“Top Secret – Stay Out!” The sign read.

Rufus and Ruff had locked their invention far away from the prying eyes of the Loopies. But today had been an emergency! Dollar D – the richest Loopie in Acersville had enlisted the Mayor’s help, in his militaristic manor, because he had been having trouble sleeping.

It was the middle of the night, but that hadn’t stopped Dollar D from calling Mayor Piney from his gold telephone. Dollar D was Acersville’s very own Millionaire and was of the mistaken impression that because he was rich it meant he could boss other Loopies around and pretty much do whatever else he liked.

“Piney! I need to sleep!” Dollar D had boomed at the sleepy Mayor earlier that morning.

“What can I do about your sleep problems?” asked Piney crossly.

“I don’t know! Think of something!” shouted Dollar D as he banged down the telephone. The Mayor’s wife, Dot, sat up in bed. Mayor Piney yawned.

“What was that all about?” asked Dot.

“Dollar D thinks I can solve his sleep problems.” Piney answered whistfully.

“What? At this hour?” replied an irritable Dot.

“That’s hardly an emergency!” she remarked.

Mayor Piney shrugged, not knowing where to begin, he decided to start at Rufus and Ruff’s house. They always had winning ideas for any emergency. He then got dressed and left for the brothers house. Once there, he apologized for his early visit and told them about Dollar D’s phone call.

“I suppose we could dig it out and test it.” said Rufus matter-of-factly to Ruff, after hearing all that Piney had to say, as he took a sip of tea.

The Mayor wasn’t sure what they were talking about exactly, but was only too glad that they had a plan.

“But it’s not finished yet Rufus! We still don’t have the missing ingredient!” protested Ruff.

They were talking about their secret invention, which they had kept hidden under lock and key, until they had acquired the “missing ingredient”. But despite Ruff’s better judgement and warning, they lugged their heavy creation over to Dollar D’s house for the “so-called” emergency.

Dollar D’s butler opened the front door as Rufus was about to ring the door bell, he had been expecting them.

“Right this way.” he motioned, leading the Mayor, Rufus and Ruff into Dollar D’s ornate bedroom. It had a plush emerald green carpet, with a king sized golden bed in the middle of the room. Dollar D sat there like a stuffed teddy bear waiting to fall asleep.

“Well then! What are you waiting for!” yelled the irritable Millionaire impatiently.

Rufus and Ruff shook off his ill manners and began hooking him up to their creation.

“What does this thing do?” asked Dollar D nervously.

“It’ll help you to sleep.” smiled Ruff.

They strapped him to the sleep monitor and switched it on. Then they stuck straws into his mouth.

“This is preposterous!” mumbled Dollar D. Mayor Piney stood snickering in the corner. That would teach Dollar D not to wake Mayor’s at midnight with trivial problems.

“What is this contraption!” yelled the Millionaire, pulling the straws from his mouth.

“It’s a sleep machine!” offered Ruff, happily.

“Just lie back gently,” explained Rufus calmly.

“Each of these straws leads to a glass of flavoured milk; strawberry, chocolate & vanilla.” He explained, pointing to the glasses on top of the sleep monitor.

Dollar D sat up and followed the curling straws with his eyes, and saw that they did indeed lead to the glasses of flavoured milk. He then took a sip from the straws and enjoyed the taste of the flavoured milk and for the first time that night, smiled. Then, the impatient Dollar D relaxed reluctantly and allowed Rufus and Ruff to continue positioning the “sleep tubes” as Rufus had named them, above his eyes.

“What do these do?” asked Dollar D, nervously, between sips of flavoured milk.

“Gently now.” Reassured Rufus, dimming the lights, as he flicked the switch on the machine, labelled “Lullabyes”

Rufus motioned for Ruff to switch the machine on. Ruff hesitated and looked at Rufus nervously. Rufus gave a thumbs-up to Ruff as he saw Dollar D look straight up the sleep tubes.

“Now!” Rufus whispered ferociously.

Ruff closed his eyes and flicked the switch, which caused the sleep machine to burst into life. The little vacuums leading into the sleep tubes began to suck sand from a huge bucket the brothers had set next to Dollar D’s bed. The vacuums sucked the sand up the tubes and deposited it right into Dollar D’s eyes! Dollar D sprang up from the bed screaming!

“My eyes! My eyes! You idiots have blinded me!” It burns!”

The Sleep Machine spluttered as Ruff switched it off.

Mayor Piney gulped. Rufus smiled as he prepared to settle the infuriated Dollar D.

“Beach Sand is a lot different to sleep sand.” explained Rufus.

“If we knew where to locate Sleep Sand, this beauty would work like a dream!” grinned Rufus as he patted his invention lovingly.

“The missing ingredient.” Ruff whispered to the Mayor.

“Well why didn’t you say so?” said Dollar D as he got out of bed, shaking the sand out of his ears.

“I know where we can find Sleep Sand and that blasted little Sand Man as well!” he shouted angrily.

“You know the Sand Man?” asked Ruff in disbelief.

“Yes! Of course I do! Why a man of my distinction has connections you know!” Dollar D said proudly, as he looked down his nose at Ruff, to further relay the class distinction between himself and the other Loopies in his bedroom.

“But sadly, he has stopped coming to visit me at night.” sighed Dollar D.

“Well why not?” ventured the Mayor.

“He says he wants a payment of some sort.” Dollar D replied.

