THE BERENSTAIN BEARS, AND, THE NAKED BOOGIE!

By WileE2005 (and his brother)

Loosely adapted from "The Berenstain Bears and the Slumber Party" by Stan and Jan Berenstain; this is just a work of fan-fiction!

When a cub sheds her clothes

To dance nude in a school,

She may forget that

She's breaking a rule!

It all started as a typical Sunday afternoon in the big tree house down a sunny dirt road in Bear Country. But when the telephone rang, it all began.

Mama Bear checked the Caller I.D. and answered. It was Lizzy Bruin, Sister Bear's best friend. "Sister, it's for you!" Mama called out. "It's Lizzy!"

Whenever Lizzy called, she often had some big idea: a tea party for their dolls and stuffed animals, going up to the attic and playing "dress up" in grownups' clothes, or organizing a sorority and using Farmer Ben's old chicken coop as a clubhouse – with permission, of course.

"It's OK with me," Farmer Ben had said to the cubs, "but I think I should warn you…"

Within minutes, the cubs were running from the old chicken coop, nauseated by the smell that was left by the chickens' poop. "PEE-YOO!"

But this time, Lizzy was calling with her biggest idea yet. "Sister Bear, guess what?"

"What?" asked Sister.

Lizzy whispered into the phone, "I'm having a naked boogie at the school, Friday night at seven o'clock. You're invited, too!"

"Really?" said Sister. She couldn't believe it.

"Yes!"

"Mama," Sister lied to Mama, "can I sleep over at Lizzy Bruin's house Friday night?"

"I don't see why not," said Mama, "as long as you remember about privilege and responsibility, unlike that last time."

"Don't worry, Mama," said Sister. Then she told Lizzy on the phone, "It's all settled. I'll be there!" Then they hung up.

…

On Monday, during recess at school, Sister and Lizzy talked about it.

"It's not going to be like that slumber party we had two years ago," Lizzy said, a mischievous grin on her face. "But this time, we are inviting Too-Tall and his gang, complete with his boom box. Boys will be allowed!"

"What kind of music are we going to listen to?" asked Sister.

"We're going to listen to the latest rap and pop, of course!" said Lizzy. "Anna and Millie are bringing CDs – and Queenie's coming too, to show off her latest hip-hop dance steps!"

"Why are we having the naked boogie in the school anyways?" said Sister.

"That's not important," said Lizzy.

…

On Thursday evening, Papa had an announcement for the cubs.

"Your mama and I are going out Friday night for dinner and dancing. Mrs. Grizzle has bingo Friday, so she can't make it to watch Brother, so Grizzly Gramps will be watching over Brother. It's not a problem for Sister, because she'll be staying at Lizzy Bruin's house then, but if there's an emergency, she can call Grizzly Gramps, or the hotel Mama and I will be staying at," said Papa.

"Don't worry about a thing," said Sister, secretly crossing her fingers behind her back.

…

Friday evening arrived, and with it came Grizzly Gramps. Mama and Papa were in their best clothes, getting ready for their romantic night out. "Be good for Grizzly Gramps, Brother," said Papa, "oh and Sister, you remember what your mama said about privilege and responsibility!"

"Oh, I will, Papa!" Sister lied, as she started off for the boogie.

As the sky was clouding up with dark gray clouds, Sister waited until Mama and Papa had pulled out from the tree house, and Sister headed over to the Bear Country School. It was a long jog, but she arrived in time. The lights were all on inside the school. She entered through a back door that someone had wedged open…

…

By now, it was raining. Mama and Papa Bear were enjoying a lobster dinner at the finest restaurant in Bear Country. Mama Bear sighed and said, "I just hope Sister Bear will be all right."

"Of course she will," said Papa, looking up from his lobster. "Then once we're done with this dinner, we can go over to the hall to the dance!"

Mama sighed again.

…

But there was a big problem at the naked boogie: No grown-ups were in the school! And Lizzy Bruin did not get permission to use the school that night!

Lizzy had one of her guests hide after school let out that day, and once all the teachers, faculty and other students had left, the cub came out, turned the lights back on, and wedged open a door. The faculty thought the school was all locked up and empty.

And they certainly didn't think that a rip-roaring, earsplitting, rowdy and disgusting party for half the cubs in Sister's class, and roughly a third of the student population was going on at the school. Because that's what was happening – with Sister right in the thick of it. She had stripped off her clothes except for her bow, and all the other cubs were completely nude, dancing and running around the building as loud rap music was being played over the school's speaker system. There was poop all over the halls, toilet paper on the stairs, pee in the classrooms, and diarrhea on the auditorium stage. Some cubs were flying on fire extinguishers, others opened all the lockers, vandalized school property, and they were having big pee fights with each other. The naked boogie was completely wild and out of control. You never saw such a commotion!

Some neighbors near the school have never heard such a commotion, either. They called the cops.

The chief sent Officer Marguerite to investigate, and at the same time he had notified Principal Honeycomb. Officer Marguerite arrived at the school at the same time Principal Honeycomb drove up in his convertible!

Well, things calmed down pretty quickly after that. The party was over, parents were phoned, Lizzy was expelled and arrested – and a very angry and disappointed Mama and Papa Bear came from their date to drive Sister home.

"We're very angry and disappointed," said Mama Bear as they drove home through the night. "After all the things I said about privilege and responsibility!"

All the other cubs that attended the naked boogie, including Sister, were suspended for three days, except for Too-Tall and his gang. They snuck out when they heard the cops arriving. Sister had never been suspended before. At home, Sister was grounded and sent to bed – doubly grounded, which meant she had to stay in her room for the weekend and in the house for a week.

"A pretty harsh punishment," commented Papa Bear a little while later, once he and Mama were in their pajamas.

"Not harsh at all," said Mama. "You saw the inside of the school: poop stuck to everything in the halls, urine all over the place, opened lockers, vandalized school property – an absolute disgrace! And after all I said about privilege and responsibility!"

"Sister does have to share the blame," said Papa. "But she didn't do it all by herself. It was one of those situations where she just went with the flow. But you know, my dear, privilege and responsibility aren't just for cubs. They're for grown-ups, too."

"And if Sister was going to the school tonight, the principal should have called us- " said Mama.

"But that's just it," continued Papa. "When Lizzy invited Sister to the naked boogie, and Sister lied to us that it was just a regular sleepover, it was our responsibility to call the Bruins. If we had, we'd have found out that Lizzy didn't really plan for a sleepover at her house, and the whole thing would have been nipped in the bud."

"You know," added Mama, "I recall Mrs. Bruin talking to me at the school, saying that she thought Lizzy was going to spend the night here at our house. But you'd think Lizzy would be more neat and organized…"

"Wait a minute," said Papa, snapping his fingers. "I have an idea!"

…

The next morning, Mama canceled the grounding, and Papa Bear called the school board, the principal and the Bruins', and took Sister over to the school to help clean up. Lizzy, Anna, Millie, and Queenie had come to help too. It was disgusting and smelly, but they all pitched in. Lizzy's expulsion was also dropped and she was let back into the school, and all the suspended cubs that attended the nude boogie had their suspensions canceled. But Too-Tall and his gang got caught, and they were suspended from school for the following week.

"I know what!" said Lizzy, full of ideas as ever. "After we're done, we can have a clean-up party at my house! We can get down and boogie, and…"

"Let's not," said Sister. "And if you don't mind, Liz, I don't want to hear the word boogie again for a long time."

END!