Life In The Gumball Machine

by Maureen Bartone

  Daisy, Patrick, and Michael looked at each other in disbelief. How could they do that to those little gumballs? Why weren’t they getting hurt when they were accidentally dropped? Or was it an accident? The children stared in amazement. What an unusual place.

  Off to Daisy’s left, the children noticed two gumballs coming toward them. One was white and one was black, and they were much larger than the other gumball people.

  “Uh-oh. You guys,” whispered Daisy, as she nudged Michael’s arm. “We have company.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  GUMBLE AND GUMBA

  The boys looked in the direction of Daisy’s gaze and immediately became afraid. They could feel the eyes of the two large gumball people staring at them, as they cautiously approached the children. From the puzzled looks on their round faces, it was obvious that these children were their first human visitors.

  Daisy, Patrick, and Michael looked at each other uncertainly, and then back at these two approaching strangers. The children began to feel uncomfortable. They obviously didn’t fit in here, and they were very afraid of what was about to happen.

  The black gumball slowly approached them. His black shell was perfectly round – almost fat. He had big, round, white eyes with pointed white eyebrows. His mouth was also white and straight – like a thin line, thought Daisy. He also had very thin, white arms, and large hands and feet. It appeared to Daisy that he was wearing a white belt around his waist. She did not understand the belt since he wore no pants – or any clothing whatsoever! Maybe his shiny black shell was his clothes. She imagined his shell was made of delicious sugar.

  He looked afraid when he finally spoke. “Can I help you? Who are you?”

  “My name is Daisy,” she answered nervously.

  Patrick nudged Daisy with his elbow. “Oh, and these are my friends, Patrick and Michael,” Daisy added.

  “I don’t mean to be rude, but ‘um – well – what are you doing here? How did you get here?” asked the black gumball. He looked confused. “We don’t usually have guests – well, actually – you are our first guests.”

  Pointing upward, the black gumball then said, “Oh, wait. Don’t tell me. You’re from out there.” The children were too afraid to look up. Instead, they just nodded their heads.

  The white gumball was more of an oval shape, so, because he was longer and thinner, he was much taller than the black gumball. He had round, black eyes that pointed upward near their outside corners, and black eyebrows that were high above his eyes. They made him look happy. His arms, hands and feet were also black.

  He spoke to the children. “I suppose you think you can just come in here and try to chew us up and spit us out like you do with other gumballs. Well, that doesn’t work in here,” he growled. He raised his fists, ready for a fight. “If that’s your plan, you can bet you will have a big fight on your hands.” His voice was lower and scarier than the black gumball’s voice.

  Michael raised his hands in front of him. “Oh, no! We’re not here to do that,” he said. “We are here by mistake. We didn’t intend to come in here.”

  “Yes, and we were afraid that you might eat us,” replied Patrick. He gave them a nervous smile.

  The black gumball made a noise – like a grunt – and suddenly, he started to chuckle. The white gumball joined him in his chuckling. “Ha-ha! Now that’s funny. You thought we would eat you? We don’t eat humans. That’s what you are, right? Humans?” The children all nodded.

  The black gumball continued, “You know we’re gumballs, don’t you? And you know gumballs don’t eat humans, don’t you?”

  The children nodded. Then Daisy said, “Well – ‘er – yes. We know that. We just – ‘ah – we thought that since – ya’ know – we’re in your machine – or world or – wherever we are – that things might be the other way around. This is our first time in a gumball machine. We aren’t sure how things work.”

  The two large gumballs looked at each other and smiled. Everyone relaxed a little, as their warm smiles seemed to brighten the whole place.

  “Well, then. Let’s start over. Hi. My name is Gordy Gumble,” said the smiling, white gumball, roughly shaking each of their hands. “And this is my very good friend, Vinnie Gumba,” he added, gesturing to the black gumball.

  “Welcome to the Gumball World!” Vinnie shouted. He warmly shook their hands to let the children know that the gumballs meant no harm.

