Adventures in the Land of Wellness

Volume I: Snooky Meets Greasy the Clown

Chapter One:

The Land of Wellness

Whenever you close your eyes, you can dream of a special land of fruits and vegetables. In this land called Wellness, everyone has fun and people hardly ever get sick. Just close your eyes for a minute, and concentrate hard. You can go there in your mind right now.

In the Land of Wellness, there are bubbling streams of freshly squeezed, sun-shine-filled orange juice with no pulp or pits in it at all. Just close your eyes and smell the lakes of sweet, crisp apple juice that twinkle bright golden when the sun hits them just right in the morning. Close your eyes and look around at the deep, rich green bushes and trees everywhere, sparkling with little pings of sun-kissed drops of dew. Do you see their branches drooping with lots of strange, wonderful, delicious fruits? There are fruits from all around the world here in every pretty colour you’ve ever seen. The fruits have some of the strangest shapes and wonderful, interesting smells you can imagine, yet once you try them, they are all delicious and refreshing.

There are crunchy, refreshing vegetables of red and green and yellow and white and all sorts of other beautiful colours. They are growing right out of the ground wherever you look. Little streams of delicious dressing in all the flavours you can imagine are never too far away.

In fact, all of the things you can eat in the Land of Wellness smell yummy. They make your mouth water and smile just to smell them even for a second.

In the Land of Wellness, even the rainwater is so clean, cool, and refreshing that you can just hold out a big glass to catch it and drink it down right away without even boiling it first like you have to other places. In fact, it’s a matter of pride there that no one who visits the land of Wellness seems to be able to drink down a whole glass of cool rain without smacking their lips with a great, loud SMACK and a big, long “AAAHHHH!!!”

In the Land of Wellness, there is milk for breakfast every day from cows that always smile because they live in fields that have no fences. In every tree trunk hole there is honey made by fuzzy, little bees that can’t sting you but who hum a little work song all the sunny day long to make their work go quicker as they buzz between the beautiful flowers. If you lie on the grass and listen, their song will make you laugh.

In the Land of Wellness, the sun shines all the time except when it needs to rain. I guess this is the way it is everywhere if that’s how you decide you’re going to look at it.

In fact, all of the things you can eat in the Land Of Wellness smell yummy and taste even better! They taste way better even than the best candy or cookies or cakes you’ve ever had! Just close your eyes and imagine a place where everywhere there are such delicious and fun things to eat that make you strong and healthy and smart to boot! Now you’re in the Land Of Wellness, and that is it’s magic.

In the Land of Wellness, everyone feels good and has lots of energy for fun and play all the time. Kids almost never get sick or feel too tired to play and do all of the fun, running around really fast kinds of things that kids love to do. 

In fact, every time a team of kids from the Land of Wellness plays a team of kids from anywhere else, the Land of Wellness kids always seem to win. Somehow they always seem to be just a little stronger and faster and smarter than other kids.

Or… maybe they just know deep down that they will do well, and so it happens.

Now, don’t get me wrong. There are tall kids, small kids, skinny kids, and not-so-skinny kids on all the teams from the Land of Wellness. There’s every size and shape of boys and girls that you can imagine. There are even some other kinds of boys and girls you’ve never even met before on the Land of Wellness teams. But the boys and girls there always seem to have a good, bright attitude and play the very, very best they can all the time. And for some reason they are always cheerful and get along together, even with those on the other team.

Everyone who visits the Land of Wellness, even just for a quiet moment in his or her mind, comes back feeling a little better. Some kids even decide to go and live there for good when they get older.

When the kids in the Land of Wellness are not out playing, you can usually find them with a book in front of them. Kids from the Land of Wellness are taught when they are small that reading helps your brain and makes you smarter, in just the same way that exercise helps your body to be faster and stronger.

In fact, the best moms and dads in the Land of Wellness know this and take time out of their days to be with their kids. They read books just like this one to their sons and daughters so that their kids will always love books, even when they’re grown up and remembering happy times together.

