THE SWITCH
I need to quit writing all these new stories. xD
Anyways, for those who may be confused or don't know what I'm talking about, a water cooler is one of those things you might see in an office building where people stand around and talk or whatever. And it gives you water. :D
Oh yeah, and as stupid as this story might sound now, it will get interesting pretty quickly. As in, chapter 2 quickly. Which I've already written. Yay for planning ahead! And yay for sticking to the good ol' style of not using OC's in any of my fics!I'll continue Deadly Secrets sometime, too.
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"Check it out, guys!" Boss said, dragging a heavy box into the room. "Guess what I just bought!"
The hams-hams looked up from their usual spots about the round table in the center of the room. Since Boss wasn't there when they arrived, most had gone to entertain themselves in various corners of the clubhouse.
"Hey Boss, where've you been?" Stan greeted him.
"And what's in the box?" Cappy asked.
Boss chuckled. "Well, that's what I'm about to show ya!" He hauled the box onto the table and set it down with an audible clang. The other hams gathered around the table, and leaned in for a view. Boss took a scissors and carefully cut the rather large box open.
Stan looked at the object inside. "… I don't get it."
"What do you mean you don't get it?" Boss said, irritated. "It's a water cooler!"
The ham-hams stared at it in wonder while the field hamster lifted the machine out of the container. Setting it on the ground, it could be recognized that it stood about as tall as Howdy.
"That looks like so neat, Boss!" Sandy said excitedly.
"What's it do?" the hamsters asked in unison.
He set the jug of water on top of it and attached it tightly, and flicked the switch on. Out of the spout came fresh, clean water. "See? No more yucky creek water for us. We've got a water cooler now!" Boss exclaimed. He was the most excited about his new buy.
"What a great investment, Boss!" Dexter acknowledged. "Mind if I take a drink?"
Stan pushed him out of his way. "Me first!" He took one of the plastic cups, filled it to the brim, and gulped down every drop. Dexter, obviously peeved, though being more polite, waited his turn. When both had finished their drinks, Boss offered to throw away their cups.
"So? It was good, eh?" he said with a grin.
"Oh definitely! It was even more refreshing that the water I get at home," he said happily.
Stan agreed. "I admit, though, it tastes kinda weird. Where'd you get it?"
"Oh, it came with the cooler. It might be expired, I dunno. I have another jug of it out by the door, I haven't brought it in yet. I guess we'll just have to drink these before we get new ones."
Stan simply gazed at him with a look of "water expires?" while Boss began to move the machine into the corner of the room. "I think it'll be good here, don't ya think?" The others nodded in concurrence.
"Great!" he shouted cheerfully. "Now where were we … right! We were going to Acorn Mountain today, correct?"
Stan pumped his fist in the air while the other looked on. "Yes!" he shouted. "We'd better get packing, I've got some … ahem … womanizing to do." His last sentence was greeted with a harsh slap to the back of the head from his sister. The rest simply rolled their eyes, and went off to begin stuffing their backpacks with all their picnic supplies.
There wasn't much to bring along minus some extra food and a picnic blanket, because they were going to need most of the room in their packs to take home the various nuts they would each collect on their trip. After all, next to sunflower seeds, acorns were probably their favorite snack.
Since Cappy didn't need to pack anything, the older hams offered to carry the extra stuff, he decided to put his bag by the door and go take a drink from Boss' new water cooler. He took one of the cups, held it under he nozzle and, being careful not to spill any, filled it up about halfway, then took a big, long sip, and sighed happily.
"I agree with Dexter, this is the best water ever!" he thought to himself. He was just about to refill his cup for another drink when out of nowhere, Stan came charging by him, followed closely by Sandy.
"STAN!" she shouted after him. "GIVE ME BACK MY BAG!" She could've got close enough to catch him if it wasn't for Cappy standing in her way. While Stan had seen him and jumped out of the way, Sandy had not been paying attention and crashed right into the poor hamster, sending him flying into the water cooler. Without warning, the entire contraption tumbled over, instantly cracking the plastic on the jug and spraying water all over the floor.
Cappy rubbed his eyes for a brief moment, and look over at what he had done. "Oh no …" Sandy had a similar worried expression on her face.
Boss, who was in his room, heard the commotion from outside. "What's going on in-" He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence before his mouth dropped open at the mess that lie before him. Sandy, thinking quickly, inched away from the spill as the fuming field hamster trudged over to it.
"ALRIGHT … !" he spat. "Just who did this?"
Cappy, seeing that now he was the only one even close to the broken appliance, pulled his hat over his face in shame. But Boss had no sympathy for the embarrassed hamster; he picked him up by the fur on his chest and held him up.
"Cappy, what on earth did you do? Do you realize how much I paid for this?" he said angrily. Cappy closed his eyes and nodded 'yes'. "I can't give you guys anything without one of you totally destroying it! I'm TIRED of it!" With that, he tossed him to the ground and stormed back to his room.
"The trip's off! No one's going to Acorn Mountain today!" came the muffled voice from the back room.
The ham-hams were taken aback by his sudden outburst. Even if Boss was the rough type, this was not in character for him. Pashmina, seeing that the capped hamster had broken out into tears, quickly walked over and comforted him.
Sandy felt ashamed at what she had done, pinning the blame on innocent Cappy. Stan seemed to notice it too, for he looked at her with a cynical face, not making her feel much better.
"Well then …" Maxwell said timidly, "What shall we do now?"
"I say we all point and laugh at my sister," Stan said. Sandy stomped on his foot, making him wince in pain. She even got a giggle out of Cappy.
"I say we should maybe go home for the day," Howdy suggested. "There's no use stickin' around here with a wild bear on the loose."
The other ham-hams, though disappointed, agreed with him.
"Fine with me … we'd better let Boss cool off a bit. Maybe we can go to Acorn Mountain tomorrow," Panda said.
That said, Howdy took his broom and a rag and cleaned up the mess, and Sandy and Cappy volunteered to help since they had caused it too. The rest put their bags away and got ready to leave. It was only around 10:00 that morning, and it would mean they would have to spend the rest of the day at home in their boring old cages, but a break would probably do them well.
After the spill was cleaned up, the three hamsters were the last ones left, minus Boss in his room and Stan, who was waiting for Sandy to come with him.
"Maybe I can get Panda to help me fix it up, I dunno," Howdy said, scratching the back of his head. "I dun want Boss to feel bad or nothin'." Sandy nodded.
"Good idea, maybe he'd get over it then." Before she walked out the door with her big brother, she faced Cappy and whispered in his ear.
"I'm sorry for making it look like it was your fault Boss' new water cooler broke. I should've taken the blame when he started yelling at you. Don't take it too personally, I'm sure he didn't intend to make you sad."
"It's okay …" he sniffled. "I'm sure he was just mad about it, that's all." Of course, Cappy didn't mean it at all. What Boss did to him made him really depressed, and all he wanted to do was go home and curl up in the warm arms of his humans.
Sandy took his words sincerely, and casually walked over to Stan, who was impatiently tapping his foot. They both turned towards the exit and made their way out, Cappy moving alongside them.
"Huh …I feel really weird." Stan thought as he walked. "I hope that 'expired' water didn't make me sick."
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Ding! Chapter's done!