“So why don’t you pay him?” asked Ruff gingerly.

“Because when I offer him money, he says that’s not what he wants!” said the angry but perplexed Dollar D.

“And that’s why you have trouble sleeping nights.” Rufus summed it up.

Dollar D agreed to lead them to the Sandman’s house, which was a neat little Sandcastle on Brenton beach. The Sandman was tiny, small enough to fit into your ear in fact, and looked a little strange in his night gown and slippers, without his night cap on.

Upon seeing Dollar D at the door he snapped crossly.

“Ahh, here to pay your debt I suppose!”

“I’ve already offered you all the money I have,” began Dollar D, “but you didn’t want that!” he finished in a huff.

The Sandman rolled his eyes.

“Ever heard of being as good as gold?” he asked the bad-tempered Millionaire.

Dollar D spluttered and shuffled a bit. Ruff snickered.

“You think this is a joke do you?” ranted the irate Millionaire.

“You think I enjoy not being able to sleep?”

“No.” smiled Ruff, “It’s just that you don’t understand something so simple.” he smiled.

Rufus nodded in agreement and then turned to Dollar D and explained what they all understood;

“The Sandman would like you to have better manners, he would like you to be as “good as gold”, when you do that, he’ll visit you at night, and you’ll be able to sleep again. Every thing in life can’t always be solved with money or bossing other Loopies around.”

Dollar D looked at the ground in embarrassment. And then whispered the tiniest of thank you’s, under his breath and then he actually smiled.

“You know, being as good as gold feels really good!” he said proudly, beaming from ear to ear, then he turned to the Sandman and asked kindly, “Will you please give me some of your sleep sand so that I will be able to sleep now?”

The Sandman nodded and the Loopies smiled.

From that day on Dollar D became the most well mannered Loopie, well at least most of the time. The last I heard from the Loopies was that he sleeps soundly every night, after having his favourite night time snack – 3 glasses of flavoured milk. Thank you Rufus and Ruff for your sleep machine and thank you Sandman for the lessons you have taught us, I think we will all sleep better tonight.

© 2011 Ingrid Holtshausen. All rights reserved.

It was the king’s birthday and a lot had to be done! Every year Crumpet would make ten Cherry Pies for the king and every year the King would thoroughly enjoy them! But this year was a little different. This year Crumpet had to bake fifty Cherry Pies as it was the King’s fiftieth birthday and the queen wanted it to be very special.

The only problem was that Crumpet couldn’t bake fifty pies all by herself and have them ready for the King’s birthday party that evening. She would need some help. So she decided to get Granny, her cousin Pancake and the twins, Mango and Sherbet to help her with her pie-making for the king.

“Now remember,” Crumpet told them, “We need to make sure these pies are perfect! It’s the king’s fiftieth birthday and I want nothing to go wrong.”

“Well then let’s get started,” said Granny, “All this chin-wagging is getting us nowhere!”

So the Loopies got out their mixing bowls and soon they had made twenty lovely pies!

Crumpet looked at her watch; they were making good time, if they continued at this rate they would have all fifty pies ready right on time for the king’s birthday!

“Let’s leave the pies here to cool.” said Crumpet, placing the pies neatly at the kitchen window.

“When can we taste them?” asked Pancake eagerly.

“As soon as the pies are cool, you can have a piece, but just one piece! The king needs fifty pies for his birthday!”

When the pies were cool, each Loopie had a chance to taste a piece of pie. Crumpet winced when she tasted the twins’ pies; they had used far too much salt! Granny’s pies were slightly better but she had used far too much sugar! And when the Loopies looked again, Pancake had eaten five pies all by herself.

“Sorry!” she burped.

“This is a disaster! An absolute fiasco!” cried Crumpet, “What are we going to do? Some of the pies are too salty, some are too sugary and others are just plain gone! And we still need to have fifty pies to take to the palace tonight for the king’s birthday party!”

“It’s not that bad!” said Granny, hugging her tightly.

“Thank you for all your help,” sniffed Crumpet beginning to cry.

Just then, Mango got up and snapped his fingers.

“I’ve got it!” he exclaimed as he ran from the house.

Granny sighed and made some tea, while Pancake busily munched away at the ruined pies. Crumpet and Sherbert sat on the couch and waited for Mango to return.

It wasn’t long before Mango came bursting back into Crumpet’s house with Rufus and Ruff, the handymen f Acersville, who could build just about anything.

“I thought they could build us a pie-making machine!” explained Mango.

Crumpet’s face lit up.

“Thank you Mango, you are the cleverest Loopie in all of Acersville!” she exclaimed.

“Where would you like us to make it?” asked Ruff.

“Right here in the kitchen I think.” said Crumpet happily.

The two brothers began to build. They built so fast, that soon Crumpet had a shiny new pie-maker in no time!

“There you go Crumpet!” said Rufus, “Just set the machine to the type of pie you would like and load the ingredients in here.” He said pointing to a slot in the machine, “And then out comes a steaming hot pie!”

“All in just twenty minutes!” grinned Ruff.

Crumpet was delighted.

“Well there’s no time to waste!” said Granny getting ready to load a fresh batch of cherries into the machine.

The other Loopies began helping too and soon they had fifty perfect and delicious pies to take to the king. And just in time too! The Loopies helped Crumpet carry the pies to the Ruby Palace where the King and Queen lived.

