The Tales of Huckleberry Hound: Season 3

12. Hound on Parade

The Fourth of July was coming in just a few weeks, and that meant that Hill Street Neighborhood was going to have their annual celebration! The town was already being decorated in red, white and blue ribbons, and a great big American flag had been raised in the town square. Everyone was also preparing for the big parade. There would be all sorts of marching bands, street performers, clowns, and colorful floats! Huckleberry Hound really had his heart set on being in the parade that year.

"This is gonna be the best parade ever!" he said to himself.

He had made his way to the great big building where the parade committee always gathered, and he was standing in front of the director, Mr. Green.

"Now my idea goes like this," Huck was already explaining. "Me and the gang standing on top of our float where we have a big ol' Statue of Liberty, and we're all wearin' red, white and blue sashes! Hokey is dressed up like ol' George Washington, with a cherry tree, and Jinks can be Thomas Jefferson...and maybe Pixie and Dixie can be little park rangers with a statue of Teddy Roosevelt. And as for me..."

Mr. Green interrupted him by giving him a hard stare and a reply of, "Ahem! Ms. Clarice B. Billingsworth will already be representing Lady Liberty in a float of her own, and we already have a model of Mt. Rushmore that will be appearing in the parade as well. Now if you'll excuse me, we have a lot of work to do preparing for this parade."

"But, sir..."

"Please, Mr. Hound. We can handle this. Now be on your way."

"But..."

"Go!"

Huck couldn't believe that his plan for the parade had been rejected like yesterday's news. He let out a sad sigh as he made his way over to Mr. Antonio's shop later that day, where he and the gang always gathered each summer day for some ice cream. As they sat down at their table, Huck asked them for some new ideas.

"Gee, our plan being rejected by Mr. Green?" Hokey Wolf sighed. "What should we do now?"

"Like, uh, we could dress Huck up like Uncle Sam," Mr. Jinks chuckled.

Huck blinked, saying nothing at first, but then he started to chuckle back. "Huhuhuh! That's not a bad idea, Jinks! But me wearing that suit? Oh no...I couldn't in this hot weather! The hat would be just fine though. But don't get me started with that beard. It would be so itchy."

"Uhhhh, okay," Jinks replied. "Anything else?"

"We could march in a line, and have one of us play a drum and another one could play a flute!" Pixie suggested. "We could be like one of those little parades they had in those old marches back in 1776!"

"Well that ain't a bad suggestion, but there's gonna be a whole passel of marchin' bands in the parade," Huck replied. "We need something a bit bigger...something that everyone will notice!"

"Hmmmm, how about we look in some history books?" Hokey suggested.

Huck's eyes lit up. "Say, that's a great idea!" he beamed. "We'll head to the library after we have our ice cream, and we can all look at some books."

Later that day, Huck and the gang decided to get busy reading some history books to give them some ideas. They headed to the library, and looked at some books about American history. There were all sorts of historical events that the gang read about. Some were very tragic, but others were very positive changes that the country had gone through, and what it took to make them happen.

"Wars are never pretty," Dixie sighed, flipping through a book.

"No, but look at all the brave people who helped change things for the better!" Pixie pointed out. "There's so many names! Teddy Roosevelt helped create our national park system so that nature can be preserved!"