The Curious Adventures of Jimmy McGee by Eleanor Estes
Authors: Eleanor Estes
Tags: Ages 8 and up
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doll who can wham-bang on the timpani and probably so loudly that she'd shudder the opera house down with the applause!
For the first time ever, Jimmy McGee forgot to make his rounds!
7. Little Lydia and the Zoomie-Zoomies
My, how the zoomie-zoomies had changed Little Lydia, and Jimmy McGee foresaw how this curious transformation was going to affect him and his life as a busy little plumber! He must do his best to keep this phenomenon under control!
Zoom! Zoom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Like thunder. Clang! Like a timpani! All going on, on top of him, in his stovepipe hat!
Naturally Jimmy McGee was worried. This banging showed that the magic might be catching. Not to him—he was in charge of his magic. All his rounds through the electric wires had kept his magic in perfect shape, so he would not do curious things unless he wanted to. But this was new to Little Lydia. Her strange behavior didn't bother him, not yet anyway. But, what about Amy? If she caught that magic?
Just suppose that he slipped Little Lydia back into her sand castle and laid her on her couch, as he had hoped to do. Amy would find her and joyously pick her up. Right away Amy might catch the magic and begin to do curious things. Bing! Bong! Boom!...on anything that was handy!
And suppose next she passed this magic on to her friend, Clarissa? Also to Mama and Papa? And what about the great dog Wags?
Imagine that beautiful dog catching the zoomie-zoomies. His growl already sounded like a deep, rising roll of thunder. Would he growl in bebop dog code? Sound like a bass drum? Would that dark brown-and-white wavy fur pop and sizzle and strike people with awe? If they tried to pet him, might they not catch the magic from him and begin to bark bebop or do other curious things themselves?
In fact, would all the people speak in bebop code, not only here around The Bizzy Bee, but also in the A & P even, the drugstore, sounding really curious? The Chamber of Commerce might advise people to stay away from that town! Poor Truro!
"Oh-oh-oh," groaned Jimmy McGee. "What have I wrought in my selfish search for thunder and lightning bolts? I have made Little Lydia an electrified bebopping doll. I must keep hold of her until I can cure her. Then she will speak in bebop no longer, no longer zigzag. Her hair will stop sizzling lightning. She will become a real, right do-nothing doll again, a Lydia, Little, doll, as entered in Amy's famous
Who's Who Book!
"
But the more Jimmy McGee worried, the louder Little Lydia bebopped and stomped around in his hat on top of his head!
"
Fun! Fun! Funny fun!
" she bebopped again.
"Funny. Yes, it is funny," said Jimmy McGee. In spite of his worries, Jimmy had to laugh. Who'd ever have thought this up? Have him in a pickle as curious as this?
Jimmy forgot that it was time for his next rounds! No pipes got banged that night, no shutters fastened securely, no drips in faucets stopped. Let the fish train come, let it go, lobsters and all. Jimmy McGee had sunk to the level of a do-nothing, not doll, plumber!
"Why," he asked himself, "did Little Lydia have to come into my life?" He was sitting cross-legged, brooding, in the doorway of his summer headquarters. To make a hero of him, that's why.
It was in the book, the
Who's
Who Book,
that he was a hero. Well, he
had
become a hero, right? He had rescued Little Lydia from Monstrous. Right? Wouldn't anybody think that was enough hero-making for one little plumber? Just as important as holding your finger in a hole in the dike and getting in one book after another? One book, Amy's, was enough for him!
But it was not in the book that he should, having rescued Little Lydia and become a hero, let her catch the zoomie-zoomies.
Maybe, he thought cautiously, just maybe, mind you, if Little Lydia were
out
of his hat, she'd stop that bebopping, those do-re-mis, that banging on a timpani! That's what she seemed to consider the carefully designed lid of his stovepipe hat to be.
"
I'm in prison
!" she
For the first time ever, Jimmy McGee forgot to make his rounds!
7. Little Lydia and the Zoomie-Zoomies
My, how the zoomie-zoomies had changed Little Lydia, and Jimmy McGee foresaw how this curious transformation was going to affect him and his life as a busy little plumber! He must do his best to keep this phenomenon under control!
Zoom! Zoom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Like thunder. Clang! Like a timpani! All going on, on top of him, in his stovepipe hat!
Naturally Jimmy McGee was worried. This banging showed that the magic might be catching. Not to him—he was in charge of his magic. All his rounds through the electric wires had kept his magic in perfect shape, so he would not do curious things unless he wanted to. But this was new to Little Lydia. Her strange behavior didn't bother him, not yet anyway. But, what about Amy? If she caught that magic?
Just suppose that he slipped Little Lydia back into her sand castle and laid her on her couch, as he had hoped to do. Amy would find her and joyously pick her up. Right away Amy might catch the magic and begin to do curious things. Bing! Bong! Boom!...on anything that was handy!
And suppose next she passed this magic on to her friend, Clarissa? Also to Mama and Papa? And what about the great dog Wags?
Imagine that beautiful dog catching the zoomie-zoomies. His growl already sounded like a deep, rising roll of thunder. Would he growl in bebop dog code? Sound like a bass drum? Would that dark brown-and-white wavy fur pop and sizzle and strike people with awe? If they tried to pet him, might they not catch the magic from him and begin to bark bebop or do other curious things themselves?
In fact, would all the people speak in bebop code, not only here around The Bizzy Bee, but also in the A & P even, the drugstore, sounding really curious? The Chamber of Commerce might advise people to stay away from that town! Poor Truro!
"Oh-oh-oh," groaned Jimmy McGee. "What have I wrought in my selfish search for thunder and lightning bolts? I have made Little Lydia an electrified bebopping doll. I must keep hold of her until I can cure her. Then she will speak in bebop no longer, no longer zigzag. Her hair will stop sizzling lightning. She will become a real, right do-nothing doll again, a Lydia, Little, doll, as entered in Amy's famous
Who's Who Book!
"
But the more Jimmy McGee worried, the louder Little Lydia bebopped and stomped around in his hat on top of his head!
"
Fun! Fun! Funny fun!
" she bebopped again.
"Funny. Yes, it is funny," said Jimmy McGee. In spite of his worries, Jimmy had to laugh. Who'd ever have thought this up? Have him in a pickle as curious as this?
Jimmy forgot that it was time for his next rounds! No pipes got banged that night, no shutters fastened securely, no drips in faucets stopped. Let the fish train come, let it go, lobsters and all. Jimmy McGee had sunk to the level of a do-nothing, not doll, plumber!
"Why," he asked himself, "did Little Lydia have to come into my life?" He was sitting cross-legged, brooding, in the doorway of his summer headquarters. To make a hero of him, that's why.
It was in the book, the
Who's
Who Book,
that he was a hero. Well, he
had
become a hero, right? He had rescued Little Lydia from Monstrous. Right? Wouldn't anybody think that was enough hero-making for one little plumber? Just as important as holding your finger in a hole in the dike and getting in one book after another? One book, Amy's, was enough for him!
But it was not in the book that he should, having rescued Little Lydia and become a hero, let her catch the zoomie-zoomies.
Maybe, he thought cautiously, just maybe, mind you, if Little Lydia were
out
of his hat, she'd stop that bebopping, those do-re-mis, that banging on a timpani! That's what she seemed to consider the carefully designed lid of his stovepipe hat to be.
"
I'm in prison
!" she
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