Author's Note: Twenty-six years ago as of this past Friday, August 18, the Rugrats episodes, Barbecue Story and Waiter, there's a Baby in my Soup, premiered on Nickelodeon. While the Baby in my Soup episode is pretty boring, and I can tell you, that if I did an East coast version of that episode, it would have to be basically completely rewritten, and thus, is not happening anytime soon, if ever, I do have for you all, the East Coast version, of Barbecue Story, known out East, as Picnic Story, and so, thought I'd finally write up this story, and share it with you guys, I hope you enjoy it!
Barbecue Story, East Coast Version, Picnic Story
Summary: The East coast version of the season 1 Rugrats episode, when Tommy and Rosie both share their stories with one another of this event, Rosie's being the story of Reggie throwing her favorite dolly across the street at the park during a picnic, and Rosie and her pals must risk battling heavy traffic, to get her beloved toy back, and make it back to the picnic in one piece.
Disclaimer: I do not own the original Rugrats characters, they're the property of their original creators. I only own any OC's you don't recognize, like Reggie Greenfield and his family, while the OC's of Rosie Hall and her family, Skyler, and Bonnie and her family are owned by Nairobi-harper, Hanna Parkerson, and Hazel and her family are owned by HazelNutSwirl, Peter is owned by TCKing12, Aaron is owned by Holiday_Sean, and Courtney is owned by TropicalBlueJay.
"Wow! It gets too cold for barbecues in your area?" Tommy asked, staring at his pink haired friend Rosie on the screen of Peter's iPhone, as he sat on the couch in Peter's castle in early January, shortly after New Years, their first year in preschool.
"Yep, it snows, and gets really cold here, much too cold for picnics at the park. I don't mind though, as while I had quite the aventure one time at a picnic, I almost didn't live through it." Rosie replied, staring at her purple haired friend on the screen of her sister's iPad, sitting on the couch in her living room, briefly looking up to stare out the window, where snow was coming down hard outside in the greater Boston area.
"So what happened?" Tommy asked, eager to hear Rosie's story.
And with that, Rosie cleared her throat, and began to tell her tale.
Rosie POV
It happened lastest summer, after we metted, but at a time when we weren't together. Me and my family were headed to the park for a special potluck picnic dinner, which, according to my sister, it was to celebrate America's burpday. Everybody would be there, like my friends, Hazel, Bonnie, and Courtney, along with their families, but so would our worstest nightscare, Reggie. And it's thanks to him, our aventure ever happened at all. A couple of days before going to the picnic, where mommy cooked up her three bean chilly, I got to go to the toy store, where I picked out a new dolly. She had red hair, and she wore a prettiful red dress with green hearts on it. I named the dolly Clara, and tooked her everywhere with me, pretending to be her mommy. We were in a grassy clearing at the park closest to one of the fences but far away from the playground equipment, cuz some of it had been damaged by some evil boys who had entered the park one night, and it was still being repaired. For this reason, me and my friends sat in the grass, feeling pretty bored.
"This barbecue picnic's boring." Courtney commented.
"I agree, there's nothing to do." Hazel added.
That's when I decided to hold up my new dolly and show it to all of my friends, who thankfully, were all girls like me, as Skyler, Hanna Parkerson, Natalie, and Aaron were all away visiting family, unable to attend the picnic.
"I've gots an idea, let's play house here in the grass with my new dolly Clara." I suggested, showing my friends my new doll.
"That's a pretty dolly Rosie, where did you get her?" Hazel asked.
"At the toy store. My sister picked it out for me with something she gets called allowance, and I've been having lots of fun, pretending to be Clara's mommy. I know, let's all take turns being Clara's mommy." I said.
Hazel looked at me with a huge smile, eager to go firstest.
"Okay Hazel, you can go firstest." I said, handing her the doll, but just as I was handing her the doll, a slightly larger hand came out of nowhere, and snatched the doll away.
