Hercules and Bubblegum and the Friday Banquet(Alan Bruce) Once again the ‘Terrible Twins’ had arrived with their harassed parents at the Hotel in the mountains. The adults were exhausted from continuous observation of Tammy and Tommy, who were the most troublesome of children that you could imagine! The only time the parents could rest was when the two terrors were asleep.

It was on the Monday afternoon that the big trouble started brewing. Mrs. Cook and Mr. Chef spent the time after Monday lunch preparing for the weekly Banquet, which takes place on Friday evening. Not that Mrs. Cook and Mr. Chef needed a whole week to prepare their special menus, it was just that it took several days to sort the menu and make sure everything was ordered to be cooked on time.

Tammy and Tommy had crept into the kitchen after Monday lunch when their parents, like most visitors to the Hotel, were having a nap. Mrs. Cook and Mr. Chef were having their weekly planning meeting there in the kitchen. The Terrible Twins overheard the preparation plans for the Banquet, and then scuttled to the window seat in the lounge to make their own plans. The two terrors had forgotten their previous misdemeanors on previous visits to the hotel – they sat down in the window seat, which was the resting place for several toys including the toy bears, Hercules and Bubblegum.

What a relief that the two toy bears heard every word of the terrible plan!
“I’ve got a great wicked idea,” whispered Tommy to Tammy. “We can’t do much about the first courses at the Banquet, too many kitchen people controlling the preparation. “We can do something about the desserts though,” continued Tommy. After a few moments, Tammy whispered to Tommy, “ I know, we will exchange the sugar for salt! All of the fine sugar and icing sugar that the cooks use-- we’ll swap with salt.” The two terrors scampered gleefully away to catch up on their naps with sweet dreams.

Hercules prodded Bubblegum and said, “Hey, are you awake? Did you hear all of that?”
Bubblegum snuffled and replied, “Yes. Every word. We must make a plan and alert the Animal Council tonight that the two terrors have another antisocial project!”

Well we know that toy bears can’t talk, but we have no explanation for what happened afterwards if toys and pets cannot communicate!

That night, the Animal Council made a special meeting. The toy bears had informed all of the pets that the guests had brought with them, and one or two of the animals that occasionally came in from the fields. The badger from the valley was the ‘duty boss’ this week. He thanked the toy bears for arranging the meeting and greeted all, especially the pets of the guests. “We are going to need continuous observation during the week, to intercept the twins’ project. We must be awake especially on Thursday afternoon when they usually make the desserts in the kitchen, and then afterwards in the cooling room” mumbled the badger in his slow kind voice

If one looked carefully at the pets of the guests during the next few days, one would have noticed one eye open of any ‘sleeping pet’. If one had strolled the corridors in the middle of the night one would have been surprised at the amount of pet traffic up and down the stairways. One would have been totally astonished at the number of hotel toys apparently abandoned in strange places, like doorways and armchairs.

At the next meeting on Wednesday evening, the badger asked if there had been any observations of further unusual behavior of the two terrors. “Not as far as we know, “ answered the Black Cat. The badger asked the Black Cat if the twins had been seen near the kitchen. “Not at all”, replied the Black Cat, who’s job it was to overview the animal comings and goings in the human’s food empire.

“Should we prepare for tomorrow afternoon?“ asked Hercules of the gathered animal and pets company. “What do you suggest?” mumbled the badger. Bubblegum continued, “Hercules and I have thought carefully about what we can do, and suggest that we should move the reserve sugar jars from the cellar ready -- if the twins try to swap the sugar in the working jars in the kitchen”. The Black Cat agreed that his team of mice would transport the sugar jars from the cellar –- without eating any of course! The Black Cat thought the fresh sugar jars could be hidden in the kitchen wardrobe until Thursday afternoon.

The Black Cat and his team worked all Wednesday night struggling with glass jars full of sugar from cellar to kitchen. Hercules thought that the Terrible Twins would attempt their salt-sugar switch during Thursday nap time after lunch. Surely enough it was exactly then, when the kitchen boys were also napping instead of washing dishes, that Tammy and Tommy crept into the kitchen. The ‘Terror Two’ were very efficient, they unscrewed the sugar jars, poured out the sugar into the garbage and filled the jars with salt from the big brown paper bags next to the food preparation tables. The toys and pets kept well out of the way, because the ‘napping Black Cat’ had everything under observation.

After making their salt-for-sugar switch, Tammy and Tommy, ran back to their rooms for naps, giggling all of the way! The Black Cat whistled and his teams of mice substituted fresh sugar jars for those switched to salt – all except one. To this one was quickly attached a label, ‘Please use this jar when making the special desert for Tammy and Tommy!’ We do not know who wrote it, but an identical colored marker was clearly sticking out of the backpack of Bubblegum. Before any suspicious reader remarks that of course toys can’t talk and they certainly cannot write, we will go back to the events as they took place!

The kitchen staff did a wonderful job in getting everything ready for the Friday evening Banquet. The pets observed all comings and goings. Observers would have noticed that streams of pets regularly appeared to report to the Black Cat outside the door to the kitchen. The Black Cat instructed his team of mice to report to the badger, the ‘duty boss of the week’.

Nothing passed unnoticed, and the Terrible Twins kept a low profile --sniggering, spluttering and grinning all of the time. Hercules and Bubblegum, in their window seat, were regularly visited by passing pets in the hotel lounge. Strange how pets appeared to be talking to toys!

On Friday evening the Banquet started with a welcoming speech by the Hotel manager. He thanked Mrs. Cook and Mr. Chef and their teams for splendid work. The manager was sure that everything would taste wonderful. Tammy and Tommy spluttered and held their hands over their mouths to hide their giggling. The first courses were indeed wonderful and everybody was well fed and happy. It was time for the desserts.

Tommy and Tammy were sitting on the edges of their seats, as if waiting for an explosion. The desserts were served and – nothing! That is nothing bad -- the guests were all enjoying their desserts. Everyone was yumming and licking their tongues. Tommy and Tammy could not believe it. They decided to taste their own desserts. And wham! They both had explosions in their mouths.
“Oh this is terrible,’ shouted Tommy, “It tastes like salt.” Tammy spat out her salty dessert and quickly drank three glasses of water.

The Hotel manager confirmed the salty dessert and said he was so sorry, he could not understand how such salty desserts could be served. Mrs. Cook and Mr. Chef were called and had no explanation either. One of the kitchen boys produced that sugar jar with salt, and the unusual label instructing the special dessert for Tommy and Tammy. Nobody could identify the handwriting -- so the responsible one was not found!

The Animal Council met later as the badger transferred his weekly job to the next ‘duty boss’. All pets and animals were praised. It was thought a pity if anyone suffered the salt desserts. It was only Tammy and Tommy who were too salty. One again Hercules and Bubblegum with the entire hotel animal ensemble of pets and toys, had rescued the guests from another disaster planned by the Terrible Twins.

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