The Doodad: A Bedtime Story

16 May 1999 - by Jim Curl

Once upon a time, there was a boy who fell in love with a rock. This, of course, resulted in a long discussion with his therapist. But in the end, it meant only one thing: he had to climb. And climb he did. But of all the rocks to climb, there was one that he most desired. And that rock was the fearsome and mighty DOODAD.

On a lovely spring day, not far from the little village of Pom Boobley, the boy and several of his very best friends gathered at the farthest shore of LakeLake 2 and prepared to embark on a wonderful adventure. The boy, JimJim No. 1, and his friends, JimJim No. 2, TweedleDee and TweedleDot, and the invincible Mr. Duck, loaded up their favorite camping toys and set out in search of the Doodad.

Soon after they started, they began to walk on snow.

    "My feet are so cold", said TweedleDee.
    "Quack! Quack!", said Mr. Duck.

Along and up they went, over brush, snowhills and around rock cliffs. They could see many great peaks along the way: Mt. Squat, Diddly Peak, and North Bump looked especially nice with all of the snow. The sun beat down upon their little heads as they walked and sang together:

    Carrying packs as big as a car -- Doodad!  Doodad!
    Today we probably won't get too far -- All the Doodad day!
    All the Doodad night!   All the Doodad day!
    I wonder what the neighbors will say?
    All the Doodad day!

Late in the afternoon, they walked past the great Horse Tower, which greeted them with a loud "Winnie! Neighhh!" They were very tired by this point and Mr. Duck felt especially out of sorts. His webbed feet hurt him so, and he missed his pond very much. So they decided to camp below the Po Po Pass and rest for the night.

The wind came up and the clouds put on an exciting show. JimJim 2 was setting up his brand new tent when he noticed a very round cloud.

    "That one looks like a hippopotomus", said JimJim 2.

Then, as the sun fell and the sky grew purple, it became very, very, very, VERY cold. Into their tents they scurried to stay warm. And they soon fell fast asleep. The surrounding mountains grinned happily at the icy scene and, shoulder to shoulder, hummed a soft deep chorus through the long night:

    "Mmmmmm Mmmmmm Mmmmmm Mmmmmm..."

In the early morning, JimJim 1 crawled out of his tent and, shivering on the crunchy snow, exclaimed,

    "What has happened to my thermometer here?  All of the 
    Fahrenheits have disappeared!"

They rose reluctantly and prepared for their day. The cold air made them move quite slowly, but soon they were ready to go. Then, TweedleDot said,

    "There are many bears out there!  And they will come to 
    eat our food.  So I will stay right here, while you 
    climb the great Dadood!"

So they bid farewell to TweedleDot, and put on their spikey shoes. And up the giant slope they went, kicking and poking many holes into the snow. Mr. Duck found that his webbed feet would not fit into the footprints of his friends. So he used his large pointy beak to hold onto the slope. And he flapped his wings now and then.

At last they came to the other side and there was a magnificent sight: so many mountains and so much snow! It was very, very beautiful to behold. Around the corner they went and then carefully back up towards the top of the ridge. The rocks were very loose and slippery. So they took turns stepping on each other's heads to go higher.

Finally, they approached the sleeping Doodad.

    "Shhhhhh!", said JimJim 1 to JimJim 2.
    "Shhhhhh!", said JimJim 2 to JimJim 1.

JimJim 1 tiptoed as quietly as he could up to the great beast and slipped into its large mouth.

    "Grrrraaaarrrrrghhh!", said the half-sleeping Doodad.
    "Yikes!", said JimJim 2.
    "Oooof!", said JimJim 1, as he crawled up through its belly.

Then, as JimJim 1 stood on the Doodad's head, JimJim 2 wrapped string around around the giant beast's jaw, to keep it from biting, and wiggled his way up through it's belly. Soon, TweedleDee and Mr. Duck were also worming and squirming to the top. They took turns dancing on the Doodads's very flat head and singing:

    Climbing up through snow and scree -- Doodad!  Doodad!
    No place else we'd rather be -- All the Doodad day!
    All the Doodad night!   All the Doodad day!
    Wish we had more time to play
    All the Doodad day!

But the singing and dancing woke the Doodad from its slumber. It broke free of the string that was around its jaw and began to roar.

   "WHOOOO IS ON MYYYY HHHHEEAAAAAD?!", the Doodad thundered.
   "JUMP!!", screamed JimJim 2.

The Doodad began to shake back and forth very fast. JimJim 2 dove off of the Doodad's head and slid down to the snow far below. TweedleDee hopped onto Mr. Duck's back and JimJim 1 grabbed one of his webbed feet. Flapping his wings, Mr. Duck jumped off with his two friends. And half flying, half falling, they tumbled down to the snow.

At last, they all gathered together at the top of the giant slope. They could still hear the Doodad growling in the distance.

   "That was close", said JimJim 2.
   "I want to go home", said JimJim 1.

Back down the big slope they went, marked with the holes they had already poked. As they neared the bottom, they waved to TweedleDot... but she did not wave back. When they finally got to camp, they saw her clothes wrapped around a pole and axe and her hat perched on top. It was a scarebear she had made, to protect their camp from bears. But where was TweedleDot?

Then they heard loud snoring coming from one of the tents. Inside they found her fast asleep, surrounded by many candy bar wrappers and empty tins of food.

    "Quack!", said a very hungry Mr. Duck.
    "Burp!", said TweedleDot.
    "Time to go", said TweedleDee.

So they gathered together their toys and slid back down the snow hill on their behinds. Soon they were at LakeLake 2 again, where their adventure had started. Mr. Duck was very glad to have water to paddle in again.

And of course, they all lived happily ever after.

The end.


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