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Babysitting The Brat

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Literature Text

Babysitting the Brat

Written By Salim Al-Mumin


Synopsis

Jamal discovers that the babysitting business has nothing but downs, and with a bratty kid in the house Whiskers can’t get any sleep so to save both their collective sanity these two join forces to squash the little squirt.


It's a late afternoon when a familiar hand reaches out to the front door of a strange house and rings the doorbell. Shortly after, a woman answers the door and says…

Woman: “Oh, Hi! Come on inside, Jamal! We are so glad that you could baby sit for us tonight.” [She says closing the door]

Woman:
“Can I get you anything?”

Jamal: “Oh, no thanks I’m fine.”

She goes to the stairs and calls up to her husband,

Woman: “Honey, the babysitters here!”

Husband: “Great! Be right there!”

Jamal stands there in the foyer looking around when suddenly a yawing yellow and white tomcat walks by into the kitchen. Inside the kitchen, there comes the sound of a refrigerator door opening and closing and then the tomcat walks back out of the kitchen with a bottle of milk in his paws which he starts to drink as he sleepily walks back into the living room. The husband comes downstairs putting on his sport coat and greets Jamal.

Husband: “Gee, thanks Jamal! So glad that you could babysit for us tonight.” [He says reaching out to shake his hand]

Jamal: “Yeah, so I heard.”

Husband: “We’ll be gone for just a few hours.”

Woman: “Ted’s upstairs somewhere.”

Husband: “There’s the number on the table by the phone if you need to contact us.”

Woman: “Help yourself to anything in the fridge.”

Both: “And Jamal...we are so glad that you could babysit for us tonight.”

They both slam the door immediately behind them, and the sound of a revving engine and screeching tires can be heard as they quickly drive off. Jamal then suspiciously states,

Jamal: “Those two are a little too glad if you ask me.”  

Jamal walks into the living room where the cat is gulping down the last drop of milk from the bottle. The cat burps loudly, tosses the bottle over his shoulder, and then plops his head down into his pillow. Jamal stands in the middle of the room scratching his head as he inquires,

Jamal: “Now where is this little squirt I’m suppose to be babysitting?”

Suddenly a chubby little boy, around the age of six, runs over him with a tricycle making beep, beep sounds as he speeds away. From his flattened state, Jamal groans,

Jamal: “Ask a stupid question…”

The little rut bounds back over to Jamal as he remains flattened on the floor and immediately begins bombarding him with questions as he jumps up and down clapping his hands together like he had just eaten a truck-load of sugar.

Ted: “Hey, are you my babysitter? Are you? Are you?”

Jamal peels himself off the floor and replies,

Jamal: “Yep, that’s me the best babysitter in town! Put 'er there, kid!”

Ted grabs Jamal’s hand and starts bounding around him holding his arm while still yakking his head off.

Ted: “Oh Boy! I want a movie and popcorn and candy and some soda, I want to play games like cowboys and tag and Blackjack and twister and I just want to have all sorts of fun!”

The cat opens one eye and glances at them slightly annoyed by the racket the kid is making. Ted bounces around Jamal like a rabbit slowly twisting his body like a wrung-up towel and finally releases Jamal's hand after he's done yapping. Like a rubber-band snapping back into place, the centripetal force causes Jamal to go spinning out of control. Jamal spins wildly all over the room and finally crashes into a stone pedestal upon which sat a Ming vase. Jamal sits there on the floor with the cracked vase stuck on his head and with a muffled voice says to Ted,

Jamal: “I’ll see what I can do.”

Jamal struggles to pull his head out of the vase and after he finally frees his noggin the vase shoots off with such force that we hear it shatter elsewhere. Ted bounds over to Jamal yelling loudly…

Ted: “Can we play Hide ‘n’ Go Seek? Can we, huh? I want to play Hide ‘n’ Go Seek! Please?!”

Jamal: “Well, I don’t see anything wrong with that.” [Jamal says to the audience]

Jamal: “Okay, kiddo, we’ll play Hide ‘n’ Go Seek.”

Ted: “Yay!!”

