It was another beautiful day on Sesame Street. And Jimmy was in his room, playing with his trains. When suddenly he looked up and looked ahead, like he was seeing someone.
"Oh, hi." He started to say. "You must be those friends everyone here keeps talking about. Well, welcome to Sesame Street. I was just playing with my trains. You're welcome to watch me, if you want to."
With that, Jimmy went back to what he was doing, when suddenly, his mother came in.
"Jimmy!" She said. "I need to talk to you!"
"OK!" Jimmy started to say. "Whatever it is, whatever thing is broken or whatever bad thing happened, I just want to state for the record, it was not me!"
"What? No." Said Jimmy's mom. "I need to tell you something that's gonna be happening today."
"Oh." Said Jimmy. "What's happening today?"
"Well, I'm going to another street for a little while, to hang out with my friends." His mother explained. "Your dad is at his job, and you can't stay here by yourself, because you're not old enough."
"Um, couldn't I just go with you?" Asked Jimmy.
"I don't think you'd want to." Said Jimmy's mom. "We're gonna go get manicures, go clothes shopping, maybe see a romantic co-"
"Okay, you're right!" Jimmy cut in. "I don't wanna do all of that stuff. So, what are we gonna do instead?"
"That's just what I was about to tell you." Said Jimmy's mom. "I was thinking about getting someone to watch you. The question is who?"
Jimmy and his mother started thinking. Jimmy at this point had met and knew everyone on Sesame Street, so he definitely had a lot of options. But the tricky part was finding out which one could watch him. Maria? Gordon? Bob? Lui-
Just then, there was a knock on the door.
"I'll get it!" Said Jimmy. And he went to the door, and and opened it, to see Gina standing in the doorway.
Gina Jefferson was one of the first people Jimmy met and befriended when he first came to Sesame Street, and ever since then, he had taking a real liking to her. Out of all the human grown-ups on Sesame Street, Jimmy liked hanging out with Gina the most, and he was especially happy to see her today.
"Hey, Gina!" Said Jimmy with delight. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, hey Jimmy." Said Gina. "I noticed that you left your ball at Hooper's, so I came here to give it back to you."
Gina revealed there was a ball behind her back. Jimmy cheered as Gina gave the ball to him.
"Yay! Thanks, Gina! I was looking for that ball everywhere!" Jimmy exclaimed.
"No problem, Jimmy." Said Gina, as she held her arms out. "How about a hug?"
Jimmy happily complied. As the two hugged, Jimmy got an idea. "That's it!" He said as he let go of Gina.
"What's it?" Asked Gina.
"You can watch me today!" Jimmy told her.
"Watch you?" Said Gina in confusion.
Just then Jimmy's mom came up. "Good afternoon, Gina." She said.
"Oh, good afternoon, Mrs. Karren." Gina said back.
"What Jimmy means," Jimmy's mother went on. "Is that I'm going out to meet some of my friends, and I need someone to look after Jimmy while I'm gone."
"Oh, sure!" Gina replied. "I'd be happy to watch Jimmy. I don't have that much to do, anyway."
"Yay!" Jimmy cheered. He knew he was gonna have a good time.
At 4:00, Jimmy's mom went over to Gina's apartment to drop him off. She knocked on the door, and Gina answered it.
"Hey, Mrs. Karren, Hi, Jimmy." Gina greeted. "Hey Jimmy, why don't you come on inside?"
"Okay." Said Jimmy as he headed inside, while Gina stayed outside for a little while to talk go over what do with Jimmy's mom.
"OK," Started Gina's mom as she pulled out a little piece of paper and gave it to Gina. :My phone number is on there. I should be back sometime around 6:00. If anything goes wrong, please let me know. And don't let him eat too many sugary snacks."
"Don't worry, Mrs. Karren." Said Gina, reassuringly. "He's in good hands."
"Good." Said Jimmy's mother, before calling out to her son. "Goodbye, Jimmy. Be good for Gina, okay?"
"Don't worry, mom!" Said Jimmy. "I will!"
So Gina's mom headed out.
"Well, Jimmy," Said Gina, as she closed the door. "The first thing I wanna say is: Make yourself at home. If you're hungry, I've got lots of food in the refrigerator, and you can watch anything on TV. I'll be back, later."
"Wait, where are you going?" Asked Jimmy.
"To my room." Replied Gina. "I have to take care of a few things. I'll be out as soon as possible, okay?"
"Okay." Jimmy said as Gina went into her room. Jimmy, seeing as he wasn't hungry, decided to see what was on TV. He spent the next few minutes watching his favorite TV show, Timmy the Talking Train & Pals. They were doing a marathon of episodes. But as he was on the episode, where Timmy got his own branch line, he heard Gina in her room, and she sounded stressed. Obviously, this caused Jimmy to be concerned, so he decided to press on ear on the door and listen to what Gina was saying.
This is what he heard: "Ugh! This is so hard! Why can't I figure this out?! I'm never gonna get this assignment done!"
It sounded like Gina was really stressed out and needed helped, and Jimmy wanted to help his new friend as much as he could. So he pressed the record button on the remote to record his show and knocked on the door, and Gina opened it.
"Oh, hey Jimmy." Said Gina, trying not to sound stressed. "What's up?"
"Well," Said Jimmy. "I heard you talking to yourself, and you sounded really stressed out."
Gina blushed with embarrassment. "Oh! Oh, you heard that?" She responded, awkwardly. "Well, that was nothing important."
"Well, it sure sounded like something important." Said Jimmy. "And as your friend, I want to help you."
"Sweetie, I really appreciate that." Said Gina. "But what I'm doing is really complicated, and you might not understand it."
