Getting along
February 15 1988
Yakko was in his room, sitting on his bed reading one of the books that his aunt had bought for him for his birthday. The specific book he was reading discussed a series of events called the trials and errors. These were events hosted at various animation studios that trialed many different species of toons and their unique capabilities.
He was lost in the book as he read through the pages.
-Page 21- Throughout the entirety of the 1930s, several toons came down to studios like Disney and Warner Brothers to try and be starred in short cartoons.
Characters came and went, trial by trial. A species of toon would come from surrounding settlements to studios in Burbank California. Toons would then show their talent to producers to try and get accepted. If the producers and animators approved of it, then that toon would return for production of various small short cartoons.
"The point of these shorts is to test if the toon is popular enough for the general public", an animator said, " and if they were lucky enough, they could become a famous figure in our culture".
Many of these trials had failed. Characters such as Oswald the lucky rabbit and Bosko went out of popularity very quickly, and are classified as being unsuccessful. On the other hand, Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Donald Duck and several others went on to be sensations in our society.
"Yakko", a voice said," me hungry".
He looked up from his book and saw his brother looking at him. He looked eager, he was pushing his hands against the bed. He had left Wakko for a while to play with toys while he read in a quiet, he had forgotten about him for a while.
"Hey there sib", Yakko said to him," sure I can get you something. What do you want"?
Wakko shrugged his shoulders," I dunno".
"Well that's helpful. Why don't we go to the kitchen and take a look".
"Ok", his brother said," we take look, me find food to eat".
Feeling fatigued at that moment, Yakko tiredly got out of bed and slumped onto the floor. His brother, grinning, suddenly took off without him. It seemed like it was one of those days where Wakko was just full of energy.
"Wakko, wait for me", Yakko called out to his brother.
Hopefully he heard that.
He left his bedroom, leaving the door open and the light on. He made his way towards the kitchen where Wakko was happily waiting for him.
Yakko approached his brother. He ran towards him, wrapping his arms around him. He rubbed his brother's head as he too wrapped his arms around Wakko to give him a hug.
Some time passed by and they both finally broke the hug. Wakko looked up at him with eager eyes, a huge grin on his face.
"Well sib, we're in the kitchen", Yakko told his brother," so, you have anything in mind"?
"Pancake", his brother shouted," that good, me want that"!!
Oh come on, of all things you could've wanted!!
As much as he loved his brother, he was not going to make him a pancake. He didn't know how to make pancakes, and he didn't want to risk trying it out and failing miserably.
He sighed," sorry sib, I don't know how to make pancakes".
Wakko's smile faded," you...you don't"?
"I'm afraid not", Yakko said, shaking his head," how about we have some Pringles, you love those".
"But...but pancakes are good. Me want that".
"I'm sorry Wak, but I don't know how to make them".
His brother's face was scrunching up, it looked like he was going to burst out with tears. Yakko didn't mean to upset him, but now he accidentally caused Wakko to be upset. He didn't want a tantrum, not today, he never liked when his brother would have a tantrum.
There wasn't a lot he could do then, he sighed, he had made a choice.
Yakko put his arms around his brother, hugging him once more. He kissed him on the cheek. He was looking up at him, tears were slowly starting to form in his big eyes.
"Me..me want pancake", Wakko said slowly," big brother won't make.
He hugged his brother tighter.
"I'll make you a pancake Wak".
His brother gave him a confused look.
"You say you don't know how".
"Well…..I think I know. I've seen dad make pancakes before, so I could try to do it".
Wakko looked delighted.
"Really?", he asked," you make pancakes"?
"I'll give it a try for you".
Yakko let go of his brother, he started jumping around the kitchen chanting pancakes over and over again.
He gulped to himself, as he had no idea how to make pancakes. Though it was too late to turn back now, he promised Wakko that he would make a pancake for him. If he told him no then he would get sad again, and he doesn't want to see his brother be mopey all day.
