The wobbly car 20 March 2008
Toffee smiled as he polished his glass trophy cabinet with a soft cloth. He had won every single trophy from every single car race ever held in Acersville. He looked at his glinting trophies and puffed out his chest with pride. He looked at the empty space on his shelf reserved for this year’s trophy and then up at his clock on the wall.
“Time to leave!” he grinned.
He was leaving for the Race meeting where Mayor Piney would be announcing the theme of this year’s race for all the Loopies wanting to enter. Every year the theme would change, last year the theme of the race was Birds. Toffee chuckled as he remembered his big chicken car driving over the finish line, covering the crowd in a great flurry of feathers. Mayor Piney had been coughing up feathers for a week after that!
Toffee rounded the corner and joined the other Loopies already there eagerly awaiting Mayor Piney’s announcement.
Mayor Piney finally arrived in his big limousine and walked into the centre of the crowd of Loopies, eating a big salami sandwich.
“This year,” he spluttered between chews,
“I’ve decided that the theme,” he continued at he took another bite of his lunch.
“of the race should be food.”
The Loopies smiled as the Mayor waddled off enjoying his sandwich as he went.
“Food,” thought Toffee.
Toffee thought and thought, what type of food car could he possibly build that would beat every other car that entered into the race? Toffee thought a little more and then chuckled to himself as he strolled home. He had an idea, a very wobbly idea in fact, but it would maybe just work!
A few weeks later, the Loopies gathered for the big Car Race.
All the Loopies who had entered drove their food car creations to the starting line. Mango and Sherbet, the twins of Acersville arrived with a sandwich bicycle car. Granny had helped them to paint the wheels of their car with her prize winning Banana-lade jam.
“It will help you stick to the road.” She explained as she slopped it on in huge dollops.
Next to the twins was Pilot’s hot dog car. He was very proud of his car and drove it slowly to the starting line, being very careful not to splash tomato sauce and mustard all over the road as he idled it along gently.
Behind Pilot was Toffee. The twins snickered and giggled from their sandwich perch as they saw his car, it was made entirely of jelly! Toffee waved at the twins and wobbled his car a little to make them laugh out loud. After Toffee was Crumpet’s Banana-spilt car, complete with whipped cream and lashings of chocolate sauce. Behind Crumpet were the Pirates and Wusky in their run barrel car, singing merrily and jo-ho-hoing!
“Ladies and gentlemen!” boomed Mayor Piney’s voice over the microphone.
“It seems we have a late entry.”
As he announced this Cabbage and Brussel-Sprout, the two naughtiest Loopies in Acersville rolled their cabbage motor-cycle to the starting line.
They nodded at Toffee and the other race entrants with naughty gleams in their eyes.
“Start your engines!” boomed the Mayor’s voice.
The robotic lights at the starting line flashed red then yellow and then green.
“And they’re off!” yelled Piney at the top of his voice as the Loopies and their food cars sped off.
Mango and Sherbet raced off, getting into the lead, but as they entered the woods the leaves and twigs littering the pathway stuck to their jam spread wheels! The banana-lade lathered wheels were so sticky, that they became caked in dry leaves in no time, causing the twins to go slower and slower until they stopped! The other racers cheered as they sped past the twins’ sandwich car.
“It will take forever to scrape this amount of junk off our wheels!” exclaimed Mango peering down to have a look.
“So I guess this means we’re out of the race?” asked Sherbet looking disappointed. Mango nodded and then took a bite out of his sandwich car. The twins giggled as they began munching their food car in the middle of the woods.
The race continued for the other Loopie racers as the race track went round a bend towards the mountain. Cabbage chuckled as she looked over her shoulder, the judges couldn’t see her anymore so she signaled her brother to carry out their naughty plan. Brussel-Sprout lifted a cabbage leaf on the back of their car and two hungry hyenas lept out of the Cabbage car and onto the race track.
The hungry hyenas raced towards Pilot’s hotdog car and began munching it up!! Pilot couldn’t believe his eyes as the two hungry dogs ate his car while he was riding in the race! They spotted Crumpet’s Banana-split car next and quick as a flash ate up her car too. Crumpet was cross. She shook her fist at Cabbage and Brussel-Sprout who were laughing and left her and Pilot in a puff of their smelly cabbage car fumes!
Soon Cabbage and Brusel-Sprout caught up to Wusky and the Pirates and past them too, now it was only Toffee that they had to get in front of to win the race. But Toffee was too far ahead and whizzed over the finish line, followed by an angry Cabbage and a not-so-happy-Brussel-Sprout. Last to finish were the Pirates, who were so jolly by now after drinking so much rum that they didn’t mind who won the race!
The Mayor smiled as he handed a shiny gold trophy to Toffee. Cabbage and Brussel-Sprout edged closer hoping to get some sort of second prize. The Mayor only looked them up and down and said,
“No one likes cheaters, or cabbages for that matter.”
The Loopies laughed. Toffee smiled and hugged his trophy, his silly plan had worked. His wobbly car had won the race!
© 2008 Ingrid Holtshausen. All Rights Reserved.
