Winter jokes
By, Amy Lim Su Yen
“Hey Mary,
hurry up” yelled Alice and Bob across the street. I waved to them and smiled.
Alice, Bob and Mary, we are referred as the three musketeers. Sometimes people
do ask if we ever get tired of seeing each other all the time and our answer
will always be the same, no. “Hey Mary, day dreaming again?” asked Bob while
Alice is just right behind him.
I yanked him on the shoulder and he pinched my cheeks. That is how we always
greeted each other. “Look at the both of you, never changed”, said Alice. “When
will my friends ever grow up”, she continued. Both Bob and I then pinched her
as well. “Your turn, Alice” we laughed out loud. Something was rather odd
because Alice looked more annoyed than usual and she changed the topic right away.
“Do you guys want to go to school or not? It is starting to snow heavily so we
better get going”, she said in annoyance. We dare not say anything else and off
we went to school.
School passed by rather fast during the winter maybe because everything is so
cool. Even the most boring and dull subjects felt cool. I giggled at my own
lame joke. “So what is the joke?” asked Bob distracted by me. “Nothing, just an
inside joke of mine which will sound rather lame to you and it would be better not
to tell you” I said as a matter of fact because Bob always laughed at my jokes
and claims that they are lame. Al right maybe he is partially right, they are
kind of lame but I would not say all the time.
He looked at me with an eyebrow tilted up. “Spill it”, he said. Just then,
Alice came and joined in the conversation while Mrs. Potter taught us the
history behind World War II in front not realizing the three of us are being
distracted. “So what is going on with you two chatter box?” she asked,
interested to know what was going on behind here. “Alright, here is the joke.
You know how all the subjects we have especially World History is so utterly
boring and dull? Well, I was just telling myself everything is so cool during
winter including History. You get it? Cool?” I said followed by a slight
laughter.
Both of them looked at each other and they just shook their heads as though to
say there is nothing they can do about this friend of theirs already. “Alright,
it is lame. I know” I said rather embarrassed at myself too. “Anyway, let
us ignore our good friend’s lame joke and talk about something interesting.
There is a new café down the road, about three blocks from here. You girls want
to go there this evening to chill out? It will be cool. Get it? Chill out,
cool?” said Bob in a funny tone which did sound funny. I laughed.
It is always easy to make me laugh but I have no idea why I cannot do the same.
On the other hand, Alice remained silent and deep in her own thoughts. I
observed her for a while. Something is particular wrong with Alice these few
days. She lost her usual bubbly personality. It was easier to make her laugh
instead of me but both Bob and I have not heard any of her laughter for the
longest time. Well, a few days are awfully long for us. “Alice, is anything the
matter?” Bob asked before I did. So he noticed too. “No, I am fine. I cannot
make it tonight so the both of you just go on without me” she said and we saw
that she tried to force a smile.
The wind was blowing and it was ice cold on our face. Our jokes will now go
from cool to freezing. “So it is just the both of us this evening. What do you
feel like doing?” Bob asked after I managed to get myself out from my coat. I
immediately ordered a cup of hot chocolate before answering him. “Actually, Bob
I was thinking of something and it has been bugging me like an annoying bug or
something” I told him frankly. He raised an eyebrow. Bob is always raising an
eyebrow.
“You mean about Alice?” he asked suddenly being very serious. Alright, so he is
not just good at jokes but good at guessing as well or maybe it was so obvious
that Alice has been behaving so weird lately that any five year old kid would have
guessed it as well. I nodded. “Me too, she has been behaving very odd lately.
Something is going on and she is not telling us about it” said Bob while the
waitress placed two cup of hot chocolate in front of us.
We took a sip at the rich and hot liquid and I felt my entire body being filled
with warmth and happiness. I smiled and told Bob, “I can feel happiness
entering my intestine”. He looked at me with his face painted red. I think he
was preventing himself from bursting out in laughter. He swallowed it into his
stomach and said calmly, “That is by far the lamest thing I have ever heard
from you in this ten years”. I ignored his statement and resumed back to our
original topic. “About Alice, what do you think is going on with her? I am
worried, Bob” I said and it was the truth.
