Neb and Gem Chapter 2
Chapter 2
Gem put the little man in the palm of her hand, lifted him up close to her face and smiled her prettiest smile so he would know she was friendly. “Hi, little man. My name is Gem.” She said. “What is yours?”
Well, he said quite a few things that we would not want to put down here in writing. He was pretty mad about being picked up, and he did not think it was much of an excuse that Gem thought he was a flower when she did it. In fact that seemed to make him even madder. He also did not like being called “little man” but instead informed Gem that she was entirely too big for his taste, and after a great deal of complaining, cussing and cursing it turned out his name was Ralph, or at least it sounded enough like Ralph so that is what Gem decided to call him. Gem decided that she was not going to find out much more about the little man until he calmed down, and besides, she was beginning to think about how much fun it would be to show Neb what she found and to see what he thought about this strange little man. It was fun sometimes to see what Neb thought about things. Once she brought him a clothes pin and he put it on his nose. She thought that was pretty funny, but it was even funnier when he took it off his nose and put it on his mouth. “Mumph mumph.” He had said then.
“Guess what I found, Neb.” she said.
“A big delicious, juicy worm.” he guessed.
“Yeach. Guess again.” she said.
“A dollar” he said hopefully.
“Guess again.” said Gem.
“A booger” said Neb, who would have liked it to be a dollar.
“No.” said Gem. “Something you never saw before.”
That got his interest, and Neb looked up from his fishing.
“I give up.” he said.
Gem held the little man between her two hands, and she opened them up to show Neb. Ralph stomped and cursed at first, but suddenly he stopped and stared at Neb’s shirt. Neb stared at Ralph’s shirt.
Ralph laughed.
Neb laughed.
Gem wondered what was going on. At first she thought maybe they both had a furry caterpillar crawling up their pants legs and tickling them. The one crawling up Ralph’s leg would have to be very very small. But then she decided it was not very likely they both had caterpillars tickling them at the same time, even if there was one small enough to get up Ralph’s pants leg.
“What is so funny?” she asked.
“His shirt” Neb laughed.
“His shirt” Ralph laughed.
You may remember that both Neb and Ralph were wearing shirts that said something funny on them. Neb’s shirt had a picture of a princess making a face and holding a frog in her hand. It said “You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find a prince.” This was funny enough, but it was especially funny because Ralph’s shirt had a picture of a frog making a face and holding a little prince in her hand, and it said “You have to kiss a lot of princes before you find a frog.” When they read the shirts to Gem, she started to laugh too, and she said “Ribit” and they all laughed some more and started telling riddles and jokes and saying “Ribit” in between.
After a while Ralph told his new friends that though he was sure having a good time, and by the way he was very sorry he had been so rude to Gem when she first picked him up, thinking he was a brown flower
“Oh, think nothing of it” said Gem very politely.
…but he really must get back about his business and find a way to rescue his friends from the giant spaceship which was at this very moment parked across the lake. He explained that he and about twenty of his friends had been having a picnic lunch on their home planet of PeeWee when this giant spaceship had pulled up beside them and scooped him and his friends up into a jar, and they were taken aboard. Next stop had been the planet of WeePee, and a bunch of WeePeers had been set beside them in another jar. WeePeers were very noisy and cried a lot and Ralph didn’t much like them. Even so, he didn’t think it was right they had been snatched from their home planet and put in a jar. Gem and Neb didn't think it was right either.
They told Ralph that they would be glad to help him get his people back to the planet of PeeWee and they would also help him drop off the WeePeers along the way, and they suggested they all three go and check with Gem and Neb’s mom and dad to see if they had any ideas about how this could be done.
What did Mom and Dad think about the little man? Do you think Mom and Dad had any ideas? Do you think the ideas were any good? Do you think Neb and Gem and Ralph had a better one? You can bet they did. And what about the frog people? Don’t kiss one until the next chapter where you will find out what happens if you do.
Gem put the little man in the palm of her hand, lifted him up close to her face and smiled her prettiest smile so he would know she was friendly. “Hi, little man. My name is Gem.” She said. “What is yours?”
Well, he said quite a few things that we would not want to put down here in writing. He was pretty mad about being picked up, and he did not think it was much of an excuse that Gem thought he was a flower when she did it. In fact that seemed to make him even madder. He also did not like being called “little man” but instead informed Gem that she was entirely too big for his taste, and after a great deal of complaining, cussing and cursing it turned out his name was Ralph, or at least it sounded enough like Ralph so that is what Gem decided to call him. Gem decided that she was not going to find out much more about the little man until he calmed down, and besides, she was beginning to think about how much fun it would be to show Neb what she found and to see what he thought about this strange little man. It was fun sometimes to see what Neb thought about things. Once she brought him a clothes pin and he put it on his nose. She thought that was pretty funny, but it was even funnier when he took it off his nose and put it on his mouth. “Mumph mumph.” He had said then.
“Guess what I found, Neb.” she said.
“A big delicious, juicy worm.” he guessed.
“Yeach. Guess again.” she said.
“A dollar” he said hopefully.
“Guess again.” said Gem.
“A booger” said Neb, who would have liked it to be a dollar.
“No.” said Gem. “Something you never saw before.”
That got his interest, and Neb looked up from his fishing.
“I give up.” he said.
Gem held the little man between her two hands, and she opened them up to show Neb. Ralph stomped and cursed at first, but suddenly he stopped and stared at Neb’s shirt. Neb stared at Ralph’s shirt.
Ralph laughed.
Neb laughed.
Gem wondered what was going on. At first she thought maybe they both had a furry caterpillar crawling up their pants legs and tickling them. The one crawling up Ralph’s leg would have to be very very small. But then she decided it was not very likely they both had caterpillars tickling them at the same time, even if there was one small enough to get up Ralph’s pants leg.
“What is so funny?” she asked.
“His shirt” Neb laughed.
“His shirt” Ralph laughed.
You may remember that both Neb and Ralph were wearing shirts that said something funny on them. Neb’s shirt had a picture of a princess making a face and holding a frog in her hand. It said “You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find a prince.” This was funny enough, but it was especially funny because Ralph’s shirt had a picture of a frog making a face and holding a little prince in her hand, and it said “You have to kiss a lot of princes before you find a frog.” When they read the shirts to Gem, she started to laugh too, and she said “Ribit” and they all laughed some more and started telling riddles and jokes and saying “Ribit” in between.
After a while Ralph told his new friends that though he was sure having a good time, and by the way he was very sorry he had been so rude to Gem when she first picked him up, thinking he was a brown flower
“Oh, think nothing of it” said Gem very politely.
…but he really must get back about his business and find a way to rescue his friends from the giant spaceship which was at this very moment parked across the lake. He explained that he and about twenty of his friends had been having a picnic lunch on their home planet of PeeWee when this giant spaceship had pulled up beside them and scooped him and his friends up into a jar, and they were taken aboard. Next stop had been the planet of WeePee, and a bunch of WeePeers had been set beside them in another jar. WeePeers were very noisy and cried a lot and Ralph didn’t much like them. Even so, he didn’t think it was right they had been snatched from their home planet and put in a jar. Gem and Neb didn't think it was right either.
They told Ralph that they would be glad to help him get his people back to the planet of PeeWee and they would also help him drop off the WeePeers along the way, and they suggested they all three go and check with Gem and Neb’s mom and dad to see if they had any ideas about how this could be done.
What did Mom and Dad think about the little man? Do you think Mom and Dad had any ideas? Do you think the ideas were any good? Do you think Neb and Gem and Ralph had a better one? You can bet they did. And what about the frog people? Don’t kiss one until the next chapter where you will find out what happens if you do.