A New Neighbor
A Sesame Street fanfiction
By Madeline Fretz
Moving trucks were seen coming towards 123 Sesame Street, and people were carrying boxes into the building. Just then, a car pulled up. A 9-year old blonde-haired human girl and her parents stepped out.
"This is it, Claire, your new home." the mother said.
"But mom," Claire explained, "I don't know if I'll like it here."
"It's OK, Claire." said her father. "You'll get used to it."
"I'll tell you what," said Claire's mom, "We'll unpack and get settled in, while you go play and meet some new friends for a while. Sound like a plan, Clairykin?"
"OK, Mom." Claire smiled. Just then, she saw a big yellow bird walking by.
Claire couldn't believe her eyes. "How big is this bird? At my old home, we never had birds this tall."
"Oh hi." the giant bird said. "Welcome to Sesame Street! Say, are you new here?"
"Uh...yes." Claire said shyly. "I'm Claire Kubart. I'm 9 years old, and my family and I just moved here."
"Nice to meet you Claire. I'm Big Bird." the bird explained as he shook Claire's hand.
"That can explain why you're so big." Claire giggled.
"Yeah, but I'm only six years old. Would you like me to show you around the neighborhood?"
"Sure."
Claire and Big Bird walked to an arbor that had a carriage house with a garage whose sign said "NO PARKING," where three monsters were playing basketball.
"There are monsters here?!" Claire questioned surprisingly. "At my old home, we never had monsters."
"Yes, we have a lot of monsters here on Sesame Street, and they're all very friendly." Big Bird said.
"Hello there, this is your old furry pal Grover." said the dark blue monster.
"Hola, soy Rosita." said the turquoise monster.
"And I'm Telly Monster." said the purple monster.
"Hi you three. I'm Claire, Claire Kubart. I'm new to the neighborhood." Claire said as she shook each monster's hand.
"I can see that. You look like a Claire!" Grover exclaimed.
"That's because my name IS Claire!" laughed Claire.
Claire and Big Bird walked to a small convenience store. "Looks like a nice little store." Claire said.
"Oh, this is no ordinary store. This store is called Hooper's Store, and a lot of fun stuff happens here." Big Bird explained as the two walked inside, and saw an elderly black man, a bald black man, and a Hispanic woman.
"Everyone, this is Claire. She just moved here." Big Bird said as he introduced his human friends to Claire.
"Hi, Claire."
"I'm Gordon." said the bald black man.
"Soy Maria." said the Hispanic woman.
"And I'm Mr. Handford." said the elderly black man, "and I run Hooper's."
"Mr. Handford, if you run Hooper's Store, why isn't it called Handford's Store instead?" asked Claire.
"Well, the store opened in 1951 and ran by a very good friend of ours named Harold, or Mr. Hooper." Gordon explained.
"Mr. Looper sounds like a nice man." Claire pointed out.
"That's Hooper, Claire, Hooper." Maria said.
"I used to get his name wrong all the time." said Big Bird.
"What happened to him? Where is he?" asked Claire.
"He died a long time ago." Gordon said with tears rolling down his cheeks.
"I remember that day. It was the first time I learned about death, and I drew a picture of him and keep it to this day." said Big Bird.
"Oh, sounds sad." Claire said. "What happened next?"
"And then his assistant, David, took over the store, and stayed in that position until he moved to his Grandma's farm." said Maria.
"And that's when I took over." Mr. Handford said.
"OK. I see." Claire said and walked away. She and Big Bird went to a cul-de-sac with a day care center, hotel, thrift shop, dance studio, subway station, newsstand, and park. "This here is called Around the Corner. The playground just opened!"
"Looks interesting." said Claire, who was tapped on the shoulder by a monster hand. She turned around, and saw it was coming from a furry red three-year-old monster.
"Hi, my name's Claire, and I'm new. Nice to meet you."
"Hi, Claire. Welcome to Sesame Street. Elmo's Elmo!" exclaimed the furry red monster. "Can Elmo and Claire play in the park?"
"Hey, enough cuteness. Keep it down!" said a voice.
"What was that?" Claire asked in shock.
"Oh, that's Oscar the Grouch." Big Bird explained as he walked the girl to his trash can.
"Seriously, he lives in a trash can? No one did that at my old home." Claire said.
"But that's the way he lives." Big Bird said.
"But Oscar has a swimming pool and bowling alley in his can." Elmo said.
"Claire, I made something for you!" Mr. Handford called out. "Come get it!"
Claire went into Hooper's Store, and found a square sandwich waiting for her, that she decided to eat and soon found yummy.
Later, Claire walked into her new apartment and greeted her Mom.
"Did you meet any new friends?" asked Claire's mom.
"Yes, and I made a lot. Some of them are extraordinary, like one lives in a garbage can."
"Claire, you're making this up!"
"No, Mom! It's real!" Claire said. "I'll show you them one day."
Claire decided to come to dinner, knowing that living in her new neighborhood would be a wild ride.
THE END