Chip Gets a Bath

Downstairs, the pot in the fireplace was boiling rapidly. Amy immediately got up, changed back into her red dress with lining, gold bracelets, and red boots with white stripes and ran downstairs to it. She removed the lid from the pot, stirred it up, and tasted it.

Meanwhile the seven boys were peeking from the top of the banister where Zipper had stuck his head into a hole in it. They sniffed the air, breathed in deeply, sighed, and shouted, "Ahhhhh! Soup! Hurray!" Simba, Chip, Flounder, Thumper, Flower, and Dale, who were not stupid enough to stick their heads through the banister, ran to the table, each one stepping on Zipper's back. They were arguing over the food, each one wanting to be the first. "Wait for me! I'm coming too!" Zipper tried to follow them, but his head was in the banister. "Ugh! I can't--I mean--" After several bumps, his head finally popped through, and he flew backwards into the wall. "Here I come!" Aching from the pain, he flew down the stairs, only to end up tumbling. He got up and quickly flew to the table and into his chair, but his chair fell backwards, and he went rolling out of it. He stood up in his chair and sat down to join the argument. Soon, all seven boys were fighting over bread rolls and knocking Zipper out of his chair again. "Hey!" They were just about to bite into them when Amy stopped them.

"Ah, ah, ah! Just a minute!" Amy called to them. The boys stopped fighting and turned their heads to listen.

"Supper's not quite ready yet," said Amy. "You'll just have time to wash."

"Wash?" Simba, Flounder, Thumper, Flower, Dale, and Zipper questioned in wonder.

"Ha! I knew there was a catch to it!" Chip grumbled, throwing down his spoon and crossing his arms in defiance.

"Why wash?" asked Flower.

"What for?" asked Flounder.

"We're not going anywhere, are we?" asked Zipper.

"It's not the New Year." said Simba, as Flounder, Flower, Dale, and Zipper shook their heads.

"Oh, perhaps you have washed." Amy smiled.

Simba pondered for a moment. "Perhaps we..." Then he remembered what Amy meant. "Yes, perhaps we have!"

"But when?" asked Amy, crossly putting her hands on her hips.

Simba kept waffling about when he and the other boys had already washed. "When? When? You said... Ah, last week, month, ye..., why, recently!" he finally said.

"Yes, recently!" said Flounder, Thumper, Flower, Dale, and Zipper.

"Oh, really?" said Amy. "Let me see your hands."

Simba, Flounder, Thumper, Flower, Dale, and Zipper placed their paws, fins, and hands promptly behind their backs and backed up a bit. But Chip crossed his arms defiantly.

"Let me see your hands!" demanded Amy.

Finally, Simba held out his filthy paws.

"Why, Simba! I'm surprised!" exclaimed a shocked Amy. Simba giggled bashfully and his paws once again.

Amy looked at Flower. "Come on. Let's see them." Flower held out his paws as well. "Oh, Flower, my, my, my..." The skunk blushed and hid his paws again.

Then she looked at Dale. "And you?" Dale held out his hands, and Amy tsked at the sight.

Flounder rubbed his fins on his stomach and held them out for Amy to inspect. "Worse than I thought." Amy said sadly.

Zipper held out his filthy hands. "Oops!" he said, as Amy laughed, making him drop to the floor.

Finally, Thumper held out his paws. Amy gasped at the sight of his filthy paws. "Oh! How shocking!" Thumper quickly hid his paws.

"Goodness me! This won't do at all!" said Amy.

Chip looked at his hand and angrily shoved it back down.

"March straight outside and wash or you're not gonna get a bite to eat!" Amy ordered the boys.

Sadly, the boys, other than Chip, looked at Simba, who nodded and led them outside the open door, whose doorknob was remarkably fixed!

Naturally, Zipper was not looking where he was going and flew straight into the wall on the wrong side of the door, which is actually the closet for storing pots and pans. He flew out and around the door to the outside. "Sorry about that!" he called.

"Humph!" said Chip, as he glared at the wall again.

