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Episode 8: At the Mall
It may not be the greatest one ever, but this story sends Hannah to the mall with an especially bad case of hiccups, after she semi-intentionally gives them to herself. Enjoy! And the next one will be better... I promise! ;-) --The Author
Hannah bustled around her little room, getting ready to go out for a while. She was excited. It was almost Christmastime, and Ellie's mom was taking her and Ellie and Juliana to the mall for Christmas shopping. Since she lived a long way from the mall and didn't usually have the luxury of available transportation, it wasn't very often that Hannah got to go shopping. Of course, she didn't usually have much in the way of money to spend, either, but just looking through the stores was enough fun for her. And Christmas made it extra special. "I wonder if I could get Chris to come with us," she thought. Picking up the phone, she dialed the Beloit's familiar number.
"Hello, Beloit residence," Mrs. Beloit answered pleasantly.
"Hi, Mrs. Beloit, it's Hannah. Is Chris around?" Hannah asked.
"Uh, just a minute," Mrs. Beloit said. She laid the telephone down and walked to the closed door of Chris's room. "Chris, there's a telephone call for you."
"Who is it?" Chris asked rather crossly. He wasn't very happy because once again he had the hiccups. It seemed like ever since he started going out with Hannah he'd been getting them more often. They were worse than usual today, having lasted over an hour with the hiccups coming hard every four or five seconds.
"It's Hannah," his mom answered.
"OK, I've *hup* got it," he said, picking up his phone. He'd talk to Hannah any time, even if he did have the hiccups.
Hannah laughed when she found out that Chris had the hiccups, but she wasn't happy when he said he didn't want to go to the mall because of them. "Who cares if you have the hiccups in the mall?" she asked. "It's not like anyone's going to really notice, except us, and you know that we don't mind."
"I know," Chris admitted, "But it's still so emb-*hup* embarrassing for me. I'll go with you *hup* some other time, don't worry."
Hannah thought for a minute, until an idea came to her. "When I have the hiccups, it doesn't stop me from going places, so why should you be so embarrassed about them? You know, I bet you'd be mad at me if I refused to go somewhere with you because I had the hiccups. In fact, I bet that if I had them right now, you'd come, hiccups and all."
"Well, ummm… *hup*" he trailed off. "Yeah, so I probably would. *hup* I promise I'll g-*hup* I'll go with you all next time, all right?"
"I guess that's - hey, just a second, someone's at the door," she claimed, quickly setting down the phone. She was feeling rather mischievous, and she really wanted to get Chris to come with them; he was so funny when he had the hiccups. So if she had to give herself the hiccups to get him to come, then she would. She'd just try to get as weak a case as possible so that maybe they wouldn't last too much longer than an hour, that being the shortest time her hiccups ever seemed to be able to last. Giving herself the hiccups was no difficulty at all; she merely produced a bottle of soda from the refrigerator, poured herself a small amount into a cup, and took a couple sips. Right on cue, she started hiccupping. It wasn't a bad case, but now Chris would have to keep his word and come - and she would get to tease him about his hiccups as much as she wanted. Hannah had to laugh as she put the soda bottle back and returned to the phone. It was amazing how Chris's weird love for the hiccups had started to rub off a little on her!
"Oh Chris dear," she giggled, "there w-*hic* wasn't anyone at the door, b-*huck* but I've got the hiccups *hic* now!"
"You little rascal! *hup*" Chris exclaimed. "OK, OK, I'll come! *hup* If you care enough to give your-*hup* yourself the hiccups over it, *hup* far be it from me to disappoint you! *hup* Even if I do have the d-*hup* dumb things myself too."
"Good! We'll *hic* come by and pick you u-*huck*-p in maybe twenty min-*hic*-utes or so. *hic* Bye sweetie!" Hannah giggled.
Chris just shook his head. "Yeah, see you, ummm… *hup* soon, I guess."
"Yep, bye *huck* bye!" Hannah said, hanging up the phone. It sure wasn't hard to get Chris to do what she wanted! He was so funny! As she stepped back into the kitchen, she picked up the mostly-empty cup of soda, and, without really thinking, drank the last few swallows from it.
That was definitely not a good idea. It may have only been an ounce or two more of the soda, but her body produced an absurdly violent reaction to it. Much to her chagrin, as she realized what she had just done, her relatively slow, manageable hiccups suddenly shifted into rapid-fire mode. "Man, *hic*" she exclaimed aloud, "What *hic* have I d-*hic* done n-*hic* now? Th-*hic* this is *huck* ridic-*huck*-ulous!"
Ridiculous or not, she knew now that there would be no way this would be a short case. "Why d-*hic*-id I *huck* drink th-*hic* the rest *hic* of that st-*huck*-uff?" she asked herself. "I am *hic* sooooo-*huck* stupid!" But there was nothing she could do about it now, so she went back to her room and finished getting ready to go. "Oh well," she thought, "It will still be more fun with Chris than without him."
* * * * *
Soon Ellie and her mother arrived to pick Hannah and Juliana up. Mrs. Benson had to laugh when she noticed Hannah's violent hiccups. "What did you do to yourself, Hannah?" she asked.
Hannah attempted to explain how she had given herself the hiccups for Chris's sake and then unintentionally worsened them, although her incessant hiccups made just talking understandably a bit of a challenge.