  “Like I said, we don’t have many visitors,” Gordy said with a smile.

  “What do you mean, Gordy? We never have visitors!” Vinnie said laughing. “This is our first time.”

  “Oh, yeah. You’re right, Vin,” Gordy replied.

  After this greeting, there was an uncomfortable silence as the two large gumballs began to stare at the children. Once again, the children became uneasy.

  “Oh, I’m so sorry. We don’t mean to stare. You just look so strange. I mean, I’ve never seen anything like you before! The children said nothing, but continued to smile nervously, while these two talking gumballs looked them over.

  “I am forgetting my manners. I hope you will forgive me,” said Gordy. Vinnie and Gordy then invited their visitors to come and meet their families and friends, and perhaps join them in a game of football, if they were up to it. Daisy was not very sure about this idea, but Patrick jumped in and said, “Sure, that sounds fun!” Daisy shot Patrick a fearful look, but continued to follow the two gumballs.

  Gordy continued talking to the children as they began their walk. “As you will see when we arrive closer to town, Vinnie and I are a little bigger in size, and we are much older than most of the other gumballs. That’s because, in the beginning, black and white gumballs were the only ones in this world. It was pretty boring, as you can imagine.”

  “Yep! Pretty boring,” interrupted Vinnie.

  “Anyway,” Gordy continued, “as time passed, we started getting gumballs with color. And for a long time, it would rain gumballs whenever a human from your world would pour in a bunch of gumballs. We would be filled with lots of beautifully colored gumballs, including some shiny new black and white ones. We made many new and interesting friends, and we were excited to see our world turn from boring old black and white to something so beautiful! But lately, things have slowed down. We haven’t had any new arrivals in quite a while. Our supply is running low.”

  “I’ll bet that’s because the machine is sitting abandoned in a dark and dirty shed. It looks like no one has paid any attention to it in years,” replied Daisy.

  “Yeah, that must be why there are no new gumballs coming in,” added Michael. “It seems that no one cares about that machine anymore.”

  “Hmm. That’s very interesting,” said Vinnie.

  “Well, at least we won’t be losing any of the ones we have now, since no one will be using the machine,” said Gordy.

  This made Daisy think about the red gumball she was still chewing. Uh-oh, she thought. She immediately stopped chewing. She didn’t want Gordy or Vinnie to see her chewing one of their friends. She pretended to cough and covered her mouth. As she did this, she spit the piece of gum into her hand, and then put it in her pocket. She knew her mom would be pretty upset about her putting sticky, chewed-up gum in her pocket, but she would worry about that later.

  Despite trying to hide her actions, Gordy saw her spit out the gum, and smiled. “Don’t worry,” he said. “You’re not actually chewing one of us.” Daisy looked guilty. “Most of the gumballs that come in here are just plain gumballs. They don’t talk or live with us, so we call them ‘plain’ gumballs. We try to stay in the middle and keep the ‘plain’ ones up against the walls. We push them to the outside edges of our world, and they are usually the ones that go down when the crank is turned. We call that a ‘shake-down’.”

  “What’s a ‘shake-down’?” asked Patrick.

  “It feels like an earthquake. The whole world starts vibrating and shaking. Don’t worry. You’ll know it when it happens.”

  “Do you
have a lot of shake-downs?” asked Michael.

  “Well, it happens when a coin is inserted into the slot. We had four or five shakedowns a little while ago. That must have been you, inserting your coins,” Gordy continued. “Do you know who owns this machine?”

  “Nope. We just found it in an old shed. I don’t think anyone else will be using it for a long time,” said Michael. This statement made them all realize that no one knew where they were, and that they may never be rescued. After all, who would think to look for them inside an abandoned gumball machine? That is the last place anyone would ever check.

  “Well, it’s too bad the machine won’t be getting used for a while. We love getting newcomers. Of course, our newcomers are usually gumballs. But it’s extra nice having you humans here for a visit, too. Life is so much more fun when you can make new friends,” Gordy said cheerfully.

  “So true,” Vinnie chuckled.