Curious, I turned to my right and looked up, to see Reggie towering overhead with an evil smile on his face, holding Clara in one hand, and his beloved alligator toy, Snorkfest in the other.
"Ha ha ha! Now I've gots a princess for me and Snorkfest to rescue." Reggie said, holding up the doll and cackling evily.
"Hey! Give me back Clara!" I cried.
"Oh, you mean, this?" Reggie said, dangling Clara by one arm, looking like he could rip it off if he pulled any harder.
"Yes! Give her back!" I screamed again.
"You've gots to ask nicely if you want her back. Didn't your mommy and daddy teach you any manners? Oh, that's right, you're just a stupid bubble gum headed baby lady to understand such proper language." Reggie said.
"Give her back, right now!" I screamed.
"What's the magic word?" Reggie asked.
"Uh, give?" I asked nervously, a bit unsure, as I folded my hands to pray, really hoping he wouldn't do anything to harm my newest toy.
"Well, afraid that's incorrect." Reggie said.
I wasn't sure what to do, as I backed up nervously, growing angrier by the second, going red in the face, as I clinched my baby teeth together, took a deep breath, and let out a loud scream.
"Give! Me! Back! Clara! Now!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.
"Well, if that's the bestest you can do, afraid you'll never see Clara again." Reggie said, swinging the doll high above his head, twirling it around in the air several times, and tossing it over his shoulder, as it flew out of his hand, over the fence, and across the way into some unknown field.
Once the dolly was out of sight, he turned back to us, his empty hand pressed firmly on his hip.
"Well, I'm leaving, you baby ladies ruined my fun." Reggie said, stomping off to play elsewhere.
I could care less at that moment where he was going, as I was too sad for words at that moment.
"Don't worry about it Rosie, as I wasn't really all that interested in playing dollies anyways." Courtney said.
I wasn't sure how to answer her, so at that moment, I simply burst into tears, crying at the top of my lungs, hoping my mommy or daddy would come running. Luckily, daddy came over, as mommy was busy helping out at the picnic, and picked me up, bouncing me up and down, trying to get me to calm down. That's when I saw her as daddy had lifted me high enough to see over the fence that lined the edge of the park. There was Clara, lying in an empty field that lined the outer edge of the park. Realizing this, I stopped crying, and daddy set me back down in the grass.
"Why did you stop crying?" Bonnie asked.
"I saw her." I replied.
"Who?" Hazel and Courtney asked in unison.
"My dolly Clara! She's on the other side of that fence over there, in a field that's nextest to the park." I cried, pointing in the direction of the fence.
Hazel walked up to me, looking a bit concerned.
"Are you sure about this? After all, Reggie did claim we were stupid." Hazel commented.
I simply stood up and stuck my tongue out at my bestest friend.
"The onliest stupid one around here is Reggie. We're gonna show him just how smart we are by getting my dolly back. Now, who's with me?" I asked.
Hazel and Courtney both raised their hands and lined up behind me, while Bonny raised her hand hesitantly, joining up in the end, as I led everybody over to the fence. Luckily, it was one of those fences with tiny wholes in it made out of wire, so we could easily climb it and get over on to the other side. Once we gotted on the other side, I looked around, and noticed we weren't just in a field, but in a wooded field at that, with lots of trees. I also couldn't spot my dolly right then.
"Hmmm, I don't see my dolly." I commented, looking around.
"Oh great, we came all this way for nothing?" Bonnie asked.
"No no, I'm sure she's around here, we've just, gots to split up, as we can cover more ground, better looking for her." I said.
And with that, me and my three friends, all split up in different directions. I went towards a tall tree with white bark on it, thinking that's where I saw Clara, but couldn't find her anywhere. I wandered around a section of trees, not having much luck, when I bumped into Courtney.
"Did you see her?" I asked.
"Nope." Courtney replied, taking my hand, as we went in search of Hazel and Bonnie.
We came across Hazel, who had found some worms in a mud puddle and was stopping to have a snack.
