Howard R. Garis Curly and Floppy Twistytail the Funny Piggie Boys, Chapter 27: Flop and the Skate Wagon Lyrics

STORY XXVII

FLOP AND THE SKATE WAGON

One morning Flop Ear, the little piggie boy, awakened in his bed of
straw, and said:

"I don't feel very well today."

"I wish I didn't, too," spoke Curly Tail.

"Why?" asked his brother in surprise. "I'm not fooling. Honestly, I
don't feel well. Do you want to be sick, too?"

"Just a little bit," answered Curly Tail. "Just sick enough so as
not to have to go to school."

"Oh, that's so!" exclaimed Flop Ear. "There is school today. I
thought it was Saturday, and I was sorry I didn't feel well, but
now---"

Well, as it happened it was Friday, instead of Saturday, and, of
course, there was school. But when Mrs. Twistytail heard that Flop
Ear did not feel well, she said:

"Perhaps you had better not go today. Just lie abed and maybe you
will be better by afternoon."

So Curly Tail had to go to school alone, and he felt rather
lonesome, and Flop Ear stayed at home, just like the little pig in
the story.

But pretty soon, oh, I guess about 10 o'clock, when it was too late
to go to school, Flop Ear got out of bed and said:

"I don't feel quite so badly now, mother. Maybe if I go out in the
air, I'll be all well."

"All right," she said, and there was a funny little twinkle in her
eyes. "But first you must take some castor oil, and then I will be
sure you will be better," she added.

Then Flop Ear wished he had gone to school, whether he felt well or
not, but there was no help for it; he had to take the castor oil.
After it was down--and it wasn't much fun swallowing it, let me tell
you--after it was down, Flop Ear walked out in the street sort of
slow and thoughtful-like, and wished he had someone to play with, or
something to do.

"It isn't so much fun staying home as I thought it would be," he
said. Just then, in an ash barrel, he saw one roller skate. It was
pretty well battered and worn, but the four wheels of it were good
yet, and Flop Ear, as he took it out and knocked the ashes from it,
said:

"Ha! One roller skate. Now if I had two I might have some fun, and
forget about the castor oil."

"You can have fun with one roller skate," said a voice behind the
little piggie boy, and turning, Flop Ear saw Uncle b___er, the goat
gentleman, just coming back from having delivered all his milk.

"How can you have fun with one roller skate?" asked Flop Ear.

"By making a skate wagon," said the goat gentleman. "I saw some boy
animals up in Roseville playing on them yesterday, and I'll tell you
how to make one. First, you have to have a box, a long, narrow
board, a stick and some nails and string."

"I can get all those!" exclaimed Flop Ear, and he did. Then Uncle
b___er took the roller skate apart at the place where it slid
together to be made smaller or larger. Right apart he took it, and
there were two wheels on one part and two on the other.

The goat gentleman used the string to fasten two wheels on one end
of the long narrow board and two wheels on the other end. Then he
nailed the box on the front end of the board, right over the front
wheels, and on top of the box he nailed the stick for a handle, just
as on a bicycle, only this handle was straight and not curved.

"There is your skate wagon," he said to Flop Ear. "You take it to
some street that runs down hill and you start at the top. Stand up
on the board, near the box, and lean against it so you won't fall
off. Take hold of the handles, and then push yourself off. Down the
hilly street you will roll on the skate wheels, just like a coaster
wagon."

"Fine!" cried Flop Ear, as he thanked Uncle b___er. Then he ran to
the top of a hilly, smooth street to try his skate wagon.

He stood up in the middle of the long narrow board, took hold of the
handles on top of the box, and steadied himself. Then, with one foot
he gave himself a good push, and down the hill he went as fast as
anything, making a noise just like a real roller skater boy only
louder.

"Oh, this is great!" he cried as he reached the bottom of the hill,
and ran back for another coast down it. Then Flop Ear forgot all
about being sick, and he had lots of fun riding on his skate wagon,
so you see that even one roller skate may be good for something.

Well Flop Ear was just going to coast down the hill for about the
forty-'leventh time when, all of a sudden, he heard a voice calling:

"Save me! Save me! Oh, help me!"

He looked around and there he saw a poor old lady cat being chased
by a bad dog that had once caught Uncle b___er to pull out his
horns. The lady cat was running as fast as she could with her tail
all swelled up like a bologna sausage.

"Save me from the bad dog!" she cried.

"Bow-wow! Woof! Woof! Bur-r-rr!" barked the dog. "I'll get you!"

"No you won't!" cried Flop Ear. "Get on my skate wagon!" he called
to the old lady cat, and with one jump she landed in the box. Flop
Ear gave a good push, jumped on the wagon himself, and down the hill
he went faster and faster, with the dog coming after him.

"Oh, he'll get us!" cried the lady cat.

"No he won't!" shouted Flop Ear. Faster and faster went the skate
wagon down the hill, and the bad dog tried so hard to catch up to it
that, all of a sudden, his legs got tied up in a hard knot--yes,
sir, just as hard a knot as if a sailor had made it. And, of course,
that dog turned a somersault, and went head over heels and he
couldn't run any more until one of his friends untied the knots in
his legs.

But by that time Flop Ear and the lady cat were safe at the bottom
of the hill on the skate wagon, and the dog could not get them. Then
the cat lady thanked the piggie boy very much, and gave him a penny,
and Flop Ear went to school that afternoon, and was all better, and
later he and Curly Tail had lots of fun on the queer wagon Uncle
b___er had told how to make.

And so in case the rose bush doesn't scratch the lilac leaves off
the pie plant and make the clothes line catch cold, I'll tell you
next about Baby Pinkie and the lemon.