Once the first droplets of the sweet, refreshing homemade beverage danced upon his taste buds, the little boy couldn't help but burst out smiling in mid-sip. After all, there were probably fewer simple experiences more satisfying than downing a glass of cold lemonade in the middle of a warm summer's day, or at least that's what Mac decided as he slaked his thirst.

As he happily gulped down the delicious drink in the middle of the Foster's kitchen however, little did he realize that he was far from alone, and it was only after he felt a pair of small hands descended upon him from behind was he rudely awoken to this unpleasant truth.

"DRIMBUSH!" The attacker's jubilant high-pitched yell rang out loudly throughout the whole kitchen as she suddenly began tickling the little boy's sides furiously.

The results were instantaneous; badly surprised by the assault in mid-swallow, Mac immediately spewed out his mouthful of lemonade with all the force of a miniature fire hose. As he began coughing up the last remnants of the foiled sip, his assailant abruptly withdrew from her playful attack. As a glut of giggles quickly began to reverberate throughout the room, Mac whirled about to find an all-too- familiar little girl, rolling about on the floor and squealing raucously with triumphant laughter.

"GOO!" he stomped his foot and hollered angrily, while his mirth-stricken companion just flashed a toothy smile and happily announced,

"Gotcha!"

However, as she burst out chuckling uncontrollably again, her friend clearly did not share her delight as his faced grew flushed with outrage.

"Got me with what? Seriously, what was that all about?" he demanded flatly. No sooner had he asked when Goo immediately leapt to her feet and began to willingly explain in a fast-paced eruption of chatter.

"Drimbush! You throw 'drink' and 'ambush' together, and now it's totally awesome new game I came up with just this morning! See, see, you just gotta wait, gotta be real patient, reeeeeeal patient, 'til you see someone you know taking a drink of something. It could be a mug of tea, could be a glass of milk, could be a can of soda, could be cranberry juice, could be cran-apple juice, it doesn't matter, 'cuz all that's really, really important is that they're drinking something, because that's when you tickle them and yell as loud as you can, 'drinkie-tickles' so then that-"

"You made me spit up everywhere!" Mac whined as he wiped at the dribble on his chin and ruefully examined the wet splotches dotting his red T-shirt. "Seriously, that's not cool!"

Goo just snorted with laughter at the comically pathetic spectacle he posed. "Duh! It's not supposed to be cool! It's supposed to be funny!"

"Well, it's not funny then!" he protested as he tried to salvage a shred of dignity. Despite his obvious fury, she brushed his complaints aside with ease as she erupted into another fit of the giggles.

"That's what you think!" the little girl laughed as she joyously relished in her newest cherished memory. "Ooooh, you should've see yourself, it was like watching a bug-eyed fountain! Heehee! They were like the size of saucers! No, dinner plates! No, no, like pizzas! Hahahaha! Yeah! Oooooh, if only I had a camera!"

"It's a stupid game, and it was totally uncalled for!" Mac continued to persistently object as he waved a half-empty glass in her face. "Look, all I wanted to do was have a drink, why'd you feel like you had to ruin-"

Before he could bombard her with a hail of grievances, Goo rolled her eyes and folded her rainbow-sleeved arms in a huff. "Okay, okay, okay! Cool it, Mister Crybaby!"

"I'm not a crybaby!" he snapped. "I just wanted to have a glass of lemonade, that's all!"

"Okay, jeez! I'm sorry already!" she apologized halfheartedly with a disappointed frown. "Just wanted to have a little fun, that's all, sheesh!"

"If you ask me, I say you can have a good time without bothering people while they're drinking." The boy grumbled as he prepared to take another sip. However, just as his lips touched the top of the glass, he suddenly noticed that his friend's frown was twisting slowly but undeniably into a mischievous grin. Needless to say, her change in expression while she intently watched him made him profoundly uneasy.

"Don't you even think about it." Mac growled and glowered warningly.

Goo giggled as her impish smile gradually spread from ear to ear. "Don't think about what?"

"You know what I mean." He countered as he slowly backed away a few paces, protectively holding his drink close. "You're going play your dumb game again, aren't you?"

"Another round of Drimbush? Already?" she replied before erupting into full-fledged laughter, as if the very idea was ridiculously silly. "Now why would I do that?"

"Because you're weird like that." Mac stated matter-of-factly as he continued to back away.

"Maybe later, but now? Nuh-uh!" Goo squeaked, shaking her head and sending her trademark trio of braids whipping about. "The whole point of Drimbush is to surprise someone, 'cuz that's what makes it so funny! See? So what's the point of trying it now if you know that I'm already gonna do it? No element of surprise, no funny, no point!"

