Trouble Times Ninety-six

***Just a quick story that came into my mind today about the problems Jojo faces with a houseful of females!!!***

"JO-JOOOOOOO!!!!!""

The cry reverberated throughout the house and seemed to concentrate on the small room that was occupied by the sole male member of the mayor's progeny. He winced at the sound and almost dropped the book he had been enjoying while relaxing on his bed.

He dropped it off to one side, the plot forgotten as he considered his escape. From the outrage and indignation from that yell he knew there was only one reason he was being paged. He quickly slipped out of his room (as that was the first place they were going to look for him) and scurried down the long hallway of pictures. The silent stares from the portraits seem to accuse him as well.

He opened the door to his father's study as quietly as possible and only enough for him to slip his small body through and then closed and locked it.

"What's the matter, Jojo?"

Jojo started, he had no idea his father was in there at the time. "Uh…um…well, they're…after me again." he admitted.

Ned leaned back in his office chair and tapped the pencil he had been using against his chin in amusement. "Now why would that be, I wonder?"

"YOU know!!" Jojo ground his teeth in exasperation and took a position against the far wall with his father and the chair being between him and the door. "What's the big deal anyway?? Sheesh!!"

"It certainly sounds like a big deal to them," Ned observed airily as the sound of approaching footsteps. "A very big deal."

"Why does it always have to be ME? Why can't THEY take care of it??? It's not fair!"

"Well, you –are- the only boy." The mayor shrugged. "And majority rules here as well, I suppose."

Jojo was about to utter another retort when the door handle was rattled then the door pounded on. "Jojo! You little rat! I know you're in there! Come on out!" came the muffled order.

"Uhhhhh.." Jojo shrank back in his corner. "Jojo's not here at the moment. Leave a message!"

"Message! I'll leave YOU a message! With my fist!!!" Again the door was pounded on. "Dadddyyyy!! Get him out!"

"Ah c'mon Dad! Please! Don't!" Jojo implored as Ned rose up out of his chair. "They're gonna kill me!"

"I highly doubt this little incident will result in any fatalities." Ned unlocked the door and opened it to a throng of various colored small Whos. His daughters. Most of them anyway. The oldest girl who was at the front of the line stormed through, heading straight for her brother who had grabbed the vacated office chair and was using it as a shield.

"YOU! How many times do we have to tell you!!??" she shrieked as she wielded a hairbrush at his skull. "I'm getting TIRED of this!! EVERY day it's the SAME thing!!!"

"Ow! Ow! Stoppit!" Jojo tried to protect himself from the blows but not succeeding very much. "C'mon, All ya gotta do is LOOK!! Is it that…OW!..so .hard to do??"

"Look??!! We shouldn't HAVE to look! All YOU have to do is put it BACK the way you FOUND it!!" When her blows were dodged, another sister came around to the other side to continue the assault with her own hairbrush.

"Yeah! WE shouldn't have to look!" she echoed. The other girls chimed in with a chorus of 'Yeah!' and 'What she said!'

After a few more minutes Ned decided enough was enough. "All right, all right. Come on now. I think you may have given him enough of an impression." He made shooing motions with his hands at the throng. "Go on now, Daddy's still got work to do. Go on!"

The girls grudgingly left, with the oldest still muttering under her breath. "Impressions. I'll give HIM impressions!" then she too stalked out. Before she was out of earshot she turned and threatened loudly "The next time you do that, Jojo, I'm gonna DROWN you!!!"

Ned went back to his chair and lazily leaned back. "Yes, the fury of women. It's best to avoid it when possible, you know."

Jojo rubbed his head, then his hands and arms which had also been targets in the onslaught. Ned looked sideways at him. "It wouldn't hurt to get in the habit of checking, you know." his father advised.

Jojo gritted his teeth again. His own father! Taking his sisters' side! "They can LOOK!" he repeated.

"Well, yes, but you have to remember. We have the…ah…physical advantage here and they don't. It must be very uncomfortable for them when an accident such as this occurs."

"Hmmph." Jojo sat down with arms crossed, deciding to sulk in the study rather than go back to his room.

Ned nodded, then went back to his interrupted work. "It should be carved in stone somewhere. I imagine it is. Handed down from the Ages…..the first rule any male should learn when living in a house of females…."

"Always put the toilet seat down when finished!!!"

~ the end ~