Now, in this wonderful land, there is a family called the Sweetnots. They are the largest family in all of the Land of Wellness. There are many more of them than there are Butternoes or Hardleg-Saltyuks or even Nosquishys, which are some of the other large families there.

Mrs. Sweetnot, the mom of this family, had a little boy named Snooky whom she loved very, very much. Almost, in fact, as much as your Mom loves you!

Snooky was a clever and kind little boy who had bright, shiny eyes, especially when he smiled his special smile—and this was almost all the time. His mom once told him that he smiled so much because every day she gave Snooky some of the many fruits and vegetables in the Land of Wellness.

Now, even in the Land of Wellness, where everything is so wonderful and good, some things are better than others are and some things are not so good. So, just like every place else, Snooky still had some choices to make even though he was still just a kid. I guess in thinking about it, he sort of sounds like you, doesn’t it?

As Snooky had more birthdays and got bigger and stronger, he began to realize that the more he ate foods like salad, carrots, bananas, mangos and cherries, the better he always seemed to feel. He was almost never too tired to go out and play with his friends. He almost never sat on the couch or floor doing nothing and being bored.

Sure, Snooky liked his quiet time to figure stuff out the same as any other kid, but then, after the thinking was done, he’d find he always had just a little bit too much energy to just sit and do nothing. He’d always be able to do just about anything he set out to do that day without getting too tired before he got it all done.

You see, like all boys and girls must do, Snooky learned when he was a very little boy that, even though he was just a kid, one of the choices in his life involved what he was going to decide to eat. He knew that he often used to feel tired and foggy. And he soon realized that if he ate too many sweet, salty, or greasy foods, he seemed to get slower and slower and foggier and foggier. Whenever he would eat these kinds of foods, he grew more tired and more tired and he just didn’t feel good at all.

Now, Mama Sweetnot had taught Snooky that it was good to stop and notice things. And he noticed that when he ate good things that he didn’t like at first and did it everyday for a while, he always started to feel better again. He would no longer be too tired to do the fun, active things he really loved to do. How about you? Do you ever notice that you feel better and run faster when you eat and drink like Snooky?

Snooky found that when he stayed away from the sweet, salty, and greasy things and did eat the good things his mom gave him to eat, the good things actually started to taste pretty good once he got used to them a little bit. In fact, he found he soon forgot what the bad stuff tasted like and found that the things that were good for him actually tasted better.

Not only that, but as an added bonus, whenever he’d say, “no, thank you” to sweet or greasy things and “yes , please” to more fruits and vegetables, this always seemed to make his mom smile a little smile. And making his mom smile a little smile always made Snooky smile inside himself. I bet your mom and dad smile when you eat your vegetables or ask for a piece of fruit instead of a cookie or sugary-sweet fizzy-pop.

So one day, Snooky said to himself, “Self,” —and instantly he recognized his own voice —“from now on, I think I’d rather have fun playing outside and being active and learning things at school with much less trouble. I think I’m going to eat lots of green and colourful things every day and not eat the sugary, salty, and greasy things that slow me down.” So that’s what he did. But this is only the beginning of the story.

One day, something very unbelievable and eventually wonderful happened…

Chapter Two:

Snooky’s Journey

One day, Snooky asked his mom whether he might have permission to go to a friend’s house and watch the Fruit Bowl game on Veg TV with the rest of his lettuceball team. Snooky’s lettuceball team was called the Mangoville Grapes and they were #1 in the Land of Wellness Lettuceball League, which they called the LWLL for short on the commercials. 

Same as everywhere else, as kids who play on teams get together and have fun, the Grapes would always get together at someone’s house to watch how the pro lettuceball players do it on television. It was going to be a very good game with the Appleton Broccolions playing the Zucchini City Bananabirds for a score of 5 to 10. 

You see, in the Land of Wellness, the final score always turns out to be 5 to 10 to remind everyone how many servings of fruits and vegetables a boy or girl should eat everyday. Usually, the team that ate the most fruits and vegetables that day was the 10 and the other team was the 5.