Despite some lingering suspicion, Mac had to admit that she had a very sound argument. After she flashed him a reassuring wink, the boy quickly concluded the devious smirk she had been wearing earlier had been nothing more than a mind game performed for her own amusement. Still keeping a wary eye fixated upon his still-beaming companion for safe measure, Mac took a quick sip,

"SNEAK-ATTACK!" someone shrieked joyously as a pair of hands seemed to descend from the sky and started to tickle the unsuspecting nine-year-old behind the ears. "Gootchie gootchie goo!"

Startled beyond belief, Mac temporarily transformed into a human geyser as twin sprays of pink lemonade shot from both his mouth and nostrils in a spectacular explosion. Once the damage had been done, the ambush was abruptly halted, leaving the little boy free to salvage the shattered remains of his pride.

Bearing an expression akin to that of an enraged pit bull, Mac wiped furiously at his slightly stinging nose as he whirled about to glare daggers at his triumphant attacker.

If looks could kill, Frances "Frankie" Foster would've perished on the spot. Alas, such was not the case, and the young woman continued to leap up and down ecstatically while clapping her hands with delight and grinning like a nitwit.

"Itwas worth it! It was so worth it! Heeheehee!" The lanky redhead squealed like a giddy schoolchild. "You should've seen yourself! Haha!"

As Frankie continued to celebrate her dazzling victory, Mac whirled about to where Goo stood bent over double, clutching her aching sides and almost shrieking with laughter.

"You knew she was there! That was her you were smiling at, weren't you? Weren't you?" the boy accused fiercely. With tears of merriment streaking down the sides of her face, the little girl nodded furiously.

"Hahahaha! It's even funnier when young get to watch it! Heeheeheeheehee!" she squeaked joyously. "Hahaha, gross! You spit it up everywhere!"

Absolutely livid, Mac turned around again and faced Frankie with a ferocious snarl. "Why?"

Frankie trembled wildly with glee as she wiped at her eyes. "Heehee! Goo was so excited about her idea, she told me all about it when she arrived, and…a-and….hahaha! I'm sorry, I just walked in through the door, and saw she had already…ha! I couldn't help myself! I just couldn't! Bwahahahahaha!"

"Heeheehee! Lookit, it's all over his shirt!" Goo giggled as she pointed at the saturated front of his favorite red T-shirt. "What's wrong, Mac? Need a bib?"

By this point, the boy was long past incensed, and was now ineffably embarrassed. With his entire face going flush and the laughter of the girls ringing in his ears, Mac gazed upon each one of them and began to wail hoarsely,

"Cut it out! This isn't cool at all! All you're doing is making me spit up, that's disgusting! Seriously, it's not funny! Quit it, quit it! Hey, I said….oh c'mon! Please?"

As soon as he started to beg, Frankie tried to suppress her laughter as she clambered down onto her knees to give Mac a calming pat on the shoulder. "Oh lighten up, pal. We didn't mean any harm."

"Yeah!" Goo chirped as she bounced over to squeeze her friend in an unnecessarily tight hug. "You know that we're just foolin' around!"

Mac whimpered unhappily. "I…I just want to finish my drink…"

Frankie couldn't help but chortle as she tousled his hair. "If that's what you want, then fine. No more surprise tickle-attacks, okay?"

Wanting nothing more in the world at the moment then to finally quench his thirst in peace, Mac hastily lifted his glass before pausing midway to pass her a skeptical glance. "Promise?"

"Yup! I've already gotten you, remember?" Goo reminded, as Frankie grinned and nodded reassuringly.

"It's okay, kiddo. I promise…."

As soon as Mac began to gulp down the rest of his beverage though, the redhead burst out cackling wickedly as she launched a surprise strike, much to the surprise of both children.

"I promise that this is never, ever going to stop entertaining me! Ha! Cootchie-coo, Macky-"

Unfortunately, she had made the grave error of commencing her tickly assault from the front, putting her practically face-to-face with the little boy. It was only when Mac uncontrollably spewed an enormous mouthful of lemonade full-force into her face did she recognize her enormous tactical blunder.

Thoroughly drenched from the neck up, the young woman promptly called off her attack and remained kneeling speechlessly, slightly stunned by how colossally her plan had backfired. Mac meanwhile managed to turn his head to sputter up the last little bit of his swig lest he soaked her any further and completely annihilated what dignity she had left. Goo, after gawking wordlessly in shock, twirled about and pragmatically raced off to grab some paper towels while she fought in vain to keep from exploding into a mad fit of the giggles.

As Mac began to gingerly dab at Frankie's face with a shirtsleeve, the caretaker blew a soggy crimson strand from her eyes and mutter gloomily, "I stand corrected…"

The End