Let's just hope that nothing goes wrong.
He walked towards a door which opened up to their food pantry. He looked down the rows of shelves that lined the pantry, looking for pancake mix. There wasn't a lot in the pantry. There were cans of soup, cans of beans, 2 loaves of bread, and some bags of chips. Yakko couldn't find it at first, he rummaged through all the food items trying to find it. The last thing he wanted was to find that they didn't have any pancake mix, then he couldn't make any pancakes at all. Although, that would make for a great excuse for why they can't have any pancakes.
After searching for a few minutes, he finally managed to find one box of pancake mix at the very back of one of the bottom shelves of the pantry. He stared at the bright, red box for a little while. Yakko had completely forgotten when they had last bought pancake mix. Hopefully not too long ago, rotten food never tastes good.
Turning the box over to the back side, Yakko saw little text in the right margin. There were small pictures of what looked to be a time-lapse of pancakes being made. He squinted his eyes, trying to read the text, wondering what it meant.
The text stated some ingredients needed, like eggs, milk, and butter. An image above the text showed pancake mix being poured onto the pan. It was then when Yakko realized something, these were directions to make pancakes. If he followed these directions, then he would be less likely to screw up as badly then if he didn't follow them.
This may not go as terribly as I thought.
Happy, Yakko decided that he better get started. The pancakes won't cook themselves after all. He placed the pancake mix on the counter, then reached his arm to the dish drainer to grab a pan. The pan was heavy, his arm was shaking as he slowly lifted it out of the dish drainer. He placed the pan on top of the stove, finally taking his aching hand off of the handle. Lifting the pan to the stove was a lot harder than it looked.
His brother was dancing the entire time. Squealing at the top of his lungs running around the kitchen. He continued to chant "pancakes pancakes pancakes" over and over again.
Extremely annoyed, Yakko turned his head towards his brother.
"Wakko, please stop screaming", he demanded.
His brother stopped cheering and looked at him with a blank expression.
"Me no scream", Wakko said," very happy for pancakes. Pancake very good".
"I know, you're happy I'm making pancakes. But can you please stop screaming"?
Wakko nodded," Ok, me do that for Yakko".
Wow, no tantrum. Not even sad, Yakko thought, that's unusual. At least he listened to me for once.
Now that his brother had promised to be quiet for a while, he could now attempt to make pancakes for the first time in peace.
Focusing back on what he was doing, Yakko dug through the fridge and grabbed a carton of milk, carton of eggs, and a stick of butter. He placed the items on top of the counter next to the pancake mix. He remembered that his dad usually used a bowl to pour the mix into. He quickly opened a cabinet above him, he was barely tall enough to grab one from on top of the shelf.
Now that he had everything he needed, now came the hard part, trying to make some pancakes.
He sighed, hoping that nothing would go wrong. The last thing he wanted was to mess up badly and make a fool of himself. He didn't even want to start imagining the consequences his parents would give him If he did do something wrong.
Yakko opened the box. He pulled something out of the box, revealing a small plastic bag containing the pancake mix. He then tried opening the bag with his hands with no success. He tried pulling apart the bag as hard as he could, but it was no use.
Not wanting to waste time looking for some scissors, he decided to reach back into his hammerspace to grab some. Yakko reached his hand behind his back into the invisible space. He imagined the scissors, what they looked like and the different parts of it. It felt like it was working, he could feel something starting to form in his hand.
Some time had passed and Yakko pulled his hand out of his hammerspace. He was pleased with himself, he was holding small green scissors in his hand.
Seems like I'm getting better at it.
Pleased, he took the scissors and cut the wrapper open. When he was done, he placed the green scissors on the counter, then he proceeded to pour the mix into the small bowl. He'd got the first step done, but now he had a problem. He had no idea what to do next.
Yakko guessed that he needed to add eggs and milk into the mix. It seemed that was what he needed to do next. He was a little nervous since he had never opened a carton of eggs before.
