Saturday morning, bright and early, Robbie Rotten's alarm clock began ringing. After hitting the snooze button a half dozen times, he finally threw it against the wall. The resulting crash and bang woke him. He bolted to his feet and stared at the remains of the offending alarm clock. If the clock hadn't already been smashed, the look Robbie gave it, would have. Suddenly, Robbie remembered why he had set the alarm clock to begin with. He grinned at the clock remains and did a ten second jig.

Huffing and puffing from so much exertion first thing in the morning, Robbie walked over to his disguise platform. He took a moment at the top of the steps to breathe, then he put on his big kid disguise that he had picked out the yesterday. He walked over to the mirror for one last look.

"Still perfect."

Robbie had come up with a plan. While he was willing to admit it wasn't a stupendous plan, a fantastic plan, or even a great plan, he thought it was at least a good plan.

Robbie hurried over to his microwave inventor. He put in several cans of regular soda pop, a bag of sugar, and several cups of coffee. As he closed the door on the microwave, he stood up tall and stretched. He casually turned it on, like he had all the time in the world. As the microwave smoked and thumped, Robbie checked the fingernails on his left hand, then twirled one of his new curls of hair around his finger. Finally, the microwave binged.

Robbie had wrapped the curl around his finger too tightly and was trying desperately to get his hand free to open the microwave door. All pretense of patience was gone. He finally used his other hand to open the door, at the same time his finger came loose from the curl. He slapped the finger from the curl against the opening door while his face was enveloped in a cloud of steam. He howled in pain and jumped back several feet, sucking his hurt fingers. He still reached in to take out the cans of soda pop too soon. He picked up one of the cans and burned his fingers on the hand that was ok. Again, Robbie yowled in pain and dropped the hot can on his very sensitive toes. His burned fingers hurt. He tried to stick all his fingers in his mouth at once, and succeeded.

Some time later, after his fingers had cooled and his toes had feeling again, Robbie carefully tried to pick up a can of pop. They were ready. He was ready. He had found an old, green, insulated, backpack in which he put the pop cans. He also put in one can of pop still in its original state.

"One last thing to check, then I'm good to go."

Robbie peered through his periscope. He scanned in several directions then stopped abruptly.

"There they are. The sweet, wonderful, children. Yeah, right. Grrrr." Robbie growled a warning at Stingy, Ziggy, and Stephanie, even though they couldn't see or hear him. He noticed they were shooting hoops and having a good time.

"Well, here we go." Robbie sounded quite cheerful muttering those words as he headed above ground.

Robbie knew his mission was going to take a lot of energy, mental and physical. So he walked very slowly to the ball court. When he got near the court, he took out the unaltered can of pop, opened it, and took a sip. Then he continued walking toward the kids.

"Hey, watch the elbow, Stingy, you almost hit my lollipop!" Ziggy yelled.

"Here, Ziggy, I'm open! Throw it here!" Stephanie yelled to Ziggy.

"You don't need a lollipop to play basketball and I want the ball, it's MIIINE!" Stingy yelled to Ziggy.

Ziggy shot the ball to the hoop, but it hit the backboard too hard and bounced off. It shot over Stephanie's head, and Stingy's arms stretched high in the air. Ziggy was on the wing of the court, so he was nowhere near it. The ball bounced then rolled to a stop, under a sneaker clad foot.

The kids were surprised to see someone new. They all had their mouths hanging open. Stephanie was the first to recover. She remembered what it was like to be the new kid in town. True, the new kid wasn't smiling, and he was a really big kid. Still, maybe he was just shy. Stephanie marched over to him smiling and held out her hand.

"Hi, I'm Stephanie, and that's Ziggy and Stingy. What's your name?"

Robbie Rotten was trying very hard to keep from gagging. He supposed he would have to shake her hand. Ooo, girl germs. Then "the plan" flashed through his mind. He took a quick drink from the pop in his hand and thought to himself, be cool, be cool.

"Hi, I'm Stefan, Stefan Karl." Robbie took the hand offered and gave it a quick pump. Inwardly, he took a deep breath and forged on. "Stephanie. That's a pretty name. And I bet your favorite color is pink, " Robbie crooned. He was trying hard to focus on the kids' reactions, and ignore his gut tied in knots. This might be harder than he had thought.

