There was once a crybaby called Jonathan. It’s a bit rude to call him a crybaby, but he did grump and cry every time he stubbed his toe, fell over or got accidentally hit by a flying ball.
His best friend was called Ben. He was not a crybaby, but he did used to be a grump. The next time Jonathan grumped, Ben said “I’ll tell you what happens to me when I grump. I get a visit from Mr Grumpy.” It was teatime and Ben left for home. Intrigued by this, Jonathan thought he might quite like a visit from this Mr Grumpy.
Suddenly there was a ratatatat at the door. “Who is it?” shouted Jonathan through the front door. “It’s Mr Grumpy” came the reply, in a grumpy voice. “I’m Mr Grumpy, the grumpiest man in the world.”
And in came a man dressed like a clown, but with an unsmiley mouth which didn’t match. “I might look happy,” he grumped. “But I’m not really. I am as grumpy as they come. But I tell you what I do. I tickle.”
Jonathan’s face stopped grumping and stared at Mr Grumpy. He was beginning to forget why he was grumpy in the first place.
Mr Grumpy continued “I tickle, that’s right. I tickle from the top of your head to the end of your toes. I tickle from one arm outstretched, to the other. Your tummy, your back, your neck, your knees. Anything. You name it, I’ll tickle it.”
He started to tickle Jonathan. Jonathan found he rather liked it, but pretended he didn’t as he wanted to still look like he was grumping.
Jonathan found that as he was tickled by Mr Grumpy, his mouth started to twitch and move up at the sides. He didn’t know it but he was starting to smile.
“Huuuu huuuuu huuuuuu” came a strange noise from somewhere in the room. Jonathan looked at Mr Grumpy. He wasn’t making this noise. Jonathan looked around the room. He searched behind the TV, nothing there. Behind the sofa, nothing there. Under the rug, nothing there. Where was this funny noise coming from?
He asked Mr Grumpy “What is happening? What’s this noise?” Mr Grumpy stopped tickling him and smiled at him. “My dear Jonathan,” he said. “You are experiencing what is commonly known in my line of work to be laughing.” “What on earth are you talking about?” cried Jonathan, who could still hear the noise in between his own words. “Is it me who is laughing? Is that what this noise is?” “Yes,” laughed Mr Grumpy.
Jonathan began to realise now that it was he who was laughing. His laughing got louder and louder, more and more silly, and gigglier and gigglier. In the end, Jonathan had tears streaming from his eyes and his tummy was almost hurting.
When he’d recovered, Mr Grumpy told him he was leaving. “My work here is done” he said. “I hope I’ll not have to see you again, young boy!”
Jonathan even found this funny, and as Mr Grumpy left through the front door and walked down the lane, he could still hear Jonathan laughing to himself.