In the Land of Wellness, the fun for kids is in playing the game together and doing their personal best, not the final score. Kids in the Land of Wellness know that if you learn to have fun and play your best together when you’re a kid, the winning will just naturally happen when you get bigger and have more birthdays.

Snooky had already eaten lots of good food that day, so Mrs. Sweetnot said Snooky could go watch the game and made him some delicious snacks to take with him and even packed extra for Snooky to share with his very best friend, Bubbatette Bunnytoes, whom he was meeting there.

Mrs. Sweetnot liked to pack all kinds of truly yummy things like hot apple slices sprinkled with cinnamon right out of the oven, like crisp, crunchy carrot sticks kept in cold water in the fridge so they had a nice “snap” when you bite them and like cold, sliced cucumbers with tangy dip. But today, she packed his favourite snack of all which was a piece of cheese and a perfectly ripe banana washed down with an ice-cold vegetable juice right out of the fridge.

As Mrs. Sweetnot handed Snooky the sack with his snacks, she told him to say goodbye to the Mangoville Grapes right after the game and start heading right back home. She warned him that she felt there was something not quite right in the Land of Wellness. Snooky had learned the hard way (actually more than once) that all moms and dads’ tummies are usually right about these things even when everything seems okay. So Snooky agreed, kissed his mom good-bye, and set out on his way to watch the game.

He was well on his way, walking along on the sidewalk to the Grapes’ house when he heard an unusual voice he’d never heard before coming from behind a Honey Tree. This voice sounded really soft, sweet, and cool, but Snooky noticed the voice also sounded a little scratchy like when you have a cold. Also, the voice sometimes coughed quietly just a little as he listened to it. The voice just kept calling his name over and over.

It was quiet like a whisper at first, but then it got louder. “Snooky” it said ever so softly. “Snooky” it said a little louder. “SNOOKY!” it said, very loudly indeed, although Snooky still could not see from where it was coming.

Then, just as he was about to quickly dart around the tree, he suddenly froze on the spot as if his feet were glued to the sidewalk! Coming right towards him slowly but steadily like a floating balloon was a very strange man whom Snooky could tell right away was not from anywhere in the Land of Wellness.

Closer and closer he came, although Snooky couldn’t really see him walking or his legs moving. The air around Snooky started to get thicker and warmer. Snooky started to have trouble taking a big breath like after you run too hard for too long.

As he got closer, Snooky saw that the man looked a lot like the clowns you see at the circus or on television, but Mrs. Sweetnot didn’t raise any dummies. Snooky was always one to be careful to notice little things, especially about strangers! He noticed that this clown was dressed not in cloth but all in wrapping tissue and bright, shiny foil.

As the man got closer, Snooky was sure that he was not like anyone he’d ever met in the Land of Wellness. In fact, Snooky thought he smelled quite a bit like french fries that someone had picked out of the garbage a very long time ago. It also didn’t help that the man kept wiping his runny nose which for some reason never seemed to stop dripping. Still, for some reason, the man looked to Snooky like the most fun, coolest, and fanciest man he ever, ever had seen. Snooky just couldn’t help feel that way about the man even though his tummy him the man was no good and he should run away fast.

Now it was a good thing that Snooky’s mom had taken the time to tell him all about strangers, even ones that looked nice and fun, so he knew not to trust or listen to this fancy man. He knew this man wasn’t like anyone from the Land of Wellness and so he knew this man couldn’t be after anything good or be bringing anything good for any other boy or girl either. Just as Snooky was remembering what his mom had told him about yelling “NO” at the man and running away as fast as he could, the man got even closer.

Now Snooky thought that someone who looks so sparkly and smiley must have some fun things to sell. He forgot this one time to think for himself, so he completely fell under the fancy man’s spell. The man kept repeating over and over to Snooky that sugar and butter and salt taste better than “that yucky, old healthy stuff” until Snooky actually found himself believing it! Snooky was definitely in trouble and about to make a very bad mistake.

