The Outraged Noodle
Doobins inherited his mother’s gifts for naming things.
In the chapter book I plan to write one day, one of the central characters is Mrs. Cocavole, a character that Doobins pulled out of the ether. In imagining her, I see on the wall behind the couch in her living room a painting of a vole sipping cocoa that a friend gave her.
I have a gift for misnaming things. I have been known to tell Doobins to put on his clogs instead of his Crocs and to go on about Gumby and Pokey when I really meant to be going on about Davey and Goliath.
I discover my mistake only when Garnet suggests that Doobins would have a better chance of finding the Crocs he does own rather than the clogs he doesn’t and Sparkle Girl, who is familiar with Davey and Goliath but who has never seen Gumby, says she doesn’t know what I am talking about.
The other morning, Doobins was on a roll.
He got a laugh from Sparkle Girl, Garnet and me when he introduced the Banana-Peel Fairy. That encouraged him to continue and, in a moment, he had come with a character called the Outraged Noodle.
Before wrapping it up, he asked us the question: “What is the fastest way to outrage a pig?”
None of us had a good answer at the time. When I woke up in the middle of the night, it occurred to me that speaking to a pig in pig Latin might be one possibility.
Since Doobins introduced them, I have been thinking of the Banana-Peel Fairy and the Outraged Noodle solving mysteries together. I think they would make quite a team.
