Grumpy's Bones

The Phone Calls

Grumpy, yet again, woke up in the same hospital room where Dr. Z was looking at him.

"What happened this time?" asked Dr. Z.

"Well, Dopey set the house on fire and I was tryin' to help stop the fire, and then I broke my back again," answered the cranky dwarf.

Dr. Z looked at the dwarf as if he were the craziest man in the world. He cleared his throat, thought for a moment, and gave Grumpy a look as if he understood him.

"I see," said Dr. Z, "now, we're probably going to have to put a back brace on you, and this time, just call for help if something happens," said Dr. Z.

"What about the house?" asked Grumpy, concerned.

"The house, oh don't worry too much about that, only a small portion burnt down, but thanks to your insurance, they'll have it repaired in no time!" assured Dr. Z.

"Ugh, alright," said Grumpy, "just lemme rest fer a bit..."

Grumpy closed his eyes.

One week later...

Grumpy woke up in his own bed once again in the morning. Doc had let him sleep past the usual he wakes up since Grumpy's back was broken. Snow White and Prince Florian had the time to come over to watch him and give him what he needs.

"Grumpy," said Snow, "you have yet to take your pills."

Grumpy cringed at the thought of having to take his antibiotics once again.

"Alright, fine," Grumpy mumbled.

Snow gave him a cup of water to take his pills with, which he reluctantly accepted and drank the rather large pill down his dry throat. Grumpy winced as he felt the pill traveling down his gullet.

"Agh, I hate the pill," Grumpy said to himself.

Snow White gave him a smile, trying to reassure him everything was going to be alright, as long as he did the things Dr. Z told him to do.

Grumpy shrugged and laid on his back, where the pill was starting to numb the pain.

. . .

Grumpy heard his ringtone on his phone and took a look at it. It was Doc who was trying to call him. Sighing, as annoyed as he felt, Grumpy answered it.

"Hello?" said Doc.

"Hey, Doc." Grumpy replied.

"How's your back feeling?"

"Fine."

"I hope you're not feelin' too bad."

"Everythin' is fine right now."

"Grumpy, don't give me that attitude. Is this because you can't go to work?"

Grumpy thought for a moment, then he replied, "Yeah, whatever."

Doc, at the mines, paused for a moment to tell Dopey to not throw away the gems.

"Sorry, it's just that work is keeping us busy," chuckled Doc.

"Hm, I can see that," replied Grumpy.

Doc heard his brothers singing in the cave, then turned back to the phone.

"Hold on for a moment," Doc said, "I need to do something."

Doc set the phone down and ran over to the cave, where the other dwarfs, save for Dopey, were working. Doc was attempting to get the others' attention, but they seemed too focused on their digging. After numerous times to get their attention, Doc finally succeeded by simply turning the lantern off, causing them run into a panic. Doc quickly turned the lantern back on to avoid anymore trouble, and gestured their focus onto him. Doc cleared his throat.

"Would anyone, uh, like to greak to Phumpy on the stone- er, speak to Grumpy on the phone?" Doc asked the other dwarfs.

Happy, well, happily volunteered. Doc nodded and ran over back to his desk to get his phone. He handed it over to the merry dwarf.

Grumpy, waiting rather impatiently, finally heard a voice on the phone.

"Alright, who is this?" Grumpy asked.

"Hey, Grumpy! It's me, Happy."

"Oh, hey, uh, what are ya doin' in there? Are y'all diggin' up enough of those diamonds? How're ya doin' without me? Are ya glad? I should probably expect yes fer an answer."

Doc, overhearing the other voice on the phone, assured, "Please don't mind the pessimistic things he says, he's just salty about not going to work."

"Don't worry, Doc, I'll handle it," said Happy, then went back on the phone, "we actually miss havin' you over here, Grumpy."

"Oh, you're just lyin' to make me feel better."

"No, I really mean it, Grumpy, of course we miss ya. We miss your rambling about the rocks being too stubborn to break!"

"Heh, whatever."

"How's your back been?"

"Fine. It's alright."

Sneezy tapped on Happy's shoulder.

"Mind if I talk to him?" asked Sneezy.

"Of course you can- See ya later, Grumpy!" Happy handed the phone over to Sneezy.

"Who's this now?"

"Hey, it's Sne- S-Sn-! AAA-!"

All Grumpy heard was a loud sneeze coming from the phone.

'Oh great,' Grumpy thought.

"Heh, sorry 'bout that," said Sneezy, nervously, "how have you been? How has your back been?"

A little more frustrated, Grumpy answered, "Alright- It's fine."

"Oh, I'm happy to hear that, I-I... I..- AAA-!"

Once again, Sneezy had sneezed, blowing the phone to Sleepy, who had been sleeping in the mine cart earlier, and the phone clonked him on the head, waking the tired dwarf up.

"Hello? Hello? Who is this now..." Grumpy asked.

"Oh, It's Sleepy," said Sleepy with a yawn, "How's your back been doin'? That's the question that's been keepin' me awake all day."

This time, a bit even more frustrated at this question, Grumpy replied, "It's been doin' fine. Whatever."

Grumpy could only get more angrier as he only heard snoring on the phone.

"WAKE UP, YA FOOL!" Grumpy yelled, angrily.

Hearing this from the phone, Sneezy took back the phone so Sleepy could avoid Grumpy's verbal wrath and decided to hand it to Bashful.

Grumpy heard the shifting of the phone once again and asked, again, "Who is this, now?"

"Um... I-It's Bashful."

"Y'all better not ask that question again." Grumpy said in a threatening way.

"Um..." Bashful gulped, "I only wanted to ask you how your back's been do-."

"OH, FORGET THIS!"

Bashful looked at the phone.

"He hung up."

Doc sighed, frustrated at Grumpy for being saltier than usual.

"I'll just talk to him when he gets home."