As the fancy man got closer and closer to Snooky, he could see the greasy footprints the man had left behind him with his great big clown feet. The man smiled a drippy, gloopy, sticky smile and said, “I sell things that kids love to eat, and if you buy some of these lovely, tasty things from me, you’ll be cool and happy and fun, too. Just like me!” 

Well, like most kids (the sad, silly ones anyway), Snooky thought he wanted to be cool too even if it meant going along with someone else when he knew it was bad. He found himself wanting some of whatever the man was selling, no matter what it was or even if his Mom wouldn’t approve! The fancy man’s words had turned Snooky’s brain off and Snooky’s eyes suddenly looked like wet shiny glass—the way they look when you’re trying hard not to cry.

The fancy man wrinkled his nose up as he sniffed at Snooky’s bag of healthy snacks. He grinned a big horrible grin because he knew that sometimes moms give their kids money to buy cold milk. He bent over so that Snooky could smell the his sugary breath and said to Snooky, “Why, for just the yucky old goody, goody stuff in your little bag and all of the money your mom gave you to buy milk, I’ll trade you all the sweet, salty, squishy yummy treats in THIS box!”

And with a big flourish and the sounds of buzzers, whistles, woop-dee-woops, and bells, the fancy man whipped out a bright yellow foamy box from deep inside his big curly hair! He opened it and pushed it right under Snooky’s nose.

At first, the smell of the man’s food made Snooky a little queasy in his stomach, but then he got used to it and it started to smell good to Snooky. Snooky was too taken in to notice that when the man opened the box, a little fuzzy honeybee that was buzzing by actually stopped buzzing a happy tune and flew away as fast as it could.

Snooky looked inside the man’s box and saw it was filled with all kinds of colourful candies and cakes and loads of salty, crunchy, greasy snacks that made Snooky’s mouth water to look at them.

You see, being from the Land of Wellness, Snooky had seldom seen foods such as these and he wasn’t prepared for the tricks of men like this. The fancy man knew that. In fact, the fancy man and all fancy men everywhere count on kids not being used to their tricks. Some of the worst fancy men even have to give kids free toys just to get them to eat the gloop they want kids to eat.

Still, for some reason, they do these tricky things anyway and that’s a very sad thing indeed. Do you think maybe you’ll be the one to grow up and stop the fancy men from doing this to kids?

Anyway, this fancy man thought Snooky was just a kid with no mind of his own and for the moment, the man was right. Snooky was in deep, serious trouble and didn’t even know it. The kind of trouble so bad that you can tell your mom or dad about it and they won’t even worry about giving you much of a punishment because they’re so glad you were brave enough to tell them and ask for help.

The fancy man put his sticky hand in Snooky’s little hand and with a big, drippy grin as smooth as rotten butter on the good sofa and told him that they would now be best friends forever and ever and ever. As the man shook Snooky’s hand, Snooky noticed he already started to feel a little like he needed a nap and a bit woozy, too.

Now as I said, Snooky only saw yummy treats in the man’s foam box. But…, any boy or girl standing next to Snooky at that moment would have seen that what the fancy man had really handed Snooky was a box full of drippy little Sugarhogs, beetle-sized Chocabeasts, and of course, lots of sticky Candybugs all crawling around inside the box in a pool of salty, smelly, brown grease. STILL to Snooky, they looked delicious. Such was the power of the fancy man!

Just as Snooky was about to reach inside the box and eat his first wee Chocabeast, the man snatched it away and said, “Not so fast, my little friend! FIRST, give me that (echh!) healthy stuff in that horrible little bag your mom gave you and ALL of your milk money!”

Snooky tried to resist the fancy man, but wherever he looked and wherever he turned himself the fancy man was there right in front of him. No matter what he did, the fancy man was right there in Snooky’s face.

As if by remote control, Snooky’s hand slowly came up and handed the man the bag his mom had given him. The man snatched it away as fast as you can blink your eyes and before Snooky knew it, the man had dumped all the healthy food onto the ground. He squished it all with the heel of his size 32 shoe with his big, green-nailed, smelly toe sticking out!

