A young Blue Heeler pup and her Red Heeler sister each looked out their windows of Bobo, the reliable family car as the patriarch, a one Dr. Bandit Heeler, drove through the streets of Brisbane on a crisp autumn afternoon. The family had just finished shopping and grabbed a quick bite to eat (quite a few bites in Bandit's case), and they headed to the park to meet up with some of Bluey's friends; the Chow Chow Judo, red kelpie Rusty, and New Zealand native border collie Mackenzie.
The little blue heeler could hardly sit still, especially when she saw the park had installed a brand new tube slide on the climbing equipment. The wheels in her little head began to turn with all of the possibilities of what she and her friends could play. It looked kind of like…a castle!
"Ooh, dad!"
"Yes mate?"
"Could we play Castle and Dragon on the playground?"
"Oh, aren't you gonna play with Mackenzie?" Queried Bandit.
"I will," replied Bluey, "but I wanna play with you first!"
Bandit pat his stomach. He was still pretty stuffed from lunch, but a quick game with the kiddos wouldn't hurt.
"Uh, yeah! You need me to be the castle?"
This simple joke was enough to get a laugh out of his daughters, especially the younger red pup.
"Nooo, you'll be the dragon!" Bingo corrected.
Bandit played along, nodding with his daughter's suggestion. Once they got out of the car, Bluey, Bingo, and Bandit made their way to the climbers while Chilli, Bluey's mother, went to catch up with Judo's mother Wendy.
Meanwhile, Bluey's game was afoot. With her imaginary sword and shield at the ready, the valiant heroine slashed at the 'dragon' plaguing the 'kingdom' and Bingo acting her role as a distressed prince.
"Aha! I've got you now, dragon! Take this!" With a one-two slash, Princess Bluey had vanquished the infamous Blue Dragon (unassociated with any sort of video game series).
"Arrrgh, oh, I am slain!" Bandit dramatically acted out, moving to the tube slide, before hesitating for a moment. The slide looked pretty narrow for the big blue guy.
"Uh, hold on squirts. Do I have to go down this slide? It looks like a tight fit. Are you sure I can't just pretend to die up here?"
"No," Bingo replied, "you have to go down for real life. It's more drum…uh, draw…"
"Dramatic?" Bluey finished.
"Yeah!"
Bandit looked down at the slide, then back at Bluey. He knew being a good parent meant going above and beyond, and committing to the bit. After all, if you're going to do something, do it properly.
"If you say so, kiddo. Ahem…Oh, I am slaaaaain…!" Bandit tried to fit himself down the tube slide, struggling due to his rather large build. It didn't help that Bandit had scarfed down Chilli's unwanted chips, and had ordered a rather large burger. It had been a sandwich that he had to cut in half to manage, and yet he put it away with no ill effects.
He figured that there'd be no problems later, since he wouldn't be suffering from any fluffies. Instead, the burger's wrath came in the form of a slight amount of heft. Slight, but enough to make all the difference. Once he was in the slide, he slowly managed to wriggle his way down to the bottom of the slide, his head, shoulders, and arms comically sticking out. He tried to pull himself the rest of the way out, but found that he wasn't able to get out. Without a shadow of a doubt, Bandit was stuck.
"Ohhh…biscuits."
This episode of Bluey is called: Stuck
Bluey and Bingo had paid no mind to her father's predicament, too absorbed in their game, and in the blue pup's victory over the foul dragon. "Fear not, my beloved subjects! Princess Bluey has reclaimed this castle for the people!" When she turned around, only then did she rediscover Bandit in his pickle. "Aha, back for more, are you you cheeky dragon?"
"Ah, Bluey no wait! I'm stuck!"
"Nice try, dragon! You can't fool us!" Bingo glared at her father, still not yet processing his plight.
"No, kids, I'm actually stuck!"
Bluey put down her 'sword', her eyes widening. "Wait, you're stuck for real life?"
"It would seem so. Yeah, I told you kids, it's a tight fit."
"Oh nooo!" Bluey shrieked with a pang of guilt, while Bingo gasped.
Desperate to free their father from an unfortunate fate, she grabbed Bandit by the paws and Bingo grabbed Bluey by her back, and together they pulled with all of their might, straining and grunting. Alas, no amount of pulling from the young pups would be enough to free him.
"Nnngh! Ugh…look, Bluey, maybe you should go get your mum. She'll know how to fix this."
Bluey and Bingo nodded, figuring their father was right. Chilli's kind, compassionate heart would do wonders to remedy this situation, so she brought the red heeler over to the tube slide…whereupon she immediately burst into a fit of hearty laughter, hard enough to cause her to have to sit down and wipe away a tear.
"Ahahaha!" Chilli cackled. "Had a little too much honey there, Bluebear?"
Bandit pursed his lips together and winced, trying his hardest to not smirk at Chilli's comment, while Bluey scolded her mother.
"Hey, it's not funny mum!" Bluey pouted.
"He could be stuck like this forever!" Bingo exclaimed!
"No, he won't. Look, I'll help dad out, just watch."
