A Huckleberry Valentine

Chapter 7: A Sticky Situation

Hokey gazed at the map. "From the looks of things, I'd say we've reached Bubblegum Pass. It's a whole lot of pink as far as I can see!"

Yes, Hokey was right, there was a lot of pink, but also many other colors. Giant gumballs of just about every color dotted the landscape, and the roads were covered in little gum chiclet pieces, all of different sizes and colors. But there was also a lot of very bright pink gum that covered the ground and the trees. The houses were made out of big pink blocks of bubble gum with chewing gum strips as roofs and window shades, and there were bubble gum flowers growing everywhere. There were also a lot of holes in the ground that were gurgling and spewing out enormous bubbles! They were very big and beautiful, but also very sticky.

"Do any of you guys ever chew gum?" Cinnamon asked.

"I don't really chew gum," Huck replied. "But the only time I do is when there's an emergency."

"What do you mean?" Minty asked.

"Well when I worked as a prison warden, I had to get an inmate outta his cell," Huck explained. "I tried using bubble gum to blow a bubble so I could float up to his window and get him outta there."

"Ohhhhh," Minty said.

"There was another time in the Fender Bender race when our car ran out of fuel, so I used some bubble gum to plug up the hole in the fuel tank," Huck explained.

"I remember that," Snag said. "I couldn't find any huckleberries to use for fuel since we were in the middle of Athens, but I did find some grapes."

"Yeah, but they made us go way too fast," Huck replied. "Remember? We lost control before we could cross the finish line, and Quick Draw ended up winnin' that race."

"I see!" Minty said. "I don't really chew gum either. It can be bad for my teeth. Though I do make mint-flavored gum for those who want to chew it."

"I get it," Huck replied. "How about you, Snag?"

"Oh no, I'm not much of a gum chewer," Snag answered.

"I love bubble gum!" Hokey smiled. "As a young wolf, I always blew the biggest bubbles!"

"Speakin' of bubbles, looky at those big bubbles up in the air!" Huck said, pointing skyward. "They sure look pretty!"

He wanted to pop one, but Cinnamon grabbed him by the arm.

"STOP!!!" he cried. "Those are floating bubble gum bubbles. They're super sticky and they'll trap anyone inside who tries to touch them!"

"It's best if we try to avoid them," Coco added.

"And what's worse, if it pops on you, you can get stuck wherever you're standing!" Cinnamon added. "The big bubblegum pot under the ground here has the stickiest, gooiest gum in the whole world and those bubbles come from it!"

"Uh oh!" Huck cried. "Then I shouldn't pop it, right?"

"Uh huh," Coco replied.

The gang continued down the road, passing by one of the big bubbling and gurgling bubblegum pits. They had no trouble getting by it, until suddenly, a big pink bubble floated down to Huck and Snag, and it started engulfing them.

"Egad! What's that bubble floating around us?" Snag cried.

"Don't look now, Snag!" Huck exclaimed. "But I think it's about to swallow us up!"

The two friends started yelling for help, but it was too late. They were both stuck inside the enormous pink bubble! After a few seconds, POP! The bubble popped, and the two were stuck on each other's backs with gooey, sticky gum.