“Here are your pies your majesty.” Said Crumpet, she was about to set her pies down on a nearby table, but tripped! She bumped into the other Loopies as her pies went flying through the air. The other Loopies wobbled and bumped into each other and splat, one by one each pie dropped straight onto the floor. Crumpet winced as she watched the catastrophe unfold and gasped as she saw her pies, still hurtling through the air at top speed, flying right toward the King! The pies plopped one by one, right ontop of the King’s head! The Loopies stared at the King waiting for his reaction.

The Cherry pie filling dripped down the king’s face as he looked at the Queen.

“It’s quite alright!” he said, “I so enjoy Crumpet’s pies in the same way every year, it’s nice to have them served a little differently from time to time!”

Sherbert began giggling.

“You do look funny with all that pie on your head!” she said.

The Loopies then broke into fits of laughter.

The King then ordered for enough spoons to be brought for everyone and they all enjoyed Crumpet’s delicious Cherry pies together!

“I can’t think of a better way to enjoy pie than with good friends!” said the King as he gulped down more pie.

“I can’t think of anything better to enjoy than pie!” said Pancake reaching for another piece. The Loopies laughed.

Crumpet smiled, she was glad to have such a kind and friendly King, especially one that didn’t mind being baptised with tasty Cherry pies on his birthday!

You’ve arrived just in time, nice of you to drop by. The Loopies are busy decorating. You can help too if you like. It’s Granny’s birthday, she’s turning eighty today. That’s a lot of years for any Loopie! Granny is the oldest Loopie in Acresville and everybody’s favourite. Every Loopie in Acresville had decided on a present for Granny, all except Rufus and Ruff.

Rufus and Ruff were the handymen of Acresville. They could fix just about anything. They were excellent carpenters and every year for her birthday they had given Granny something they had made from wood.

She had a new bed, rocking chair, foot rest, ornament cabinet and a dining room table that they had carved from an old Oak stump. But this year they wanted to give Granny something special. After all turning eighty is quite an accomplishment!

“What should we do?” asked Ruff.

“Every Loopie in Acresville have a present for Granny. Leechie has bought her that perfume she likes so much and George has made her a photo album of all the Loopies in Acresville.  Chelsea has made her a jewellery box and I’m sure all the other Loopies have just as many wonderful ideas too!” he continued.

“I’ve got it!” shouted Rufus, grinning from ear to ear.

“Tell me quick! What is it?” asked Ruff, his tail twitching with excitement.

“We’ll do something we’ve never attempted to do before!” declared Rufus, still grinning his toothy grin.

“What’s that Rufus?”

“Bake!” Rufus exclaimed loudly.

“We’ll bake Granny a cake.” He repeated deliberately.

Together the brothers made a short list of everything they would need for the cake and strolled off to the shops. They grinned and giggled and squealed with glee. This would be Granny’s best present ever!

“You get out the mixing bowl while I find the right recipe.” Ordered Rufus, as he rustled through the pages of their cook book. After a long while and a lot of paging Rufus sat down on the couch and looked despondent.

“Ruff,” he said

“We have a problem, none of these recipes are good enough for Granny’s cake. They are too ordinary. We need something different, something special.”

“Then why don’t we make our own recipe?” Offered Ruff.

“Ruff! You’re a genius and that’s why you’re my brother!”

So the two of them got to work! And they might have made quite a beautiful cake until they began with the mixing!

They searched the cupboards and found the syrup, chocolate sauce and some peanut butter. They boiled some peas – because Granny loved peas and they peeled the potatoes – because they always peeled the potatoes when they stayed over at Granny’s house!

“Hey!” remembered Ruff.

“Granny loves it when we wash the dishes!”

“And when we make her tea!” agreed Rufus

“Pass the tea bags!” Rufus said sternly.

So they squeezed some dishwashing liquid into their cake mixture and added the teabags. They mixed in the potatoes and whisked in the peas.

Soon the cake was ready to go into the oven. So they set the oven to the highest it would go.

“I don’t want the cake to be raw in the middle.” Explained Rufus.

“I agree,” said Ruff.

“That’s just disgusting!”

So they put the cake inside the oven and skipped off to wash up and make the icing.

The icing became just as much a concoction as the cake! Rufus crushed some nuts while Ruff grated the chocolate. They added some flowers – because Granny loved flowers and just a touch of icing sugar.

“I don’t want it to be too sweet.” Said Rufus. He was a Handyman, how was he to know that icing sugar is the main ingredient when making icing!

They finished off the icing with a squeeze of chocolate sauce and a large spoon of baking powder.

“There that’s perfect!” exclaimed Ruff.

Rufus put on the fluffiest oven gloves he could find, and pulled the cake out of the oven.

“Rufus,” said Ruff gingerly, “I don’t think cakes are supposed to bubble out dishwashing liquid when they’ve come out of the oven!”

“Oh that’s just because it’s hot! It’ll stop bubbling any minute now!” replied Rufus casually.

“Ok, if you say so.” Said Ruff, getting out the fancy cake plate.

They spread their creation with their special icing and decorated the top with tiny purple violets. Then stood back to admire their handy work!

“What shall we call it?” asked Ruff.

“How about, Granny’s Violet Surprise Cake.” Said Rufus, “Cause she’ll sure be surprised that we made her a cake!”