The two walk out of the living room passing the cat who's seemingly asleep in his basket. After the two boys are gone, without even opening his eyes, the cat mutters to himself…

Whiskers: “Sucker.”

Outside in the backyard, Jamal explains the instruction for the game.

Jamal: “Alright then, kiddo, you go hide and I’ll seek. I’m going to count to ten and then come and get ya. Got it?”

Ted nods his head and Jamal turns around and covers his eyes. He begins counting,

Jamal: “1…2…3…4…5…”

While Jamal's counting the little brat smiles a devious smile and then whips out a pack of matches from his back pocket. He quickly slips a bunch under Jamal’s heel. He strikes another match and lights the rest. Flames start to engulf Jamal's foot as he continues counting completely unaware.

Jamal: “6…7…8…9…10. Okay, ready or not here I coAUGGGGHHH!”

Jamal shoots high up into the sky with a flaming hot foot. He grabs his foot and starts trying to blow the flames out as he starts to plummet back down to the ground. Jamal falls down and lands smack on the diving board which bounces him off into the pool. Jamal climbs out of the pool soaking wet looking like a drowned rat. He sees a towel lying on something that looks like a small table, but when Jamal picks up the towel he finds Ted underneath. Ted bounds about shouting happily…

Ted: “Hooray you found me! You found me!”

Ted then immediately grabs Jamal's arm and yanks him along as he shouts,

Ted: “Come on! Now it's time to play Cowboys and Indians!”

Back inside the house, Jamal walks around the corner dressed in a cowboy outfit and carrying a popgun one hand. He looks around and in different places for the kid; he even lifts the cat's basket up over his head and then drops it back down to the floor upon not finding Ted. The cat momentarily glares at him angrily and then plops his head back down into the pillow. Jamal then calls out in a cheap Western accent,

Jamal: “Alright you injun! Come on out so I can a blast ya ta smithereens! There ain’t no hidin’ from the long arm of the law!"

Jamal takes a quick moment to break the fourth wall by looking at the audience and saying,

Jamal: "Pretty corny accent, ain't it?”

Jamal gets back into character and says,

Jamal: “I know you’re around here…somewhere.”

At that moment the little monster pops out of a vase behind Jamal crying a stereotypical Indian battle cry before shooting a plunger-tipped arrow at him. The arrow hits Jamal square in the face sending him flying into a wall. Ted scurries over to him as Jamal tries to pull the plunger off his face. Once he's finally removed the plunger, the little pest is standing right in front of him with a tomahawk.

Ted: “Me scalp 'um pale face!”

Jamal: “But I'm not a pale face!”

Ted reaches off screen and pulls back in a pail then slams it down over Jamal’s head saying…

Ted: “Now you are!”

Ted strikes the pail with his tomahawk which causes Jamal to vibrate around the room violently. Though still shaking, he stumbles about until he finally manages to stop. The kid immediately runs by grabbing his arm and yanks him along to the next game.

Ted: "Come On! Let's play a new game!"

Next we see Ted, dressed in a pirate outfit, as he marches Jamal blindfolded down the hallway into the bathroom. He forces Jamal to march up an ironing board and over a bathtub filled with water as he yells,

Ted: “RARRGGHH, Matey! You be walkin’ the plank, ya mutinous scum!

Blindly stumbling around, Jamal says,

Jamal: “Now hold on kid I can’t see where I’m going!”

Ted: “Into the water with ye! The sharks be a waitin’!”

With that the little monster takes his makeshift sword and shoves Jamal into the water. Jamal splashes into the tub. He frees his hands and takes off the blindfold, but to his surprise the bathtub is actually really deep...in fact it looks just like the ocean floor.

Jamal: “Amazing the stuff that can happen in a cartoon!” [he says breaking the fourth wall again.]

But Jamal’s amazement is short-lived for then a dark shadowy figure starts coming closer and closer eventually taking the form of a man-eating shark. Jamal's eyes pop out of his head as he screams wildly,

Jamal: “AAAUGGGGHHH!”

Jamal swims like the dickens for the surface and leaps up out of the water yelling…

Jamal: “SHARK!!!”

