The Fluffydudes - Caribbean adventure

By:Varun Malhotra

It all started when we were boarding our magnificent white cruise ship. When we got inside our cabin there was a strange feeling in the atmosphere, but I thought nothing about it. The captain started announcing all the boring safety rules and I realized it was a good time to start doing my huge pile of homework. Finally he said, “Put all your valuables into the safe.”

So my mom rushed over to the safe and started putting in her jewelry. Then she screamed, pulling out a yellowed piece of paper. I thought it was pretty cool to find such an ancient paper but my mom didn’t. In seconds she ran over to the phone and rapidly started calling room service. When the room service people finished making the safe look immaculate they threw the yellowed piece of paper away. I immediately picked it up and carefully examined it. It was some sort of map, I decided. My mom and dad called me and my sister to go and see our ship leave port. So we went up to the deck, on one of those luxurious elevators. I was still clutching the map but then my mom saw and snatched it and threw it over the side of the ship.

I glanced at it, watching it float lazily down the side of the ship. Then I realized the ship had not started moving yet. Thinking quickly I grabbed a fishing line and fished the map out of the air. Just then the ship gave a toooot and a jolt and started to move. “We are on our way,” the captain shouted. I was excited our ship was leaving from Miami and going all the way to the Caribbean islands, then coming back again.

My dad looked at his watch. “It’s time to go to dinner,” he said. So we went to the restaurant Calypso, again traveling in a very fancy elevator. When we finally got there they served us all kinds of the most exquisite foods from around the world and instead of silverware they gave us goldware. After we were stuffed with all kinds of foods and our mouths were burning with the exotic spices of the east. Then we went back to our cabin groaning from all the food. Soon we were sound asleep; little did I know that I was in for a big adventure.

I woke up to the sound of my sister screaming because her makeup box fell. I got all excited. We were sailing in the Caribbean waters! I looked out of the window and saw we had come to an island. Me and my family got off the ship and walked to the beach, where my sister ran off to play in the water. My mom started reading a book and my dad lay snoozing in the hammock. Meanwhile I called a waiter over and asked for a Lemon Oasis (a type of drink). When he finally brought the drink to me I gulped it all down. It was amazing; it tasted like sweetened lemon and was inside a real lemon. I decided to walk down the beach; something yellow was glinting in the sun.

I picked it up. It was some sort of map carved into gold with a picture of a puffball on it. Suddenly the world around me started spinning and then it stopped. I looked around. It was a lush tropical rainforest with a pearly white beach just ahead. Then I heard a strange kind of music. I decided it must be a party so I went to go join. When I got there, there were all types of magnificent buildings from around the world, the Taj Mahal from India, the onion looking buildings from Russia, the ancient pyramids from Egypt and more pyramids from South America. A bunch of people were carrying an ornate gold chair in which sat a white puffball with little googly eyes and tiny wooden feet. It was dressed in a beautiful dress made out of red and gold cloth.

I gasped! It was the puffball from the map! I recoiled immediately into the bushes. I was cowering there trying desperately to think of a plan, when suddenly there was a little rustling noise and there was the puffball. It started telling me all sorts of things like at first the Fluffydude Empire was a peaceful civilization until the humans came and started taking the Fluffydudes as pets. As they did so, the Fluffydudes started getting pampered and getting names like Fifi, Fluffy, Muffin and Lemon, etc. Fluffy (the name of the little puffball) said that I have to somehow get the humans to move away.

Fluffy signaled me to follow him. He led me to a more ancient building. When we got to the door a tough looking guard puffball said gruffly, “ Password.”

“Mini is might,” Fluffy said. The guard pushed a button and the door opened for Fluffy. Just then the guard saw me and immediately started attacking me, Fluffy shouted, “He is with me.”
“Sorry about that,” the guard grunted, “Top security you see.” He pushed another button and this time it opened for me and Fluffy. As we were walking down the brightly lit hallway Fluffy said the guard’s name was Lord Toughy Tough.

Then he led me to a whole room full of chattering Fluffydudes talking in Fluffydudian. They all hushed up when they saw Fluffy walking in. Fluffy trotted over to a microphone and started announcing his speech. “The ungrateful humans have disturbed our quiet and peaceful civilization. They made us their pets, giving us names like Fluffy, Muffin, Lemon, Fifi and all other sort of other sickly cute names. We will rise to power and overthrow the humans and he will help us (he said pointing at me).” The he started chanting, “Mini is might, mini is might,” and soon the whole room were chanting, “Mini is might.”

After a while the chanting went down and the Fluffydudes started exiting the room. After all the Fluffydudes exited, Fluffy led me up a series of narrow stairs. After a lot of climbing and panting we came to the roof of the building. It was a flattish type of roof unlike the regular sloping roofs. At first I thought Fluffy came here to show me the view, which was prodigious, but then Fluffy said sadly, “You see, our peaceful civilization has been disturbed by the humans. It shows that we are really prisoners and slaves to the humans.”

We needed a plan to get these people away from our island. So we sat on the roof and started thinking. At first it was slow but then we got one idea, which sparked others, which sparked others and pretty soon ideas came pouring out of us like a mighty river. Pretty soon we had completed the plan but Fluffy said, “We cannot put it into action today, we must start it tomorrow.” Fluffy also said that he had to return to his master and that I will have to go and find a place to sleep on my own.

“No, no,” I begged him, “please tell me at least where to sleep.” In the end he agreed and gave me a hand drawn map that was supposed to tell me where to sleep. I followed the map leading me past the building, past the rainforest and finally to the beach. There I found a hammock woven out of silk. I jumped in it. Oh, I was so tired, and soon the ocean waves sang to me a lullaby. Soon I was asleep dreaming of the plan.

Before I knew it Fluffy was jumping and screaming his head off to get me out of the hammock. I got up groaning and started walking to the huts where the humans lived. When we got there the humans were walking out of their huts petting their Fluffydudes. I started screaming “Fire, fire!” All the humans started running to the lake. When they got in the lake they started spinning up, up and away. The same thing that happened to me was now happening to them.

Soon Fluffydudes came pouring out of all the buildings and huts and cheering because they were free. Fluffy came up to me and said, “Thank you, but now you should return home.” He held out his paw and I started spinning and poof I was back on the beach sitting next to my sister. “ Didn’t you notice I was away?”

“Nope” my sister said.

I gasped because however much time I spent with the Fluffydudes, no time passes in my world. Tooooot the ship’s horn went. My mom and dad came to my sister and me and said, “Come on, come on, it’s lunchtime and tomorrow we are going to Jamaica.” We boarded the ship and went straight to our cabin.

I noticed a bulge in my pocket. I took it out. It was a thank you letter from the Fluffydudes, and the letters were messed up because all of the Fluffydudes did not know English. There was also something else in my pocket. It was Fluffy! “Did you forget about me?” he said.

“Umm, no,” I said.

“Well, you better not because we are going to save my friends in Jamaica,” snapped Fluffy in a partly annoyed voice.

The End of My First Adventure but the Start of My Next