He opened the carton revealing the white eggs inside. There were nine of them, three had already been used. Yakko didn't know how much he needed. If he were to take a guess, he thought that one egg would probably be enough. He was only making 2 pancakes after all. One for his brother and one for him.
He grabbed one of the eggs from inside the carton. Swinging his arms back to where the bowl was, he dropped the egg inside. The egg made a thud as it hit the bottom.
Practically nothing happened, the egg pretty much looked the same. A small crack had formed on the egg, weird yellow stuff was oozing out of it. Yakko thought it looked disgusting, he did not want to know what was coming out of that egg. He didn't know what to do, there was no one to assist him, and he knew that his brother definitely won't be any sort of help.
This was when Yakko realized that this was definitely a bad idea. He definitely should've for mom to get home. He could've asked her for help and she would have shown him how to make it. He didn't know what to do, should he have read the instructions more closely?
Now a bigger problem was forming, what does he do now?
He decided to just throw all of his progress away. He took the bowl and dumped everything into the trash. Wakko was looking at him, he seemed confused as to what he was doing.
Yakko turned to him," sorry sib, I think there's something yucky about those eggs. Something yellow was coming out of them".
"Yellow stuff", his brother repeated," yellow stuff yucky".
"Yeah it did, you should've seen it".
Wakko started to look glum, a frown was starting to form on his face. He glared sadly up at him.
"No pancakes?", he asked.
"Yup, that's right. Sorry sib, I just didn't know how".
"But you know a lot. Big brother smart".
Yakko felt tingles run throughout his entire body. He had a strange feeling inside of him, it was something about what his brother had said that made him feel this way. His brother had told him that he was smart. What he did wasn't smart, it was quite dumb actually. But Wakko still thought he was, even if he knew that wasn't true.
He didn't know what to say, he didn't know if he wanted to say anything at all. His brother's simple words made him feel good about himself. It lightened him up, it made him feel happy.
He put his arms around Wakko.
"I love you so much Wak", Yakko told him, "I really do"!!
"I….I love you too. You great".
He felt tears forming in his eyes. He hugged his brother harder. Wakko said I, not me. This was the first time he had ever said that. He felt just as happy as he was when his brother had said his first word. In fact, this was the happiest he'd felt in a very long time.
February 16 1988
"You're such a cutie, yes you are"!!
There was nothing in the world that could make Yakko happier then holding a cute little baby. Dot was no exception, she was an adorable little baby. She was staring up at him with a cute little grin. He was really lucky to have the privilege to spend all day with his baby sister.
His brother was sitting quietly next to him. He wasn't doing anything, he was staring off into space. Wakko would do this a lot if he wasn't with toys or eating something, he could very well entertain himself. Of course, Yakko would give him as much love as possible. He made it his goal to keep his siblings happy. Not just because his parents wanted him to, but because he didn't want them to be sad and feel alone.
As of now, Yakko really felt alone. His parents were always working, and when they finally came home, he was most likely already asleep. He did get a chance to talk to his parents yesterday, but not for a good reason. They scolded him for the pancake incident after he told them what had happened. His father had slapped him across the face, and his mom scolded him, saying never to waste food again.
It felt horrible, he always hated when he got into trouble. He promised himself that no matter what, he would never let his siblings get into trouble with their parents.
I don't want them to be sad, he thought to himself, they're too good to be hit.
Yakko decided that it would be best to forget about it for now. He didn't want to burst into tears thinking about horrible thoughts. He continued caring for his sister just like he had been.
He looked down at his sister, Dot was still grinning. Yakko tickled her chin with his finger. The baby giggled a little, making babbling sounds.
"It looks like you're happy this morning aren't you", Yakko said to his sister.
