Chapter 2: Chuckie's Masterpiece
"Okay, babies!" Tommy exclaimed. "Start those crams!"
Chuckie, Danny, and Tommy had just gotten home from the Carmichaels' new home, and the three young boys were eager in trying to draw some good pictures for Susie's room. Tommy had gone up as fast as he could to his room, and grabbed a twenty-four pack of crayons and plenty of sheets of paper from underneath his bed. Now, all of them were coloring away on the coffee table in the Pickles' living room. Well, almost everyone anyway.
Chuckie kept lowering his purple crayon toward his blank piece of paper, hesitated, then raised his hand, and switched his crayon to his other hand.
Danny happened to notice this. "Is something wrong, Chuck?"
Chuckie jumped, startled, then said, "Um, sort of."
"What is it?"
Chuckie hesitated once again.
"You can tell me and Tommy anything, Chuck!" Danny said, smiling. "We promise we won't laugh. Right, Tommy?"
Tommy glanced up at Chuckie and nodded. "We promless, Chuckie!"
Chuckie took a deep breath and said, "My Daddy says, I'm anti-dexterous."
Danny smiled, and held back his laughter. "I think you mean, ambidextrous, Chuck." he corrected.
Tommy glanced at Chuckie, puzzled. "What does that mean?" he asked.
Danny turned to Chuckie before answering. Chuckie nodded to let Danny know that he could answer Tommy's question.
"You know how you draw with your right hand, Tommy?" Danny started. "And I draw with my left hand? Well…" he paused. Danny couldn't think of a good enough way to explain what ambidextrous meant. So, Chuckie took over.
"It's like when we go on the seesaw at the park, Tommy." he explained. "There's one side of the seesaw that doesn't have the little soft pillow thing on one end. So, when my bottom gets all sore, we switch places."
Tommy nodded. "But I still don't gets what seesaws gots to do with drawing pictures for Susie."
"I'm going to tell you that right now!" Chuckie exclaimed. "When my left hand gets tired of holding this crayon, I put it into my right hand. I'm able to write with both my hands. That's what anti-dexterous means."
Tommy smiled. "I thinks that's pretty cool, Chuckie!" he said, happily. "But how comes you was afraid to tell us?"
Chuckie shrugged. "When I have to switch the crayon to my other hand, my other hand has to get used to drawing for a few minutes. So, all of my pictures end up looking really messy."
Danny shrugged. "That's no big deal, Chuck!" He showed his friend his drawing. "I'm drawing some yellow stars, but they're not perfect looking! Besides," he added, "your drawing doesn't even have to be a picture! It could be rainbow colors or something."
Chuckie grinned. "You just gived me a great idea, Danny! Thanks!"
Danny nodded, and watched Chuckie take a few crayons and his sheet of paper toward the playpen. "Chuck, what are you doing?" he asked.
"I'm going over to the playpen to draws my picture. I wants it to be a surprise for tomorrow!"
"Hey, Chuckie!" Tommy exclaimed. "Can you tell us what your picture is, now?"
Chuckie shook his head while smiling at his best friend. "Sorry, Tommy!" he said, happily. "You gots to wait until tomorrow!"
"But tomorrow's a long time away!"
Danny grinned and shook his head. "Tommy, no matter how many times you ask Chuck to see his picture, he's not gonna show it to you until tomorrow." He quickly rolled out his dark green sleeping bag onto Tommy's bedroom floor. "Besides," he added, slipping on his red pajama pants, "you know that I want to see the picture too! It'll give us something to look forward to in the morning."
Tommy, who was standing on top of his bed plopped down onto his bed as a sign of giving up on asking Chuckie about his drawing. He was wearing dark blue footsie pajamas. "You know Danny, you can sleeps up here with me and Chuckie. There's a lota room up here!"
Danny nodded, and pulled his red pajama shirt over his head. "Thanks for the offer Tommy, but my Mom and Dad gave me this sleeping bag, and I'd better put it to good use!"
Danny had brought his sleeping bag to the Pickles' house for a few reasons. Number three: It was the middle of spring break, and it was raining. Number two: It was pretty cold in Tommy's room during winter and springtime, and his sleeping bag was comfy and warm. And Number One: Danny really didn't want to sleep with two babies that weren't (or had hardly any experience in) potty trained. Besides, Danny liked his sleeping bag. It was something he could relax in while his parents and his sister were away.
After about fifteen minutes of chatting, Didi Pickles entered the room. "Okay, boys! It's time for bed!" she said, smiling. "You don't want to be tired when Susie comes over tomorrow!"
Tommy and Chuckie slid under Tommy's bedcovers, while Danny slipped into his sleeping bag. They were all very sleepy.
"Goodnight, kids!" Didi whispered, giving the three boys each a quick kiss on the cheek. "See you in the morning!"
Danny closed his eyes. "Goodnight, Mrs. Pickles."
Didi flicked down the light switch, and quietly left the room. The only light in the room was the light that shone through the crack underneath Tommy's bedroom door, and his Reptar nightlight on his dresser. No more than two minutes later, the three young boys were soon fast asleep.