Chilli then took hold of Bandit's paws, bracing herself. "Alright, think thin!" With those words, Chilli anchored her feet in place and began to pull Bandit's paws, putting in a much greater force than Bluey could. She grunted and strained, leaning back as much as her body would allow. The plastic of the slide creaked in protest, refusing to let up the vice grip it had on Bandit.
"Aagh! Ooof! Ohhh…duck cake!" Bandit groaned, still as wedged as ever.
Chilli looked a bit more concerned than she had before…even it was still a little funny. "She wasn't kidding, you are stuck."
"Yep…" Bandit said with a grimace.
Bluey and Bingo's ears flopped down at the display, prompting Chilli to kneel down at their level.
"Look, we'll figure this out. Why don't you two go play for right now?"
"But what about dad?" Bluey protested.
"And the slide?!" Bingo followed up.
"We'll figure it out." Chilli reassured them. Bluey and Bingo hesitated, and sadly headed off to the swingsets to join their friends.
Bandit shook his head, starting to regret his meal choice. "Never thought one burger…andextrafries would cause a slide to turn on me. But even so, at least it's plastic. Remember those metal slides from the eighties? I could hardly feel my bum after going down THAT on a hot day!"
Chilli's spirit was raised by Bandit's slide story, and she giggled. "You know, it's funny," Chilli started, "this happened to me before! Of course this was back in my university days. Long story short, my roommate dared me to."
Bandit burst out laughing at his wife's own tube slide tragedy, wiping away a tear. "Ah, Chilli…"
Meanwhile, Mackenzie, Rusty, and Judo swung away on the swings without a care in the world, occupying three of the five slides and leaving an empty swing in between them, not unlike how civilized gentlefolk would (and should) give one urinal of space between each other in the men's room. Bluey and Bingo each took an unoccupied swing, hanging down low looking forlorn. Bingo in particular began to tear up.
Mackenzie and Rusty, on the left and rightmost swings respectively, took notice of their unusually downtrodden attitudes and started to slow down their swinging while Judo kept on.
"Bluey? Do you wanna do a swing jumping contest?" The border collie tried to snap Bluey out of her funk, but it didn't seem to be working. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." Bluey said, but it obviously wasn't nothing.
Rusty was about to ask Bingo what was wrong, as her more sensitive shell cracked much easier, but Judo, on the center swing, paid their conversation no mind. She swung higher, and higher, and higher, trying to see if she could swing higher than the old climbing fort that obscured her view of the new one.
"Bluey, Mackenzie, look! I'm doing it! I'm doing-" Judo had finally done it! She cleared past the height of the old climbing fort and could see over the top at the new fort! And all of a sudden, she's lept from the swing, jumping like a graceful gazelle, or like an Italian plumber.
However, as Judo got some serious air, the Chow Chow caught a glimpse of Chilli standing in front of Bandit, who was still sticking out of the tube slide. With this knowledge, she landed with a thud and ran towards Bluey.
"Bluey's dad got stuck in the tube slide!" She exclaimed to the gang.
"What?!" Mackenzie and Rust exclaimed.
Bluey simply nodded in response. "It's my fault. I shouldn't have made him go down the slide…" Her ears flattened.
"Don't worry," the New Zealander said with a determined look, "we'll help out. Come on!" Bluey's friends ran over to the slide to help out. This brought the Heeler sisters' spirits up, and so they followed suit as Bandit and Chilli finished their conversation.
"So we had to get the fire department involved. Classic Stripe." Bandit said with a chuckle, noticing Bluey and Bingo return with her friends. "Oh, hey kiddos!"
"Sergeant Rusty reporting for duty!" Rusty greeted with a salute.
Mackenzie looked warily at the tube slide. "We wanted to see if you were okay."
"Aw, don't sweat it kids. Chilli has it under control," Bandit said, which was followed by the mother dog shaking her head. She, in fact, did not. "But…if you wanna try and help, go ahead!"
Judo stepped up, grabbing Bandit by his paws. She was followed by Bluey grabbing behind Judo, and then once again by Mackenzie grabbing behind Bluey, then Rusty, and Bingo bringing up the rear.
"Okay, ready? One…" Started Judo.
"Two…" Continued Bluey.
"And three!" The five dogs called out at once, joining forces in a singular, forceful pull. They grunted as they tugged, struggling as much as Bluey and Chilli did earlier. They pulled, and pulled….
…but still Bandit was not free.
Bluey looked disheartened that Bandit still remained stuck, and she meekly approached him.
"Dad? I'm sorry for getting you into this mess."
"Oh, Bluey, it's not your fault." Bandit reassured his daughter, remaining in good spirits in spite of the unfortunate series of events. "I should've known better. If anything, it's my fault. Shouldn't have taken that offer to have Chilli's extra fries." Bandit nervously chuckled and hugged Bluey tightly, and slowly the girl hugged back. "I just wanted to make your game as fun as possible. After all…"
"If you're gonna do something," Bandit started, "do it properly!" Finished Bandit and Bluey together, the blue heeler girl giggling.
"Hehe, yeah…but how are we gonna get you out?"