Later at the party when Granny had opened all of her gifts, Rufus and Ruff proudly presented her with a box. She untied the ribbon and lifted out their creation. The Loopies gasped! The cake looked terrible! Rufus and Ruff looked at one another in dismay.

“It’s called a Violet Surprise Cake Granny.” Explained Ruff, looking very worried.

Granny smiled at them both, stuck her finger in the icing and licked it clean. She licked her lips and said, “Well, out of all the presents in Acresville, this Violet Surprise Cake is my favourite!”

© 2010 Ingrid Holtshausen. All rights reserved.

“Granny tell us a story!” asked the twins as they lay in bed one night.

Granny smiled and sat next to them.

“There is an old fairy tale told in Acresville about a Purple Wish Dragon.” She began.

“It is said that if you climb to the top of the highest rainbow you will be able to reach the wish dragon, who lives in a tall tower above the clouds. Once you have touched this dragon, she will become yours and will grant your wishes forever.

The Loopies had been hearing this fairy tale for so long, that many of the Loopies had lost their faith in the story, for none of the Loopies had ever tried to climb the highest rainbow in Acresville, but there was one Loopie who wanted more than anything to have his own purple wish dragon. He was known as Rye Loopie. He was a very quiet Loopie and often kept to himself, but this dream would burn in his heart day after day, until eventually, he decided to make his dream come true.

He went to see Professor Astro at the University.

“Professor?” Rye asked nervously.

“Is there a way for a Loopie to climb a rainbow?”

The Professor stopped in his tracks and scattered some of the papers he was carrying.

“Egad boy! That is a good question!” The Professor smiled and dropped what he was doing.

“There must be a way and by Jove I’ll find it!”

Rye smiled.

Every day after that Rye would visit the Professor at the university to see if the Professor had discovered a way for him to climb a rainbow and every day the Professor would look gloomy and shake his head.

“We have to find a way to stop the rainbow from melting first, that way it would be easier to climb!” the Professor explained one day.

Rye sat up.

“Do you think we could try using Rufus and Ruff’s snow machine to freeze the rainbow? That could stop it from melting.” He suggested.

The Professor broke out into a satisfied grin.

“It’s worth a shot!”

“You will also need spiked boots and lots of rope to get you to the top of the rainbow once it’s frozen solid. Freezing it isn’t enough to get you to the top, you need to climb it without slipping off it.” said the Professor.

So, Rye and the Professor went to see Rufus and Ruff and asked to borrow their snow machine.

They waited and waited for it to rain and sure enough it did and once the rain had died down, a beautiful rainbow filled the sky. Rye and the Professor turned on the machine and pelted the rainbow with snowflakes and just as Rye thought the rainbow froze solid! He could hardly believe his eyes and his good fortune!  He put on his spiked boots and used the rope to help get him to the top of the rainbow.

By this time all of the Loopies in Acresville had heard he was making his way to the top of the rainbow to find his purple wish dragon, they all came out of their stores and houses to spur him on and wish him luck. They cheered as they watched him balancing at the top of the rainbow arch as he climbed up into the clouds and disappeared.

Nobody spoke, nobody moved, until they saw him. He was flying! Flying on his wish dragon! The fairy tale was true! There really was a wish dragon and she’d been there all along, all these years, waiting for someone brave enough to climb to the top of the tallest rainbow to free her from her tower.

The Loopies were so proud of Rye and the wish dragon was so happy to be free that she granted everyone in Acresville one wish.

“Truth is,” confessed Mayor Piney, “We don’t deserve these wishes. Rye was the only one who believed in you. I think he should get all the wishes.”

“If you all are not going to wish for anything, then neither will I, I already got my wish, the greatest wish of all, I got my purple wish dragon.” said Rye as he hugged his wish dragon tightly.

The Loopies agreed to save the wishes and so they put them in a big sack. Then the Loopies took the wishes high up Mount Peakmore to the Hall of the Great Loopie, to keep the wishes safe.”

“Is this story true Granny?” asked Sherbet as she rushed to the window to look up into the sky for Rye and his wish dragon.

Granny smiled again.

“Yes dear, Rye kept his purple Wish Dragon and called her Charmer. And you can still catch a glimpse of them today if you watch the clouds above Mount Peakmore closely.”

“But you two need to promise me one thing.” said Granny.

The twins looked at Granny eagerly.

“Yes Granny, what is it?

“You need to promise me that you will never forget the lesson the Loopies learnt that day Rye found his Charmer, you must never stop believing in the things that seem impossible, because if you believe in something strongly enough, it just might happen!”

And with that she kissed their wet noses and watched them drift to sleep.

© 2010 Ingrid Holtshausen. All rights reserved.

Glug, glug, glug.

Snorkel, snorkel. Slurp.

The sounds filtered up from the ocean floor to the Sea Rogue, the sunken ship where the pirates Patch, Woody and Wallace slept.

“Arg! Blast! If I hear that confounded sound one more…” said Patch furiously, but he was interrupted by the sounds again!

Gurgle, slurp, glug, glug.

“Ahhhh!” he screamed in sheer frustration.

“Blast me timbers! A man can ‘a sleep with all this racquet!”

Wallace rubbed his eyes and sat up in bed. This had been going on for too many nights for him to have kept count!

Woody sat up and strapped on his peg-leg.

“I say we go there and gut the barnacles keeping us outta sleep!” he vented.

“Aye, Woody be right!” agreed the angry Patch.