The next morning, Danny had a surprise awakening. He was waking up to go use the bathroom, when he saw a smiling face staring straight at him.
"AHHHHHHHHH!" Danny screamed.
"Good!" Tommy exclaimed. "You're awake!"
Danny was breathing hard, like he had just run a marathon. "W-What t-time is it?" he asked.
Tommy toddled across his bedroom toward his dresser, stood on his tippy-toes, and grabbed his Reptar nightlight. Tommy's Reptar nightlight was a nightlight that had a digital alarm clock attached to the bottom of it. He showed the alarm clock to his playmate.
Danny squinted at the alarm clock. He couldn't see very well in the dark. "Tommy, it's 6:45 in the morning!"
"But my Mommy always makes pamcakes on Monday mornings!" Tommy exclaimed. "I knows it's Monday 'cause my Mommy is never up this early in the morning!"
"Do you always get up around this time on Monday mornings?" Danny asked.
"Mostest, of the times, yes!" his playmate answered.
Danny sighed. "Fine. Just let me go use the bathroom, and I'll be downstairs in a minute." He slowly got up. He knew he wasn't going to be getting anymore sleep at this point.
"Good morning, Danny!" Didi greeted him happily. "Would you like a plain or a blueberry pancake?"
Danny let out a small yawn. "Blueberry, please." he murmured, walking toward the kitchen table. He was still a little bit tired.
Danny hoisted himself onto a chair and glanced at Tommy and Chuckie. They were smiling at him while chewing on their plain pancakes. They both had maple syrup all over their faces.
"Hi'ya, Danny!" Chuckie exclaimed. "You should try one of these pamcakes! They're really nummy!"
"Yeah, Danny!" Tommy replied. "Tries one!" He took another bite of his pancake, paused, and quickly grabbed his bottle of milk sitting on the left side of his highchair. "But makes sure you gots something to drinks firstest, or else you'll gets really thirsty." Tommy took two sips of his milk, then sighed. "That's betterer!"
Danny nodded at his playmate. "I'm going to get a pancake in a minute."
Chuckie looked at Danny, and smiled, recognizing the expression on his friend's face. "Did Tommy surprise you this morning, Danny?"
Danny nodded, and laughed a little. "He was so close to my face, I nearly wet my pants when I woke up!"
"Yeah, he does that to me too. You're gonna have to get used to it." Chuckie took another bite of his pancake.
Tommy shrugged. "Sorry, Danny. That's the only way I can wait for peoples to wakes up when I'm the only one awakes!"
Danny smiled. "It's okay, Tommy. As long as it keeps me asleep longer, it's just fine with me!"
His playmate grinned, and licked some of the syrup off of his face.
Chuckie suddenly groaned.
"Are you alright, Chuck?" Danny asked, worriedly.
Chuckie quickly shook his head. "No!" he cried. "I think I ate too much of my pamcake, and drank too much of my milk!" He jumped out of his booster seat, quickly took off his Dummi Bear bib, set it on the table, and ran out of the room. "I'll be right back!" he called to his friends.
Tommy was still looking down into the living room where Chuckie had ran just a moment ago. "Speaking of the bathroom," Tommy started, "why did it take you so long to comes out heres?"
Danny glanced up at his playmate. "Tommy, I was only in the bathroom for ten minutes."
"I know." Tommy replied. "It's just that Chuckie takes only two minutes to go use the potty. It took you eight extra minutes."
"That's true, but-," Danny cut off, surprised by what Tommy had just said.
Tommy looked at his friend with a puzzled look on his face. "But, what?"
"How did you know that it took me eight extra minutes in the bathroom? You don't know how to do any math!"
His playmate shrugged. "I don't know. It was just a lucky guess."
Danny blinked twice with amazement. "Anyway, I was in the bathroom for so long because I always ruffle my hair perfectly, that way it doesn't look like a mess."
"But, Danny," Tommy interrupted, "no fence or anything, but your hair always looks like a mess."
"Point taken." Danny said smiling. He paused. "Do you wanna here a secret?"
"Sure!" Tommy exclaimed. "As long as it's between us!"
Danny sighed. "Tommy, that's what a secret is."
"Really?" Tommy's eyes widened. "No wonder Angelica doesn't tell me anything anymore."
Danny paused for a moment. Then, he glanced around to make sure no one was listening, and said to Tommy, "I was born with a ton of hair, Tommy."
"It makes sense to me."
"No, Tommy! I mean," he lowered his voice to a whisper, "my hair was a lot like Sam's when I was born."
"Wow! What did you do?"
"What all newborns do." Danny said, answering Tommy's question. "Cry. I didn't know where I was at the time. I had just come out of my small little…" He paused. Tommy was staring at Danny, wanting him to finish his sentence. "…hospital bed," he continued, "and the doctors were going to staple all of my hair to my head."
"STAPLES?!" Tommy cried.
"SHHH!" Danny hushed his playmate. "Tommy! I don't want anyone to hear you!"