Judo inspected the rim of the slide, deducing one possible solution.
"Oh! I think mum has some lotion that could make him slippery!"
"And then all of us will need to pull!" Rusty suggested, feeling his army leadership taking effect. "Maybe your mum too, Judo!"
Bandit grimaced at the thought of Wendy seeing him in yet another goofy situation, as if the dad baby, bum smacking, bum window washing, and Ragdoll incidents weren't enough…even if she did care for the Heeler family.
With their plan in action, Judo ran off and a minute later had returned with her mother, who had a similar reaction to the stuck Bandit that Chilli did, that of laughter.
"...hey, Wendy."
"Goodness, Judo told me you were in quite a jam, but it seems you may have had a bit too much of it." She giggled, before taking out a vial of a blue coconut scented lotion. It had a strong, but very pleasing scent, one that Bandit could get used to.
Wendy poured copious amounts of the blue lotion along Bandit's back while humming, while Chilli worked to rub the lotion around the rim of the pipe, along with the inside where Bandit was stuck. Chilli cracked her knuckles, ready to give it another go.
"Alright!" Rusty explained the plan, taking command as any army man should. "Judo's mum and Bluey's mum take Mr. Heeler's right side, and we'll take the left! Got it?"
"Right!" Chilli replies. "And if this doesn't work, I'm calling Triple 0. Understood?"
The kids all nodded, lining up as they had before, while Chili and Wendy stood next to each other. Bandit was just hoping it didn't have to come to that. Chilli looked into her husband's eyes, shooting him a warm smile, as he smiled back.
"Ready! One…"
"Two…" Continued Mackenzie.
"Three!" They all shouted in unison, pulling on Bandit as hard as they could.
"Heave, ho!" Called out Rusty, as Bandit at last began to budge!
Soon, they all began to call out as they pulled and chanted, each dog traded off who said what, like a verbal game of Keepy Uppy. From Wendy, to Bluey, to Chilli, to Mackenzie, to Judo, and back again, until they all called out and pulled in sync.
"Heave!"
"Ho!"
"Heave!"
"Ho!"
All the while, Bandit slowly budged, grimacing from the feeling of being pulled. Seven passersby, a chocolate labrador and his daughter, a blue-scarved female Australian shepherd tending to her crochet, and a middle-aged yellow lab out on a walk with his own wife and two sons, had stopped to watch the commotion in fascination and amusement. Bandit felt their stares pierce him like daggers, but refused to back down. He got himself into this fix, he wouldn't let them stop him from getting out.
As the group pulled and pulled, Bandit felt like his arms might pop out before he did, but his worries ceased once they heard an unmistakable sound.
Creeeak!
Bandit's rescuers and the passersby heard it too. They moved from gradual tugs to one final, synchronized heave, lasting several seconds until….
POP!
Bandit shot out of the slide, toppling over Chilli and knocking over the kids like dominos. Thankfully, none of the dogs were seriously hurt, save for Bandit's ego.
"Hooray!" Cheered the kids and bystanders, while Wendy and Chilli helped Bandit stand up.
"All better, big fella?" Asked Chilli, a relieved smile coming to her face.
"...all better." Bandit chuckled as he stood up and shook himself off like he had gotten out of the pool. He looked at everyone with a grateful expression. "Thanks, everyone."
With the blue heeler rescued, the passersby subsided their cheers and resumed their activities.
Bandit stood up, dusting wood chips off of him. His fur had begun to stand on end, which fascinated Mackenzie. Bandit kneeled down to Rusty, proud of the kelpie.
"Great leadership, Rusty." He reached out to pat the Kelpie on the head.
"All in a day's work Mr. Heel-" Rusty was cut off by a loud SNAP! He flinched and looked around. "Woah! What was that?!"
"Oh yeah, that's probably static electricity from the slide," explained Bandit, rubbing his arm on the top of the slide. With a crackle, the blue fur on Bandit's arm began to stand on end again. "It builds up with friction, like when you rub your feet on the rug."
"Ohhh, so THAT'S how Muffin shocked me at Uncle Stripe's house." Curious, Bluey rubbed her back against the outside of the slide, and she felt a tingle on her back. Her own fur had begun to stand on end. Judo and Mackenzie joined in, and they could hear the crackling of static as their fur fluffed up, while Bingo and Rusty watched with awe.
"Hey Judo, look!" Exclaimed Bluey. "I'm as fluffy as you!" But Bluey saw a cheeky look on Judo's face, as she brought her finger up to Bluey's nose, shocking her.
"Tag, you're it!"
"Aah! Judo, how very dare you! Okay, you asked for it." She huffed and rubbed her back on the slide even harder, as Judo took off running. "Get her, Mackenzie!"
"One second!"
Mackenzie charged up, before joining Bluey in an impromptu game of electric tag. Bingo and Rusty followed suit, the five kids going this way and that way across the playground as the adults sat down on the park bench, watching the children play. Bandit, having learned a lesson about portion sizes the hard way, chuckled to himself as he watched his children play.
"These kids are awesome…"
