Narrator: Be sure to catch and listen for the words "commemorate" and "grief" in this episode!
"Could you please pass the crayons," Violet asked Becky. "Sure!" Becky replied, "I can't wait for the Father's Day parade." Scoops flipped through the pages in his notepad and exclaimed "Me too! I'm excited the Fair City Paper is allowing me a column space over the Summer!"
"That's so awesome!" Violet cheered. She continued to make long streaks of blue across the posterboard. "I can't wait to see my dad's face when he looks at my poster," Violet beamed.
Scoops looked at the other kids playing in the park, covering his forehead with his hand to keep the sun out of his eyes. He turned to Becky and Violet and added "As for me, my dad is going to get a photo with me in the paper! He will be so proud." Scoop's eyebrows raised and he gave a crooked smile. "How about you Becky?"
"Oh!" Becky flushed as she turned to Bob, watching him eat a bag of trail mix she brought along for their trip to the park. Becky scratched the back of her head and replied "I'm going to be enjoying the parade is all. I don't get to spend much time with my dad."
Narrator: As Becky and her friends enjoy preparing for the parade. . . Tobey is in his evil liar—his bedroom—spending his summer vacation isolated in his room.
"Tobey, get out of your room! You need to go outside, it's summer!" Mrs. McCallister yelled as she knocked on Tobey's door. Tobey was laying down on his bed, with his pillow covering his ears, as he gripped it over his head. He turned his head and whimpered "But mother, I don't feel well." Mrs. McCallister sighed. "Good grief… Fine but clean your room!" Tobey rolled his eyes, "Yes, mother." Tobey waited… And waited… Until Mrs. McCallister's footsteps trailed into silence.
Tobey got up and sat on the side of his bed. The blonde boy's sorrow gripped onto him, making it seem impossible to get up. Grudgingly, he got up on his two feet. Tobey's eyes shifted to his word girl themed alarm clock. "One O'clock…!" he whispered in shock, cusping his hand over his mouth. His eyes shifted to the floor, and impulsively he got on his knees, and reached for a box under his bed. The metal box was labeled "SCREWDRIVERS." He grabbed the box and placed it on his bed, as he climbed back on to the bed, sitting crisscross on the bottom. He opened the box slowly. There were several photos, trinkets, and letters, along with a couple of different sized screwdrivers. Tobey picked up the photo on the very bottom of the pile of mementos. He held it up and sighed. "Why did you leave, father? Was I not enough?" Tobey teared up; he hadn't cried in a long time. A huge emotional relief was overshadowed by a large wave of embarrassment. Boys aren't supposed to cry, he thought to himself.
The photo, he couldn't remember the moment, he was far too young, but it was the only memory he had with his father, Theodore McCallister II. The photograph was of his father, young, tall, brunette, lacking much hair, bearded… Holding a small infant child with only a few bright blonde hairs. He looked nothing like his father, but he had his name to carry.
Tobey's tears leaked onto the photograph. Tobey sniffling as thoughts raced through his mind. "Just who do you think you are? Leaving me, leaving mother! Why were you so selfish? Why? WHY?!" His tears of pain turned into frustration. Out of rage, Tobey crumbled up the photo, and threw it across the room. He leaped up from his bed, and then turned to his rocking chair, and grabbed his orange vest hanging from the arm. As he slid the vest over his light blue shirt, he wiped the remaining tears from his eyes. He found one of his red bow ties and on floor next to a pile of blueprints. He grabbed the bow tie and tediously tied it around his neck—usually his mother ties it for him—and he immediately looked over to his favorite rocking chair. As Tobey grabbed the Fair City Paper that laid on the seat of the baby blue chair, he aggressively turned through the pages. "Here it is…" Tobey mumbled, as he found the article that enraged him over the past week. It read: "FATHER'S DAY PARADE, MAIN SQUARE, 3PM-5PM." He grinned mischievously, only two hours left until then. He had time. "If I, Tobey McCallister the Third, cannot enjoy this cursed holiday, then NO ONE WILL!" Tobey bellowed into laughter, as several robotic rampage ideas flurried through his corrupted mind.
Narrator: Oh no… Tobey has yet another evil plan… Meanwhile… Becky and her father are enjoying the interesting sights at the Father's Day parade.
"Wow, Becky! I love that float; it has dogs on top of hot dogs!" Mr. Botsford chuckled. "Yeah, and what about that one!" Becky pointed to the Fair City library parade float. "Fact-tastical!" Mr. Botsford replied. "Eh… That's not a word," Becky mumbled. "Ek, eep!" Bob squealed, pointing to the next parade float. "Oh, I like that one! A giant robot!" Mr. Botsford exclaimed, pointing up.
