Giggles was sitting on her couch, watching TV, when she heard the doorbell ring. She turned off the TV, got up from the couch and left the living room. Once she had made it to the front door, she put her hand on the knob, turned it and opened the door. When she saw who was at the door, however, her expression went from cheerful to surprised, then confused. Lumpy was at the door, but that wasn't why her mood had changed. That was because he wasn't looking so good.
He was slouching, his eyes had bags under them, and his nose had turned a bright red. There were also a couple of small, thin drops of mucus oozing from both of his nostrils. Lumpy sniffled audibly, trying to suck up the mucus, but that didn't seem to work. He felt even worse than he looked.
"Hey, Giggles," Lumpy said in a very congested, raspy voice. He could feel his throat aching with nearly everything he managed to say.
"Lumpy? Are you feeling all right? Oh, my. You look awful..." Giggles said, sounding concerned.
"No, I'b dot feelidg so good," Lumpy said with another sniffle. His nostrils continued to run, and he brought up his right hand to rub them. It didn't seem to help much, however. "I thig I'b catchidg a code."
"I don't know about that. You look more like you've already caught a cold," Giggles stated.
She wanted to say more than that, but suddenly, Lumpy's eyes shot open and his nostrils flared up. Realizing what was going to happen, he removed his hand from his nose, closed his eyes and tilted his neck back repeatedly as he began to take hitched breaths. He was going to sneeze.
"Ah... Aaaaah..." Lumpy tried to sniffle and keep his nostrils from flaring, but he didn't have enough power. One inhale later, he released, shooting his head downwards so that he wouldn't spray Giggles. He could feel mucus releasing from his nostrils and spit releasing from his mouth with his sneeze. "AAAAAAHHHHHH-CHOOOOooooooooo!"
Giggles responded with a surprised, "Oh, my goodness!"
Lumpy sniffled repeatedly as he raised his right forefinger to his nostrils and rubbed back and forth. His nostrils were flowing with mucus, even after that big and powerful sneeze.
"Sorry, Giggles." Lumpy continued to rub his nose.
"Oh, you poor thing," Giggles said. She knew what she had to do: she had to take Lumpy in for the day and look after him until he felt better. She put one hand on Lumpy's shoulder and led him into the house. "Would you like me to take care of you and make you feel all better?"
"Yeah, sure. That's pretty buch why I cabe here." Lumpy sniffled again to keep his nose from running.
Giggles led the ill moose into her house, intending to take him to the guest room. Along the way, Lumpy coughed, inhaled and sneezed a few times, but he always made sure to turn his head away from Giggles. A couple of minutes later, they arrived at the guest room, which didn't have many pieces of furniture besides a bed and an end table, which had a box of tissues on it. Lumpy went over to the bed, lay down on it and pulled the blanket over him. Giggles went over to him.
"I'd like you to stay in bed while I take care of you, okay?"
Lumpy nodded in agreement, but suddenly, his nose twitched again. Another sneeze was coming. "Oh, no... Aaahh... Giggles... AaaaaaAAAAAHHHH... I'B GODDAAAAAAHHHH...!"
Giggles quickly figured out what he was trying to say and cringed with fear. She quickly grabbed a tissue from the tissue box, and then pinched Lumpy's nostrils with the tissue. The sneeze was immediately stopped just seconds from its release, but Lumpy wasn't convinced that it was gone.
"Ah. Thadks," Lumpy said, taking the tissue and rubbing his nose on it. He didn't blow his nose, but he had the strangest feeling that the sneeze would escape from him a few seconds later, so he planned to blow after that. "That was a close wud..."
"If there's anything you need from me-" Giggles didn't get to finish her sentence.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Without any warning, Lumpy sneezed hard into the tissue he was holding. When he removed the tissue, his nostrils were running heavily. He blew his nose for one second, clearing some of the mucus from his body, but it wasn't enough to stop his nose from running. Then he removed the tissue again to rub his nose on his forefinger.
"Bless you," Giggles said.
"Thadks," Lumpy said, again. "What were you godda say?"
"If there's anything you need from me, all you have to do is call me and I'll come up as soon as I can," Giggles said. "Now, is there anything you do need?"
"Dot really..." Lumpy said with a sniffle, and then cleared his throat.
"How about a glass of water?"
Lumpy thought about this, and then said, "Yes, please."
Giggles left the room to get him some water. As she did, Lumpy stayed in the bed, sniffling repeatedly and no longer paying any attention to the used tissue that he had sneezed and blown on moments ago. No matter how many times he sniffed, his nose just wouldn't stop running. It wouldn't stop itching, either.
"Aaahhh..." Lumpy brought a hand up to his snout and rubbed his nostrils, but even though he was trying as hard as he could, the sneeze was coming. "Aaaaaahhhh... AAAAAAAHHHHHHH... AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH..." Lumpy quickly put his hands over his mouth and sneezed a loud double. "CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh... CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Lumpy removed his hands and discovered that they were soaked with his spit from the sneeze. There were several strings of spit connected to his hands, these strings leading up to his mouth. He sighed and again rubbed his nose on his forefinger, but had to do it only once this time. After that, he took a tissue from the tissue box, and then cleaned the mucus off of his hands. By the time he had finished, his nose twitched again, and he needed to sneeze again.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH..." Lumpy tilted his head far back, and then sneezed into the blanket that he had over him. He didn't have to hold it up to his face. He also didn't manage to see Giggles arriving into the room with a glass of water in her hand. "CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Lumpy sniffled and rubbed his nose on his forefinger.
"Bless you," Giggles said as she approached him. She handed him the glass of water. "Here you go."
Lumpy smiled and slowly drank the water. A slight burning sensation surged through almost his entire throat as the water made its way down, but it wasn't as painful as when he coughed or sneezed. Once he had finished it, he sighed in relief and handed the glass back to Giggles.
"Thadks, Giggles," he said.
"Let me know if you'd like some more."
"I sure will," Lumpy responded with a light sniffle, but this caused his nose to twitch again.
"Ah... Aaaahhh..." He inhaled twice, tilting his neck back. He could barely see Giggles looking at him in horror. "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH..." After a final inhale, he turned his head away from Giggles and released another loud sneeze, which forcefully caused a small amount of mucus to release from his nose. "CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
By the time Lumpy had recovered from this next sneeze, his nose had started running again. He sniffled and brought up a forefinger to rub his nose, while Giggles took a tissue from the tissue box and offered it to him. He took it and blew his nose on it for a few seconds, but his nose continued to run slightly. Despite that, he finished and wiped his nose, sniffling occasionally.
"Is there anything else you'd like me to get for you?" Giggles asked.
"I'll have to think about it..."
"It's okay, take your time," Giggles said. "I'll do anything I can to help you."
With that, she left the room, leaving Lumpy alone in bed. He sniffled and rubbed his nose a few times. He wasn't feeling much better, but he was glad that Giggles was here to take care of him. Besides, the most he had was a cold; nothing too serious, and nothing to sneeze at. With Giggles' help and care, he was going to be fine in a few days.