Dot continued to giggle, he couldn't help but smile at that moment. He couldn't wait for the day she would say her first word. His sister was already crawling, pretty soon she'd be taking her first steps. But he didn't want that to happen yet, he was happy with his sister being a baby. He was not ready for her to grow up just yet.
As Yakko was spending his time with his sister, he noticed that Wakko was inching closer and closer to him. He probably wants some attention as well.
"Yakko", his brother asked," why you talk to Dottie all day"?
He shrugged his shoulders," she's just a baby Wak. She needs a lot of attention".
"Why"?
"I don't know, I gave you a lot of attention when you were a baby. Mom said babies just need a lot of attention".
"But you spend all day with Dot"!!
Yakko groaned, his brother was being fussy again. And as soon as he thought that today would be a good day.
"Oh Wakko, I give you attention", He told his brother," just this morning I was playing with Hot Wheels cars with you. What more attention do you want"?
"I want you to play with me more", Wakko demanded," I want big brother to play with me"!!
"Ok fine, I'll play with you some more. Give me a minute ok"?
"No, you play now"!!
"Wakko, you gotta wait!! I'll play with you soon, I promise"!!
Wakko sat back on the couch. He was crossing his arms, making a pout on his face. He thought his brother must be in a bad mood or something.
"Brother don't wanna play with me", Wakko muttered to himself," brother too busy with Dot".
He decided to ignore his brother's behavior for now and continue doing what he was doing before. He looked at his sister, still grinning like she has been. It's surprising that she hasn't cried at all today.
Her big, twinkly eyes glowed from the light coming in from the small windows. She put her thumb in her mouth, her grin was surprisingly still showing while she did so. Yakko grinned himself, it was just contagious at this point.
Yakko tickled his sister's chin with his finger, just like he did before.
"Aww, your so sweet Dottie", he said to her," you and your sweet little grin".
His brother jerked up all of a sudden, he glared at him angrily. Wakko's face was turning red, his eyes were squinted with anger. He was not happy about this at all.
"I sweet"!! Wakko screamed," I sweeter than Dottie is"!!
Yakko smirked," you're not acting very sweet right now".
"Yes I am"!!
"No you're not, you're screaming like crazy"!!
Wakko looked furious. The angry little boy breathed heavily, his chest was expanding in and out. He gritted his tiny little teeth together.
It was at that moment where Yakko had realized that he messed up big time. He didn't know exactly what he did to cause his brother to get so upset. But whatever he did to cause Wakko's fury, he regretted saying anything to him.
Here comes a tantrum, a really bad one!!
And just like that, Wakko pounced at him. His brother came at him so fast that he didn't have any time to react. He was leaning over him, swinging his tiny fists at him. The little guy was punching his arm.
"Wakko stop!!! Let go of me NOW"!!!
His brother did not listen to his pleads, continuing to swing his fists at him. His arms throbbed with pain, Wakko was punching hard. Yakko tried pulling his brother off of him, trying to make him stop. But he continued on, continuing to swing his arms at him.
Yakko had had enough, he felt rage building inside of him. He could not let himself suffer any longer. With quick thinking, he pushed his brother with all his might. Wakko went flying off of him, smacking down onto the couch.
He didn't realize his brother was so strong. Luckily, he was older, and stronger than him. He finally put an end to this. To more bad luck, Dot had started crying. Thank goodness that Wakko didn't punch her at all. Luckily, she was nice and safe tucked in his arms the whole time.
Wakko lay still on the cushions of the couch. His hands were over his face, it sounded like he had started crying. Yakko had no sympathy for his brother, he did this to himself.
He set his sister down gently, her whimpering was coming to a stop. While it was painful to leave Dot unintended while she was still crying, other matters came first. Yakko slipped off the couch onto his feet. He stormed towards his brother, picking him up by the ears, bringing him close to his face. Wakko's fur on his face was completely wet from tears. His eyes had turned a deep shade of pink.
"Let me go", his brother screamed," let me go now"!!!