"Yeah, I do like pink. How did you know?" Stephanie chuckled.

"Hey! Are we going to play ball or not?" Ziggy asked. He didn't like the way the new kid, Stefan, was talking to Stephanie. "If not, I'll go eat my lollipop somewhere else."

"Do you play ball, Stefan?" Stephanie asked.

"No, where I'm from, big kids do other things." Robbie tried to maintain a posture of coolness.

"Really? Like what?" Stingy asked. Ziggy wandered a little bit closer. Robbie had Stephanie's full attention, too.

"Well, we stand around and talk a lot..." Stefan began.

Stephanie interupted him, "That doesn't sound like any fun."

"...and we enjoy pop," Stefan concluded.

That got Ziggy's attention. "Pop! You mean like lollipops? Because I love lollipops!" Ziggy had rushed up to the side of his great, new friend, Stefan.

"No, not lollipops," Robbie realized he had answered to sharply when all three kids took a big step back away from him. He tried a smile and softer tone. "I'm talking about soda pop. It wakes you up and gives you energy. It makes you big, too. I have several everyday. All the cool kids drink it." He took a long, slow, drink from the can.

The three kids were staring at him. Stingy looked interested, Stephanie looked doubtful, and Ziggy was drooling. Robbie hoped he had them hooked, but he couldn't be sure yet. He just hoped they weren't staring at him because his disguise was falling apart. The next comment reasurred him that all was well.

"CAN I HAVE SOME?" Ziggy practically screamed. Stingy joined in, "MIIINE, I WANT SOME, TOO!" Robbie immediately took off his backpack and opened it. He gently reached inside and pulled out a can of pop. He looked from Ziggy to Stingy, and back again. Both boys were acting like large atoms, vibrating in place. Their hands were out toward Robbie, fingers begging to have the first can. Robbie finally could stand the suspense no longer.

"Here, Ziggy." If Ziggy was this bad without the pop, Robbie couldn't wait to see what he would be like with it. He reached into the bag quickly and pulled out a second pop. "Here, Stingy, one for you." Robbie watched, smiling, while both boys opened the cans and started chugging. Robbie hadn't felt this way in a long time. It was happy. The plan was going well. He turned to Stephanie.

"And Stephanie, I have one for you, too."

"No, thank you. I don't think so." Stephanie backed away and watched Ziggy and Stingy. They were going to drain the pop cans pretty quick. Sure enough, by the time she finished the thought, they were through.

"Hey, Stefan, that was great!" Ziggy exclaimed.

"Most excellent," Stingy added.

"Do you have anymore?" Ziggy asked while Stingy nodded his head in agreement.

"Why sure boys. Plenty more where that came from." Robbie was trying to keep from laughing madly. This was almost too easy.

"Ziggy, Stingy, don't you want to play basketball?" Stephanie asked.

"No way, I want more of this!" Ziggy was well into his second can of pop already. Stingy had trouble opening it, but finally did so on the verge of a tantrum.

Robbie looked at Stephanie from under hooded eyes. He walked over to her and leaned down to be on her level, and looked her in the eye.

"Are you sure you don't want some pop, Stephanie?" Robbie smiled and tried to give off feelings of friendship, but he could tell it wasn't working.

Stephanie looked in Stefan's eyes. She got distracted for a moment considering the color of his eyes. Were they pale blue? Gray? Green? She thought they looked familiar. She pulled her head back and looked again. Whatever color they were, those eyes were not smiling.

"No. I...I think I'll take a walk. I have some things on my mind."

She didn't feel good as the new kid, Stefan, pursed his lips in derision and turned his back on her. She didn't feel good about leaving Ziggy and Stingy alone with Stefan, either. As she began to walk away, she wasn't sure where she was going yet, she turned back to look at Stingy and Ziggy. They certainly weren't worried about anything. They looked like they were having the time of their lives. As Stephanie rounded a corner, she could hear all three boys laughing.

The last thing that reached her ears was Stefan talking to Stingy.

"So, Stingy, is that your car? Can...we take it for a spin?"