"Did you see Clara?" I asked.
"Sorry Rosie, I spotted some wormies and gotted hungry, totally forgetting about the search." Hazel said.
I simply shrugged my shoulders, unsure of what to say at that moment, when all of the sudden, we all heard a tiny scream.
"Help!" Cried Bonnie in the distance.
Worried, me, Courtney and Hazel all went in the direction of Bonnie's voice, as we spotted her in a mud puddle, not too far off, unable to move. Realizing she was stuck, I ran up to her outstretched hand, and grabbed it with both of my hands with all of my might.
"What happened?" I asked.
"I was looking for Clara, when my feet gotted stucked in this slimy mud puddle." Bonnie said.
"Don't worry, we'll get you out." I said, continuing to hold Bonnie's outstretched hand.
Meanwhile, Hazel and Courtney went around to her opposite side, and grabbed Bonnie's other hand, as the three of us, pulled really hard, prompting her to wiggle her feat. Another minute later, Bonnie was free from the mud puddle, as she landed face down in the grass. She stood up, brushed off the grass clippings and dirt, and turned to face us, looking displeased.
"Are you okay Bonnie?" I asked worriedly.
"What do you think Rosie? First, you gotted me to escape the park, then, I get stuck in a mud puddle, and, where's Clara? I haven't seen her? Have you? I bet Reggie still has her and you only snuck us out here to have a aventure to take your mind off of losing that dolly." Bonnie complained angrily.
As she was complaining though, I spotted Clara out in a grassy clearing, not far from what appeared to be a busy street.
"I see her! I see her!" I cried, running in the direction of where I saw the doll.
I ran over to her in the grass and picked her up, hugging Clara tight, very thankful to have her back.
"Oh, thank goodness, you're all right! Mommy missed you so much!" I cried, hugging Clara close.
By this time, all of my other friends had caught up with me.
"So, now that we gots Clara, are we heading back to the park now, before it's time for the picnic and our mommies and daddies realize we're missing?" Hazel asked.
I gasp, realizing just how much trouble we'd be in, if that happened.
"You're right, we've gots to get back." I said, looking around until I spotted the fence, where we had come from before.
Unfortunately, between us and that fence, was a skunk.
"Uh oh. We've gots to find another way back to the park, or else, we'll get sprayed with stinky stuff, for sure!" I whispered to the others, not wishing to startle the skunk.
"But how will we get back?" Courtney whispered into my ear.
Looking around, I spotted the main entrance into the park, but as I gazed my eyes away from the entrance, which was directly across from where I had grabbed up Clara, I saw in front of us, was a street.
"Uh, I don't knows." I said nervously, approaching the edge of the field, as a large truck passed in front of us.
Once the truck passed, I was about to step out into the road and make a run for it, when another car came zooming by. Ascared, I jerked my foot back, not wishing to move another muscle, as several cars came wizzing past us on the street.
"Will this traffic ever end?" Bonnie asked.
"I don't know, but I know one thing we can do to maybe get rescued." I said.
"What?" All three of my friends asked in unison.
And at that moment, I screamed with all of my might at the top of my lungs, holding on to my beloved Clara doll with all of my might. Little did I know, my older sister was looking out for me and my friends, as me and my friends all screamed as loud as we could, unsure if anybody could hear us over the loud rumble of cars and trucks driving past.
End of Rosie POV
Back at the park, Mary went over to get her little sister and friends for dinner, when she noticed the grassy field where they had been previously playing, was empty.
"Rosie! Where are you?" Mary called, glancing around the entire park, when a suspicious giggling voice came up behind her.
Mary spun around on her heal to find Reggie before her.
"Why would you want to have anything to do with those baby ladies?" Reggie asked.
"Excuse me?" Mary asked angrily, her hands planted firmly on her hips.
Just then, she heard the screams of Rosie, Hazel, Courtney, and Bonnie in the distance. Curious, she looked in that direction, and noticed them across the street from the main entrance of the park, Rosie clutching on to Clara.