Next, as if it were on a string, Snooky found his hand sticking out to give the man all of the coins his mom had given him to buy milk. Every single one! The instant he did so, a swarm of wee little hard, spiky green bugs wearing little tiny businessman suits and ties came flying out of the fancy man’s huge, curly hair.

These bugs swarmed greedily down the fancy man’s arm and over to Snooky’s open hand. Then, quick as a kite on a windy day, each raspy-sounding, wet-penny-smelling, little bug snatched up a coin from Snooky’s open hand. As fast as you can say, “super size that,” they flew right back into the man’s hair. All the coins were gone before Snooky could even close his hand. As if that weren’t enough, as the coins disappeared, the man’s already gigantic hair got just a little bigger.

With a deep bow and a wide “TA-DAH!” the fancy man flung his fingers in Snooky’s face and grease splatter flew from them right in Snooky’s eyes and ears! Snooky couldn’t hear or see anything now but the fancy man. There was just no escaping him. The man had changed and he didn’t look fun at all anymore. Now that the man knew Snooky was in his power, Snooky could see him for what he truly was.

The man’s hair was no longer brightly coloured and funny but was now the same yellowish brown colour of very bad teeth. It was a messy, big curly ball as big as the rest of his body. It even had little bits of dirty foam in it. For just a second, Snooky could have even sworn he saw a little brown mouse poke his head out of the hair. 

The man’s face which a moment ago had been bright shiny white was now sick and pimply and pasty like clumpy wet flour.

But, above all else, the man’s eyes were the worst thing of all. The man’s eyes were deeply green, but not in a nice way as some people have nice green eyes. The man’s eyes were sunken back and had darkness all around them. They were cloudy and glassy and light yellow where the white should have been. The man’s eyes looked like people’s eyes do when they’ve been crying a lot for a long time.

At the same time, he had a big, scary red smile on his face that made Snooky feel like something REALLY bad was just about to happen, like when you start to fall but catch yourself at the last second. The man wouldn’t stop laughing even when strings of thick, white drool started to stretch from his teeth like long, sharp little fangs and his tongue like a snake’s darted out to lick it off of his own chin. 

Snooky couldn’t stop staring into the man’s eyes or listening to the man’s words. There was just no getting away from the man. Snooky was in such a trance, that he didn’t even know enough to panic. Although it would be obvious to anyone else who might have been watching what was happening, Snooky just couldn’t tell that the man was up to no good. He couldn’t see that the man just wanted to get Snooky’s money no matter what, even if he made Snooky feel SICK for the rest of his whole life in the bargain!

Snooky’s head swirled around and around and the butterflies in Snooky’s tummy got worse and worse. The fancy man took out a guitar made of solid chocolate with red licorice strings and began to sing and dance around Snooky, who found himself feeling worse and worse. The man was actually a really good singer and dancer so Snooky didn’t even notice the words that the man was singing. As he sang, Snooky found himself chanting the words along with the man over and over and louder and louder, completely out of control.

The man danced all around Snooky singing over and over and over until Snooky couldn’t escape it or get it out of his head,

”Fat and sugar, sugar and fat,

Never can get enough of that.

Sugar and fat, fat and sugar,

If you eat lots, you’ll be no loser.

Listen to me, I can’t be beat.

Your mom won’t mind these yummy treats!”

As they sang together, Snooky found himself stuffing his face as fast as he could with everything the man pulled out of the greasy, smelly paper sack. Although it was all much too salty, much too sweet, or much too greasy, Snooky ate it all anyway as fast as the man could push it in his face.

Snooky ate and ate and ate some more. He guzzled down bucket after bucket of the man’s fizzy, sugary drinks. He chomped back box after box of the man’s cookies like some crazed monster who lives only on cookies. And the worst part was, no matter how much he ate, he wanted to eat some more—even though he felt sicker and sicker and sleepier and sleepier.

Snooky was in big trouble and didn’t even know it.

Chapter Three:

“YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT”

You see, the big secret that the man didn’t want kids to know is that the fancy man was not just any fancy man. Snooky was under the spell of Greasy the Clown himself and he didn’t see the treats in Greasy’s box for what they really were. Greasy’s treats looked and tasted so good and sweet to Snooky that he ate them all on the spot right then and there even as they were crawling all around the slippery foam box. 

