Nobody can remember what started the rumpus that night. Perhaps it was his homework being corrected. Rumpus Boy couldn’t accept it when someone told him that he had made a mistake.
“No, Mummy Gruff!” he would scream. “You are wrong, not me!”
Mummy Gruff would mutter, “I’m sure that 14 plus 4 is equal to 18, though.” But Rumpus Boy wouldn’t listen.
Perhaps the cause wasn’t having his homework corrected. Perhaps it was another thing. There are as many triggers for Rumpus Boy’s rumpuses as there are mosquitos in summer.
In any case, the rumpus kicked off. Rumpus Boy screamed. He kicked his pencils across the floor. He slammed doors. He ran out of the living room and onto the staircase which led to the bedrooms on the second floor. There on the staircase, the rumpus continued.
After an hour of rumpus, Daddy Gruff went out to the staircase to see if the rumpus could be calmed down. He quickly retreated back to the living room, holding his hands over his ears.
“The rumpus will continue for a while longer yet,” he said.
Another hour passed. Mummy Gruff went out to the staircase to see if the rumpus could be calmed down. She quickly came back with her hands over her ears.
“Not yet,” she said. “This may be the biggest rumpus yet.”
Another hour passed, and the rumpus continued. Mummy Gruff and Daddy Gruff were getting tired.
“I am getting sleepy,” said Daddy Gruff. “I want to go to bed.”
Mummy Gruff glanced up. “I’m tired too,” she said. “But how will we get past Rumpus Boy on the staircase?”
Vocabulary:
to mutter – to say something in a low and
hard to hear voice, especially because of dissatisfaction
[eg., The drunk man sat in the corner,
muttering complaints about his life under his breath.]
a trigger for something – the sudden cause
for something to happen, especially negative feelings such as shock or anger
[He is suffering extreme stress. Loud noises can be a trigger for him, causing
him to panic.]
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