Disclaimer: I do not own The Mr. Men Show or any of its characters. But I do own a few characters in this story and the idea that Mr. Grumpy has a brother and a niece.
Someone gently shaking her woke Little Miss Aloof, interrupting the dream she had been having about the small Mr. Man. She let herself feel disappointed for a moment; then she blinked open her eyes. Her uncle was staring down at her.
"Come on, it's time to get up," Mr. Grumpy told her, and he took a step back as she pulled herself out of bed, throwing her legs over the edge and standing up.
Her jaws parted in a yawn. She was still very tired. "What time is it?" she murmured as she stretched in pace to get her blood flowing so she'd wake up faster.
"Six in the morning," the grumpy Mr. Man answered. For the first time Little Miss Aloof saw that he was holding two fishing rods. He handed one of them to her. "Let's get going."
She followed him out of her temporary room, yawning as they entered the living room. Six in the morning, she thought sourly. I never even wake up for school this early! However she remained silent, and just watched her uncle pull down a floppy green hat from the rack by the front door and replaced his everyday hat with the one that had hooks in it.
Then he took the lead out the door, toward his car where Little Miss Aloof noticed that he already packed everything they needed for their fishing trip. She climbed into the passenger seat while he got behind the wheel and started the car.
They drove in silence which was perfectly fine with Little Miss Aloof. She appreciated the attempt her uncle was making to be friends with her, but she was still kinda uncomfortable, not yet used to being around someone other than her father. The Little Miss was feeling homesick. She missed her room. She missed her father. She even missed the kids in her neighborhood who teased her.
Letting out a heavy sigh, she turned to stare out the window, watching trees fly by as the car drove down the road.
"Are you okay?"
Little Miss Aloof jumped. She almost forgot about her uncle. "Yeah," she lied. She continued to stare out the window.
She heard Mr. Grumpy sigh. "Look, Miss. Aloof, I know we got off on the wrong foot, but I want you to like me and I want you to feel like you can tell me anything because you can."
The young Little Miss thought about what he said. Then she turned to look at him. "I'm just… feeling homesick," she admitted. "Dillydale is nice and all, but it's-"
"It's not home," her uncle finished her sentence. "I know how you feel."
Little Miss Aloof widened her eyes, shocked. "You do?"
Mr. Grumpy nodded. "When I first moved here, I missed my old home so much. I still do to this day, but I made this my home so I didn't feel so homesick."
"How did you make here feel like home?"
"I found things to replace the stuff I couldn't bring with me," the blue Mr. Man answered. "I made new memories with friends here and over time Dillydale started feeling like home. Now I know you are only here for a week," he continued. "But maybe we can try to make it feel more like home while you're here. Would you like that?"
Little Miss Aloof's spirits rose. "Oh yes!" she replied. "I'd like that very much. Thank you!" As best as she could, without undoing her seatbelt, she reached over and gave her uncle a hug.
Little Miss Aloof looked into the crystal clear water and watched as a school of fish swam beneath the boat. It's been so long since she's been fishing that she forgot how beautiful and peaceful it was.
Suddenly thoughts of her mother flashed in her mind and she needed to distract herself before she was too depressed to have any fun on this trip. She turned to her uncle. "You got bait?" she asked.
He blinked at her. "Of course I got bait," he answered, holding up a bucket of dirt and worms.
Yes, of course. She sighed to herself. What a stupid question to ask! She had just wanted to get her mind off her mother and just asked the first thing she thought of.
Embarrassed, she leaned over the back of the boat and stared down into the water. A nudge made her look up at her uncle. He smiled at her. "What would make Dillydale seem more homey to you?"
Little Miss Aloof thought for a moment. Finally she decided. "Music," she said.
"Music?" Mr. Grumpy echoed, blinking at her.
She nodded. "Music is great. It's so powerful. In only a few words it can make you happy or sad. I wanted to bring my phone with me, but father said I needed to talk to people." With a sigh, she turned to look down at the water.
"Music. Hmm…" Mr. Grumpy picked up his fishing rod, reached into the bucket and pulled out a worm, baiting his pole. He threw the line into the water. "Music you say?"
"Yeah," Little Miss Aloof murmured.
For a moment Mr. Grumpy was silent. "After fishing, I have somewhere to take you," he finally said.
Little Miss Aloof looked at him. Where did her uncle want to take her? she wondered.
Usually when Mr. Grumpy fished, he kept them and had them for dinner that night, but Little Miss Aloof insisted on letting them go, and Mr. Grumpy agreed. He was putting in serious effort to get his niece to like him. Around noon, he decided it was time to return to the docks. He tied up his boat and guided Little Miss Aloof back to his car.
"Where are we going?" she asked him.
He just smiled at her and patted her head. She's going to love this, he told himself as he started his car and drove away from the docks.
Little Miss Aloof stared eagerly out the window like she was trying to figure out where he was taking her. Suddenly she gasped, which caused him to step on the breaks.
"What?" he exclaimed, turning to her urgently. Was she hurt? Then he saw what she was staring at and sighed. "Oh," he murmured, realizing that she was excited, not in pain. He pulled up beside the best friends and rolled down his niece's window.
She stuck out her head. "Hey, Mr. Small!" she greeted the orange Mr. Man. She blinked up at the larger one. "Hello, Mr. Nosy," she said less enthusiastically.
"Oh, hello there, Miss. Aloof." Mr. Small smiled up at her. "What have you and your uncle been doing today?"
Little Miss Aloof glanced at Mr. Grumpy. "We went fishing, and now he's taking me somewhere. He won't tell me where though." She frowned slightly.
Mr. Nosy's eyes lit up. "Can we come, too?" he asked. "I just love a good mystery!"
Mr. Small laughed at what his best friend said.
Mr. Grumpy groaned. "It's not a mystery. It's a surprise, and I want to take Miss. Aloof there, alone."
"Oh." Mr. Nosy sounded disappointed, and Mr. Small tried to comfort him.
Sighing, Mr. Grumpy rolled his eyes. "Fine," he started saying, and before he could finish, the back door opened and the best friends hopped in. "You can come," he murmured unnecessarily as they had already buckled up.
"I'm glad you are coming, too," Little Miss Aloof said to Mr. Small as they started driving down the road again. "I missed yo-"
Mr. Grumpy interrupted what his niece was saying, suddenly getting a bad feeling. "How about we listen to the radio?" he suggested, glancing at Little Miss Aloof. "You said you like music huh?"
"You like music?" Mr. Nosy asked her. "What kind?"
Little Miss Aloof shrugged. "All kinds," she replied. "I think my uncle is taking me somewhere that has to do with music."
"Music?" Mr. Nosy glanced out the window. He was silent for a moment, and then gasped loudly. "I know where we are going!"
Quickly Mr. Grumpy stepped on the brakes again and reached back to cover the nosy Mr. Man's mouth. He glared at him. "No, you don't," he growled. Mr. Nosy blinked, surprise flashing in his eyes. Mr. Grumpy tried to give him a look that should have told him not to say where they were going, but Mr. Nosy didn't seem to understand. Mr. Small did though.
"Mr. Grumpy wants to surprise his niece, Nose," he told his best friend. "Let's not ruin that for him."
Mr. Nosy pulled away from Mr. Grumpy. "Oh, okay. Sorry."
Mr. Grumpy shook his head, annoyed. Then he started driving again. "I know this Little Miss," he said to his niece. "She's nice and fun, and she likes music, too." He glanced at Little Miss Aloof, satisfied when the huge smile appeared on her face.
"What's her name?" she asked.
Mr. Grumpy parked on the side of the street and gestured to the stereo shaped house. "Miss. Music."
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