Snooky ate and ate uncontrollably. The more of Greasy’s horrible food he ate, the more he wanted. He ate and ate and ate and soon found himself running around and around in circles as fast as he could go, no matter how dizzy he got. The faster he’d go, the more dizzy and tired he would get, but he just couldn’t stop running in circles and screaming. He was feeling really antsy and nervous in his tummy as he did whenever his mom was angry. He started to yell loudly and scream without even knowing why he wanted to.

After a while, Snooky finally got so exhausted and dizzy he stopped. He suddenly felt very sleepy indeed, so he found somewhere to stretch out and rest for a while. As he sat there trying to feel like getting up again, Snooky started to feel in a very bad mood. It was almost as if he felt angry that there were no more of Greasy’s treats to eat even though he felt like if he ate even one more tiny little Candybug he would pop open right then and there like a water balloon.

At the same time, Snooky also looked down at his tummy and he noticed it had started to change. As he watched, he grew and grew, but not taller. He was getting wider and fatter. He found he could no longer think clearly, which was very unusual for Snooky.

Soon he was so tired, he fell asleep. But as he slept, he even dreamed about having more of the things that had made him feel so terrible. In his dream, he couldn’t stop himself from eating Greasy’s food even though it was making him sicker and sicker and bigger and bigger.

In his dream, the more he ate bad things, the more Snooky wanted to eat, even when it made his teeth hurt. Even in his dream, Snooky was forever feeling hungry and angry that he couldn’t get enough of Greasy’s food, but even a little too much would make him foggier and sicker. So on and on it went, as Snooky tossed and turned in his sleep and got a cold, clammy sweat on his face like when you stay home from school with a fever. Can you imagine eating things that made you feel sick but you couldn’t stop eating them and couldn’t stop feeling hungry like you wanted more and more even when your stomach was telling you it was stuffed and to stop eating?

Without something to save him, the Snooky that his mom and dad loved would be lost forever.

Now all moms and dads always seem to somehow know when their child is in trouble or up to things they shouldn’t be up to. Snooky’s mom, the truly sweet-hearted Mrs. Sweetnot, was no different. When he didn’t show up at the Grapes’ house to watch the game on time, Snooky’s friends had called Mrs. Sweetnot. She had immediately gone to look for him because Snooky always told his mom where he was going. His mom knew right away that she had to go and rescue him!

“SNOOOOOKY!”, she screamed as she walked all over the Land of Wellness. . “Snooky!… Snooky!” In fact, Snooky’s mom had gotten all of the Mangoville Grapes to help look all over for Snooky. They searched everywhere in the Land of Wellness and couldn’t find Snooky. Soon it was getting dark, and they were all about to give up looking, except for Snooky’s mom (of course) and his best friend in the world, Bubbatette Bunnytoes.

Bubbatette was captain of the Mangoville Grapes. Although boys were usually friends with boys and girls were usually friends with girls, Bubbatette and Snooky just seemed to hit it off right from the minute they met. So they decided to be best friends anyway.

Just a couple of days before, the same fancy man had tried to get Bubbatette to eat some of his treats from his greasy mystery bag. But she remembered what her dad had told her about talking to people she didn’t know. She had run away from the man right off so he didn’t get a chance to pull his tricks on her. Because of this, Bubbatette knew that the fancy man Greasy. So when a pretty upset little honey bee came and told her about the man and Snooky (remember the bee that flew away when Greasy opened his box?) she ran as fast as she could to follow the little bee back and found Snooky sleeping right there under her favourite purple and white Yummyberry tree.

What Bubbatette didn’t know was that this time Greasy the Clown had gotten Snooky in his trap. Greasy had heard her calling for Snooky as she ran And he remembered Bubbatette from the last time they’d met. He remembered her as the sharp cookie she was and knew she wasn’t easily fooled because she listened to her mom and dad and learned from them.

