“Hurry up, Tony! It’s almost time for your school bus to arrive!” shouted Mummy.
“Coming!” said Tony as he raced into the kitchen, gulped his milk and stuffed a sandwich into his mouth before racing out to catch the bus.
“That boy!” thought Mummy, “will never learn to be in time. It’s always a mad rush in the morning.”
Tony plonked down on a seat. “Whew!” he thought, “Why is everything so difficult? Bag to be closed, buttons to put into their holes, shoelaces to be tied! Why don’t things just get gummed and un-gummed? Life would be so easy!”
In school he went through all the classes while he dreamt of gumming up things. The chalk could be stuck to the teacher’s hand. The bell could be stuck to a string. The glasses on Mr Trab’s nose could be stuck on; they wouldn’t fall off so often!
The next day, Tony thought he would try out his bright idea. He always had trouble with his buttons and his shoe laces. Why not gum them up? So, he went into Papa’s study and got the bottle of glue. He spread it on his laces as he put on his shoes and just stuck them on. Then he put on his shirt and put a lot of glue along the row of buttons and stuck the shirt down.
When the bus arrived, he galloped through the house as usual, so Mummy did not know what he had done.
In fact, no one noticed. It was a cloudy day. As he was getting into the bus to come home, it began to rain. By the time the bus reached his bus stop, it was pouring. Tony was not carrying an umbrella, so he just picked up his bag and ran. He slipped and fell into a puddle. Then he got up and ran again.
He rang the doorbell, dripping wet. Mummy opened the door and said, “You had better change quickly, Tony. Rub your hair well and come back for a hot cup of cocoa.”
Tony went into his room, but his shirt and shoes wouldn’t come off! He went sheepishly to ask Mummy’s help. She gave one look at his dress and knew what he had done.
“You silly fellow!” she scolded as she cut away his shirt and the shoelaces. “A little effort would have saved all this waste! Don’t ever do this again!” she warned. Tony didn’t gum up things thereafter and he reached the bus-stop on time!