"So, Rosie went and gotted her dumb dolly back I see." Reggie said.
"What?" Mary asked, glaring angrily at Reggie.
He simply started laughing.
"Okay Mister Greenfield, what's so funny? And you'd better explain yourself right now, before I go tell our parents." Mary demanded.
"Rosie refused to share her dolly, so I threw it out of the park, figuring she'd forget about it forever and find something else to do. Stupid babies, don't know nothing." Reggie said.
"You're the stupid one, and now, thanks to you, they went off to get their dolly back, and are in serious trouble, about to get run over by a car if they take a step out into the road!" Mary said.
"Well, don't just stand there, go get your baby sister yourself." Reggie demanded.
Mary simply cleared her throat very loudly.
"Excuse me Reggie, but I think I know who needs to rescue them, the person who got them into this mess in the first place." Mary said.
Reggie started laughing.
"Yeah right." Reggie said.
"I'll tell your mommy and daddy on you, and you won't get to have any dessert at the picnic." Mary said.
Reggie simply gulped, looking towards the fence, where the skunk was still lerking nearby in a field of trees, then back at Mary, who was more than displeased at his behavior at this point.
"Oh all right, I'll go rescue your little sister and her friends." Reggie said, running off to where his parents were talking, and grabbing up his pogostick, then heading back over to the fence.
He climbed on the pogostick, and bounced his way through the park towards the exit. When he noticed there was a gap in the traffic, he bounced his way across the street, just as the four toddler girls, attempted to make a run for it.
Rosie POV
We waited for several minutes, hoping the traffic would clear, as we continued to scream, hoping somebody would come rescue us. Finally, the street was all quiet, with no cars in sight. I stopped screaming at this point, and looked back at my friends.
"Quickly! Come on!" I cried, running out into the road, my other friends running behind me.
No sooner were we out in the street however, when Reggie landed in front of us on his pogostick.
"What are you doing here Reggie?" Hazel asked.
"Quick! Grab on to my back." Reggie demanded.
"But…" I started to say before he cut me off.
"Do you wanna get home or not?" Reggie asked.
I shook my head, tucked Clara under my arm, and grabbed firmly on to Reggie's shirt, as Hazel grabbed on to the back of my dress, Courtney grabbed on to her, and Bonnie brought up the rear of the line, as Reggie bounced his way across the street, much slower now, because he had us to carry on his back. No matter, we bounced through the field, just as we noticed a terrible smell in the air.
"Eeewww!" We all cried, when I turned to my right and saw what had happened.
Apparently, the skunk came out of its hiding place, and sprayed Reggie. Thankfully, it missed us.
"Yuck! Not to worry, we're almost there." Reggie said, jumping over the fence with his pogostick where we had come from originally, landing us back in the field where we had been playing before at the park before he tormented us.
As we all caught our breaths, my older sister came up to us.
"Congratulations Reggie, and, eeewww! What's that smell!" Mary said, covering her nose, but not getting a wiff from Reggie first.
"Reggie gotted skunked." I said.
"Serves him right after what he did. You guys are lucky you didn't get hurt worser than that." Mary scolded.
"You mean, you sent Reggie to rescue us?" Bonnie asked.
"After I got him to confess what he did, you bet I did. It's about time he face the consiquences for his actions." Mary said.
"And you bet he did, I mean, that smell!" Courtney cried.
"I know, just to ensure none of you got skunked, all of you will have to take baths in tomato juice, but before that, Reggie, I believe you're not quite finished. Don't you have something you'd like to say to Rosie?" Mary asked, glaring at Reggie.
"I rescued your baby sister, what more do you want?" Reggie asked.
"How about, an apology, with the words, I'm sorry in it?" Mary asked.
Reggie turned to me and cleared his throat.
"I'm sorry for throwing your dolly over the fence." Reggie said.