  Daisy could not help but think of Violet. She had a feeling that they would become good friends. She smiled. I will definitely invite her to my party, she told herself.

  “What are you smiling about?” asked Michael.

  “Oh, nothing. I’ll tell you later,” she replied. Michael just shrugged his shoulders, and went back to listening to Vinnie and Gordy.

  Vinnie continued, “I, too, am sorry to hear that the machine is abandoned, because a shake-down is probably the only way you three will ever get out of here. And, even I know that humans cannot survive on gumballs. I don’t mean to frighten you, but without food, or a shake-down, I am very worried for your future. I hope someone comes upon the gumball machine very soon.” Vinnie did not sound very hopeful that that would ever happen, and they all fell silent at the thought.

  “Hey, I just thought of something,” Patrick interrupted. “Our bikes! They’re sitting right there in the alley. Maybe someone will see them, and look for us.” Through his glasses, Patrick’s eyes twinkled with hope and excitement.

  “Yes, but even if they found our bikes, that doesn’t mean they’ll go into the shed, and get an urge for a dirty old gumball, and then, actually decide to insert a nickel,” said Daisy.

  “Why not? You did,” answered Patrick.

  “This is not good. We may be stuck here forever,” Michael added. He was doubtful and worried, but he tried to hide most of those feelings from the others. He needed to stay strong for them.

  Patrick had another idea. “Daisy, it’s your birthday today. It won’t be long before your mom will start wondering where you are. They’ll have to start looking for us. Maybe one of your brothers – Joe – or even little Sammie – will find our bikes. And you never know – they might be tempted to get an old gumball. I sure hope they have a nickel in their pocket.”

  “Yeah, that could happen, I suppose,” Michael said. He was trying hard to be hopeful, but that sounded very unlikely.

  They all secretly prayed for one of Daisy’s brothers to come through for them, although they worried that the same thing might happen to Joe or Sammie if they put a nickel into that gumball machine. Maybe they too would get sucked in. If that happened, they would be doomed for sure.

  “Today, it was your arrival that shook our world,” Vinnie said. “We often wonder what it would be like out in your world, but we don’t want to be chewed up and spit out, so we just stay here. We don’t know how you will get out, but I am confident that you will. Don’t worry about it right now. We have a lot of fun here. Come on. See for yourselves!” He hoped this would make them feel a little better.

  The three kids and the two gumballs started walking down the road toward a whole new world of excitement.

  CHAPTER SIX

  THE GUMBALL PARTY

  As the group turned down Yellow Street, they heard a thumping sound in the distance. The children looked uneasily at each other, but didn’t speak. There were many trees on either side of the street, and they couldn’t see past them. As they continued walking, the music became louder and louder. When they walked around a curve in the road, they were surprised to hear music in the distance. The trees suddenly cleared, and the children saw an open area of green and purple grass, and wild gumball flowers of many different shades. There in the grass, were what looked like at least fifty colorful gumball people, small and large, all dancing together and having a good time.

  It was a party! Vinnie, Gordy and the children arrived in time to see all of the festivities. At first, the children felt uncomfortable because, when they arrived, the music suddenly stopped, and all the gumballs turned to stare at them. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Never before had Daisy felt so uncomfortable. Why were they staring at us? They’re the ones that look strange. Then she realized that they must think she, Patrick and Michael are the strange-looking ones.

  “Boy, are we out of place here,” said Patrick. He was feeling very uncomfortable.

  “Yeah, this is weird,” Michael said.

  After Gordy convinced the other gumballs that the children were kind, and there was no need for anyone to be afraid, the music and the party resumed. It didn’t take long for Daisy and the boys to relax and enjoy themselves. At first, they just watched and tapped their feet. This was a whole new kind of dancing that they had never seen before.

  “These gumballs really know how to shake and boogie, don’t they?” Patrick shouted over the loud music. Daisy and Michael nodded in agreement.

  “They look really funny dancing without legs,” laughed Michael.