When Chris joined them, he was also surprised at how bad Hannah's hiccups were. "I thought you just got a little *hup* case?" he said, still hiccupping himself.
Once again she hiccupped through her explanation. She finished by saying, "So *hic* it's all y-*hic* your fau-*huck*-lt! Why did *hic* you do th-*hic* this to me? *hic-ulk*"
Chris laughed. "Hey, I didn't *hup* tell you to do that! That was y-*hup* your choice!"
Soon they arrived at the mall, with both Hannah and Chris still hiccupping - although Hannah's were at least five times faster than Chris's.
After strolling through a couple stores, Chris wanted to stop at one particular store, but told Hannah he wanted to go in alone, although he wouldn't tell her why. "Just *hup* wait for me out here," he said, smiling. Hannah finally agreed. "At least, *hic* th-*hic* that way I *huck* won't ge-*huck* get as man-*hic*-y weird looks! *hic-ulk*" she laughed.
Finding a bench, she sat down outside the store, just hiccupping her poor little heart out. They were quite loud, and despite all the noise around her in the busy mall, her hiccups seemed to echo through the building. Juliana stopped by for a while, and mentioned that she could hear Hannah from a dozen stores down the hall. Practically everyone who passed by seemed to stare at her, or at least give her an odd glance. So much for avoiding weird looks!
A few minutes after Chris entered the store, a group of a few guys wandered out. A cute girl sitting alone on a bench with a raging case of hiccups was an irresistible attraction, so they stopped to talk to her. "Hey, what's up?" one of them asked in greeting.
"Not much, *hic*" she replied pleasantly, "just w-*huck* waiting for *hic* someone. *hic* What ab-*hulk*-out you?"
"Oh, we're just wandering around here for a while," the guy said. "By the way, what's your name?"
"My name's *hic* Hannah, wh-*huck* what's yours? *hulk*"
"I'm Jason, this is Mike, and this is Ricky," he answered as he motioned to his friends.
"Cool, *hic* nice to m-*huck* meet you *huck* all, *hic*" she said, just before several very fast, hard hiccups assailed her. The guys laughed. "And I *hic* guess you c-*huck* can tell *huck* I've go-*hulk* got the *hic* hiccups," Hannah added a little sheepishly.
"That's all right," Jason assured her. "I think they make you look sexy."
"Weirdo!" Hannah laughed. "My *hic* boyfriend thi-*huck*-nks that *huck* too."
Always sweet, friendly, and open, Hannah gladly chatted with them for a while - or at least attempted to. She enjoyed the attention her hiccups brought her, even though she would rather have not had them. Much to their dismay, however, she refused to give them her phone number.
Eventually Chris came out, empty-handed. "How c-*huck* come you *hic* didn't get a-*hic* anything?" Hannah asked.
"They didn't have what I was looking for; I'll have to find it somewhere else," Chris explained. Then he added, "But my hiccups went away while I was in there."
Hannah frowned. "Mine *hic-ulk* didn't."
As the two walked through the mall, people continued to give Hannah odd looks because of her loud, resounding hiccups. "Man, *hic*" she exclaimed, "People *huck* look at me *hic* as if I h-*huck* had three l-*hic*-egs or something! *hic*"
"No," Chris laughed, "I think they're looking at you as if you were a super-hot girl with hiccups that you can hear halfway across the building."
Hannah laughed and punched him playfully.
* * * * *
A little later, Hannah was in a department store with Ellie and Mrs. Benson. Chris had disappeared on some mysterious business of his own. Mrs. Benson was looking for a sweater to buy her sister for Christmas. As they looked around the store, Mrs. Benson suddenly hiccupped, right in sync with one of Hannah's incessant hiccups. After she had hiccupped several more times, Ellie turned to her with an irritated look. "Don't tell me you have the hiccups now, too!"
"I'm afraid I *huck* do," Mrs. Benson laughed. "Hannah must be cont-- contagious!"
"You two are so embarrassing," Ellie grumbled.
Ellie wouldn't even go with them up to the register when Mrs. Benson paid for her purchase. It was indeed an odd sight - a very good looking brunette woman and a beautiful blonde teenager, both hiccupping as if they were an everyday occurrence. Of course, for Hannah, they just about were.
The cashier, an older woman, chuckled when they came up to the counter. "Hiccups must run in the family," she laughed.
"Well, actually, *hic* she's not even my daughter. My daughter is *hic* over there," she explained, motioning to where Ellie was standing, "Hannah here is *hic* her friend. And I think her hiccups are *huck* contagious, so don't get too close."
Hannah giggled, "That's *hic* right! You *huck* better keep a-*huck* away from me! *huck*"
* * * * *
After a little more looking around, they joined up again with Chris and Juliana. Chris had a bag, apparently containing his purchases. "What'd *huck* you get? *hic*" Hannah asked cheerfully.
Chris gave her a little wink, saying, "I'm afraid I can't tell you."
Hannah smiled and giggled, "Is *hulk* is it for *hic* me?"
"Maybe," he laughed, "Or maybe not."
"Aww, that's so sweet," Ellie said, "Of course it's for - *HULK*"
Hannah laughed. "I *huck* told you th-*huck* they were c-*hic* contagious!"
"Oh no, don't tell me I have them too," Ellie wailed, waiting for another hiccup.
"It doesn't sound like you do, but come on, let's get out of here before they throw us out for disturbing the peace!" Juliana suggested, "And before I get them too!"