Before Bubbatette could turn the corner and see Greasy, he’d disappeared with a loud fizzly snap in a burst of stinky splatter that smelled like fat left out in the sun on a very hot day. He left behind on the sidewalk nothing but two giant size 32 sticky footprints. But scurrying around between the footprints was a little green bug in a tiny little suit making angry clicking noises obviously upset at being left behind in the rush.

Bubbatette ran over and tried to wake Snooky up but couldn’t. She loudly called out for Mrs. Sweetnot who came running at top speed. She soon woke Snooky up with a Magic Mom-Kiss (or M. M. K. for short—you can ask your mom about it) which she placed gently on his cold, clammy, sweaty forehead. 

In fact, all of the Mangoville Grapes had heard Bubbatette yelling for Snooky’s mom and came running to see what had become of Snooky. “Snooky!” his mom scolded, “Where have you been? We were all SO worried about you!”  Then his mom noticed the wrappers and shiny tissue all around him. She knew about all of Greasy’s tricks because all moms are good at knowing where there’s danger.

“Snooky, did you talk to Greasy the Clown?” she asked him with great concern and wrinkled eyebrows. But Snooky had been so far gone he didn’t even know what she meant. So his mom sat beside him and told him and all of the Mangoville Grapes (who by now had caught up with and joined Bubbatette) about how the fancy man he’d met was really Greasy the Clown and how he tricks children into eating things that are bad for them. Then, he turns them into slaves so all they want is his bug-food.

She told them how all of “Greasy’s kids” never want to eat things that are good for them ever again once Greasy gets them under his spell. They just get sicker and sicker and slower and slower and never have any real fun again at all. She told them all how Greasy the Clown hurts and takes advantage of children just like you by convincing them to eat fat and sugar and salt even though it makes bad things happen. This is definitely NOT what boys and girls and their moms and dads who love them really want.

“Snooky,” his mom said, “I know that Greasy’s bad stuff might seem to taste good at first, but you want to look your best and feel great, don’t you? So don’t be fooled by Greasy the Clown and all the others like him that want to control you and make you their slave for life!” She looked sternly at the kids and told them, “Show the Greasys in the world that you’re not kids who are easily tricked. Decide to eat just good healthy food, drink lots of water every day, and get plenty of time in the sunshine time.”

Snooky’s mom told them that there’s an old saying that “you are what you eat” so they all decided then and there to always eat healthy food every day, no matter what.

Mrs. Sweetnot thanked Bubbatette for finding Snooky. She took him home to recover from all the bad food in his body and to get him back to his fun, energetic, happy, healthy self.

After he was back to his old self and could think clearly again, Snooky made a promise to himself to never be fooled by Greasy the Clown ever again. Luckily, Snooky did not eat enough of Greasy’s bad foods for long enough to change him completely or for a long time. He went back to liking his fruit and vegetables best.

In fact, shortly after this adventure, he told his mom that he’d learned he would not be fooled with any fancy man who sells bad things and wants you to make bad decisions that are not right for you. He told her he’d learned that good changes come from making good decisions for yourself. This made Snooky’s mom smile a very big smile indeed. She was glad Snooky learned that you can’t buy happiness from anyone and always to think and check with a parent before you make decisions that can make bad things happen. 

In fact, as she always did, Snooky’s mom was so happy that she made up a song about his day so that he’d never forget the lesson he’d learned. It goes like this:

The Rainy Day Song

By Mama Sweetnot

Today was not a happy day,

Things didn’t go the Snooky way,

Tomorrow will be a brighter day,

So smile, smile, smile.

The sun will shine tomorrow,

Though today was filled with rain,

The sun will shine tomorrow,

And you’ll be happy again. 

Today was not a happy day,

Things didn’t go the Snooky way,

Tomorrow will be a brighter day,

So shine, shine, shine!!!

See you in the Land of Wellness!! Don’t forget to say hi to Snooky and Bubbatette Bunnytoes and Mrs. Sweetnot.

Until our next adventure in the Land Of Wellness, take care and as always,

TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF AND BE WELL!!!