“I say we take Wusky along too.” suggested Wallace, thinking maybe a swim up to the beach might cool Patch and Woody’s anger a little.

“Aye laddie, good plan.” said Patch who was already beginning to feel less angry.

So the pirates got out of bed and swam to the surface of the sea. They marched all the way to Wusky’s Beach Cabana and, forgetting that it was still late at night, they knocked loudly on the door.

The pirates heard a loud bang as Wusky fell out of bed in shock. He rushed to the door and opened it wide, looking sleepy and a little dazed.

“Sorry to barge in like this at this late hour.” apologised Wallace.

“We’re going to the bottom of the sea to gut barnacles.” purred Woody, his eyes gleaming in the moonlight.

“Aye laddie and we thought you’d like to come along for the adventure.” said Patch beaming.

“Adventure!” now Wusky’s eyes had lit up.

“You can count me in!” he replied.

“When do we leave?”

“Right about now?” smiled Wallace, his friendly eyes a deep contrast to the menacing Woody, who had begun taking his cutlass from its sheath.

The four friends then set out to the bottom of the sea to find out exactly what was making all the noise.  They followed the gurgling slurping sounds to the sea floor.

“It’s here ladies!” whispered Patch.

Wusky held his breath, not knowing exactly what to expect.

Woody started digging sand away from the bottom of the ocean and discovered a giant chain!

“The landlubbers anchor no doubt!” whispered Wallace to no-one in particular.

The pirates followed the chain until it ended in a huge pile of sea sand.

“What do we do now?” asked Wusky, looking at the pirates.

“Heave!” shouted Woody as he began to pull the chain with all his might.

“Heave!” shouted the others, as they grabbed the chain and began pulling too!

Suddenly the chain gave way and a giant plug came with it! The pirates looked at each other in dismay! Sludge, slurrrrrrp, gurgle, glug. The sea began to drain down the huge drain hole that had been left uncovered!

“Shiver me timbers!” cried Patch in disbelief.

Woody gasped.

“Quick we need to get help!” said Wusky, quickly beginning to swim to the surface. But it was too late! The sea was draining too fast for any of them to do anything!

By sun rise, the sea was gone!

Wusky, Wallace, Woody and Patch walked back to the Sea Rogue, now fully exposed to the world, no longer an under-sea hideout.

“Can we still be pirates if there is no sea?” asked Wallace looking quite worried.

Patch and Woody were just embarrassed, soon the entire town of Acersville would know that the pirates had drained the sea! They had to do something to get the sea back! But what?

Wusky jumped up and snapped his fingers!

“I have a plan on how we can get the sea back!” he said happily.

“What are you going to do?” asked Wallace.

“I’m going to get Pilot!” Wusky replied.

“How’s a Pilot going to get us out of this mess laddie?” asked Patch, who seemed to be near tears.

“You’ll see.” Wusky grinned.

“Just trust me!”

Soon Pilot had been invited to join the pirates at their not so private hideout.

“A nice place you have here.” stammered Pilot, who was a little nervous of the pirates.

Woody scowled, Patch frowned and Wallace offered him a scone and some tea.

Wusky then began the tale of how he and the pirates had unintentionally drained the sea and how they needed his help to get the sea back.

Pilot went pale and held his scone in mid air.

“Me?”

“Yes!” replied Wusky confidently.

“We need you and your plane to take us to the North Pole and get us an ice-berg!”

“An ice-berg? Whatever for?” asked Pilot now very confused.

The pirates began understanding what Wusky wanted to do and began smiling! Eventually their smiling turned to relieved laughing which turned to uncontrollable singing about rum and yo-ho-ho’s!

Patch slapped Wusky on the back.

“Aye lad, a true pirate ya are!”

Wusky smiled. Pilot gulped.  His plane had never carried more than two Loopies at a time let alone a giant ice-berg! He was feeling quite ill!

“So what do you say Pilot?” All ready to go?” Wusky’s enthusiasm interrupted his worrying.

“Alright Wusky, we’ll give it a try!” said Pilot, slinging his scarf triumphantly over his shoulder!

They strapped themselves into Pilot’s plane, making sure they had plenty of ginger beer and rope for their trip to the North Pole. Wusky showed the Pirates a thumbs up as the noisy propellers began to turn. The plane began to lift off the ground and soon the pirates looked so tiny from so high up in the sky. Wusky turned to look at the sea. It now looked like a giant desert! Wusky gulped and looked forward concentrating on his mission.

It began to get very cold as the two friends neared the North Pole. Icy in fact, so icy that Wusky began to wish that he too had a big red scarf like Pilot’s! Eventually they began to see ice and snow and huge ice-bergs stretching as far as they could see. Wusky tapped Pilot and motioned him to land. Pilot found a good spot and steered the plane to a safe landing.

Crunch, crunch, crunch. Pilot and Wusky walked across the pure white snow. The sight was quite breath taking. Huge white mountains stuck their heads out of the horizon and big fluffy penguins waddled their way across icy paths toward the sea.

“There!” shouted Wusky.

“I see one!” he pointed to a rather large ice-berg.