"Well, aren't you going to wash?" Amy asked the black-nosed chipmunk.

Chip ignored her.

"What's the matter?" asked Amy, "Cat got your tongue?"

Chip only turned to face Amy and stuck his tongue out at her. Then he stomped outside, only to bump into a wall, making her laugh.

"Awwww, did you hurt yourself?" Amy asked empathically.

"Humph!" Chip pouted. And with that, he marched straight outside, slamming the door behind him. He sat on a barrel, grabbed a slice of buckwheat cake, and stuck it in his mouth. "Humph! Girls!"

"Courage, boys, courage," Simba told his friends. "Don't be nervous."

Chip watched his friends approach an empty horse trough. They peered at the water nervously. Flounder stuck a fin in the water and swirled it around. "Gosh!" he said, "It's wet!"

Dale stuck his finger in it, too. He quickly pulled it out, shivering. "Brrrrr!" he complained, "it's cold too!"

"We're not gonna do it, are we?" Flower asked nervously.

"Well," said Simba. "It would please the princess."

"I'll take a chance on her!" Flounder spoke up.

"Me too!" Thumper, Flower, Dale, and Zipper said in unison.

"Humph," Chip said from on top of the barrel. "Her wiles are beginning to work! But I'm warning you, you give them an inch, they'll walk all over you!"

"Don't listen to that old warthog!" Simba said indignantly. Then he turned to face Flounder, Thumper, Flower, Dale, and Zipper. "Come one now, boys!"

"How hard can you scrub?" Dale asked.

"Will my fur shrink?" Thumper asked.

"Do you get in the tub?" Flounder asked.

"Do you have to wash where it doesn't show?" Flower asked.

"Now, don't get excited," Simba told them. "Here we go!" Then he began to sing.

Simba: Step up to the tub ''Oh! T'ain't no disgrace'' Just pull up your sleeves And pin them in place Then, scoop up the water And rub it on your face And go, "Brrr! Brrr! Brrr!"

Flounder, Thumper, Flower, Dale, and Zipper picked up five separate bars of soap and began working up a lather on their fins, paws, hands, and faces.

Simba: Pick up the soap Now, don't try to bluff Work up a lather And when you got enough Get your hands full of water And you snort And you snuff And go, "Brrr! Brrr! Brrr!"

In the meantime, the fly that bothered Thumper returned by buzzing around Thumper's head. Then it landed on the soap and started scrubbing.

Simba: You douse and souse You rub and scrub You sputter and splash All over the tub You may be cold and wet When you're done But you gotta admit It's good and clean fun So splash all you like T'ain't any trick As soon as you're through You'll feel mighty slick

Chip: Bunch of old nanny goats You make me sick Going, "Brrr! Brrr! Brrr!"

Chip then spat at them.

Simba then took a scrubbing floor brush and scrubbed Flounder's, Thumper's, Flower's, and Dale's heads. He tried to scrub Zipper's head, but he ducked several times, avoiding the brush. Simba got mad and knocked Zipper into the trough with it.

"Brrr! Brrr! Brrr!" he shouted underwater, kicking his legs frantically, as Simba instead brushed his rear end with the brush.

Meanwhile, Chip was still making fun of his friends. "Ha! Next thing you know, she'll be tying your fur up in pink ribbons and smelling you up with that stuff called perfume!" Then he spat out the chewed part of the buckwheat cake.

Meanwhile, the boys went back to washing. Flounder shook like a dog to dry his gills and soaked soaked Simba.

Zipper hit himself in the head to get the water out of his invisible ears. Then, he shook his head, only to cause the water to slosh around. Finally, he stuck his finger in his mouth and blew hard, making the water comes shooting out of his ears.

Dale couldn't see, so, he grabs the first thing he touched to dry his face off with. It happened to be Thumper's tail. Flower couldn't see either and Thumper's ears to dry off his face. This caused Thumper to be lifted lift up off the ground. When Flower and Dale were done, they dropped the bunny painfully on the ground.

