Lumpy awakened to a loud blaring sound. Looking over at his alarm clock, he saw that it was 6:30 AM. He reached his hand over to it, turned the alarm off, and then sat up in his bed, rubbing his eyes. This was the day he was supposed to attend a meeting with his friends about... something. He couldn't really remember. But the meeting was to take place at the Daily Acorn, and would begin at 9:00 AM and last for an hour and a half. That was the most Lumpy could remember.
He took a shower, ate breakfast and walked out to his car. Getting into it, he drove off to the Daily Acorn. It was kind of hot in his car, so he rolled down the window and allowed the wind to blow into his car. Once he had arrived at the Daily Acorn, he was about five minutes early, but he stepped out of his car and went into the building.
Lumpy made it to the meeting room, but just when he reached the door, his nose itched, and his nostrils began to flare up. And he quickly realized what the cause of this was; it was from when he rolled down the window in his car. He must have gotten some pollen up his nose, and he knew exactly how much pollen made him sneeze. But he couldn't sneeze now, since the meeting was a couple of minutes to beginning.
Lumpy opened the door to the meeting room and sat down at the table, where several of his co-workers and his boss, Sniffles, had already arrived.
"Good morning, Lumpy. Glad you could make it," Sniffles said. "Would you have a seat so that we can begin?"
"Uh, sure," Lumpy said as he sat down at the table. "So how long is this meeting, again?"
"It begins at nine hundred hours and ends at one thousand and thirty hours. In other words, from nine until ten-thirty."
Lumpy cringed internally. He couldn't hold back his sneezes for an hour and thirty minutes. In fact, he didn't think he could do it for even ten minutes.
"Oh, okay," Lumpy responded, making it seem like he didn't have a problem.
The meeting began and Sniffles began talking. Lumpy, however, didn't pay that much attention to what the subject was. It wasn't that he didn't want to, but because he just couldn't. He could feel his snout twitching, and his nostrils were constantly flaring up. It seemed like the urge to sneeze grew with every second that passed. But there was no way he would let himself sneeze, for his own sake. He could bet that letting out even one of his usual loud sneezes while he was at work, let alone in this meeting, would get him fired. He had to hold it in for as long as he could.
Lumpy sniffled as quietly as he could, and rubbed his nose on the back of his hand constantly. Neither of these actions were providing as much help as he thought they would, however. His nostrils continued to flare up as they itched intensely. He tried his best to hold his upcoming sneezes back, but after a few minutes had gone by, he could feel his breath starting to hitch.
"Ah..."
"Lumpy! No!" A voice inside of his head screamed, and he immediately stuck his forefinger under his nose. His breath continued to hitch, however.
"Aaaah..." Lumpy tilted his neck slightly back, but continued to hold his finger under his flaring nostrils.
"Don't... sneeze..." He thought to himself.
"Lumpy, are you feeling all right?" Sniffles asked. He could clearly see that Lumpy was needing to sneeze and trying not to.
"Y...yes... I-I'm fine..." Lumpy managed to say.
Sniffles didn't look convinced, but he resumed talking. With his boss out of he way, Lumpy continued to try not to sneeze, but his inhales became more and more frequent.
"Aaaaahh... Aaaahhhhh..." Lumpy sniffled again, trying to make it as sharp but quiet as he could, but it was no use. "Aaaaaaaaah..."
"Psst. Hey. Lumpy."
Lumpy heard a familiar voice and looked to the side of him. Cuddles was sitting next to him, looking mischievous.
"What's the matter?" Cuddles asked. "You gonna sneeze?"
"Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh... n... no..." Lumpy deliberately lied so that nobody else would know what was going on.
"Oh, really?" Cuddles pulled out a tissue from his pocket, and twisted one of the corners of the tissue into a point. "I wouldn't say that." He inserted the twisted corner of the tissue into Lumpy's nostril and began to move the tissue around, tickling the inside of Lumpy's nasal passage.
"AaaaaaaAAHH..." Lumpy began to inhale louder as his finger slipped away from his face. His nose was already itchy enough, but by tickling his nose, Cuddles was making it even worse. But all Lumpy could do was inhale repeatedly as the urge to sneeze became more and more irresistible. "AaaaaaaaAAAAAAHHH... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH..."
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH...!"
Lumpy again shoved his forefinger under his nostrils, but the sneeze had gotten too strong for him to handle. It felt like even the slightest poke would send him right over the edge. Luckily, Cuddles could clearly see that Lumpy couldn't take it anymore, so he pulled the tissue out of his nose. But he was also too late. Lumpy's snout was shaking furiously, his nostrils were flaring up intensely, his eyes were watering, and the sneeze was about two seconds away from defeating him. Through his tear-filled eyes, Lumpy could see everyone else looking at him, wondering what was going on, but there was nothing he could do. He was going to sneeze, and he was going to do it now. He turned around to face the wall as he took a few final inhales, bracing himself for the gigantic sneeze that was coming for him.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...!" Lumpy tilted his neck as far back as was possible for him to, and then finally exploded. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Everybody else in the meeting room gasped in shock as Lumpy released his monstrous sneeze. It was extremely loud - loud enough to be heard from every room in the Daily Acorn, and strong enough to cause the floor to shake. After a few seconds had passed, Lumpy immediately raised his forefinger to his nostrils, intending to rub his nose. But unfortunately, his nostrils hadn't had their fill of sneezes, so he removed his finger and broke into a large, loud sneezing fit.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
All of these sneezes were just as bad as the first one, but they were all that it took for the poor moose to stop sneezing. Lumpy turned back around to face his workers. His entire snout had turned a bright red, and he was rubbing his nostrils repeatedly on his forefinger and sniffling several times.
"Oh, my," Sniffles said in shock. "Bless you, Lumpy."
"Ugh, I am so sorry..." Lumpy apologized as he continued to rub his nose.
"It's quite all right, Lumpy," Sniffles said. "You may sneeze as many times as you need to."
He then offered Lumpy a box of tissues. Lumpy accepted the box, pulled out a few tissues, held them to his nostrils and blew his nose. He then wiped his nose several times for the rest of the meeting. He was glad that he wasn't in trouble for sneezing, even though the sneezes that he had released were some of his biggest sneezes yet, and happened right when they weren't supposed to.
The meeting soon ended, and Lumpy walked out of the building, got back into his car and began to drive home. However, it occurred to him that he hadn't rolled his windows back up, and he could feel the wind in his face through pretty much the entire trip. Once he had gotten home, he rolled up the windows before getting out of his car. He headed up to his front door, but accidentally sniffled, sending a small amount of pollen from the air into his nose.
"Aaaaaaahhhhh... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...!" Lumpy inhaled twice, and then let out a final, forceful sneeze. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
It took much less time for him to recover from this sneeze than the others, even though it was pretty loud. Lumpy sniffled and rubbed his nostrils on his finger for a few seconds, then opened the front door and went into his house. He sneezed a few times as the rest of the day went by, but none of them were nearly as bad as the sneezes that had happened during the meeting, so everything went back to normal, for the most part.
