Maxie and the Grondulo
(Part 1 of 2)

Maxie was trying to write a letter to his cousin Austin who lived far away in Okinawa. The twins were yowling to be fed and Christian was climbing up on the table, intent on catching Brenden's fish who was swimming unsuspectingly in a bowl.

Brenden shrieked, "Mom! Christian is after my fish!"

"Stop!" cried Mother. "Christian, get down from there this minute!"

Victoria was practicing on the keyboard, but the sounds she made weren't much like music.

Maxie put his hands over his ears to shut out the sound. "Too many babies around here!" he grumped.

"Max, you need to stop whatever you are doing in there and do your homework. Then we have to clean up the house before Dad gets home and sees this mess. I don't know where my time goes these days," said Mom.

"I can tell you where all your time and attention goes," grumbled Max under his breath. "It's those darn babies! If the twins aren't demanding attention, Christian is getting into something. I don't think you even notice me any more. Except of course when I have to do my darn homework or clean up the house."

"What did you say?" asked Mom.

"Oh nothing," mumbled Max as he sat down at the table to do his homework. "Stupid homework," he thought. "Who cares about this dumb old stuff anyway?"

Max was just sitting there staring at his books and Mom was starting to fuss at him when she noticed the back door was open and Christian was nowhere around. "Oh, now what!" she yelled as she raced outside to find the toddler. She looked up and down the street and couldn't see him, so she started to run from house to house to see if she could find him.

"Ah, escape!" thought Max. Seeing that, as usual, Mom wasn't paying any attention to him, he slipped off his chair and sneaked over to the Nintendo. Soon the boom, pow, bleep of his game was blocking out the sounds of the twins' bawling, Tori's horrid sounds from the keyboard, and Brenden hammering some toy into oblivion. As he played, Max thought, "I wish I never had to do any more school work and that I didn't have any brothers and sisters!"

Just as Maxie made his horrible wish, one of the ugliest characters from his Nintendo game reached out and pulled him into the television screen! "Whoa!" said Max. "What's happening to me?"

"I'm the Great Grim Grondulo," the ugly character said. "No more babies, no more homework, now you're in the game!" And with that he smacked Maxie right on the nose and Maxie flew toes over teacup and landed on his you-know-what at the edge of the screen.

As Maxie struggled to sit up, another ugly character boxed him on the ear.

"Yow! That hurt! Stop that!" said Maxie.

"Get up, you lily - livered little coward. Get up and fight," demanded the Grim Grondulo.

"Oh my," thought Max. "I wish I had been taking Tai Kwon Do lessons like Austin."

Pow! Bang! Maxie was thumped and bumped from all sides by the evil Grondulo and the other wicked characters. In self defense he stood up to fight back. He drew his arm back to swing a punch at Grondulo, but another one of the fighters grabbed his arm and threw him through the air. He landed behind a hill and had a moment to catch his breath.

"Oh, man, what have I done to myself?" thought Max. "It's getting close to supper time and I am hungry. Those pickles and cookies I ate this afternoon have worn off and I'm `Starvin' Marvin' now! How will I ever get out of here?"

"Stand up and fight!" The Grim Grondulo stood at the top of the hill. "You got what you wanted - no more babies, no more homework, just the game. Now join in, you wimp! You can't leave unless you win the game."

"Hey! It's not nice to call people wimps," protested Max. He stood up and started to slug Grondulo, but his hardest hits didn't even faze the monster. Max grabbed a hammer from the ground and popped Grondulo on the knee, but his knee just bent backwards and Grondulo was ready to fight again at once.

"That pop on the knee hurt!" screamed Grondulo. "Just for that I think I'll drag Tori and Brenden and Christian and the twins into the game!"

"Oh, no!" cried Max. "You can't do that. They are way too little to play your evil game."

"Who cares? You hate babies, remember. Yeah, I'll slaughter `em," Grondulo snarled.

"Oh, no, I love those babies! They are my brothers and sisters. It's just that they make too much noise and get all Mom and Dad's attention!" Max was nearly crying because he was afraid that the evil monster would hurt the kids. He couldn't let that happen. He had to win the game.

Blap, splat! Max was knocked down on his you-know-what again. No matter how hard he tried, the evil Grondulo and his wicked cronies knocked him down every time. When Max was outside the game, he and his trusty joy stick always won. This was a different matter. Boom, pow! Poor Maxie got hit again. The ringing in his head from all the slaps and kicks was even louder than the twins' highest shrieks.

Max began to think. "If I can't knock them out with my fists, my feet, or even a hammer, I will just have to out-think them."

Click here for Part 2 of "Maxie and the Grondulo"!