“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 had been a long time since Granny had been away on holiday. She missed the sea air and decided to do something about it. So she packed her bags, took her toothbrush and was just about to leave when, “Meoooooow!” it was Linky, her cat.

“Oh deary me, I’ve forgotten about you Linky.” said Granny, bending down to stroke the ginger animal. Just then she caught sight of Scales, her gold fish. Oh bother now she was really in a pickle. She couldn’t go away, she had to look after her pets!

Granny sat down in her favourite chair, to think about what to do.

Coo-coo-awk-awk-coo-coo-jolly good-awk!

“What on earth is that noise?” thought Granny as she got up to have a look.

It was Professor Astro, he was the nuttiest Loopie in Acersville! He wore thick glasses and was always coming up with new inventions! The Professor saw Granny peering out of her window at him. He grinned and waved at her, motioning for her to open the door.

“Hallo Granny!” he smiled, looking very pleased with himself.

“Good morning Astro, what have you there?” she asked.

“It’s my newest invention!” he smiled proudly, “It’s a Parrot-Cuckoo Alarm Clock!”

Granny looked puzzled, “What does it do?” she asked.

“Well, it’s pretty neat if you need to remind yourself what to do next.” The Professor looked at Linky, “Like perhaps feeding the cat?”

“Oh!” said Granny, smiling brightly. “That sounds like a perfect invention, and I know just how you can test it!”

She quickly explained that she had been deciding to take a vacation and couldn’t go because she had pets to look after, but now with Astro’s invention, all that could change!

“I’d be happy to look after your house and pets while you’re away Granny!” said Astro.

“Good! Let me quickly write you a list of all the things that need to be done around the house each day, and then you can set your invention to remind you!” Granny was twitching with excitement.

“What a wonderful plan.” beamed Astro.

Granny wrote out a long list, placed it on the kitchen counter, picked up her bags and waved to the Professor, “See you in a week!” she called and was soon out of sight.

The Professor smiled and stroked Linky.

“Looks like it’s just you, me and Scales for the next few days.”

“Awk! And me! Coo-coo!” said the alarm clock.

The Professor smiled, what a good invention he had made! He quickly went to work setting his Parrot-Cuckoo Alarm Clock to remind him about his tasks for the next few days.

The next day the Professor was woken early by the squawking of his clock.

“Make the tea! Awk, make the tea! Coo-coo! Coo-coo!”

The Professor rubbed his eyes and got out of bed, he stumbled down to the kitchen, without his glasses!

The Professor reached for the tea bags and hot water, but without his glasses he was as blind as a bat! He knocked over the kettle, which sent boiling water all over the kitchen! The boiling water spilled onto Granny’s list dissolving half of her writing!

“Awk! Not good! Coo-coo!” screamed the alarm clock.

“It’s alright, quite alright.” said the Professor dabbing up the water with a soft cloth.

“You’re programmed to let me know when I have to do things, remember?”

But the professor had forgotten that he needed the list to tell him other things he hadn’t programmed into the Parrot-Cuckoo Alarm Clock!

“Coo-coo, coo-coo! Awk, whistle, awk, time for the laundry, wash the clothes, whistle!”

The Professor looked pleased with himself.

“See, was that so difficult? You have all the information right up there.” He said pointing to the Parrot’s head.

The Professor busily went about collecting dirty clothes and sheets. He stuffed them all inside the washing machine until he couldn’t stuff anymore.

“Now, how many scoops of washing power do we need?” he asked the alarm clock.

“Awk!” squawked the Parrot looking at Granny’s frumpled list.

“Oh dear!” said the Professor, “it looks like we needed the list after all!”

‘Oh well, drastic measures call for drastic action! Let’s make it five scoops! Then it will be all nice, fluffy and clean.”

So the Professor began loading scoops of washing powder into the machine. He then hurried off with his Parrot-Cuckoo Alarm Clock to finish the other tasks set for the day, while the washing machine washed. The washing machine swished and swashed and swished and swashed until….

KERSWALLOOSH! SPLASH SPLISH!

The washing machine door popped off and all the sheets and clothes flopped in a soapy mess onto the floor. But the machine kept washing!