"Well, can you at least show it to me?" Asked Jimmy.
"Okay" Gina sighed, as she gestured for him to come inside. "Come in and sit down. I'll show you."
Jimmy in and sat down on Gina's bed, Gina joined him and showed him the paper she was working on.
"You see, I'm working on essay for my school." Gina explained. "I'm studying to be a veterinarian."
"Oh, a veterinarian is an animal doctor, right?" Asked Jimmy.
"Right!" Said Gina "And one of my assignments is to right an essay on how to make an animals feel better. But the problem is, I can't think of anything write. I know this stuff, but I when I have to write it down, my mind goes blank! What do I do?"
After Jimmy heard that, he started to smile. "Don't worry, Gina!" He said. "I can definitely help you with this!"
Gina raised an eyebrow and asked, "You can?"
"Yeah!" Said Jimmy. "I know a lot about animals! Like, did you know that Jellyfish can clone themselves, and groups of lions are called "prides", and cheetahs can run up to 75 miles per hour or that elephants can-"
"Wait a minute, Jimmy, honey, wait!" Said Gina. "Those are really nice facts, but what I need to know is how take make animals feel better."
"Oh, right." Said Jimmy. "Hm, if only we had some real animals to practice with." Then he gasped. "Gina, what did I just say?!" He asked Gina.
"Uh, you said, "If only we had some real animals to practice with."" Gina responeded.
Jimmy gasped again. "That's it!" He said.
"What's it?" Gina asked.
"Gina, I'm not sure if you know this, but I do some pretty mean animal impressions." Jimmy explained. "So, how about we do this. I'll pretend to be an animal who's sick or hurt, and then you tell me what I need to do to get better."
"Oh!" Said Gina. "That's actually a good idea. Let's do it."
"OK, first let me figure out which animal I'm gonna be, first." Jimmy said, as he started doing some vocal exercises. After a few seconds, he started. He began barking and whining, he ran up to Gina and looked expectantly at her. Gina look utterly confused. Jimmy sighed and said "Gina, you have to guess which animal I am, and what's wrong with me."
"Oooooooooh." Said Gina in realization. She then started to guess. "You're um… A ostrich! No, a dog! And you… have a stomach ache!" Jimmy nodded. "Oh, okay, I know what do. Um, Mr. Dog, if you want your tummy to stop hurting, you need some, stomach medicine and a lot of rest."
"Yes! Great job, Gina!" Congratulated Jimmy. "Now, let's see if you can guess this one!" Jimmy started making glubbing sounds while coughing in between each glub.
Gina started to guess. "Um, you're a… fish! And you have… a terrible cough!" Jimmy nodded. "Okay, Mr. Fish, what we need to do, is clean out your fish tank of any germs and get you some clean water."
"Wow, Gina, you are killing it!" Said Jimmy.
Gina blushed. "Aw, thanks, Jimmy."
"OK, now let me try something else!" Jimmy said.
And so for the next hour, Jimmy pretended to be different types of animals, while Gina figured which animal he was, and what he needed to do to get better. It very fun for the both of them and pretty soon, Gina had enough material to write her essay."
"Oh my gosh!" Gina said, when they were done. "I cannot thank you enough for your help, Jimmy! Now, I can finally this essay done!"
"No problem, Gina." Said Jimmy. "I'm always happy to help a friend."
"Well, thanks." Said Gina. "You know something, Jimmy?"
"What?" Asked Jimmy.
"I really am glad you came to live here." She said. "We all are."
"Really?" Said Jimmy in awe.
"Absolutely." Said Gina, as she held her arms out to give another hug. "Come here."
Jimmy happily did so, and the two hugged. But this hug was a little bit different then the other hugs he and Gina scared. This time, Jimmy felt a little tingly inside. He thought it was pretty strange, but he decided to ignore it. Just then the doorbell rang.
"Don't worry. I'll get it." Said Gina as she got up and headed to the door. She opened it, to find Jimmy's mom standing there. "Oh, hey Mrs. Karren!" She said. "How was your night out?"
"Amazing." Jimmy's mom said. "Jimmy, come on! It's time to go!"
"OK, I'm coming, mom!" Jimmy said, as he came out to the front door.
"So," Said Jimmy's mom. "Did you have fun with Gina?"
"You bet!" Said Jimmy with excitement. "We had the best time! Right, Gina?"
"We did." Said Gina. "You really have to bring him back again."
"Yeah, she's right." Said Jimmy. "I mean there's a whole Timmy the Talking Train marathon on her DVR, and it won't watch itself."
"What?! Jimmy!" His mom, sternly started to say.
"No no no no no, it's fine. It's fine." Said Gina. "He's right. That marathon will not watch itself. So you should bring him back here soon as possible."
Jimmy's mother chuckled. "OK, I'll see what I can do. Come on, Jimmy. Let's go."
Jimmy's mom started to leave, but Jimmy stayed with Gina for a while."
"Thanks again, for looking after me, Gina." He said.
"Anytime." Said Gina. "Oh, one more thing before you go."
Jimmy wasn't prepared for what came next. Gina leaned close to Jimmy, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. She said goodbye one last time, and closed the door. After that, Jimmy didn't know what to think. He faced turn bright red, and he began sweating, the tingly feeling he felt earlier was now maximized times five and he felt like he had to use the bathroom.
"Jimmy!" His mom called out. "Come on!"
"Okay, coming!" Said Jimmy, as he started walking back.
As Jimmy walked home with his mother, he tried to process all these new feelings, but he still didn't know what was going on. He would find out soon enough, but that's another story.
THE END
