FINAL WISHES

By Gary Curtis

Powerpuff Girls created by Craig McCracken and all related characters owned by Cartoon Network

ONE

"No, Buttercup!"

Blossom pushed her sister's hand away. "Git!"

She typed, or tried to, at the computer keyboard. She hunched her shoulders and leaned forward protectively, to keep her pest of a sister from bugging her.

Bubbles unknowingly did the same thing in sympathy for her sister; she knew what Buttercup was like. "Yeah, Buttercup! 'Sides, it's my turn next!"

Just to be safe, Blossom hit 'save', in case Buttercup snuck her hand in there and made her page go away. At least she wouldn't lose everything. It was a great privilege the professor had given them, to use his computer while he was giving his lecture at the University, and she was afraid Buttercup might really mess something up on it and they'd never get to use it again. "Go play your video games or something and we'll let you know when it's your turn."

"Pfffft. The way you're goin', I'll be in second grade before I get my turn. You don't even know what you're doin'."

"I do too!"

"No 'ya don't!" Buttercup gave a little snort. Blossom was making herself blank pages for her journal. Once she was done she could just print new ones for future years. She typed first the date, the 'enter' key ten times to create enough space for each entry (figuring two days per page when she printed them out), then held down the 'dash' key to make a separating line between entries. She was just finishing typing 'January 12' when Buttercup said, "You're doing it the stupid way."

"What other way is there?"

"Duh. Lemme in there and I'll show 'ya."

Blossom shoved her sister away. "Oh, no. Just tell me, if you're so sure of yourself."

"OK." Buttercup answered evenly. "Why type all that out when you don't hafta? Just type January and your line thing once, then copy it, then paste it in how many times you need to. Then all you gotta do is put in the dates and spaces later."

Blossom was surprised. "Really? That would save time. But how do you copy something?"

"Simple. You know how to highlight?" Blossom nodded. The text on the page turned blue.

"Hit the delete key."

Even as she did it, Blossom knew that was wrong. The page went blank. Bubbles let out a gasp louder than Blossom's. "You tricked me! Now I lost everything!"

"No you didn't. See that 'edit' thing up there? Hit it." Blossom frowned and hesitated. "No, go ahead, it's no trick." Blossom gingerly did so and saw the small drop-down, but nothing else happened. "See? Now just hit 'undo'."

Blossom's work magically reappeared. "Whoa, Buttercup! That's cool!"

"Yeah. If you make a mistake and delete something by accident, as long as you undo it the very next thing, you get it right back!"

Bubbles stared at her sister. "Wow, Buttercup, where'd you learn that?"

"Hah! And you guys think all I do in the mayor's office is make faces at 'im behind his back. I seen Ms. Bellum do this stuff, and lots more!"

Blossom wasn't thinking about her project anymore. "Like what, Buttercup?"

"Can I sit down?"

Blossom looked sideways. "Bubbles, do you care if she goes ahead of you?"

"No. Buttercup, can you show me how to make pictures on the computer? Ms. Bellum does sometimes."

Buttercup was already making herself comfy in the chair. "Later, Bubbles." She rubbed her hands together and smiled. "Ah, great! Now I can snoop and those two dummies won't even know it!"