Imperial Valley Press

Bed-Time Stories
By HOWARD E. GARIS
Copyright, 1928, by McClure Newspaper Syndicate

UNCLE WIGGILY'S ICE CREAM

One hot night, after Uncle Wiggily had been to the moving picture show with Mr. Twistytail, the pig gentleman, and the rabbit was hopping home by himself he happened to think:

"I'll take some ice cream to my wife."

Mrs. Longears had not gone to the movies. She had stayed home to sit on the porch with Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy after getting all the sixteen or twenty little bunny girls to bed. And so, as he hopped along after leaving Mr. Twistytail, Uncle Wiggily thought of his wife.

"Ice cream will make her cool so she will sleep well," thought Mr. Longears to himself. "I'm glad I thought of it."

Perhaps it was because, in the movies, he and the pig had seen some pictures from the cold North Pole that Mr. Longears thought of ice cream. And Mr. Twistytail had grunted as the lights went up:

"It ought to be cheap to make ice cream up there at the North Pole."

"Why so?" asked Uncle Wiggily.

"Because they have all the ice they want right in their back yards," explained the pig gentleman. "All they need to do is to reach out and pick it. Then they can get a little salt from the ocean under the ice and make all the frozen treats they want to."
"It seems easy," agreed Uncle Wiggily. So thinking, he hopped along and soon he was in front of an ice cream store.

"Let me have a pint of strawberry, chocolate and vanilla, mixed," said Uncle Wiggily to the nice pussy lady who kept the store.

With the ice cream for his wife in a nice paper box, that had a wire handle, Uncle Wiggily hopped to his bungalow. He set the box of ice cream down on the front steps and went in without it.

Now Uncle Wiggily had a reason for doing this. He thought if he went right in, carrying the paper box of ice cream, and said to his wife: "Here is a treat for you and Nurse Jane," that the two ladies would be so surprised that they might get excited, and all heated up from not expecting anything of the sort.

"And if they get too warm and then eat ice cream it may give them a chill and they'll catch cold," said Uncle Wiggily to himself. "So I'll leave the cream on the porch. Then I'll go in and I'll speak of what a hot night it is, and how good some ice cream would taste and then maybe my wife or Nurse Jane will say they wished they had some.

"Nothing easier," I will say, and then I'll go out on the porch and come in as quick as a wink with the ice cream and they won't have time to get excited or all heated up."

So Uncle Wiggily went in the bungalow where Nurse Jane and his wife were sitting and first he wiped his face with his handkerchief and then he said:

"Whew! It's hot!"

"Terrible!" agreed Nurse Jane.

"We ought to have something cool," went on Mrs. Longears.

"Like ice cream, maybe?" asked Uncle Wiggily, winking one eye at himself behind his paw.

"Oh, I would love some cool ice cream!" exclaimed Mrs. Longears.

"I'll look out on the porch and maybe I'll find some growing there," said Uncle Wiggily.

"Don't be silly!" laughed his wife. "Ice cream doesn't grow that way. But if you want to hop to the store for some it will be a great favor."

"I don't have to go to the store for ice cream!" chuckled Mr. Longears. "I'm sure I can get some off our porch. Wait a minute."

He opened the door and hopped to where he had left the paper box of ice cream. But alas! Likewise sorrow! It wasn't there!

"Why," thought Uncle Wiggily in surprise, "what can have happened? Didn't I leave ice cream out here, or did I dream it?" He pinched himself to make sure he was awake and then he heard some giggling at the upper windows of the bedrooms where the bunny rabbit children were supposed to be asleep.

I say supposed to be asleep, but they weren't. They were having a gay time up there. And as Uncle Wiggily listened he heard Jingle say:

"Jangle, pass the ice cream, please."

"Oh, ho! I see what happened!" laughed Uncle Wiggily. "After I left my ice cream on the porch and went inside to talk to my wife, some of the little bunnies crept softly downstairs, got the frozen sweet stuff and carried it up to their rooms to have a treat. So that's where my ice cream disappeared.

Well, let it go. I can get more. Ha! Ha!"

So, laughing to himself, the bunny gentleman hopped to the store for more ice cream for himself, his wife and Nurse Jane, leaving the first box for the bunny children to eat.

Thus all was joy and happiness. And if the goldfish will invite the mosquito to come in swimming after tea, I'll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily's strawberries.