"Wakko Warner, how dare you punch me", Yakko scolded," I don't care if you were upset, that was not ok"!!
His brother was balling out tears, screaming at the top of his lungs.
"Please, please let go!! I no mean to do that to Yakko"!!
"No, I will not let you go!! You really I'm really gonna do that after what you did to me!? No, you're going straight to your room"!!
"No, Yakko, please no", Wakko pleaded helplessly," I no wanna go"!!
"You should have thought about that before you punched me in the arm! You're going"!!
"Noooo, no go!!! I be good"!!
"You're going"!!!
He was reaching his breaking point. It wouldn't be long before he just couldn't take his brother's whining any longer. He started walking towards their bedroom, still holding Wakko by the ears. His brother was trying anything he could to prevent being sent to his room.
"No, I don't want to", he whined," I good, I good to big brother"!!
Yakko decided that it would be best to just ignore his brother's whining the best he could. He would get over it on his own.
Just relax, he thought, just relax. He'll calm down eventually. I'll talk to him later.
Luckily, he was able to carry his brother to his room successfully. Wakko was still crying and carrying on, begging to be let go. He stayed strong though, and didn't let himself feel guilty for what he was doing to his brother. If Wakko didn't want any trouble, then he shouldn't have started any in the first place.
He placed his brother gently down on his bed, he finally let go of his ears. His brother's ears drooped over his face. Wakko had stopped crying, but he wore a depressed expression on his face.
Yakko knelt down by him, putting a hand over his chin. He looked him in the eye.
"Now you're going to stay in here until I say so", he told him," do not come out until I come and get you. Do you understand"?
His brother nodded sadly.
"Good, now think about what you've done. I'll be spending time with Dot now, and you won't be able to hurt us anymore".
He got up from the floor, he walked towards the door. He turned back to his brother, he was looking down at the floor sadly. He looked at him for a few seconds, before leaving the room, closing the door behind him.
As much as he felt bad for Wakko, he was the one who started it. He didn't mean to make him feel so sad, but he was mad at him. He wanted his brother to understand that he did something wrong. Mom and dad weren't home at the time, thank goodness for that. He couldn't imagine how mad they would've been at their youngest son.
I won't tell them about this, Yakko promised himself, they don't need to know about this. I don't want Wakko to be more upset than he already is.
Yakko entered back into the living room. He found his sister still laying in the same exact position that she was in where he had left her. He picked her up and held her close to him.
"Aww are you scared", he said to Dot," did Wakko scare you Dottie"?
His sister was happily grinning, her smile shining brightly. It was a miracle that his brother hadn't hit her, he came really close to doing so. Yakko wanted to forget what had just happened for now as he was desperate to feel happy for a change. Then, he realized something that made him feel even worse about himself. In all the excitement, he had forgotten to give Dot her afternoon bottle.
Not again!!
He's usually on top with these things. How did he manage to forget to give his sister her bottle of milk? Thankfully, he remembered when he did. But now there was a slight chance that Dot would be cranky throughout the afternoon. She'd act extremely fussy if he didn't feed his sister her milk on time.
Yakko gave his sister a kiss on the cheek.
"Come on, sister of mine", he said to her, " it's time to give you your afternoon bottle".
He carried his sister across the apartment to the big table in the back corner. He placed Dot in her highchair. She was still happily grinning, patting her hands down on the tray of the chair. Yakko smiled, he remembered when Wakko did the exact same thing when he was a baby.
Focusing back on the situation, he left his sister sitting there while he went to the kitchen. After entering, he opened the fridge and grabbed the small bottle of milk that was sitting there.
He came back out holding the bottle in his hand. He approached his sister and handed the bottle to her.
"Here you go Dottie, here's your bottle".
To his surprise, Dot grabbed the bottle right out of his hand. It startled him a little, looking up, he saw that his sister was holding the bottle all by himself. It was shocking, she had never done that before. But he was happy, he was starting to get tired of holding the bottle against his sister's mouth anyway. Yakko smiled at his sister's accomplishment, she was doing more things on her own now. It wouldn't be long until she was walking and talking just like Wakko.