"Giant… Robot?" Becky trailed as she looked up to see Tobey on the top of his robot, destroying the parade floats as the crowd filled with screams of fear. She could hear his obnoxious laughter from far away. "Uh—Dad! Uh, look there's free ice cream over there," she pointed across the street.
Mr. Botsford replied "Ooh! Let's go!" Becky spat "I'll stay right here, dad, you better hurry before they are all out!" Mr. Botsford rushed across the street, oblivious to the crowd shouting in fear, exclaiming, "I'll be right back sweetheart!"
"Okay, Huggy, we got to stop Tobey now!" Becky stated. "Eep eek!" Bob replied. Becky dashed, alongside Bob, behind a sign advertising local restaurant. "Word up!" Instantly, Wordgirl was in the air, on the way to the top of Tobey's robot, with Huggy on the top of her shoulder. Several robots in fact were surrounding the parade; WordGirl noticed as she was 50ft into the air.
"Tobey, stop right there!" WordGirl shouted as she floated in front of the large robot. Tobey stood on its shoulder with a remote in his hand, cackling at her response. "Oh WordGirl, you always arrive so quickly for me… Come to enjoy the parade?" he taunted as he brushed back his messy blonde hair. "Why are you even doing this? This isn't your cup of tea. Destroying a parade?" WordGirl questioned as she flew closer to Tobey, eventually reaching eye level with him. Tobey's eyes shifted to his feet, and he shook his head in disbelief. "When have you ever cared about my motives?" he scoffed. "Rowbits attack!" he shouted as he pressed a bright red button on his remote. WordGirl sighed and whispered to Huggy "Try to get the remote, I'll take care of the robots." Huggy squealed as he carefully leaped on the robot Tobey was standing on. Tobey gazed at WordGirl, not noticing Huggy inch closer to him, as she smashed and destroyed three robots by grabbing one as using it as a weapon. WordGirl continued to destroy the robots, resulting in bits and scraps across the street/
WordGirl dusted of her hands by wiping them together. "Okay Tobey, enough games," she announced. Tobey laughed bitterly, "Oh WordGirl, you really think I only brought a couple of rowbits?" Several robots continued to march across the horizon. WordGirl noticed Huggy was almost about to reach the remote. "Hey, Tobey, how about you put all the robots away, and we can commemorate the holiday together?" WordGirl stalled.
"I am commemorating right now! I'll commemorate the entire parade!" Tobey scoffed. He stopped and noticed the look of confusion on his idol's face. "Eh… What does commemorate mean again?" he mumbled with embarrassment.
"Well, Tobey. To commemorate means to show respect for something. Such as celebrating or observing a day or occasion. Such is why we are commemorating our fathers, for taking care of us!"
Tobey's faced turned red with anger, "I will not commemorate this holiday! Ne—" he was interrupted by a jerk of his remote out of his hand. "Hey!"
Huggy snatched the remote out of unexpecting out of Tobey's hand and jumped onto WordGirl's shoulder. "Nice job Huggy!" WordGirl gleamed. Huggy handed WordGirl the remote, and she hit the grey button labeled "DISABLE ALL CONNECTIONS." The several robots that surrounded the area suddenly jolted and froze in place.
"No!" Tobey growled in frustration. "It's not fair!" he spat as he stomped him foot aggressively. Suddenly, the movement of his foot caused the robot to slowly tilt too far, and it began to fall.
WordGirl zipped into the air, catching Tobey as he fell from 50ft into the air. "Ahh-!" he screamed. Suddenly, Tobey was on top of a nearby building, in WordGirl's arms. "Heh…" he blushed and shook his head as if to shake off his affection.
"Okay Tobey, time is up, I'm calling your mom," she said as she grabbed her phone from her pocket.
"No! Please, WordGirl… I-I…" Tobey's eyes began to fill with water. He was absolutely humiliated. Crying in front of WordGirl?! How pathetic…
Suddenly, he felt something grab his shoulders. "Tobey, is something wrong? You've been acting strange," WordGirl responded with a look of concern.
"Eek, eep!" Huggy added with his arms crossed. "Uh, stranger than usual…" WordGirl replied looking down at her sidekick. Tobey immediately took of his glasses and wiped away his tears, hoping no one could see them. "I am fine," he lied as his adjusted his glasses.
WordGirl sat on the edge of the building, as Tobey looked up to her. "Well, where is your dad? I didn't want to say anything, but I've never heard you talk about him," she softly asked.
