The Ogglebogs Short Story & Audiobook Series: Episode 18 - Laughing It Away

Laughing It Away

One morning Rocco, Blobbo, Coco, Oddo, Beepo and Twinko were all sitting at their usual table at the Oggle Café. 

“Let’s have an adventure today!” said Rocco.

“Better have breakfast first,” said Blobbo, “My tummy has nearly forgotten what it’s for.”

“Oh, Blobbo, you and your tummy,” said Coco.

“It’s my favourite tummy,” said Blobbo.

“It’s your only tummy,” said Twinko, “Silly Blobbo.”

“Bzzz, bzzzz, bzz!” said Beepo.

“I know,” said Oddo, “We can go looking for Oggleberries!”

“My favourite,” said Blobbo, “After Ogglecakes, of course. And my tummy. I like my tummy. Ohhhh, I’m so hungry, I could easily yawn up a whole Oggleberry bush!”

Just then Pasto came up to their table. He had a big tray of delicious Ogglecakes.

“Here you are,” said Pasto. “But I’ve run out of Oggleberries! They look so nice on top of Ogglecakes.

“My favourite,” said Blobbo.

“Everything is your favourite today, Blobbo,” said Twinko.

“Were you talking about going to pick Oggleberries just now?” asked Pasto.

“Bzzz, bzzzz, bzz!” said Beepo.

“Great, so can you bring me back as many as you can, please?” asked Pasto.

“We promise, Pasto,” said Coco.

When the Ogglebog friends had all eaten their Ogglecake breakfasts they all set off. But when they got to the bottom of Bubble Mountain Rocco suddenly stopped. 

“I’ve forgotten where the Oggleberry bushes are,” said Rocco.

“You are a forgetful old Rocco,” said Twinko.

“Everyone knows they are in the Ogg Bog,” said Oddo.

“Oooooh, the Ogg Bog is stinky smelly!” said Coco.

“Not my favourite,” said Blobbo.

“Bzzz, bzzzz, bzz!” said Beepo.

“Well, there won’t be any Riplats,” said Rocco.

“Why not?” asked Twinko.

“Everyone knows that Riplats sleep all day on Mewsdays,” answered Rocco, looking clever.

“Today is Hattersday, today, Rocco!” said Coco.

“Oh yes, so it is!” said Rocco, “I’m not so clever after all.”

“So, there will be Riplats,” said Twinko looking a bit sad, “I’m frightened of Riplats.”

“And Riplats live in the Ogg Bog!” said Coco, “And now I’m frightened, too.”

“Bzzz, bzzzz, bzz!”, said Beepo.

“Of course, we’ll need baskets, clever Beepo,” said Coco.

Beepo flew off and was soon back with three baskets for the Oggleberries. 

Then Coco said, “I am frightened of Riplats but what do they look like?”

“Well,” Rocco answered, “They, um, they have, um and they, erm, look a bit like…….” 

“Bzzz, bzzzz, bzz!”, said Beepo.

“Yes, that’s right, Beepo,” said Rocco, “you will know one if you see one.”

“Come on, Ogglebogs, let’s pick some Oggleberries! We promised Pasto,” said Blobbo.

Soon they were all at the Mushmallow Forest right at the edge of the Ogg Bog. Right near the bog grows Blobweed. Blobweed is a horrible stinky plant that smells of old dogs and last week’s boiled eggs. 

“Let’s start hunting for Oggleberry bushes,” said Rocco.

They all went deeper and deeper into the Ogg Bog. It got a bit dark there and Twinko looked a bit frightened. They went past giant Blobweed plants and funny-looking grass that swayed in the wind.

“I think there might be Riplats around here,” said Twinko.

“Don’t worry, it’s just tall grass,” said Rocco.

But the tall grass moved a bit more. And then it moved up and down and one long grass even jumped up in the air!

“Ooooooh, definitely Riplats!” said Coco, looking worried.

Just then Blobbo squelched into the stinky, smelly Ogg Bog. 

“Oh no! Yuck! Stinky!” yelled Blobbo, “Look at me!”

But Blobbo did look a bit funny and Oddo giggled. 

Then the tall grass moved a bit more slowly and seemed to go backwards into the Ogg Bog.

“Oh, Blobbo, I’d better pull you out,” said Rocco. And just then Rocco squelched into the stinky smelly Ogg Bog.

Then Oddo and Coco started to laugh. Blobbo and Rocco looked so funny stuck in the stinky Ogg Bog. 

Then they saw that the tall grass was going backwards quite fast. 

Blobbo said, “I don’t like this stinky place, it’s not my favourite, not one bit!”

Coco and Oddo were still laughing.

And before they knew it, all the tall grass was completely gone.

“Bzzz, bzzzz, bzz!”, said Beepo.

“That’s right, Beepo, the Riplats don’t seem to like the sound of laughter!”

“We will remember that next time anyone is frightened of Riplats,” said Twinko, “Just laugh at them and they will all go away!”

“Maybe next time we can find where the Riplats live and we can laugh them all away forever!” said Blobbo. “But I can see a huge Oggleberry bush just over there.”

“Let’s get picking!” said Rocco, excitedly.

Soon they had filled all three baskets with the delicious Oggleberries.

They were all quite tired when they got back to the Oggle Café. But Pasto was very happy when he saw all the Oggleberries they had picked.

“Thank you, everyone! Ogglecakes are free today for all Oggleberry pickers! You can eat as many as you like,” said Pasto with a great big smile.

“Now that really IS my favourite,” said Blobbo.

The End