  “Yeah, and we’d break a leg doing some of the stuff they’re doing,” added Patrick.

  Some of the gumballs were bouncing off the walls to the beat of the music. Others were bouncing off of each other. There was one pink gumball that always had one eye in the shape of a wink. Daisy made up a name for her – Pinkie Winkie. She chuckled to herself. Pinkie Winkie was rolling, and rolling, and rolling, as she laughed and screamed with delight. Daisy, Michael and Patrick cheered them on, and clapped their hands to the beat while they watched this unique dancing.

  “I really want to join them,” said Patrick. “Watch this.” Suddenly, he strode out into the middle of the group, with a bunch of little gumballs surrounding his waist.

  Daisy looked at Michael with a frown. “Oh, boy – he’s not going to do the robot again, is he?”

  Before Michael could even respond, Patrick did just that. He started with the robot, and then added a little break-dancing. He saved the best for last – a little hip-hop and then – the big finisher – the worm! Daisy had to admit, he was actually quite good. The little gumballs seemed to really enjoy it, and started to copy some of his moves. Daisy thought they looked so cute – and funny – trying to do those moves with their little round bodies.

  As they continued watching Patrick’s show, Michael suddenly found himself buckled at the knees and falling into the dancing crowd. A blue gumball had rolled up behind him and rammed him – hard!

  “Come on. Show us what you’ve got,” said the blue gumball.

  “No, no. I can’t really dance,” Michael replied nervously, as he staggered to his feet.

  “Go on Michael. Break it down,” laughed Daisy.

  Wiping his hands on his pants, he said, “Okay. You asked for it.” Michael proceeded to do some of the worst dancing Daisy had ever seen. He jerked, and slid his feet, and rolled his body forward and then backward. Daisy shook her head. What was all of that? Laughing out loud, she joined the group, holding the hands of two little gumballs, as they rolled, and she jumped over them. The gumballs thought the children’s moves were hilarious, and marveled at what they could do without legs.

  “Look, they are actually laughing at us! Can you believe that? We are the only ones doing it right,” Patrick shouted to Daisy and Michael over the loud music. Daisy chuckled. “Well, maybe they’re thinking the same thing about us.” She smiled and clapped her hands to the beat of the music.

  The dancing and partying lasted for an hour or so. After which, Gordy suggested that they go to his house to relax a
nd unwind. He wanted them to meet his family and maybe, play a game of football, and have something to eat. The children said their goodbyes to the many new gumball friends they met, high-fiving them as they were leaving. They started on their way to Gordy’s house. Vinnie came along, because he wanted to introduce the children to his family, too. They’ll never believe this, he said to himself.

  Gordy waved them along. “Vinnie’s house won’t be out of our way,” he said, “Because the Gumbas live right next door to the Gumbles!”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  PUDDING HILL

  They made their way back to Yellow Street, and walked a very long time before seeing anything. The area was deserted. There were no trees, no houses, and no gumball people. There weren’t even very many plain gumballs lying around. Even the grass was just sort of brown in color.

  After a while, Daisy noticed that Gordy and Vinnie started walking faster. She was having trouble keeping up with them, and the faster they went, the more they started to roll – like balls. Soon, they were rolling fast! Running was more difficult for the children than it normally was, because their legs were so tired from all of their recent dancing, not to mention their shrinking-then-freezing-then-getting-sucked-up-the-tunnel journey into the gumball machine. They were just too tired to catch up to them.

  Daisy was getting anxious. “What are they doing? Why are they rolling so fast?” she asked the boys.

  “I don’t know,” said Patrick, shrugging his shoulders. “That must be their way of running, or something. Remember, they don’t have any legs.”

  “Oh, right. That makes sense,” she said. “But what is their big hurry? Why are they running – I mean – rolling? Is something chasing them? We don’t even know if we should be afraid. Do you think we should be afraid?” Daisy had panic in her voice, as she looked behind them to see what might be chasing Vinnie and Gordy. There was nothing back there, and Michael and Patrick had no response to all of her questions.