"A fine bunch of waterlilies you turned out to be!" Chip said, still sitting on top of the barrel. Simba glared at him. "I'd like to see anybody make me wash, if I didn't wanna!"

"Hey!" snapped Simba. But then he calmed down a bit, cleared his throat, and motioned his friends to come. They were all gathered in a football-esque huddle. Simba whispered and pointed to Chip, who didn't seem to notice. Flounder looked up and slightly laughed. Zipper looked up, smiling at Chip, but Dale reached up, grabbed his head, and dragged him back into the huddle.

Whistling, Simba, Flounder, Thumper, Flower, Zipper, and Dale made their way to the barrel to surround Chip, who noticed that it was late.

"Get him!" Simba cried.

Chip tried to run away, but the others quickly grabbed onto his arms and legs. Now he was kicking and screaming while the other boys carried him to the trough, while taking off his bomber jacket and fedora. "Hey! Let go of me!" shouted the black-nosed chipmunk.

"Get him over to the tub!" cried Simba, "Get him over to the tub!"

"Let me loose, you fools! Let me loose!" shouted Chip (who was now naked).

"Get him up on the tub!" Simba continued crying, "Get him up! Hang onto him! Get him up on the tub! The tub, the tub! Don't get excited! Don't get--"

They managed to get him in, and, in the process, Zipper fell off of Dale and rolled over with Simba. He landed with his arms around a dazed Simba's neck and looked up at him lovingly.

Simba pushed the fly off of him. "Get the soap!" he commanded, as Zipper nodded at Simba while going to get the soap. But he tripped, got up, and quickly ran past the soap. He stopped, went back, and got it, but it slipped out of his hands ten times.

"Oh! Steady, boys!" Simba said to those who were holding the tortured chipmunk in the water.

The soap landed on Zipper's head and bounced off. He snuck up on it and pounced on it. That only caused it to slip out of his hands, bounce off of Thumper's rear end, and go down Zipper's throat, nearly choking him, but it went straight down. "Did we have to use real soap?" he asked, feeling sick. Luckily, Zipper pretended not to notice the fact that he just swallowed an entire bar of soap and looked around for the missing soap. He couldn't find it of course. He hiccupped, and bubbles came out of his mouth. He kept looking around until he kept hiccupping bubbles again. He pat his stomach and felt the bar of soap. He kept hiccupping bubbles, feeling sicker and sicker.

During all of this, Simba, Flounder, Thumper, Flower, and Dale were scrubbing Chip's face and laughing. Dale washed his fur while Thumper and Flower held him down. Flounder scrubbed his forehead while Simba scrubbed his teeth. Simba began singing again, and the other boys joined in.

Simba: Now scrub good and hard It can't be denied But he'll look mighty cute As soon as he's dried

Simba, Flounder, Thumper, Flower, and Dale: Well, it's good for the soul And it's good for the hide To go--

Chip: "Brrr! Brrr! Brrr!"

Zipper was still hiccupping bubbles. He tried holding them in until he hiccupped so hard, sending his skyrocketing in the air. He hiccupped one last time, causing the last bubble to come out of his mouth and pop. "Whew!" sighed the fly, "I feel much better already."

By this time, Simba, Flounder, Thumper, Flower, and Dale were tying blue ribbons in Chip's fur. "Ain't he sweet?" Simba smiled.

Dale sniffed the black-nosed chipmunk. "Smells like a petunia." he said.

Flounder placed a wreath of flowers on Chip's head. "He sure is cute." he said.

"You'll pay dearly for this!" Chip snarled.

"Supper!" Amy called to the boys, banging the spoon against the cauldron.

"Supper!" Simba exclaimed happily.

"Food! Hurray!" Flounder, Thumper, Flower, Dale, and Zipper cheered, as they ran back inside, dropping Chip into the trough.

"Brrr! Brrr! Brrr!" Chip screamed underwater. When he popped his head up out of the water, he sat up and pouted. "Humph!"