Wish-wash-wish. Wish-swash-swish it went, making more and more and more bubbles from the many scoops of soap powder the Professor had used!

But that wasn’t the only disaster of the day! Without his glasses or Granny’s list, the Professor had managed to turn Granny’s entire house on it’s head! He fed the cat fish food and poured milk in the fish bowl, he vacuumed the roses and watered the carpets. He boiled the ironing for dinner and folded the peas! Poor Granny! She was going to come home to such a mess!

By this time the bubbles had made their way out into the street! And the machine kept on washing. Wish-wash-swish-wash-wish-wash-wish!

“Hallo?” asked Rufus as he and Ruff had passed the bubbly mess.

“What’s this?”

“It looks like a whole lot of soapy bubbles to me.” said Ruff.

“Indeed! But this means someone is having a party without us! C’mon!” he replied, taking Ruff’s hand and dragging him to find the source of the bubbles.

Rufus and Ruff reached Granny’s house, which by this time was completely hidden from sight underneath all the washing foam.

“Awk! Whistle, tap the bath! Tap the bath! Coo-coo!” Came the muffled sounds of a Parrot’s voice from underneath the bubbles.

Rufus looked at Ruff, who shrugged.

“Maybe Granny has a new pet?” he offered.

“Only one way to find out!” said Rufus heading straight into the bubbles.

“La-la-li-tra-la-la!” It was the Professor, he looked quite funny without his glasses!

“Professor! Professor!” shouted Rufus, trying to shout loudly over the sounds of the vacuum and the Professor’s singing.

“What’s that?” the Professor turned.

“Oh, Rufus, what’s this you’ve brought with you?” he asked.

“It’s my brother Ruff Professor, you know who he is?” answered Rufus, not realizing that Ruff had been completely covered with bubbles on their way in.

“But then why does he look like that? Is it Halloween already?”

“Professor, turn off the vacuum! What are you doing to Granny’s house?” instructed Ruff who had had quite enough at this stage.

“Well..” said the Professor, obviously flustered at the unexpected interruption.

The Professor explained that Granny was away on holiday and that he was looking after her house using his latest invention, his Parrot-Cuckoo Alarm Clock.

“Professor, I think your alarm is broken.” Retorted Ruff looking at the house riddled with disaster.

“Quite the contrary, Ruff!” said the Professor proudly.

“Look at all the things I’ve been able to do for Granny. Why, my alarm is in perfect working order!”

Rufus quickly handed the Professor his glasses and with that the Professor’s face fell. His thick bottle-tops revealed what Rufus and Ruff had been trying to tell him.

“Egad! Good Heavens! This place is a mess! Someone should really clean it up!”

He looked at the brothers, a grave expression crossing his face, as he realized he couldn’t do it alone.

“No problems Professor!” Rufus answered Astro’s unasked question.

“We’ll get this place straight in no time!”

And with that the three Loopies began cleaning, tidying and straightening out Granny’s house. In no time at all Granny’s house was back to normal and ready for her return.

“Thank you Ruff and Rufus!” said a relieved Professor.

“It’s no problem Professor, really.” smiled Rufus.

“But before we go.” added Ruff, “There’s just one last thing we must do!”

With that he took the Professor’s Parrot-Cuckoo Alarm Clock and set it to remind Astro of one more task.

The brothers waved good night to the Professor and headed off home. The Professor was so tired he flopped onto the couch and fell into a deep sleep. In the morning he was again woken by the squawking of his alarm clock, but this time it had a different message:

“Awk, wear your glasses! Don’t forget your glasses! Coo-coo!”

© 2007 Ingrid Holtshausen. All Rights Reserved.

Download “Granny Goes Away” PDF Document

Tubblie was the practical joker of Acersville. He couldn’t go anywhere without spraying someone with water or setting whoopie cushions down where they were going to sit. He was a real menace!

This time he had given Chelsea a gift. It was a box, wrapped in beautiful pink paper with a pretty bow on the lid. She was so pleased, that she opened it immediately and a giant springy snake jumped out at her!

“Aaaaaah!” She screamed.

Chelsea burst into tears while Tubblie went off laughing.

Chelsea was the friendliest Loopie in all Acersville. She was kind and always thought the best of anyone. Chelsea was one of the few Loopies left in Acersville that would still give Tubblie a chance. Most of the others were already wise to his tricks.