"You mean it?" I asked.
"Yeah yeah sure, whatever." Reggie said.
"Well, I'm sorry I didn't ask nicer for my dolly back. Sometimes, well, I'm only two, I tend to forget what the magic word is." I said.
"It's please." Mary said.
"Oh." I said, giving Reggie a hug, not realizing what danger I was about to get myself into.
By doing that, some of the skunk smell rubbed off on to me.
"Okay, we're even, but don't get use to it okay. You're lucky I didn't just, break your dolly." Reggie said.
I simply let out a sigh, as while Reggie deserved to get skunked, the rest of us didn't. Sure enough, after we made up, my big sister led us all over to our parents, as it was time for the picnic, only for everybody to start coughing, and my mommy and daddy coming up to us, realizing we all smelled like a skunk, causing us all to have to leave the picnic to go home for a bath in tomato juice. I was sorry I had to miss the picnic, but I was glad to have Clara back, which luckily, didn't get skunked, thanks to me putting her down on the ground to give Reggie a hug after he said he was sorry, and Reggie got what he deserved, as out of all of us, with his love of food, he was looking forward to the picnic the mostest.
End of Rosie POV
"Wow! What a story!:" Tommy commented.
"I know." Rosie said.
"You know, your story reminds me of something." Tommy said.
"Really? What?" Rosie asked.
"The time something similar happened to me, a long, long, time ago. Only in my case, nobody gotted skunked, Angelica didn't rescue us, and I did get to enjoy the barbecue and fireworks." Tommy said.
"Ooh, could you tell me the story? Please?" Rosie asked.
"Sure!" Tommy replied.
And with that, he cleared his throat, and began his story.
Tommy POV
We were having a barbecue at my house, a long time ago, before Dilly was born and before we went to Paris. I think it might have been not long after me and my friends tried to eat dogfood at my firstest burpday party, I'm not sure, but it was a while ago, I can say that. Not long before everybody arrived, my grandpa gave me a new toy to play with, my favoritest ball to this very day. It's green, with a blue stripe and a orange star on it. Phil and Lil were feeling bored, so I suggested we play with my new ball. I threw it to Chuckie, but Angelica came up to the playpen, and caught it before he could grab it.
"Give me my ball." I said.
"Ask me nice." Angelica said.
"Give me my ball!" I screamed again, more determined than ever.
"Say pretty please with sugar on top." Angelica said.
"Give me my ball!" I screamed again.
"Say Angelica is the prettiest, most nicest girl in the whole wide world." Angelica said.
"Give me my ball!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, angry at this point.
"Well, if you can't ask nicer than that, I guess you'll never see your precious ball again." Angelica said teasingly, as she threw the ball in the air, and tossed it over the fence.
After the ball went out of sight, she left, no longer being interested in playing with us, and I started crying. Mommy came over and helped me calm down, and that's when I saw it. My ball had landed over the fence into the next yard. It was then when I realized, we had to get it back. So, I convinced my friends that we had to go get it back, when Chuckie reminded me that this was the next yard I was talking about, and that I was only a baby.
"A baby's gotta do, what a baby's gotta do." I said, a bit embarrassed cuz my diapie had fallen down, but I shrugged it off and went on about my mission, grabbing up my stewdriver, and breaking us out of the playpen.
We crawled towards the fence, thankful none of the growed ups at the barbecue spotted us, and crawled through the gap under the fence, getting us into the nextest yard. At this point though, I had lost sight of the ball, so I had me, Chuckie, Phil and Lil split up, looking all over for it, helping us to cover more ground.
I looked over by a statue, but didn't see it. Phil and Lil didn't see it neither, and then, we heard a cry for help coming from Chuckie. Turns out he had gotted himself stuck inside a tree that had a whole in it, and me, Phil, and Lil pulled on his legs until he was free. By this point, Chuckie wasn't too happy with me that I made him come along, and started complaining, when I glanced around, and spotted my ball.
