Chapter 1
Adelaide let out a light sneeze just as she and their shih tzu, Sporty were sitting right down in front of the television screen while holding diet beverages and a super big bowl of white cheddar popcorn.
"Bless you, Adelaide dear." Becca said to her while writing at her desk.
"Thanks a bunch, Mother." Adelaide said to her.
At Adelaide's feet, Sherman gurgled something like "Ey, Adewaide." or was it "Ewwo, Adewaide."? probably not, he was wrestling around with his plush toy rabbit.
Just then, the wireless telephone began ringing and Becca got up to answer it.
"Hello? oh hi there, Felicia," Becca said to Felicia on the wireless telephone. "how's everything? you injured your right leg while going alpine skiing? that's way too bad, (she suddenly couldn't hear what Felicia's saying due to the Ms. Robertson's Cheerful Town (Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood parody) noise coming from the television screen.) hang on, let me speak to Adelaide for a bit, (she looked right at Adelaide and Sporty.) Adelaide, I'm going right over to another silent room, can you please watch over Sherman for me?"
"Sure, Mother, of course I will." Adelaide said to her as Becca went right over to another silent room.
"You know, Felicia, I think Sherman wants to speak to you." Becca gave Sherman the wireless telephone.
"A day." Sherman said to Felicia on the wireless telephone as Becca took the wireless telephone back from him.
Turning over to the white cheddar popcorn, Sherman put 1 kernel right into his mouth, and another kernel and another kernel, very soon, his mouth was super full.
"Adelaide, what are you doing?! Sid exclaimed to her. hang up the-have you lost your mind?!"
Sid grabbed Sherman with her left hand and scooped the white cheddar popcorn right outta Sherman's mouth with her right hand.
"That's a no-no." Sid said to Sherman sternly.
Sherman opened his mouth and began crying and wailing right at the top of his lungs. That got Adelaide's attention.
Adelaide was super positive that she didn't do anything wrong, but right now, she was missing the best part of the entire show.
"What did I do, Sid? Sporty and I were just sitting here watching-"
Sid cut her off.
"You were just about to let our dear sweet baby brother choke to death on that white cheddar popcorn, that's exactly what you were doing. Adelaide, how could you do this to Shermy?"
"His name's Sherman, Sid, and that's exactly what I named him."
"Well I nicknamed him Shermy, and that's beside the point!"
By that time, Sherman's howls and Sid's shouting and yelling had brought Stanley right into the living room.
"Sid, Adelaide, what's going on in here?"
"Well she came right into the living room shouting and yelling and-"
"She was about to let-"
"Hold it, 1 at a time, and no shouting and arguing, please."
"It's not my entire fault!" Adelaide exclaimed to them.
"Is too!"
"Is not!"
"Is too!"
"Is not!"
"Silence! everybody be silent!"
Becca entered the living room.
"Is everything alright in here?"
"Yes, Mother, everything's alright in here."
"Okay, Sid, you go 1st."
"But, Daddy, she always-"
"Adelaide, Sid will need to go 1st." Stanley was getting outta patience.
"Okay, Mom was speaking to Grandma Felicia on the telephone, but she couldn't even hear from the Ms. Robertson's Cheerful Town noise coming from the television screen and Adelaide was supposed to do it, and what do I find? this irresponsible television watching, and you know how she really is when she watches that preschool kindergarten baby show she really loves more than anything." Sid said to them as Adelaide let out a short whistle.
"I never even saw her getting so worked up like that." Adelaide said to herself.
"Sid, that's quite enough theater drama, just tell us what happened this time." Stanley cut her off.
"And so just as I walked in, Sherman was cramming a fistful of white cheddar popcorn right into his mouth."
Becca looked right at Stanley.
"Oh my word, Adelaide, you must never give any type of popcorn to babies, it can choke them to death."
"But Mother, Daddy, I didn't know, besides, I didn't give it to him, he just took it."
"Adelaide, he's just a baby, and you're responsible for him when he's left out in your care."
