Charlie B. Dinkle's Delightful Adventure

Ch. 5 ~ Here is here

Chapter 5

   “AAH!” Charlie screamed. She felt scared at first while Swaggy Swiggy wriggled through the dirt tunnel. Then she realized how exciting this was, and she did a different scream. “WOO-HOO!”

   “Don’t fall!” boomed Swiggy. “We’re almost there!”

   Charlie B. Dinkle felt like she was the worm; the dirt in front of her was breaking as Swiggy moved through it like a train. When Charlie looked back, she saw a hole – like her fuzzy friend was leaving a really cool underground tunnel behind him.

   Finally, Swaggy Swiggy smashed his head upwards, so that a big hole of light came through it. He poked his head through the hole, the rest of his squiggly body coming out, too.

   “I’m back!” Swiggy Swaggy boomed loudly. All around them were large holes in the dirt ground, like several other super-worms had made them.

   “Swiggy!” someone boomed back. Charlie B. Dinkle looked to see another striped squiggly, like Swaggy Swiggy, working its way towards them. Unlike Swiggy Swaggy, his stripes were black and yellow. Like a bumble bee. Charlie knew it was a boy because he had black and yellow spikes of hair on his head. Soon, other striped squiggles came to see Swaggy Swiggy and Charlie, too. They were all striped.

   “Where’ve you been, Swaggy Swiggy?” one of the squiggles asked.

   “Hey, is that caramel on your lips?” another asked.

   “Who’s the little bunny on your head?” one of the squiggles asked.

   “Hey!” the yellow and black striped squiggly shouted over everyone else’s voice. “Give my squiggly some space here!”

   Charlie got off of Swaggy Swiggy’s head by sliding down his wormy body like a slide. She watched as the bumble-bee striped squiggly came over to Swiggy’s side. The squiggles bonked their heads together as greeting.

   “Thanks, Squiggle B,” said Swaggy Swiggy to his black and yellow friend. “I owe you.”

   “Who’s the bunny next to you?” someone asked again. A crowd of squiggles had gathered around Charlie B. Dinkle, Swaggy Swiggy, and Squiggle B.

   Swiggy said, “She’s not a bunny. She’s a girl, and an exciting one, too. Got me a nice sweet apple, she did.”

   There were murmurs of approval within the crowd at Charlie’s good deed.

   “I’m Charlie,” Charlie said. “Charlie B. Dinkle. Like Sprinkle.”

   More approval. “Oh yes, sprinkles are nice.”

   A little girl squiggly with two pigtails said at the front, “I like your dress.”

   “Thank you,” said Charlie.

   “Say, Charlie,” Squiggle B said, “You should hang with us – you’re exciting. Let me introduce ourselves: we are the striped squiggles, the most exciting people you’ll meet around here.”

   “But,” asked Charlie, “where is here?”

   Everyone paused. Then Squiggle B said, “Uh, we don’t know. Here is here, I guess. No one ever named the land before.”

   “Then we should name it!” exclaimed Charlie.

   “Yeah!” agreed Swiggy Swaggy. “We are the most exciting people around, aren’t we?”

   “Yes!” chorused the crowd.

   “Alright!” said Swiggy. “But we can’t name the entire place in our little home. Not here. Then it won’t be official. We have to do it on Cuddle Crunch Cloud. That way, we’ll make the cloud rain onto the land, singing along with it the new name. Every squiggle agreed?”

   “Every squiggle agreed,” said the crowd of squiggles in unison.

   “Charlie B. Dinkle,” said Swiggy, turning to the little girl. “Agreed?”

   Charlie B. Dinkle showed all her square, white teeth in a big, goofy grin. “Agreed.”