Pickle and the Baby Who Wouldn't Laugh

8 pages · 7 min · ages 5+

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“Waaaaah!” That was Bean. Bean was the new baby, and she had come home last Tuesday. She was small and warm and smelled of milk, and so far she could do three things: sleep, drink, and cry. Pickle skidded into the room so fast that his long ears flew up over his eyes, and he bumped into the doorframe. Bonk. He did that a lot. “Babies save their very first laugh,” said Grandma Dog, rocking the basket, “for their very favourite person.” Pickle's tail went thump-thump-thump. “That's going to be me,” he said. “Big brother coming through!” Dad Dog lowered his newspaper and blinked slowly. “Good luck,” said Dad Dog.

Pickle knew he had the funniest face in the family. He put his nose right next to the basket. He crossed his eyes. He stuck out his tongue. He turned both ears inside out so they looked like two pink pancakes. “Big brother coming through!” Bean looked at the pancakes. Bean looked at the tongue. Her bottom lip began to wobble. It wobbled some more. “Waaaaaah!” Pickle jumped back. “Maybe a little less face, sweetheart,” said Mom Dog, picking Bean up. Dad Dog lowered his newspaper. He blinked. “Strong face,” said Dad Dog.

“Babies love music,” said Pickle. He dug in his vest pocket and pulled out his yellow party horn, the one from Grandma's surprise party. He was going to play a song and do a tap dance at the same time. Nobody had ever done that for a baby before, probably. Mom Dog laid Bean on her blanket on the rug. Grandma Dog put her glasses on to watch. Pickle took the deepest breath his little body could hold. His cheeks puffed out like two round buns. “Big brother coming through!” Dad Dog slowly folded his newspaper, just in case.

Honk-squeak-TOOT! Tippy-tap-tippy-tap! It was the loudest song in the history of the living room. Grandma Dog's glasses jumped off her nose. The cat left the house. Bean's eyes went very round, and then her mouth went very wide. “Waaaaaaaaah!” It was a much bigger cry than before. It was a cry with extra bits on. Pickle stopped dancing. The party horn drooped out of his mouth. “Was that a laugh?” he asked hopefully. “No,” said Mom Dog, bouncing Bean. Dad Dog lowered his newspaper and blinked. “Loud,” said Dad Dog.

Pickle needed something bigger. Much bigger. He built a tower out of every cushion in the house. He tied his black Halloween cape around his neck. Grandma Dog agreed to play the drum on a saucepan. “Ladies and gentlemen and Bean,” Pickle announced from the very top of the wobbly tower. “The Great Pickle Show!” Brrrrrrum, went Grandma's saucepan. Bean stopped crying and looked up. Pickle's heart went thump. She was watching! He spread his cape. He wiggled his bottom. He pointed his nose at the laundry basket on the far side of the room. “Big brother,” shouted Pickle, “coming through!”

He jumped. He missed. The cushions went one way, the cape went the other, and Pickle landed in the laundry basket upside down, with a sock on his nose. Crash. “WAAAAAAH!” Bean cried her biggest cry of all. Pickle climbed out and lay flat on the rug. His long ears flopped down over his eyes. He didn't even move them. “She doesn't like me,” he said into the rug. Then something strange happened. It went quiet. Pickle lifted one ear to see why. Bean was staring at him. He let the ear drop. Quiet. He lifted it again. Bean's eyes went wide as two buttons. Pickle's tail began, very slowly, to wag.

Pickle crawled closer. He flopped both ears over his eyes. “Where's Pickle?” he whispered. Bean held her breath. Pickle flipped his ears up. “Boo!” Bean's mouth opened. Out came a tiny sound, like a hiccup with a giggle inside it. “Hic-hee!” Everybody froze. Grandma Dog put down her saucepan. Mom Dog's paw went to her mouth. Pickle did it again. Ears down. Ears up. “Boo!” “Hee-hee-hee!” It was a laugh. It was Bean's very first laugh, and it was for Pickle. “Big brother,” whispered Pickle, “came through.”

After that, Bean laughed at the ear trick every day. At breakfast. In the bath. At the park. By bedtime, Pickle's ears were so tired that he fell asleep in his basket in the middle of a boo. That night, Bean woke up and started to fuss. Dad Dog looked at the sleeping Pickle. He looked at Bean. Then he tore two long ears out of his newspaper, put them on his head, and flopped them over his eyes. “Boo,” said Dad Dog, very flatly. Bean laughed so hard she hiccupped. Dad Dog leaned down and whispered, “Don't tell Pickle.” Over in his basket, Pickle's tail went thump-thump-thump.