Tobey's pupils shrunk noticeably as she said those words. "Uh- he is far to busy for me! None of your concern or business!" he stammered.
"Come on Tobey, maybe I can help you feel better. I mean why would you attack a Father's Day parade? It has no gain for you, nor sounds like something you'd do to," she used finger quotes "impress me."
Tobey sat next to WordGirl on the edge of the building, something was drawing him closer to her… She seemed to care how he felt. "Okay. Fine. If you must know, my dad divorced my mom when I was 5-years old," he said while looking at his feet, unable to make eye contact. His sigh was shaky, as he tried to keep his voice under composure. "I don't know why… Or even where he is… My mother never talks about it. The only thing I know is he is in London running his successful companies thousands of miles away," he explained. Suddenly, a warm embrace surrounded him. He jolted up, startled by WordGirl hugging him out of comfort. "It's okay Tobey, I know it's hard, but it is no excuse to destroy a parade," she reassured. Tobey was trying not to freak out… WordGirl… Hugging him…. Don't… Do anything stupid… She let go of the hug before Tobey made a complete fool out of himself and let his feelings control him again. "I know how you feel, in fact…" WordGirl trailed off, as if trying to question if she should share her following words. "I don't know where my dad is either… I have never even met him. Or my mom. I understand your grief." she admitted. Tobey was shocked, he had never thought much about WordGirl's family, only fantasizing about starting one with her. "Uh… Could you refresh my memory of what 'grief' means…?" Tobey said, processing the information he just received. "Oh! Of course. Grief means deep sorrow, caused by loosing someone or something. Like you feel grief from loosing your dad in your life." WordGirl sighed as she began to think about where her biological parents could be or if things turned out different. "But it's okay, it isn't your parents that define you," WordGirl smiled softly at Tobey. "You are the only one who controls your life to make the right decisions," she added.
"Okay. Fine. I'll admit you are right, and I'll take my rowbits away, just please don't call my mother. I don't want to confront her about another destruction, especially concerning the context of the situation," he begged quietly.
"Okay, fine, but only one condition," she replied waving her finger.
Tobey gulped. "W-what?"
Narrator: So, WordGirl saved the day once again. And instead of Tobey getting his usual ear pulling and grounding, WordGirl 'punished' him instead…
Tobey's robots collectively marched in the street, holding colorful streamers and fliers, playing music, as the once fearful crowds of people resumed their observing of the event. "Becky!" Scoops yelled, trying to get her attention from afar. "Hey guys!" Becky and Bob waved. Scoops and his parents walked over to Becky and Bob. "What an amazing story to cover!" Scoops exclaimed. "I can see the title now… Father's Day Parade Saved by WordGirl! I'll work on the wording later… But did you see the scene!" "Yeah, I saw WordGirl defeat those robots," she chucked bashfully. "What a scene!" another voice joined them. It was Violet joining the group with her mom and dad. "This was an exciting event, for sure!" Violet's dad cheered.
The group of students and parents continued to chat and watch the several robots put on a show for the entire city. Becky smiled ear to ear "This is awesome! Spending the summer with all my friends and family is all a girl could ever want."
She felt something tap her shoulder. She turned to see Tobey hunched over. "Hello Becky. Enjoying my marvelous show? It was my idea! Well…" he scratched the back of his head. "And WordGirl's." Becky sighed. "Tobey, why don't you join us," she offered. "You don't seem to have anyone with you."
Tobey looked shocked that Becky even noticed. "Uh… Fine," he pretended to not be thrilled anyone would want to accompany him. "But only because the best view is right here!" he exclaimed while pointing to the ground below him. Becky rolled her eyes, "Sure, whatever," she said under her breath. "Hey kids!" Mr. Botsford shouted as he approached everyone, holding two large drink carriers. "They were out of ice cream, so I got slushies… It was 10 slushes for $10 so I couldn't resist!" Becky held her arms up with excitement "Yay! Thanks Dad," she cheered. Mr. Botsford looked around and replied "Hey, it looks like you have 8 more friends, so we have enough for everyone!"
"Hey everyone, smile!" Scoops said clicking a button on his camera on a tripod for a surprise photo. He quickly ran over to his mom and dad, standing between them, just in time as the shutter clicked. Scoops dashed back at his tripod looked at the result and nodded "This will be the perfect cover! It even has the robot dancing in the back!"
Narrator: The crowd of students and parents continued to enjoy the sizzling summer day, watching robots dance across the street, as they drank slushes… Another conflict resolved by WordGirl. Be sure to tune in next time for another exciting adventure of WORDGIRL!