An Annoying Guest

Ch. 1: Judith Has the Sneezes

9-year-old Rina sat up in bed and looked around her room. It was a Saturday, and if she got some time to herself, she planned to go see her friends, the seven Wild Things. It was a perfect day for it.

She felt around under the covers for her plush Sully from the movie, Monsters, Inc. Rina loved soft, furry creatures that hugged and soothed people, and that was why she loved the Wild Things. Her father, Max, claimed to have known them personally when he was just her age, and would entertain his daughter with stories of how he was made their king, and led them on wild rumpuses. But most special of all was the soft lullaby he would sing to her at bedtime; the one about just closing her eyes and letting the Island of the Wild Things materialize and bring her comfort.

Rina dressed herself in a Littlest Pet Shop shirt and Capri pants and went downstairs to see what her father was up to. But first, she had to use the bathroom. So, she went in and out as quickly as she could.

When she exited the bathroom, she noticed her tall, tousle-haired father standing right in front of her in the doorway.

"Hi, Daddy!" Rina greeted him.

"Hey, sweetheart," her father replied. "Did you sleep well?"

"Uh-huh! I had another dream about Judith an' Carol!" Rina replied, referring to two of her Wild Thing friends.

"Oh, that's great! Nightmares don't dare intrude where Wild Things stake their territory!" Max answered, deepening his voice to a Carol-like growl and swishing Rina high in the air.

Rina screamed with laughter as her father swung her about and snarled playfully. "RRRAAAaaaaaRRRrrr! I'll eat you up, I love you so!" Max continued, tickling his daughter under her arms. Then he set her down and his expression became more serious.

"Did you wash your hands just now?" He asked her.

"Uh….no, Daddy… I guess I forgot!" Rina replied.

Max chuckled warmly and patted Rina on her shoulder. "Well, try not to, all right? With this new flu virus going around, we all have to be extra careful. I wash my hands, you should wash your hands, Aunt Claire washes her hands when she comes over to do stuff with you…"

"But, Daddy! Didn't we get shots for the flu?" Rina asked. Now, that certainly hadn't been any day at the beach, but holding tight to a picture that she had drawn of herself being hugged by Judith had markedly eased Rina's fear of the Walgreen's clinician's needle.

"Yeah, we did; but this new strain is so tough that doctors haven't been able to turn it into a vaccine!" Max replied. Rina nodded. She wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing. She hated to be sick, but like most little girls, she didn't care much for shots, either. She remembered what had happened when she had escaped to the Wild Things' island, trying to get out of getting an immunization against the standard flu virus:

"Anyone who wants Rina to go back home and get a shot so she doesn't get all sick and miserable 'cause we'd all hate that; raise your paws!" Carol bellowed; and seven paws immediately shot up in the air. Everyone always did what Carol said.

Judith tsk'ed and then said to Rina, "Sorry, toots; 7 to 1. Go back to your Dad."

Max turned to go downstairs, but not before tossing a small package of tissues for Rina to catch.

"What are these?" Rina asked.

"Tissue packs," Max replied. "Be sure to use them every now and then, okay?"

After she had breakfast, Rina walked down to the woods where she knew the boat would be waiting. She was bundled up smartly against the cool weather, and she was carrying the tissues in her jacket pocket. She took them out and looked at them with distaste. Shirtsleeves had always worked just fine for any itchy or runny nose she'd ever had. She was sure the Wild Things felt the same way.

At last, when she had found the boat in the forest, she hoisted the sail and began the journey which seemed to progress through night and day, in and out of weeks, and almost a year. When she reached the Island of the Wild Things, she pulled the boat ashore- and noticed Carol and KW standing there ready to greet her! But instead of looking happy to see Rina, they looked worried.

Carol, who was never able to stifle his true feelings about a situation, came rushing over to Rina and scooped her up.

"Golly, are we ever glad to see you!" he panted, as Rina nuzzled him under his furry neck.

"What's the matter, Carol?" Rina asked, as KW ambled over to say hello.

"We think there's something wrong with Judith! She's been sneezing all morning and we don't know why!" KW replied.

"Oh, no! Poor Judith! Does she have a cold?" Rina asked Carol.

"We don't think so; if she did, her tail would be dragging on the ground, like all of our tails do when we're sad or sick!" Carol answered.

"Well, let's go to her! We gotta find out what's wrong!" Rina announced. She broke into a run towards the woods and called as loud as she could, "Don't be scared, Judith! I'm coming to help you!"

As she ran, the packet of tissues was jostled out of her pocket, and KW bent down to recover them and handed them to Rina.

"What are these, Rina?" KW asked her.

"Oh, those are tissues. My dad made me take them with me."

Meanwhile, Judith was lying on the ground next to a tree, where Ira was running his claws through her lion's mane in a comforting gesture. Judith heard the sound of running feet, and turned her head to see Rina running towards her.

"Hi, Judith! Don't worry, we'll find out what's wrong and make you feel better!" Rina announced as she came running over to give Judith a hug.

Judith opened her substantially-fanged mouth to say hello to her little friend, but ended up letting loose with a powerful sneeze instead. And that sneeze happened to catch in the folds of Rina's unzipped jacket and sent her gliding backwards about three feet.

"Oh, dear. Pardon me, sweetness," Judith said, looking embarrassed and bringing a paw to her nose.

Rina was thrilled. "Wow, Judith! That was fun!" she giggled. She ran forward again, flapping the corners of her jacket like seagull wings. "Sneeze at me again! Sneeze at me again!"