Pilot helped Wusky tie lots of rope around the ice-berg and when they thought it was secure, they tied the rope to the plane. Pilot got back into the plane while Wusky checked that the ginger beer bottles were in place. He showed Pilot a thumbs up and Pilot started the engine. The plane spluttered and coughed as it began moving across the snowy embankment toward the sea. The plane gathered speed and whirred faster and faster, gaining momentum as it hurtled down the hill. The shaking of the plane caused the ginger beer bottles to rattle, causing them to pop open and supply more power to the plane. The little red plane took flight! It was glorious to see.

Wusky stuck out his chest, his idea was coming along brilliantly. Just then he realised that he better hold onto the rope and quick! He grabbed hold just in time! He looked back and saw the gigantic ice-berg swinging gently under the plane. He grinned his Wuskiest grin and began to sing about rum and yo-ho-hoing!

Soon they reached Acersville and by now everyone had heard about what had happened to the sea. All the Loopies were waiting patiently outside of Wusky’s Beach Cabana cafe along with the pirates to see how exactly Wusky’s plan would work. They began to cheer when Pilot’s plane came into view with Wusky and the ice-berg dangling beneath it. Slowly Pilot neared the spot where the sea used to be. And Wusky cut the rope that held the ice-berg. The ice-berg fell and landed with a huge thud!

The Loopies rushed towards it, eager to inspect such a huge piece of ice. But it didn’t stay icy for too long! It began to melt and soon the Loopies had a sea again! They splashed and laughed in the sun as they congratulated Wusky and Pilot! And as for the Pirates? Well let’s just say they won’t be in a hurry to gut barnacles any time soon!

© 2010 Ingrid Holtshausen. All rights reserved.

Ruff’s bathroom was an absolute mess! Soap, face cloths and toothpaste littered the sink and the floor. The bath was full of cold dirty water and there were toothpaste splatters all over the mirror. But there in the middle of it all stood a polished and clean, not-a-hair-out-of-place Ruff.

You see today was a very important day as today was the day Ruff would meet the Queen.

“Ruff the Limousine is here!” called Rufus, his brother, from downstairs. Ruff did feel a little out of place, as he always did things with his brother, and today he would be on his own. Ruff was clumsy at the best of times and had promised himself and his brother he would be swave and dashing today.

There was great excitement in the air as Rufus and Ruff had opened the gold guilded envelope bearing Ruff’s name. He had been invited by the Queen personally to join her for lunch at the palace. Ruff was ready for the challenge. He stumbled nervously down the stairs.

“Well don’t you look smashing then?” smiled Rufus.

Ruff smiled brightly.

“You’ve got to do better than that!” encouraged Rufus.

Ruff stood on tippy-toes and grinned his toothiest grin. A beam of sunlight streaming in from the window reflected off of Ruff’s freshly brushed teeth, bathing him in a glow of white light, which made him look like royalty.

“There that’s better! Now have a good time Scamp!” smiled Rufus as he slapped his brother on the back, sending him toward the waiting limousine.

At the palace everything looked larger than life! So dramatic and built on a grand scale.

A Loopie in an orange and green striped tie came out to meet Ruff.

“My name is Tim, I’ll be your palace guide and take you to see the Queen.” He explained.

Ruff grinned and walked with Tim into the emence Entrance Hall. Ruff starred, so much artwork and shiny golden statues decorated the room. Ruff decided to act as casually as possible and stroll around the room admiring the beautiful decorations.

He stopped at a nearby statue and looked at his reflection in it. He carefully polished his teeth with his tongue and grinned at himself to check that his teeth were still clean. They where, and as pearly white as ever!

“Would you please welcome her royal highness. The Queen!” boomed a palace guard, standing at the top of the stairs leading down to where Ruff stood.

Ruff startled a little by the booming announcement stepped back and bumped straight into a suit of shiny armour. Clatter! Ruff jumped and checked to see if he hadn’t dislodged anything. Tim smiled, he had stopped it from falling. Phew!

Ruff looked up at the Queen who was making her way down the stairs and toward him. He was a bit nervous and all he could do at that moment was grin. He then thought back to what Rufus had said earlier, “You can do better than that!” he heard his brother say. Ruff grinned harder.

And as he did a ray of sunlight coming in from one of the high windows shone directly onto Ruff’s teeth and reflected off of them, but with such intensity, the Queen was momentarily blinded and tripped! She rolled straight down the stairs and landed in a heap at Ruff’s feet. Tim rushed to her aid, while all Ruff could do was stare at the clumsy Queen. The palace guards rushed in too to help the Queen to her feet, but looking headlong into the glare coming from Ruff’s shiny teeth, they too tripped and fell to the floor in a heap.

“Um,” stammered the Queen, which was very unlike her as Queen’s don’t stammer!

“I thought we could eat lunch out in the garden today.” she said as Tim helped her to her feet.

The Queen straightened her hair and led Ruff out into the garden. The garden was just as grand as the palace! Huge green lawns rolled on for as far as Ruff could see. The lunch table was decked with every tasty treat imaginable!  There were, cupcakes, pancakes, sausage rolls, jam pastries, salads, drumsticks and even battered prawns! Ruff’s mouth watered.

“After you.” smiled the Queen as she motioned for Ruff to sit down. Ruff sat awaiting his culinary adventure. The Queen smiled at Ruff as she took her seat, Ruff grinned back, again summoning another shaft of light from the heavens, which again blinded the Queen.

