CHAPTER SEVEN

Ready, Aim, Learn!

Back in the REAL WORLD . . .

RING! RING! RING! The bell rings to signal the end of the school day. The kids fly out of their classrooms. George empties a garbage can as Captain Pump flies out of the comic book in his back pocket.

“C’mon, George!” yells the little superhero with great haste. “They’re headed to the parking lot!” The Captain grabs George by the collar and pulls him through the back door to the parking area where Guido and Myron hide behind the dumpster next to the parked cars. Ms. Barkelott exits the school and heads toward her vehicle, hands full with bags.

Guido motions to Myron. “Get ready. Here she comes,” says Guido. The boys take their position at the corner of the dumpster ready to launch the attack. Myron reaches in his bag and pulls out two cartons of eggs. He hands one to Guido.

“Cool! You got the extra-large ones too,” says Guido.

“Yeah, yeah, extra-large,” affirms Myron.

Ms. Barkelott stands at her car door, fishing for her keys in full view of Guido and Myron. Each one is armed with a big white projectile. They give each other a final look as they wind up and . . . out of nowhere, George appears.

“Hey! What are you two doing here?”

“Nothing, Mr. Basner. We were just picking up loose garbage and throwing it in the dumpster. Weren’t we, Myron?”

Myron looks at Guido, a little confused. “Yeah, yeah, throwing it in the dumpster.”

“Really? I suppose you found those eggs among the garbage?” asks George.

“Huh? Oh, yeah!” answers Guido.

“Time for a little trip.”

George opens the magic comic book as Captain Pump pops out when . . . SWOOP!!! The book suddenly sucks the unsuspecting duo and George into its pages.

The captain leads the way as the group screams at the top of their lungs, crashing through each page, one by one.

The three fall uncontrollably. Guido and Myron continue screaming as George covers his eyes. Meanwhile, Captain Pump punches through the pages like a heavyweight champion until they reach the end of the book. Then . . . BOOM!! Guido, Myron, and George come flying out the back cover of the magic comic book and crash-land into the animated world of Pumpland.

In PUMPLAND . . .

The three stand in the CP Tower control room with computer screens lining the walls. “Excuse me, fellas, but what do you think you’re doing?” asks a hulking Captain Pump.

“Ah man! It’s Captain Pump,” says a defeated Guido.

The Captain pulls a tablet from his pocket and starts clicking away, changing the images on the wall-to-wall screens. George stands next to the Captain while Guido and Myron look on.

“We were just going to exercise our throwing arms, weren’t we, Myron?”

“Yeah, our throwing arms, yeah!”

“On what and whom were you planning on exercising those throwing arms? Not on Ms. Barkelott and her car . . . were you?”

“No sir, not us,” says Guido. “We would never do such a terrible thing.”

“Wouldn’t you?”

“No, Captain Pump,” says Guido. “We would never do such a thing.”

“Lies, lies . . . such lies. Let me show you what damage you could have caused and, more seriously, the harm you could have done to Ms. Barkelott. Take a look at this.”

The Captain hits a play button. The wall transforms to a movie of Guido and Myron winding up and throwing egg after egg at Ms. Barkelott. Startled, she hurries to get her keys out of her purse. The eggs keep coming as though they are being thrown by an automatic pitching machine. Unable to get to her keys fast enough, she is hit again and again, egg yolk streaming down her face as she breaks down crying. Guido and Myron smirk at each other.

“You think this is funny?”

“No . . . but she embarrassed us in front of the whole school,” insists Guido.

“And why did she do that?” asks an impatient Captain Pump.

“Because we pulled on Mr. Blunt’s wig?”

“Yes! And embarrassed HIM!” explains the Captain.

“Yeah, I guess we did. So she did to us what we first did to him.”

“That’s right. It didn’t feel so nice, did it?” asks the Captain.

“No sir,” admits Guido sadly.

“Yeah, no sir,” agrees Myron.

“If you think that’s bad, watch this.”

Captain Pump hits play on his tablet. The screen plays a different scenario. This time, as Guido and Myron start launching the eggs at Ms. Barkelott, she panics and slips on the egg-covered pavement and falls to the ground, hitting her head against the car door. An ambulance takes her away.

“What happened to her?” asks Guido.

“Well, she hit her head and had to be taken to the hospital.”

“Oh no! Honest, Captain Pump . . . we never meant for anything bad to happen,” Guido assures him.

“No one ever wants bad things to happen. They just do . . . when you do foolish things and make bad choices! Do you understand?”

“Yes sir, we understand,” confirms Guido.

“Yeah, we’re sorry,” repeats Myron.

“Well, sorry is not always good enough, but lucky for you, you still have a chance to make this situation right. So tell me, boys, how do you think you could make this a happy ending for everyone?”

“What do you mean?” says Guido.

“Well, how could the two of you turn this disastrous situation into a great one?”

“I dunno,” says Guido.

“You two think about it. Remember, boys, life is always about choices. It is up to you to make the right ones. I will give you one more hint, one more word of the day that you should always remember and apply in every area of your life: RESPECT! Do you know what that means, boys?”

“I think so . . .” Guido and Myron say in unison.

“It means you always treat people with manners and in an appropriate way,” explains the Captain.

“I guess we made a big mistake,” says Guido.

“Not yet . . . you still can stop what you might do.”

“George!” beckons the Captain, who gestures at the magic comic book in his back pocket. “It’s time to take these boys back.”

“Okay. Gotcha!”

George opens the magic comic book as Captain Pump pulls him, Guido, and Myron into the scrolling frames. Once again, they fall through the pages as Captain Pump leads the way. BAM! BAM! BAM! One after another, the Captain crashes through page by page, plowing through like a bulldozer. Guido, Myron, and George freefall and scream all the way until . . . BOOM! They come crashing to the ground back in the real world.