“What’s wrong?” asked Leechie softly. She was out on her morning walk and noticed Chelsea looking rather upset.

“I’m so angry at Tubblie,” She blurted.

“Oh dear, what did he do this time?”

“He gave me a present, with a big snake inside.” Chelsea sobbed.

“I feel so stupid for thinking Tubblie could ever have meant to be kind.”

Leechie took Chelsea’s paw and smiled. “I know who can help us, come with me.”

They went to see Ruff and Rufus and explained all that Tubblie had done.

Rufus grinned, “Leave it to us.”

“What are we going to do Rufus?” asked Ruff puzzled.
“You’ll see!”

The next day Rufus and Ruff invited Tubblie over to their house.

“We have made a present for you Tubblie.” explained Rufus, pointing to a large covered object in the middle of the yard.

“What is it?” cried Tubblie excitedly.

“Go have a look.”

“Oh boy!” Tubblie ran towards the object and lifted the cloth that covered it. “It’s a robot! Quite a strange looking one too!”

“A Bahena.” said Ruff, trying hard not to laugh.

Rufus thumped him in the ribs.

“A Ba-what?” asked Tubblie, looking very interested.

“It’s a mixture between a Baboon and a Hyena. It’s programmed to laugh at jokes and to beat up bad guys.” explained Rufus.

Tubblie smiled slyly.

“Thanks. You guys are the best.”

Tubblie said hurried goodbyes as he rolled his new present away. “I can’t wait to test you out Bahena.” he whispered to the robot, “And I have just the plan!”

Tubblie rolled his Bahena behind some bushes and hid himself behind a tree not far away. He saw Granny on her way down the path carrying her shopping home.

“Watch this Bahena. Here comes your first joke for the day.” giggled the naughty Tubblie.

“Waaaaaaa!” he screamed as he jumped out in front of Granny.

Suddenly and without any warning, the Bahena jumped out from behind the bushes and began to beat Tubblie over the head with a stick.
Granny laughed and laughed. Tubblie looked so funny dancing all over the park with a whatever-you-call-it behind him.

Granny laughed so much that she dropped her shopping and collapsed in a heap on the ground. The tears rolled down her cheeks, she spluttered, coughed and could hardly breathe.

“Thank you Tubblie!” she cried, when she managed to straighten herself and pick up all of her groceries. “That was the best laugh I’ve had in years!”

Tubblie didn’t hear Granny. He was just trying to scramble away from his Bahena.

Eventually the beating stopped. Tubblie rubbed his head. It was aching.

“What was that for Bahena?” he cried, “You were supposed to laugh at my joke, not beat me up. Probably a start-up malfunction or something. Come on, I’ve got another idea.”

So off went Tubblie in search of another victim with the Bahena trailing behind him.

“Ahh!” said Tubblie excitedly. “Here’s someone now.”

It was George. George had been the Postmaster of Acersville since Tubblie was a pup.

George had a lot of deliveries to make and the day wasn’t getting any longer.

Tubblie ran out in front of George and grabbed some letters out of his hands and ran off. But he didn’t get quite the reaction he had wanted. George looked at Tubblie and grinned. “You can be my little helper if you want, you just have to promise to wear a tiny green uniform.”

Tubblie was horrified. He was no elf! Just then, the Bahena laughed. It was first muffled and then it got louder and louder.

“Hey, wait a minute!” said Tubblie, getting quite furious, “You’re supposed to laugh at my jokes!”

He got so angry that he pulled the Bahena’s head off and to his surprise…

“Leechie! Chelsea! You were the Bahena?!”

“Yes.” They giggled, “You’re so funny Tubblie, especially when you’re angry.”

“I don’t like it when Loopies laugh at me, or beat me with sticks or make a fool out of me!” shouted Tubblie.

“Now you know how we feel most of the time Tubblie.” said Chelsea.

Tubblie looked down at the ground, “Do I really make you feel that way?” he asked sheepishly.

“Yes you do.”

“Then I will change.”

And from that day on, Tubblie really did change. He is now the nicest Loopie in Acersville, thanks to Rufus and Ruff’s Bahena!