“Oh noooo!” she shrieked. She tried desparately to find her napkin to hold it up and stop the glare, but she knocked over her soup and pulled the battered prawns onto her lap! The little tiered display holding the meatballs was the next thing to come cascading down! The Queen was still shrieking while being pelted with tumbling meatballs. Ruff was so shocked and surprised he didn’t know what to do, so he just continued grinning!

One of the nearby waiters rushed to the Queen’s aid. But as soon as he got close to Ruff, he too became blinded by the glare from Ruff’s shiny teeth. He slipped on a meatball and came crashing into the rest of the lunch. The punch bowl wobbled and tilted, baptizing the Queen and the waiter in purple liquid. The Queen spluttered and wiped a jam pastry from her eye.

“I do apologise.” said the Queen, trying to avoid looking directly at Ruff, who was still grinning.

After lunch, Tim led Ruff out to the limosine which took him back home to an eagerly awaiting Rufus.

“So?” asked Rufus.

“How was lunch?”

“You’ll never believe it Rufus!” replied Ruff.

“But the Queen is just as clumsy as me.” He declared triumphantly.

Rufus shook his head in disbelief. A clumsy Queen? Now who could have ever imagined that?

© 2010 Ingrid Holtshausen. All rights reserved.

Rufus emerged from the bottom of his newest creation, covered in grease and paint.

“There she is Ruff!” he smiled proudly as he polished the front of the speed boat.

“She’s all ready for a test drive!” he said smiling. Ruff rubbed his hands together and grinned. They had been building the speed boat all summer in the hope to have it finished by their birthday. Their plan was to have a quiet day by the Lake testing out the newest addition to their great treasury of mechanical things.  But Leechie had other plans!

She burst into their workshop sending a flurry of “how-to-build-a-speed-boat” instruction papers whirling into the air.

“Now I know it’s your birthday tomorrow and I know it’s short notice but try and look your best as I’ve arranged a birthday party for you!” she bubbled.

Rufus scratched his head. Ruff gulped.

“Well actually Leechie,” Rufus began, about to tell her of their plan to spend a quiet day at the lake testing out their speed boat.

“Yes, yes, no need to thank me, I needed to do something special for my friends.” She smiled warmly.

“The party is tomorrow, in your back yard. All of Acersville will be there! But don’t worry I’ve arranged everything!” she blurted as she grinned happily and then burst out of the workshop as violently as she’d burst in.

Rufus was taken aback, Ruff was unimpressed.

“She’s ruining our birthday plans.” whined Ruff later that evening as the two brothers were getting ready for bed.

“Now now little brother, a party won’t be that bad, we can always test the boat another day. Cheer up it’s going to be fun!” encouraged Rufus.

Ruff sat sulking a while until eventually he fell fast asleep.

The next day he was awoken with a bump! As a heavy table fell over in the back yard. He jumped out of bed and peered out of the window. It was Leechie, beginning with all of her birthday plans! The two brothers brushed their teeth and went down stairs to see what she was up to.

Leechie had arranged everything, from the decor to the food. There was a huge ice cream cake with hundreds of birthday candles and even an ice sculpture of a figure skating Loopie.

“Um Leechie” asked Ruff, as he walked up to Leechie, who was busily scolding a waiter for wearing a purple waistcoat.

“Don’t you think this is a little, um, over the top?” he asked quite concerned as another waiter carrying a highly polished silver tray whisked past him and into the kitchen.

“Oh nonsense!” she replied, waving her hands in the air to dismiss such a notion.

“You and Rufus deserve to be spoilt for your birthday! Sit back relax and let me take care of everything!” and with that she scurried off to find another waiter to scold.

Ruff felt lost amongst the waistcoats and the waiters, ice sculptures and food. He would have preferred a simple birthday party, not a stiff fancy affair!  But once Leechie had got something in her head there was no stopping her! She had even arranged a brass band to play “Happy Birthday” for the brothers!

Eventually everyone had arrived and Leechie had been right, all of Acersville was there, for the “Party of the decade” as Leechie had called it.

Once everyone had arrived, they all gathered around the birthday cake, which by this time was almost aflame because of all the hundreds of candles Leechie had used.

The fat Loopie with the immensely big tuba blew very hard to begin the tune to the Happy Birthday song. But he was standing right next to the cake! His big blast of air caused the candles to flare up violently. Dot Mayor Piney’s wife who was sitting next to the birthday cake had taken in a big breath of air to begin singing, but instead yelled, “Aahhhhhhhh!!!”

She shrieked as her hat caught fire! She tried fanning the flames out but only managed to make it worse! Mayor Piney’s wig was the next thing to catch a light. He ran around the yard yelping and shouting for help!

“Someone call the fire brigade!” yelled a Loopie from the crowd.

Leechie gasped, this was not going at all how she planned! Soon the entire yard was a light, complete with yelling Loopies that were on fire! It was a disaster! But not for long!

“Did someone call the fire department?” called a familiar voice above the mayhem. It was fireman Andy. The Loopies were so relieved to see him!

“Let her rip boys!” he shouted as he instructed the Loopies from the fire department to turn the hose on to full blast. He sprayed the garden, the brass band and the cake! Everything got soaked through, wet balloons, soggy sweets and waxy birthday candles littered Rufus and Ruff’s garden. It was a mess!  Leechie burst into tears; her perfect party for the brothers was completely ruined.  The garden lay in tatters. And the fire hose kept spraying!

“You can turn her off now boys the fire’s out!” said Fireman Andy desperately.

