon. This is my partner, Officer Pouch.”
Pouch gave a slight nod, and his overly large cheek pouches nodded, too.
“May we come in?” asked Officer Jon.
“Yay! We love company!” cheered the bears. They yanked the officers into the Party Patch and put a cup of juice in their paws.
“We’re actually here on very important official business. We’re with CHiPs—Chipmunk Hijinks Patrol. We are investigating some stolen nuts. Any of this sound familiar?” asked Officer Jon.
“This is the most special morning ever!” cheered the bears.
“I can see myself in your sunglasses,” said Little Puff.
Pouch and Jon were not amused. They set their juice cups down and surveyed the crowd.
“Mind if we ask you a few questions?” asked Officer Jon. Officer Pouch pulled a very slobbery notebook and pen out of his oversized cheeks and handed them to Officer Jon.
While Officer Jon prepared to interrogate the bears, Officer Pouch looked for clues around the Party Patch. Anything that appeared to be evidence, including a few stray doughnuts, was squirrelled away in Pouch’s pouches for investigation later.
Officer Jon glanced down at the dust-covered bear paws. He held up an acorn. “Does this look familiar?”
“Oh no,” said Jacks. “The Twitchy Tails must have dropped it when they were taking all those nuts out of that tunnel.”
Pouch and Jon shared a look and nodded their heads. Pouch’s cheeks jiggled.
“Thank you so much for finding it, Officer,” said Mops. “We will return it to them right away.”
“We have a better idea,” said Officer Jon. “Why don’t we go with you? To, ah, make sure justice is served.”
“Yay! Let’s go be good neighbors!” cheered the bears.
Officer Jon put his sunglasses back on and stuffed the notebook and pen into Officer Pouch’s cheeks.
“The Twitchy Tails will be surprised!” said Jacks, excited to see his new friends again.
Officer Jon smirked. “Very surprised.”
CHAPTER FIVE
The Super Happy Party Bears led Pouch and Jon through undergrowth and overgrowth until they reached the hidden thicket of the Twitchy Tails’ clubhouse.
Jacks ran ahead of the rest and was just about to knock on the door when Officer Pouch stepped in front of him.
“We’re going to go about this quiet-like,” said Officer Jon.
“You mean like a surprise party?” asked the littlest bear.
“Exactly,” said Officer Jon. “A super-stealthy surprise party.”
The officers peeked through the window. They could see the Twitchy Tails—Sam, Filbert, and Hazel—gathered around a stack of maps. Twitching.
“All right, everyone, hide in the bushes. Officer Pouch and I will let you know when to come out,” ordered Officer Jon.
“And yell ‘SURPRISE’?” asked Jacks.
“Yes,” answered Officer Jon, rolling his eyes.
Officer Pouch retrieved a roll of yellow DO NOT CROSS tape from his cheeks and began unrolling it, with the bears behind it. But before he could finish, three chipmunks popped out from the bushes. The Puffy Cheeks—Coco, Macadamia, and Nutmeg—were the most ruthless group of chipmunks in the Grumpy Woods. They prided themselves on having the most exclusive collection of nuts.
“What’s taking so long?” they demanded in unison.
“I’m starving,” whined Nutmeg.
“I
’m so hungry that I’m hallucinating,” said Macadamia. “I’m seeing rainbow-colored bears!”
“Step aside, everyone,” said Coco. “This Puffy Cheek is taking matters into her own hands.” And with a powerful kick, Coco burst through the door of the Twitchy Tails’ hideout.
“SURPRISE!” yelled the bears.
“Freeze!” ordered Officer Jon. Sam, Filbert, and Hazel were already frozen, because that is what squirrels do. The bears joined in and froze, too.
Officer Pouch searched the clubhouse, using a flashlight and a magnifying glass. Both had been pulled from his cheeks and were a little slobbery.
“Where’s the goods?” asked Coco.
“Wh-wh-what goods?” asked Sam.
“The goods you stole from our nuthouse!” she continued.
Pouch and Jon riffled through the maps. They were maps of the Grumpy Woods, and each was labeled ONE-TAIL WILLY’S NUT TREASURE. But instead of Xs marking any spots, the maps were covered in question marks.
“What are these?” asked Officer Jon. “Will they tell us where the stash is?”
“Your stash is in my belly,” said Sam, smugly patting his satisfied tummy.
Macadamia and Nutmeg groaned as their own bellies rumbled.
“Then give us your haul for winter!” demanded Coco.
“They stole it for their doughnuts!” Sam pointed at the Super Happy Party Bears.
Super Happy Party Bears--Going Nuts Page 1