"And, Adelaide, didn't I tell you to watch over him while I was on the telephone with your Grandma Felicia?"
A thought bubble hit Adelaide's mind suddenly.
"Oh yeah, Grandma Felicia, I almost forgot."
"Well, you know how your Grandma Felicia went skiing in the alpines? well, a Slovak horn got in the way and she crashed right into it and injured her right leg and got taken to the hospital that afternoon."
Adelaide didn't know about the white cheddar popcorn, and besides, Lily and Rico are the exact same age as Sherman.
Chapter 2
"Now you girls stay put, your father and I are going to the airport to get your Grandma Felicia from the hospital," Becca said to them.
"and, Sid, make sure you baby-sit Sherman while we're gone out." Stanley added as well.
"That's okay, Mother and Daddy, I'll baby-sit him." Adelaide said to them.
"No, Adelaide," Stanley said to her while shaking his head. "Sid will need to baby-sit Sherman this time."
"But, Mom, Dad, can't Adelaide do it alone? she's almost 6 going on 7 years old, she even helps Lincoln and his younger and older sisters baby-sit Lily and she also helps Ronnie Anne baby-sit Rico. I always had to baby-sit for Adelaide, it's just not fair."
Becca and Stanley exited the apartment and made their leave for the airport.
"Okay, Adelaide, I know you can handle this."
"Why sure, Sid, of course, all I need to do is keep Sherman from getting injured."
"Well you're a genius big sister at that, remember the white cheddar popcorn?"
"Oh yeah, of course I do, truth or dare, what about the time I was Moby Dick and you were Captain Ahab and harpooned me with a toilet plunger?"
"and what about the time you nearly got us lost in the wilderness forest?"
"It's not my entire fault."
"I know, Adelaide, but you also know that Sherman's a handful."
"I thought you said he was a breeze."
"Adelaide, Sherman's pamper's wet, it's your turn to change it."
"Okay, but I'm not doing any more of it, even though I really need to."
"But you never did it before."
"I need some advice to try to keep Sherman outta trouble."
"Okay, Adelaide, here's my advice, I'm off to do some reading at the Great Lakes City Public Library, so rule number 1: never take Sherman anyplace where you can't have complete control, so don't leave home, okay? Adelaide, are you listening to me? don't leave the apartment."
Sid makes her leave to go do some reading at the Great Lakes City Public Library. The minute she had gone out, Sherman began crying and wailing loudly.
Adelaide took Rico right into the living room with her.
"Okay, so Sid's already gone out, what do you think we should do with Sherman, Sporty?"
Sporty gave an "I don't know." kind of bark.
Adelaide and Sherman began playing peekaboo, wrestle the sock rabbit and where's Sherman's nose?.
Adelaide did a little dance move with Sherman.
"Hey, what do you know, Sporty? I'm getting super good at this."
Sherman began whimpering and crying a bit.
Adelaide picked up Sherman's plush toy rabbit and pretended to speak in the rabbit's voice.
"Hey there, Sherman, it's me, Mr. rabbit."
Sherman was crying loudly.
"I'm running outta ideas, (she thought for 1 minute.) baby formula? why didn't I think about that before?"
Adelaide gave Sherman his baby formula.
Sherman took a sip of his baby formula, but stopped, then cried a bit, then stopped and cried a bit, then stopped.
The wireless telephone began ringing again.
Adelaide picked up the wireless telephone.
"Hello? oh hi there, Carl, what's going on?"
"Nothing much, Adelaide, Lincoln, Clyde, Ronnie Anne and I just wanna know if you wanna do some serious goofing off at the shopping mall, I heard Billy the Purple Gator is signing autographs at the food court. "
"I can't right now, Carl, Sid went to do some reading at the library and I need to stay home to baby-sit Sherman while my mother and daddy get my Grandma Felicia from the airport."
"Okay, but I'll get an autograph for you if you're stuck here, give me a call if a mishap occurs."
"Alright, bye."