I am awfully worried for Alice. Bob looked at me for a while and then he
whispered to me slowly and carefully, “I think she is dating the principal’s
son and both of them have been spending the entire winter together every
evening”. I was taken aback by what he has just said. “Alice has been doing
what? How did you find out?” I asked him, puzzled and confused. He adjusted his
sitting position and leaned back slightly. “Well, I heard the principal has a
son and I have been seeing her walking to the principal’s house quite often”
Bob explained but I had a feeling he was spying on her.
“You were spying on Alice were you not?” I questioned. He immediately had guilt
plastered across his face. “Fine, I was spying on her but would you not spy on
your best friend who has been acting like she lost her soul or something? Al right,
here is the thing. I followed her that day while she was walking home from
school and guess where she went? Yes, that is right she went all the way to the
principal’s house, rang the doorbell and she went in. So how odd is that?” Bob
said everything in such an instant, asked a question that I did not even answer
and left me agog.
I gathered everything he just said and recalled all the pieces of information I
just gathered in my head. “You are rather slow, Mary” Bob teased. I threw him a
glare. “Wait a minute, Bob. So are you trying to say our dear Alice is ditching
us after she started dating the principal’s son whom I never knew existed? Oh
my goodness” I said. I finally understood what he just told me. He slammed his
hand on his head. “You are by far the slowest person I have ever met”, he said.
“Fine, Bob you can laugh at me later but can we please go and check on Alice
now? What if something goes wrong while the both of them is at home? What if
they are at home alone?” I said, nervous.
Bob stared at me wide eyed. “You thought what?” he asked in amazement. I
blushed, “You can laugh at me again later but it is a possibility you know. An
innocent young and absolutely gorgeous girl with a guy in his house is
dangerous. It spells danger, Bob. Danger” I emphasized on the word danger. Bob
looked at me for a while but I can read it in his expression that he is now
worried as well so we agreed to be spies tonight and we are going to spy on our
friend, Alice.
It must be at least three degrees out here and I cannot help but to worry about
my ear falling off. Bob and I stood behind a pine tree big enough to hide us
from Alice’s sight. Here she is. She walked straight to the principal’s front
door. I tried to see who opened the door for her to enter but this pine tree
did more than it was supposed to do. “Bob, did you see who let her in the
house?” I asked Bob, hoping he had seen this mysterious guy. “Nope, this pine
tree is way too big” he said truthfully. “Well, it was your idea to find
refugee behind this pine tree was it not?” I retorted, annoyed that neither of
us saw that guy.
“Come on” Bob said. “Do what?” I asked him. “Ring the bell, see whom she is
with and get some questions answered and if the guy annoys us then give him two
black rings on each eye” Bob said pulling me with him. I tried to resist him
and prevent us from doing anything rash but it was too late, we were already at
the front door. The doorbell sounds very weird. The door swung open immediately
after Bob released his finger from the doorbell. A middle-aged woman was
standing right in front of us. “Good evening children, may I help you?” she
greeted us politely.
We were puzzled but I managed to speak up. “Good evening, madam. Is Alice
here?” I asked her politely. Bob remained silent, coward. The lady smiled and
told us to wait for a while. Alice came running and her eyes were almost
popping out when she saw the both of us standing at the front door. “Bob? Mary?
What are you doing here?” she asked. I pointed to Bob and he pointed back to
me. Bob then said, “Well, I was spying on you and saw you coming here every
evening and I told Mary about it and Mary was afraid you are being tricked by
the principal’s son and she was afraid that something dangerous could have
happened to you and so we decided to come here tonight and find some answers to
this whole puzzle of ours” he finished everything in one single breath and I do
not know how he managed it.
Alice remained silent for a while. Bob and I just stood there, still puzzled
and confused. “My dear Mary and Bob the principal has a son but he is five
years old. I am their baby sitter and that is why I cannot spend my evening the
past few weeks with the both of you”, she said. Wait a minute. What did I just
hear from her? “How about the change in behavior, you have not been laughing
like you always did for the past few weeks”, asked Bob. “That is right. You
behaved very weirdly” I chipped in. Alice hesitated for a while then she opened
her mouth opened as wide as possible, baring her teeth to us which was the
answer to all our questions, bright pink braces. I cannot believe my eyes and I
turned to Bob. We looked at each other and burst into laughter.
1953 words
Amy, are you Mary? heheheheh
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