"Gee, it looks like you don't need me to feed you anymore", Yakko said," it looks like you can manage it on your own now".
His sister giggled, her tiny little grin was poking out while she continued sucking on the bottle.
"What are you laughing at"?
Dot continued giggling, some milk was spilling out of her mouth. Yakko took the bottle away from her at that moment to prevent her from making a mess.
"If you're gonna be laughing, then you can't be drinking. You can't drink milk and laugh at the same time".
At this point, his sister had just completely burst out into laughter. She must find this really funny for some reason. Yakko couldn't help but laugh himself, he had never heard Dot laugh this loudly before.
"You're so funny Dot", Yakko said, giggling a little.
After a while, the laughter cooled down. He was glad that his sister was feeling happy, he really needed a good laugh. Yakko poked into the kitchen and threw the bottle into the sink. He poked back out where his sister was once again patting her hands on the tray. He went over to the highchair and lifted his sister out of it.
"After all that laughter, you must be ready for a nap, aren't you"?
He poked his sister's nose, Dot giggled a little. She yawned, she squinted her eyes and her face scrunched up a bit as she did so. It seemed like she was getting tired.
"You tired"?
Dot didn't reply, but it seemed like she was ready to go to sleep. She definitely had an exciting morning.
Yakko walked slowly towards his sister's crib, trying to make her feel more relaxed. When he approached the crib, he gently placed Dot inside, covering her up in the white blanket in the crib. She stuck her hand up in the air, trying to grab onto his nose.
He laughed," your so silly".
Dot giggled a little more. The baby yawned again, closing her eyes. It looked like she was finally going to sleep after having a very eventful morning. He smiled, he stroked her head gently.
"That's it Dottie, close your eyes", Yakko said to his sleepy sibling," sleep tight sis".
Once he made sure that his sister had happily fallen asleep, Yakko felt comfortable leaving Dot for some time while she took her nap.
Upon turning around, he saw that Wakko was leaving his room.
Oh no!! What's he up to?
Yakko approached him quickly. His brother stared at him, there was a sense of worry in his eyes. When he approached him, he grabbed onto his arm, pulling him close to him.
"Wakko, what are you doing?", he asked, " Why are you leaving your room"?
"Potty", his brother replied," I have to go potty".
Understandable, everyone has to use the bathroom.
"Ok, you can go potty. Oh...can we talk first? Right here if that's fine with you"?
Wakko nodded," Ok Yakko".
He knelt down to his brother's height, making sure they were looking each other in the eye. Yakko put a hand on his brother's shoulder.
"Look sib, I'm sorry for what I did to you awhile ago. I'm not trying to be mean to myou, I love you a lot. But what you did was just not ok, you understand"?
His brother nodded slowly.
"So Wakko, why did you hit me in the arm"?
"You….you..no like me no more".
"That's not true. Why do you think that"?
"You only spend time with sissy", Wakko told him angrily," you no want to play with cars with me".
His brother started tearing up, Yakko pulled him closer to him. He wrapped his arms around him, hugging him tightly.
"That's not true Wak, I'd love to play with you. I was just spending time with Dottie, that's all".
"But why not me"?
"Tell you what", he told his brother," I just put Dot down for her nap. Would now be a good time to play"?
Wakko brightened up immediately. He separated from the hug and bounced around where he was standing. He hadn't seen his brother this happy in a while. He calmed down a little, he stood there smiling at him.
"Yakko will play"?
He nodded," why not"?
His brother hugged him again, he did the same. They sat there for a while just hugging each other. No matter what his brother does, however bad or annoying it might be, deep down inside, he loved Wakko a whole lot. His siblings mean so much to him. He would do anything to make them smile.
End of Chapter 14