Adelaide hung up the wireless telephone and Carl did the exact same thing.
"That's a relief."
Just as Adelaide and Sporty stood there like stone statues, Sherman began spewing all over both of them.
"Oh, how revolting."
Sherman continued spewing all over the place.
Adelaide takes Rico's bright green t-shirt off Sherman and puts him in his stroller.
Adelaide dials the Carl help line.
"Help, emergency, he's transformed into a non-stop spewing monster!"
Sherman began crying loudly right after hearing that.
"You know, Adelaide, when Lily and Rico get like that, we always take them places, maybe Sherman wants to see Billy the Purple Gator at the food court in the shopping mall."
"I don't know. Sid just said-"
"Come on, Adelaide, I'm pretty sure she won't notice."
Adelaide (with Sherman in his baby carriage and a new bright green t-shirt) exited the apartment and they, Lincoln, Ronnie Anne and Carl head on down to Bowie-Rickman Memorial Shopping Mall.
"Well, here we are."
A brown paper bag began popping loudly.
Sherman woke up and began crying loudly.
"Uh oh."
"Give him a play toy, Adelaide."
"I forgot to bring 1 with me."
Adelaide (with Sherman), Lincoln, Ronnie Anne and Carl hurried to the toy department shop.
Sherman saw a life size rabbit plushy and he tried to reach for it.
"Unh uh." he grunted.
"No, Sherman, I don't have any cash for that 1." Adelaide told him.
Sherman didn't care, he wanted that 1.
"Try this 1, Sherman." Ronnie Anne said to him while holding out a sock monkey.
Sherman played around with the sock monkey that Ronnie Anne gave him.
They continued walking around (with Sherman in his baby carriage).
Adelaide stopped right by Billy the Purple Gator at the food court.
"Hey there, Adelaide, would you like an autograph poster?"
"Why yes, of course I would."
Billy gave Adelaide an autograph poster.
"Hey, thanks a bunch."
Adelaide (with Sherman), Lincoln, Ronnie Anne and Carl continue walking around.
"What's that urinary smell?" Leni asked them while scrunching up her nose.
"Uh, Adelaide? I think Sherman needs a new pamper." Lori said to her.
"Good thing I brought extra pairs just in case."
Adelaide took Sherman into the young women's washroom to change his wet pamper and put a fresh 1 on him.
"Finally, a nice clean pamper for Sherman. come on, Sherman, let's go meet up with Lincoln, Ronnie Anne and Carl, they're waiting for us on the blue bench."
Adelaide walked around with Sherman in his baby carriage and stopped right by the blue bench where Lincoln, Ronnie Anne and Carl were sitting.
"Are you prepared to go back home, Adelaide?"
"Yeah, Carl, how 'bout you?"
"Okay, let's go, I gotta get Sherman home right away."
Adelaide (with Sherman in his baby carriage), Lincoln, Ronnie Anne and Carl head on down on their way home to the apartment and their separate floors.
Chapter 3
Sid was back home from doing some reading at the Great Lakes City Public Library.
"Hey, Adelaide, how'd it go with Sherman today?"
"It went super good, Sid, I changed Sherman's wet pamper perfectly and got fresh clean clothes on him as well."
"I'm so relieved you listened to my advice. "
"Sid, Adelaide,"
"we're back from the airport with your Grandma Felicia."
Sid (with Sherman in her arms) and Adelaide went right downstairs to where Becca, Stanley and Felicia were located.
"Hi there, Grandma Felicia,"
"how's your leg feeling?"
"It's feeling more relaxed, good thing I brought my relaxing footstool just so I can relax it at the dining room table."
At the dining room table, everybody was sitting right down and relaxing while Felicia had her right leg on her relaxing footstool. They all had a super good laugh to themselves.
In his high chair, Sherman began crying and wailing loudly.
Adelaide went right over and shook his pig rattle at him to calm him down a bit.
"Adewaide."
"Did you guys hear that? he said my name," Adelaide said to them while snuggling up with him tightly. "he really said my name."