“Sorry chief, it’s no use, the valve is stuck!”

Try as they might, they couldn’t switch the hose off and gallons and gallons of water kept pumping into the yard.  By this time Leechie was reduced to a sobbing mess of tears while the brothers looked on in delight as their yard was transformed into a mini lake!

“Now I can test out my speed boat!” said a thrilled Rufus who smiled triumphantly and gave a thumbs up to fireman Andy. Ruff grinned with glee.

“I’ll get the skis!” he said happily.

The Loopies who had come to the party began bobbing up and down in the watery playground as Rufus and Ruff powered up the speed boat and whooshed past spraying everyone with a wave of water as they sloshed around the garden.

The Loopies spent the day enjoying themselves immensely! Fireman Andy had saved the day! What a grand birthday party all thanks to fireman Andy!

© 2010 Ingrid Holtshausen. All rights reserved.

It all started one windy day when Granny received a flyer advertising the annual Jamboree. Jamboree time in Acersville got jam lovers especially excited as the best jam makers from all over the country, from near and far gathered together to showcase their most delectable jams.

Granny grinned as she decided to enter her prize winning banana-lade jam. Once home, she got out all her pots and pans along with a truck load of bananas and equal amounts of sugar. The wind teased at her kitchen window and undid the window latch. The wind grinned as it carried the smells of the jam up the mountainside. A Shape who was resting in the long mountain grass smelt the jam, and jumped to its feet!

Now nobody really knows very much about Shapes except that they are one of Acersville’s funniest species, known for their monkey-like behaviour and strangely shaped bodies. They live high up on mount Peakmore and generally don’t come down the mountain, except on rare occasion and today was such an occasion!

The Shape stuck out its head and gave a mighty sniff. It could smell bananas and better yet, Granny’s freshly brewed banana-lade jam! Soon all of the shapes who lived ontop of Mount Peakmore had begun sniffing the wonderous smell of Granny’s jam. Then one by one they began hopping down the side of the mountain as if overcome by some force, compelled to go and seize the jam for themselves!

The Shapes made their way down the mountainside and toward Granny’s home. Now if you know anything about Shapes, you will know that they absolutely have no manners at all.  The How-wheeler monkeys rolled like wheels all over the place killing the neatly planted flowers along the streets.

Leechie shook her paw at them, “You, you villans!” she shouted angrily at them, but they took no notice, none of them did, especially not the Band of Square-illas who had hopped exciteably all the way toward Loopie Hall, followed closely by the Triangle Tangs.

The Babmoons rocked violently on their crescent shaped backs, knocking everyone in their way clean off their feet.

It was a disaster! A complete fiasco! It was so bad that no-body could go out onto the street for fear of coming close to a Shape and being knocked down or rolled over.

Now of all the Loopies in Acresville, none was braver than The Flame. The Flame was better known to the Loopies as Spoof, the quiet and reserved store owner from Spruce Street. He lived a quiet life and nobody would have ever suspected him of being a super hero in his spare time, none excpet for Rufus, Ruff and a few others in Acesrville, but that’s another story entirely! Now on this particular windy and chaotic day, Spoof looked out of his window to find Acersville in ruins. The Shapes had left no stone unturned in their desparate persuit of Granny’s jam.

“Something has to be done!” shouted Mayor Piney to the few Loopies who had braved the mayhem had gathered together in Loopie Hall for the Jamboree.

“But what?” asked Giligan nervously, who secretly wished he had brought along his security blanket, for fear of its safety of course.

“I don’t know, but something!” cried the perplexed Mayor who had to dive beneath a nearby table to avoid being kicked by a Triangle Tang who had been swinging from the light fittings.

“Leave it to me.” thought Spoof as he raced home to put on his Flame disguise.

The Shapes continued to raid Acersville eager to find the jam that had got them so excited in the first place. Petrified Loopies had hid themselves in their homes, with Shapes banging wildly at their doors and trying to enter through the windows.

Suddenly and out of nowhere the Flame came whooshing past! With such speed that the Shapes stopped what they were doing to take a look. As he whooshed the Shapes noticed he had covered his cape in banana-lade jam! Jolly good Flame that’ll get their attention!

The Shapes stopped, smelled the jam and raced after the Flame who ran dripping through the streets! The Shapes followed wildly in pursuit and forgot about Acersville almost instantly. Luckily for Spoof, he could run extra fast and he outran the Shapes with such speed that the jam had difficulty clinging to his cape! Spoof ran all the way back up the mountain, with the Shapes close behind.

The Loopies clapped and cheered.

“Three cheers for The Flame! Hooray!” they shouted.

Later at the Jamboree, Rustaberry was given a gold medal for his Topical Coconut Jam which he’d brought all the way from the Island of Not. But Rustaberry was not the only one to receive a gold medal! Mayor Piney issued the Flame with a gold medal too for the bravery he’d shown in leading the Shapes back to their homes on the mountain side!

That night Spoof smiled as he looked at his gold medal. He chuckled as he thought about those naughty Shapes and tired from the day’s activities, soon fell fast asleep. The moon smiled down on him gently and it watched the Shapes too, as they lay outstretched on the grassy mountainside dreaming of the day’s events and especially Granny’s banana-lade!

Goodnight Spoof, a super hero you are indeed, and may you be close by always, well at least wherever banana-lade jam can be found!

© 2010 Ingrid Holtshausen. All rights reserved.