"I bet you never even saw that ball. Where is it Tommy? Where? Where?" Chuckie asked repeatedly, just as I spotted it.
"There!" I cried, running in the direction of where I saw the ball.
There was a fence between me and the ball, which Phil and Lil helped me and Chuckie over the fence into that section of the yard. They started arguing over who'd go nextest, when I toldid them to wait, we'd get the ball, and come right back. Unfortunately, the ball was right next to a doghouse, where a evil bulldog came out and started growling at me and Chuckie.
I started screaming, but the dog only charged towards us. Phil and Lil pleaded for the dog to not eat me, but even they gotted ascared, and ran back to my yard, screaming in terror. Sadly, I couldn't do nothing, and the onliest time I can ever remember on any of my aventures, I screamed very loudly at the top of my lungs, hoping somebody would hear me.
Sure enough, somebody did hear me. No, not Angelica, but rather, my bestest doggy friend, Spike. He jumped into the yard, wearing a mask, where he proceeded to bark at the bulldog, scaring him, and as he ran into his doghouse, I turned to my dog, very happy to see him.
"Spike!" I cried, grabbing up my ball as me and Chuckie climbed on his back, and he carried us home to my backyard, where our parents hugged and kissed us, glad to see we were back.
Shortly after I returned, my daddy's burgers were ready, and we ated our supper, while watching fireworks.
End of Tommy POV
"Wow! That was incredible! Though I'm not pleased that Angelica got away with the whole thing." Rosie said.
"Yeah, maybe when Phil and Lil ran back to our yard, they should have confronted her and made her come rescue me and say she was sorry, but I'm glad Spike rescued me. Besides, it's not like Angelica would have meant she was sorry, only apologizing so she wouldn't get in anymore trouble, as she's done plenty of other not so nice things to me since then, including making us all look like we were sick so we'd have to miss a Dummi Bears show, when in actuality, she was the sick one." Tommy said.
"Ooh! Can you tell me that story?" Rosie asked.
Before Tommy could answer, Peter came back into the living room of his castle.
"Uh Tommy, your time talking with Rosie, is just about up." Peter said, taking a seat on the couch next to Tommy.
"Uh, Rosie, I've gotta go." Tommy said.
"Well, it was fun talking to you, and hopefully, we talk again really soon." Rosie said.
"Don't worry, I'm sure we will." Tommy said happily.
And with that, Rosie and Tommy ended their facetime call, and went off to play with their toys on this winter's day, Tommy, playing a game of catch with Peter with his ball he rescued from the next yard, while Rosie went off to her bed, curled up beneath the blankets to get warm on this cold winter afternoon, as she proceeded to snuggle up with her doll Clara, and take a nap.
The End
Author's Note: Well, I do hope everybody enjoyed, Picnic Story, and Tommy's retelling of, Barbecue Story to Rosie. I also made another brief reference to another Rugrats episode, All's Well that Pretends Well from season 6, which is the story Tommy would have gone on ahead to tell to Rosie, had Peter not come along and told him their talking time was up. I haven't figured out how that ordeal played out in the Eastern United States, so glad I put an end to things right then and there. I also had originally planned on having Hazel heading back to the park and confronting Reggie, by blackmailing him with ripping up Snorkfest if he didn't rescue Rosie and her doll, to which Reggie would make some comment about claiming blackmail doesn't work on him, and Hazel getting confused by the statement, taking it literally, as in, black pieces of snail mail, and commenting that most things she's seen come in the mail were white, not black, and having Reggie make some comment, claiming that's not what he meant, calling her a pea brain in the process, but while writing up the story, I thought having Rosie's sister stand up to Reggie might be more interesting to give her a bigger part in the story, and, having Reggie get skunked on top of rescuing the girls with his pogostick, being a great source of karma for what he did in the first place. Anyway, if you made it this far, thanks for reading, and, I hope to be back soon, with more new stories, and updates to ongoing material.