The shark leaps out of the water too and snaps Jamal up in one bite. It then smiles with satisfaction as it picks its teeth with a toothpick, but suddenly Jamal pries its mouth open screaming,

Jamal: “HELP!!”

The shark immediately snaps its mouth shut again trapping Jamal behind its teeth once more. Ted stands off to the side watching with a devious smile as Jamal crawls over to him with the shark firmly clamped down on his lower half. Jamal collapses panting for air. Ted jumps up and down clapping his hands together and shouts…

Ted: “Now let’s play Demolition Derby!”

At the sound of that Jamal jumps up peeling the shark off his person as he says,

Jamal: “Now wait a minute there, Teddy Boy! Why not play something else, huh? Preferably, something that’s less harmful to my delicate person.” [the last part he says directly to the audience]

Ted: “Okay.”

Jamal: “WHEEW!” [Jamal sighs with relief]

Ted: “Let’s wrestle instead!” [he says tackling Jamal]

In a cloud of smoke and dust the two wrestle out of the bathroom, down the hall (breaking everything in sight), down the stairs, and through the living room knocking the cat out of his basket. They finally stop in the middle of the room where we see that Ted has Jamal by the leg yanking it back over his head causing Jamal to pound his fist against the floor as he howls in pain. The cat gets up and looks at the spectacle, then turns to the audience shaking his head as he utters,

Whiskers: “TSK! TSK! TSK! TSK!”

He picks up his blanket and walks back to his bed. Ted still sits upon Jamal's back torturing him with the leg pull as Jamal groans and sweats profusely from the pain, but then Jamal looks up at a clock sitting on a nearby table and a smile takes over his face. He instantly jumps to his feet scooping up Ted by his underarms as he exclaims,

Jamal: “Well, will you look at the time! It's bedtime already…thank goodness!”

Ted: “But I don’t want to go to bed! I want to play!”

Jamal: “Now, now there’ll be plenty of time for that after you’ve had your rest...and more importantly after I’m not here.” [Jamal says walking with the kid in hand towards the stairs]

Ted: “I’m not going to bed and you can’t make me!”

Jamal stops, pulls the kid close so they're face-to-face, and says to him as he bulges one eye out,  

Jamal: “Want a bet, small fry?”

Ted: “No...I want to play!” [the little monster says smiling as he slaps Jamal across the face with such force that Jamal drops him]

Ted: “TAG!! You're It, Weirdo!” [Ted says pointing and laughing as Jamal grabs his head to stop it from vibrating]

Ted darts away laughing as Jamal shakes off the pain and charges after him bellowing,

Jamal: “Why you little creep!”

Jamal runs after the little mutant chasing him through the living room and once again knocking the cat out of his basket. The chase leads into the kitchen. As Jamal enters the room he yells,

Jamal: “Come here, you little wannabe Dennis the Menace!”

Ted laughs and grabs a the bar of soap from the kitchen sink and throws it on the floor behind him. Jamal slips on the soap and slides into the wall with a BANG. The force of the impact causes the pots and pans in the cupboard overhead to fall out on top of him burying him under a pile of cookware. Jamal soon pops out of the pile with a pot on his head and a rolling pen in hand yelling,

Jamal: “CHARGE!!!”

He charges at Ted with the rolling pen raised to strike. Ted jumps up on the kitchen counter and takes the dishes out of the drying rack and begins throwing them at Jamal gleefully shouting,

Ted: “Hey, Babysitter! Catch!!”

Jamal frantically tries to catch all the dishes that the little monster throws, but before long he stops and asks himself,

Jamal: “Wait a minute! What do I care?! These aren’t my dishes!”

At that moment Jamal looks to see the brat grab and hurl a large metal food cart at him. Jamal gasp as the cart rolls along the floor toward him as he stands there still holding all those heavy dishes. In the living room, the cat, who is trying to sleep, groans and sticks his head under his pillow after there comes a deafening CRASH from the kitchen. Jamal pops his head out of that same pile of cookware he popped out of before only now with broken dishes and a trashed food cart scattered about. Jamal leaps out of the pile with a plate stuck in his mouth. He spits out the plate and shouts,

Jamal: “You’ve had it kid!”