© 2007 Ingrid Holtshausen. All Rights Reserved.

Pilot ruffled through the papers on his drawing board. He grinned; his plans were coming along brilliantly. He pulled his lamp closer to inspect his drawings and then went back to his building.
KNOCK, TAP, TAP, TAP, KNOCK, KNOCK.

The Loopies living next door to Pilot were all very excited. They couldn’t wait to find out what it was that Pilot was getting up to each night. Every night they would hear loud banging and hammering, knocking, nailing and tapping sounds coming from his workshop.

The Loopies were so inquisitive that Jingle, Pilot’s next door neighbour, had placed a ladder against the wall to peer over into Pilot’s yard and stare right into his workshop with his binoculars! Pilot got so angry he shot marbles at Jingle with his slingshot and broke his binoculars lenses!

Later that day Crumpet went over to Pilot’s house. She had brought him a big Apple–pie, Pilot really liked Apple-pie, so Crumpet thought she would be able to bribe him with it to see what he was up to. But Pilot was too clever for Crumpet.
“Thanks for the trouble!” he said grabbing the pie and slamming the door.
“But I thought that I could come in and see what you’re busy with?” protested Crumpet. But all she could hear were the muffled noises of Pilot tucking into the juicy Apple-pie.
“That’s it! No more freebies for him!” said Crumpet, fuming.

Pilot went back to his workshop. He was expecting Rufus and Ruff to drop by later with some paint and needed to finish up before they came. It wasn’t long before Pilot heard the two brothers walking up the lane to his house.
“Hold her steady Ruff, we’re nearly there.” said Rufus, as he and Ruff slopped some paint out of the bucket they were carrying. Pilot locked up his workshop and went out to meet his two friends.

“So what’s the paint for Pilot?” asked Ruff inquisitively.
“Well I suppose everyone will find out soon enough. Can you keep a secret?” asked Pilot.
Rufus smiled at his brother Ruff. “Ruff and I are the kings of secret keeping in Acersville!”
Pilot took them into his workshop and switched on the light.
“A plane!” gasped Rufus.
“How will you power it?” asked Ruff.
“With extra sweetened ginger-beer!” he grinned.
“Can you do that?” asked Rufus quite puzzled.
“I assure you that I know of no law against the use of ginger-beer while driving – especially while flying!” replied Pilot.

Rufus and Ruff agreed to paint a big poster of Pilot’s plane and hang it in Acer Square early the next morning, along with clearly marked signs stating the time and place of Pilot’s take-off. Pilot was pleased and said goodbye to his friends. He then set to work on painting his plane.

The next day the Square was buzzing with excitement. All the Loopies had seen the posters and began making their way up to Buttercup Clearing on top of Sentinel Hill to watch Pilot make his triumphant first flight.

They cheered when they saw Pilot’s plane but Pilot motioned for them to settle down.
“Start me up boys!” he said to Rufus and Ruff, who were standing ready. They began to clip corked bottles of extra sweetened carbonated ginger-beer in place under the wings of Pilot’s plane. Ruff showed Pilot a thumbs up when all the bottles were in place. Pilot smiled, slung his scarf triumphantly over his shoulder and peddled his plane down the hill.

As Pilot raced his plane down the hill all the bumping and rattling caused the ginger-beer bottles to shake violently. And we all know what happens when you shake carbonated drinks! Pop, pop, pop. One by one the corks began to pop off of the bottles, giving Pilot’s plane more and more power. Eventually Pilot was half way down the hill and the last cork popped off. It gave Pilot enough power to swoop into the air like a red eagle. Up, up, up he soared and then leveled and … he was flying!!

The Loopies below could hardly believe their eyes. They clapped and cheered. Pilot marveled as he flew! It was so beautiful to see Acersville from so high up! Mayor Piney from down below began smiling as he imagined himself flying in to his next election.

Eventually Pilot landed. The Loopies stormed towards Pilot.
“Can we have a chance too?” they asked.
Pilot smiled, “Of course!” he said, “Just one at a time though!”
The Loopies cheered. The rest of that day the Loopies took turns flying in Pilot’s plane, what an exciting day!

© 2006 Ingrid Holtshausen. All Rights Reserved.