At that moment, Carol stepped forward to catch the little girl up in his furry arms and place her on the top of his head, where she would be safe.

"Better zip up that jacket, Rina," he said gently. "Looks like it's gonna be windy."

"Yeah, Rina," Ira said, joining them. "When any of these guys gets the sneezes, it's no joke."

Carol turned his head to eyeball Ira's prominent nose and placed his paws on his hips. "Well, you're sure one to talk, aren't you?" he replied sarcastically. With that, he reached over and pinched Ira's nostrils together and went, "HONNKK!"

"Oh, you're a scream," Ira growled at Carol as he trudged over to tend to Judith some more.

"Judith; aside from sneezing a lot, do you feel sick?" Rina asked the leonine creature.

"Nope, can't say that I do," Judith replied, pawing at her nose. "I just have this really annoying sort of tickle in my nose!"

"But you can't just scratch it on a tree, like you do with your horn when your horn tickles?" Rina inquired, referring to the rhino's horn that Judith sported on the tip of her snout.

"Unh-unh. Believe me, I've tried!"

Rina sighed and began to swing her arms back and forth in a pensive gesture. "Well, Judith, it looks like this is one problem that you can't just eat in order to make it go away," she finally said.

"Yeah, you're probably right," Judith replied. "I haven't the faintest idea how I'm supposed to eat a nose tickle." She, Rina, and all the other Wild Things laughed at this. Judith tossed her fluffy mane in the air and laughed at her own joke, and then sneezed again about seven times in a row.

Rina and the Wild Things were not quite alone. A nasty, globby little flu virus strain named Pukey Feelgross was watching them. He gave a devious snicker.

"Yes, go on and laugh, you fluffy-puffy hairballs! Everything's just a big joke to you lumbering flea mats! Well, your size doesn't make you totally invulnerable! Nyaah-haahh-haaahh!"

Pukey rubbed his bacterial hands together, and a wicked smile spread from one corner of his mouth to the other. "Just an innocent little tickle in her nose, she says! That's where she's wrong! I've got a direct in with the histamines in her nostrils! That tickle won't be soothed away easily!"

Just then, the virus's "pocket" started to vibrate and and his phone's ring tone of "Rock the Boat" chattered on.

"That must be Horn-Schnozz's histamines now!" Pukey said gleefully, pulling his phone out and opening it. "Yeah!" he barked into the mouthpiece as a way of greeting.

"Hey, is this Pukey?" came the voice on the other end.

"Yep! How's it goin' in there? Is she still sneezing?"

"Like a train, baby!" the nasty histamine cackled. "We never knew how sensitive she was to blossoming trees until we started this! We haven't had this much fun since Josh had his moving-out-of-his-mom's-basement party, dude!"

"Dude, I know!" Pukey replied. "Well, keep up the good work, bro! And hey, y'know what? Next time you have her sneeze, make sure that little girl's in the line of fire!"

"How come? I thought you-"

"I like infecting little kids best! Their bloodstreams are easier to swim in!" Pukey answered, hanging up. If his evil plan went well, he would crawl into Judith's nostrils and be catapulted at whomever she sneezed in front of next. And there was a good chance of the victim being Rina, given how close she stayed to Judith!

What the evil virus strain didn't notice was that KW was getting an idea.

KW gave Rina a nudge in the arm.

"Rina!"

"What?"

"The tissues that you brought! Carol has some books in his workshop about humans, and he read about how they sometimes use tissues to cover their mouths and noses with when they sneeze. They also use them for blowing their noses, too, apparently!"

"Hey, cool," Alexander cut in. "I might try that sometime; like during a rumpus or something. It sounds like such a nice, noisy thing to do!"

Rina laughed. "Oh, it is, Alexander! And it's true, KW; humans do use tissues sometimes! But how could they help Judith?"

"When someone's nose gets all stuffed up, it can sometimes make them sneeze," KW explained to the dark-haired little girl. Then she turned to the considerably older female Wild Thing that she sometimes butted heads with. "Hey, Judith! You say you've tried everything, but have you tried just blowing your nose?"

"What good would that do?" Judith grumbled.

"KW thinks your nose is probably just all stuffed up, and that's why you're sneezing so much," Rina explained. She pulled the packet of tissues out of her pocket and broke the seal. "Thank you, Dad!" she said to herself as she did so.

She took out a handful of tissues and handed them to Judith. "Go on, Judy! You've got nothin' to lose!"

For a moment, Judith just stared st the tissues as though she didn't really know what to do with them (which she didn't). Just then, she felt another tickle in her soft, sensitive nose. She closed her eyes tightly, raised the tissues to her face, and gave a terrific sneeze.

"Aaaahhhh....AAAAAAaaaahhhhh......AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH.......AAAAAHHHHH-CHHOOOOEEEYYY!"

Rina fell backwards onto KW, and clusters of leaves fell from the trees that towered over the Wild Things.

Judith gave a mighty blow into her paw-ful of tissues and then looked up. " 'Scuse me," she said, blushing.

Rina came over to her. "How do you feel now, Judy? You feel better? You certainly don't sound as stuffy anymore."

Judith looked down at Rina and flashed her one of her rare smiles. "I feel much better now, Rina! Thank you!"

All the Wild Things breathed a sigh of relief.

"Gesundheit, Judy," Ira said politely to his girlfriend.

Pukey had been watching this whole scene, and he glowered.

"Dangit! I had that little girl in my grasp! Well, never mind! I'll think of something else! But I'm going to infect every living creature on this lousy island or lose a half-life trying!"