Ted runs out of the kitchen with Jamal hot on his tail. They tear through the living room: over the couch, under the table they go, knocking down the lamps, pictures, the curtains and even once again knocking the cat out of his basket. Jamal almost catches Ted, but he trips over the rug and tumbles. Ted runs out of the living room and to the hallway closet. He turns around to see Jamal standing at the entryway for the living room glaring at him with a vengeful look. Ted laughs and gives him a big raspberry. Enraged, Jamal drops to four legs snorting and stomping his foot like a bull. He lets out a menacing roar and charges head-down straight toward Ted. He picks up speed moving faster and faster, but at the last moment the kid jumps out of the way leaving Jamal to crash through the door into the closet. Ted walks over and opens the door as a bunch of junk falls out. Jamal pops his head out of the heap with a dazed look on his face. A yo-yo falls, bouncing down the heap and clunks him on the head which causes Ted to point and laughingly say,

Ted: “I like him! He’s silly!”

Later we find Jamal is still chasing Ted around in circles within the living room, and the cat, as you can imagine by this time has grown pretty darn sick of it, as he lies there in his basket with his chin in his hand watching the two every time they pass by. Finally, the cat has had enough and leaps out of his basket putting out his hand to stop Jamal as he yells,

Whiskers: "Hold It! Hold It! Hold It!”    

Jamal skids to a stop right in front of the cat as Ted presumably runs off. The cat grabs Jamal by the collar and says,

Whiskers: “Listen pal! You want to catch that kid, right?!”

Jamal: “Yeah.”

The cat releases Jamal's collar and continues,

Whiskers: “Well, you’re going about it all wrong! If you want to catch the little squirt, you have to trick him!”

Jamal: “And what exactly do you suggest?” [Jamal says putting his hands on his hips]

Whiskers: “Well, I just so happen to have a plan. Now listen carefully to what we’re going to do.”

The cat pulls Jamal close and begins to whisper in his ear. Jamal smiles deviously and rubs his hands together upon hearing the cat's clever scheme. Later we find Ted walking through the house looking for Jamal.

Ted: “Hey, babysitter where’d you go?!”

He stops to look in some ridiculous places like under the rug and beneath a pile of books.

Ted: “Come on out so we can play some more! Hello! Babysitter!”

Then suddenly Ted stops in the middle of the hall. The sight he sees before his eyes causes his mouth to water. A big lollipop that’s attached to the end of a fish hook has caught Ted’s full attention. Ted zips over to it, picks it up, and prepares to chomp down, but before he can get a good bite a pair of furry hands upon a fishing reel within another room begin to turn the reel. The candy flies out of Ted’s hands and instead of the lollipop he bites his own fingers.

Ted: “OW!”

Ted shakes his hand in pain and looks down at the candy which is quickly being pulled out of view. Ted grows angry and chases after the candy which is pulled around a corner and up the stairs with Ted chasing after. It finally turns into a room and in Ted runs after it, but as soon as he enters the door slams shut behind him and a series of fighting and crashing noises can be heard from within. The door itself even begins vibrating wildly from the commotion inside.

Much later, we see the cat and Jamal downstairs in the living room. Jamal’s sitting on the couch watching cartoons while the cat lies on the floor in front of him as some serene tranquil music plays in the background. They both yawn with satisfaction for the troublesome brat is tied up and gagged in his own bed upstairs. Ted angrily mumbles to the audience as the cartoon ends with an iris out.
This cartoon introduces another reoccurring character of the series, little Ted Bolton.

I shall begin making animatics and storyboards for this cartoon in the near future to begin production, and hopefully garner a little attention, support, and help to turn this story into a fully animated cartoon for people of all ages to enjoy. If there are any animators out there with a knack for classic Looney Tunes/Disney style animation who'd like to lend a hand, please send me a note, because I definitely need all the help I can get.

www.patreon.com/iamtheunison
© 2015 - 2024 T5-Comix-Cartoonz
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horohorogirl666's avatar
Another great story.