"Whoops! Sorry, Danny! I mean," he lowered his voice, "staples?"
Danny nodded. "That's why my hair is like this. But remember, Tommy," he said sternly, "you can't tell anybody about this. Not even Chuck. Got it?"
Tommy nodded. "Don't worry, Danny! Your secret is safe with me!"
Danny smiled at his playmate. That's when Didi had just finished cooking his blueberry pancake. Danny took a plastic fork that was sitting in front of him, cut up a piece of his pancake, took a bite, and grinned. "You and Chuck were right! These are good pancakes!"
"Told you!" Chuckie said, as he was walking back into the kitchen.
An hour later, after everyone was clean and dressed, Chuckie, Danny, and Tommy were sitting on the Pickles' living room couch, waiting for Susie and her Mom to arrive. Each of them had their drawing in their hands. Tommy, who was sitting next to Danny on his right side, was trying to glance at Chuckie's picture. The only problem was, Chuckie was on Danny's left side. No matter how hard Tommy tried to look at his friend's picture, Chuckie just wouldn't let him see it.
Danny noticed this, and cut in for a moment. "You guys, I need to say something."
"Sure, Danny!" both boys exclaimed.
"You've gotta promise me," he started, "that no matter who's picture gets picked, or doesn't get picked, you can't get upset about it. Susie will feel bad if you do, plus we would all start arguing."
Tommy nodded. "We promless, Danny! I just wants to see Chuckie's picture! I'm sure he did a really good job on it!"
Chuckie smiled. "Hey, thanks, Tommy!" he exclaimed, then added, "But you're still gonna haves to waits until Susie gets heres!"
About five or ten more minutes passed until the three boys heard the doorbell ring. Soon enough, Susie came running into the living room.
"Hi'ya, guys!" she greeted.
"Hi'ya, Susie!"
"What's up?" Danny asked.
"Nothing really." she said. "But my Daddy wants to buy paint colors that we don't haves today. So, we gots to decides quickly what I want my room color to be before he leaves!"
"Okay." Danny replied. "So, who would you like to go first?"
Susie thought for a moment. "I guess I'll go from my left to my right. So, I guess Tommy gets to go firstest."
Tommy smiled. He was excited to show his picture to his new friend. "Since your Daddy works for the Dummi Bears, and you likes the Dummi Bears, I drews you a pink Dummi Bear." He paused, gave Susie the picture, and added, "It doesn't haves to be pink, though. Sorry. I didn't knows whats your favorite color was."
Susie smiled at the picture of Tommy's poorly drawn Dummi Bear. "It's very nice, Tommy! It would brighten the walls a lot!" She paused. "But the problem is, I'm not sure if the Dummi Bear would cover all of the walls of my room. Sorry, Tommy."
Tommy smiled. "It's okay, Susie. I'm just trying to help a friend. Maybe you'll like Danny's betterer."
Danny gave his picture to Susie. "Since your room is black, I figured it would save less time and money to paint stars on your walls. I wasn't exactly sure what kind of things you liked, and this was the best I could come up with."
Susie grinned. "I love stars, Danny!" she exclaimed. "But I'm not eggzactly sure how much the yellow stars would brighten up the room. Thanks for trying, though."
Danny smiled, and shrugged. "It's cool." he replied.
Susie turned to Chuckie. "Okay, Chuckie. Let's see what you gots!"
Chuckie glanced around the room nervously, and started shivering. He didn't know what Susie would think of his picture. What if she thought it was no good?
"Don't be ascared, Chuckie!" Tommy exclaimed. "We won't laugh or make fun of your picture! We promless!"
Chuckie glanced around the living room some more, hesitated, then quickly tossed his drawing face down on the table, and covered his face with his knees. He was scared and excited at the same time.
Chuckie peeked up over his glasses. Everything was blurry, but he could tell Susie was looking at his picture. She wasn't saying anything.
'She doesn't like it!' Chuckie thought, humiliated. He buried his face even more into his knees.
"Susie," Danny started, "are you alright?"
"You guys have gots to look at this!" Susie said.
Chuckie heard Danny and Tommy walking toward Susie to see what he had drawn. Chuckie felt sick. He didn't want his two best friends to see his really bad picture.
Danny and Tommy didn't say anything either.
A few more minutes passed, then Chuckie couldn't take it anymore. "Alright!" he cried. "I know my picture's horrible! But you guys don't needs to rubs it in my face!"
Danny glanced at Chuckie with a puzzled expression on his face. "Horrible?" he asked, smiling. Then he laughed. "Chuckie! We weren't silent because we didn't like it! We were just so surprised that a two year old could draw so well, that we couldn't say anything!"
"Yeah, Chuckie!" Tommy exclaimed. "This is one of the bestest drawings I've ever seen!"
Susie nodded at him. "I could never draw circles that perfect, Chuckie! How did you do it? You're an artist!"
Chuckie could feel his cheeks turning red. He smiled, shrugged, and answered Susie's question. "Anti-dexterousisum.
