Hiccup!
Raphael and his brothers and sister, Michaelangelo, Leonardo, Donatello, and Alexandra were all sitting around watching TV one lazy Saturday afternoon. Alex and Mike were arguing over what to watch. Leo was sitting across from them, sprawled in his chair, shaking his head. Raphael looked around at his siblings and then all of a sudden, "Hiccup!" Donatello looked up, and then turned back to the TV.
"Hiccup!"
"Raph go get some water, " Donnie said, looking up again.
Raphael got up and went to the kitchen. He filled himself a fairly large sized glass of water and then gulped it down. When he finished he put the glass in the sink and went back to the living room.
"Better?" Donnie asked.
"Yup," Raph replied, dropping back into his chair. No sooner than he'd spoken, "Hiccup!" Sighing he said, "I guess *hiccup* not."
Mike got up from his spot on the floor and sauntered along like he was leaving the room. Very quietly he snuck up behind Raphael and, "BOO!"
Nearly jumping out of his chair Raphael whirled around. "What was that for?" he growled. "You trying to give me a heart attack?"
"No," Mike grinned. "I was trying to get rid of your hiccups. And it worked. You're not hiccuping anymore."
Raphael smiled. Mike was right. But then, "Hiccup!"
"Drat," Mike's grin faded. "I guess it didn't work."
"Hiccup! Hiccup!"
Raphael's hiccups were coming quicker than before.
"I think you made them worse Mike," Leo commented, rising from his chair. "Try holding your breath."
"Hiccup!" Raphael sucked in a big breath of air and held it. He hiccuped several times in the middle of this and when he thought he'd explode he let out the breath. The others watched and waited, anxious to see if it had worked. "Hiccup!" Another failed remedy.
"Try standing on your head and holding your breath," Alex spoke up.
Raphael sighed and hiccuped several more times. He flipped himself up so he was standing on his head and leaning against a nearby wall. Then he sucked in another breath and held it like he did before. After a short time he let it out and flipped back up onto his feet.
"Well?" Alex said. "Are they gone?"
Raphael waited. "Hiccup!"
"Persistent aren't they?" Donnie joked. "I've got another idea." He got up and hurried off. When he came back a minute later he had a brown paper bag in his hand. "Breathe into this and see what happens."
"Hiccup!"
"Ok *hiccup* but nothing else *hiccup* has worked," he replied, taking the bag. Putting the bag over his mouth, Raphael proceeded to breathe deeply from it. "I'm getting lightheaded Donnie," he said into the bag a few moments later.
"Ok stop then," Donatello instructed.
Raphael removed the bag. "Hiccup! Hiccup! Hiccup!"
"They're getting even worse!" Alex pointed out.
"Hiccup!"
"I read somewhere that drinking through a straw and plugging your ears cures hiccups," Leonardo spoke up. "Let's try it and see. It couldn't hurt." He headed toward the kitchen and the others followed him. Leo poured a glass of water, found a straw and handed it to his brother. Raphael sat down at the table and while covering his ears sucked up water through the straw. When he finished the glass he took his hands away from his head.
"Hiccup!"
The others flopped down dejectedly at the table, disappointed that none of their remedies had helped. They sat there for a good 5 minutes, offering other ideas. Donnie suggested drinking salt water, Mike suggested they string Raph upside down and feed him applesauce. Leo looked at him as if he was crazy and when he asked his little brother how on God's good earth that would help, Mike only responded with the fact that he didn't think it would work, but he'd always wanted to try it.
Suddenly Raphael jumped up. "They're gone!"
"Huh?" Alex looked up.
"My hiccups are gone! It's been 5 whole minutes and I haven't hiccuped once!"
"Thank goodness," Donatello smiled. "We were running out of ideas."
Everyone was just about to get up from the table when, "Hiccup!"
"Oh no," Alex put her head in her hands.
"Not again," Leo wailed.
"Aw man," Donatello sighed.
"At least it's not me this time," Raph chortled.
Michaelangelo looked up from where he was still sitting at the table with pleading eyes. "Hiccup!"