CHAPTER 4: GOOD GRIEF, CHARLIE BROWN! THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A POLITE AWAKENING
With a gulp, Ox rummaged around for some sort of knife to open the trashcan. "Oxie, get back to bed." sighed Patty.
"Can't, babe." Ox argued. "I have to open the trashcan."
"Why?" she asked before heading back to her sleeping bag. "Never mind..."
A few minutes passed and before the kids knew, Ox had returned, carrying Marcie in his arms before placing her on the couch, next to Peppermint Patty. "Told you." Linus whispered to Eudora. "An ox is a bullheaded creature; but Ox is one of the nicest boys we met."
"Strong too..." Eudora thought.
"What I want to know is what Ox was rambling about." explained Frieda.
"About the potatoes?" asked Violet.
"No; about the trashcan and cutting it open." the curly haired girl replied as she, Francesca, Patty (Swanson) and Lucy tiptoed into the kitchen to see Olaf, Andy and Snoopy holding the trashcan.
"How did they do that? That beagle of Charlie Brown's has trouble lifting two angel food cakes!" stated Lucy.
"There's a cut in the can..." added Patty.
"How'd he do it?" asked Frieda.
"We held it down while he cut it, sweetie." flirted Snoopy.
"I'm shocked." Charlie Brown stated, walking in the kitchen with a pale Violet.
"The trashcan's broken!?" Violet gasped.
"How else do you get a klutz that klutzed her way into a trashcan out of the trashcan?" Lucy asked.
"I have no clue..." sighed Frieda. "How do we fix the trashcan though?"
"We're gonna be up all night!" exaggerated Francesca. "I need my beauty sleep."
"We can ask Claudia to help decorate it..." suggested Lucy.
"How's everything go-" Pigpen asked before eyeing the scattered trash and the cut trashcan. "-Ing?"
"Take you guess." teased Violet.
"What wild animal did this?!" he realized.
"That 'wild animal', Pigpen, was Ox."
"Ox?! As in Oxford!?"
"Yup. This Ox right here..." smiled Ox proudly before realizing something. "Dang it! I didn't plan ahead."
"Hot glue..." called out Skylar. "Use hot glue."
"Where're we gonna find hot glue at this hour? All the stores are closed." reminded Ox.
"Need help?" Claudia asked, holding a hot glue gun.
"You're quite prepared." joked Frieda.
"I st-stole the glue gun from K-k-Krissy's room." Claudia smiled in guilt.
"Wow." Sidewinder realized. "You're a rascal."
"Frankie?" Melanie called out, rubbing her bleary eyes in fatigue. "Where are you?" she asked before spotting Peppermint Patty and Marcie, hiding from something-or someone.
"Mel, hide! Quickly!" exclaimed Peppermint Patty.
"Why?" the blonde asked.
"Freddy's coming." Marcie trembled.
"We're playing hide-and-seek?" Melanie tried comprehending.
"Afraid so..." Peppermint Patty remarked.
"9, 10...never sleep again." Freddy called out before running off.
"That's the signal, gals! RUN!" Peppermint Patty exclaimed as she dragged Melanie by the arm. Marcie tagged behind before crashing into a lamppost, and like last time, her glasses fell off.
"Dang it...twice in the same night..." Marcie whimpered. "The optometrist is not gonna like this...where are those glasses now?" she asked herself before Patty grabbed her by the other arm.
"Are you TRYING to kill us?" asked Peppermint Patty.
"No, Sir. I lost my glasses again." replied Marcie, looking around in frantic. Nothing looked normal-everything was fuzzy.
Melanie gulped. "Why are we running?" she wondered.
"To get away from Freddy!" exclaimed the tomboy.
"I can't see my hands in front of my face." moped Marcie. "Or anything else for that matter."
"Your eyesight is that horrible?" worried Melanie.
"Now how am I supposed to see?"
"With your eyes."
Sighing, Peppermint Patty rolled her eyes as she dragged her friends into a dark alley to hide out in.
"Sir..." Marcie trembled as she squinted her eyes. "I'm scared."
"What's there to be scared of?" asked Peppermint Patty.
"CLOWNS!" the younger girl screamed upon making out an image with her eyes.
"Marcie, clowns are nothing to be afraid of." laughed Melanie.
"She's right, Marcie. Calm down." Patty comforted.
"No, guys! Look! CLOWNS!" Marcie denied.
"She's right..." the tomboy realized. "It's just Snoopy in a clown costume though, nothing scary there."
"I have to hide!" Marcie declared before stumbling around until finding a box to hide under.
"Uh..." Melanie began before someone touched her shoulder and she let out a scream.
"Mel, what happened?" Franklin asked as Melanie opened her eyes.
"Snoopy was dressed as a clown." Melanie explained.
"Wow!" exclaimed Sally.
"We HAVE to wake the others though." suggested Schroeder.
"How?" asked Linus.
"With a technique I call 'wake up music'." Lucy declared. "Who wants the red shirt, who wants yellow and who wants blue?"
"Lucy..." the kids groaned in disbelief.
"What?" she asked.
"They're not that heavy sleepers." facepalmed Frieda. "And although I love singing, the neighbors might think we've gone insane."
"Why can't we let them sleep?" suggested Charlie Brown.
"Or else none of us are gonna any sleep!" Lucy declared.
"Gee, Lucy. Is her s-s-sleepwalking that bad?" Claudia gulped.
"No; it doesn't kick in too much. Peppermint Patty's a little more of a sleepwalker though." replied Franklin with a giggle. "Once, a few years back, she sleepwalked to the teacher's desk and wound up awake with the trashcan on her head."
"Wow." Melanie realized.
"Grab your shirt of your choice, guys." Lucy bossed.
"Why?" asked Ox.
"It's the only way to play 'wake up music'." she replied.
"Or we can just nudge them awake..." suggested Charlie Brown.
"Are you crazy, blockhead?" asked Lucy.
"He has a point, Luce." Schroeder added.
"I'll wake Freddy up." declared Francesca.
"Good luck." Joslyn called out as Cobra smirked.
"Can I use my infamous 'lambcake call'?" asked Cobra with puppy dog eyes.
"NO!" Dominick declared. "Last time you did that, you blacked out!"
"She's right." Thibault added with a yawn. "Let's just turn in."
"I say we turn in for the night as well..." murmured Rattler as she slid her hair out of her pigtails.
"Goodnight." Joslyn called out before sitting down on the ground.
"Freddy?" Francesca called out. "Freddy? Time to wake up. Freddy? WAKE UP, FREDERICK FABULOUS!" she shouted as Freddy jerked awake, nudging Peppermint Patty in the jaw as she kicked Marcie in the stomach as her glasses dropped and landed under the couch.
"Really?" Freddy groaned. "You turned off the movie?"
"I'M AWAKE! THE ANSWER IS TWELVE!" exclaimed Peppermint Patty before sitting up. "Wow, what a nightmare."
"You said it, Sir..." Marcie blinked.
"Uh, Carlin..." Lucy began. "Can you explain what happened to the kitchen?"
"Let me see what happened first, Luce-uh...guys, one question: where're my glasses?" Marcie asked, looking around at the fuzzy blobs everywhere.
"I have no idea." Peppermint Patty shrugged.
NEXT CHAPTER: WHAT A NIGHTMARE, CHARLIE BROWN!
