Harvey Girls Pepper Sneezes/Transcript

It
 was a lovely day on Harvey Street, and the Harvey Girls - Audrey, Dot
and Lotta - were in the kitchen of their trailer. The three of them had
promised all of their friends that they would prepare a big lunch for
everybody. This meal would consist of ham, cheese, lettuce and tomato
sandwiches, with apple slices as the side dish. That was Dot's idea, of
course; Audrey and Lotta appreciated the fact that she wanted everybody
to have a healthy diet.

"Alright, girls," Dot said with a sigh of
satisfaction. She reached over and picked up the pepper shaker. It was a
 black container with the word "Pepper" in white on it, and sealing it
shut was a gray lid covered with tiny holes. "Now that all of the
ingredients are in the right orders, all these sandwiches need now is a
sprinkle of black pepper."

"Sounds good," said Audrey in agreement.

Dot
 began to shake the pepper up and down onto one of the sandwiches, and
the spicy black particles fell onto the sandwich in front of her. That
being said, a small amount of the pepper made its way onto Dot's nose,
causing it to twitch quite a bit. She slowed down her shaking, tilted
her head up as her eyelids lowered.

"Hehh... Haaah..." Dot tilted
her head backward a few times, but then finally sent it as far back as
it could go. She was about to sneeze - but unbeknownst to her, one of
her friends knew this wasn't the time for her to explode. "HAAAAHHHHH-!"

Before
 she could sneeze, Lotta reached over and placed her forefinger directly
 underneath Dot's nose. Dot opened her eyes halfway as her urge to
sneeze hung where it was, then faded away. She gave a sigh of relief,
letting Lotta know that her attempt had worked.

"Phew. Thank you, Lotta," said Dot.

"Oh, you're welcome," Lotta replied with a smile. "That was close - too close."

"It
 certainly was." Dot placed a piece of bread over the small pile of
bread, lettuce, ham, cheese, and pepper-dusted slice of tomato,
completing the sandwich. She then placed it in a clean plastic bag,
zipped it up and put it aside. "Why don't you season the next sandwich,
Lotta?"

"I'd love to. How hard could it be?" Lotta didn't realize that her question was about to be answered.

Dot
 moved away from the counter and handed the next incomplete sandwich to
Lotta. She handed her the pepper shaker, and she began to sprinkle it
over the sandwich. It did seem easy enough for her. But after a few
seconds, Audrey heard Lotta give a rather loud sniffle.

"My
goodness. This stuff does smell kinda funny..." Lotta commented. Her
nose was wiggling around in irritation - was some of the pepper tickling
 her nose, too? Her eyelids lowered, and her breath began to hitch.

"Aaah...
 Haaah..." Lotta tilted her upper body back a couple of times, and
Audrey realized exactly what was going to happen. Lotta needed to
sneeze, too. "Aaaaah-"

Before she could sneeze or even inhale any
more, Audrey reached up on her toes and shoved her forefinger right
underneath her nose. Lotta stood there for a moment, still looking like
she had to sneeze, but then she didn't. She breathed out, then rubbed
her nose once with her arm. It still tickled mildly, but her sneeze had
gone away.

"Thanks, Audrey," Lotta said, smiling at her friend.

"Don't mention it, Lotta," Audrey replied, also giving her a smile. "How about I pepper the rest of the sandwiches for you?"

"Sounds like a good idea." Lotta handed the pepper pot to Audrey and walked away from the counter.

Audrey
 placed another piece of bread over the sandwich to complete it, then
placed it in a plastic bag that was also zipped up and placed aside. She
 then moved another unfinished sandwich close to her and began to apply a
 few slow sprinkles of pepper.

"Easy..." Audrey said to herself. "Eeeasy..."

She
 was trying to be as careful as she could - if she shook it too hard,
the same thing that almost happened to Dot and Lotta would happen to
her, too. But the smell of the pepper was unbearably strong, too strong
for her to handle. She could feel her nostrils growing to almost twice
their normal size, the spicy aroma tickling them quite badly.

"Ughh..."
 Audrey's eyelids lowered slightly as she sniffled quite audibly, trying
 to get rid of the tickle. Unfortunately for her, her nose only tickled
even more. Her eyes widened and pupils shrunk for a split second before
her eyelids snapped shut, and her breath began to hitch.

"Huuuh...!
 Haaah... Aaaaah..." Audrey sent her neck backward each time she
inhaled, her nose quivering. She was going to sneeze. And it was going
to be a big one, she could sense it... "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH...!"

But
 as Audrey tilted her upper body as far back as it could go, Dot reached
 over and placed her forefinger right underneath Audrey's flaring
nostrils, whilst covering her eyes with the other hand. The sneeze
didn't follow, even after almost five seconds had gone by. Dot pulled
her hand from her eyes and looked over at Audrey. Her eyelids had opened
 halfway again, but her nose wasn't twitching. The urge to sneeze must
have gone away from her nose. With a smile of satisfaction, Dot pulled
her forefinger away from her nose, and Audrey wiped her forehead with
her hand.

"Phew! Thanks, Dot," said Audrey. "I almost sneezed like
 the whale from the Pinocchio movie." She gave a brief sniff, but her
sneeze didn't come back. But she rubbed her nose once with her
forefinger, just to be sure.

Dot chuckled at her comparison. "Well, I know how much pepper makes you sneeze..."

She
 reached behind her back and put on a little flu mask - or perhaps it
was a surgical mask. Either way, it covered her nose and mouth.

"I'll
 season the rest of the sandwiches for you," Dot stated, her voice
slightly muffled, but still easy to understand. "Trust me, we absolutely
 do NOT want to ruin these..."

Audrey and Lotta nodded in
agreement, then watched as Dot placed a piece of bread over the sandwich
 Audrey had seasoned, and placed it in a plastic bag. A couple of
minutes later, every one of the sandwiches had been seasoned and stored.
 Dot took off her mask and sighed in satisfaction.

"I'm sure the
kids will enjoy these sandwiches just as much as we will," Dot
mentioned. "Now let's go wash our hands before we serve them to
everyone."

"Good idea," Lotta said.

Before the Harvey Girls
could even approach the sink, however, Lotta's hand knocked something
over. A light thud was heard, followed by a more metallic one - and
Audrey, Dot and Lotta could feel nigh indescribable tickles flowing
through their nostrils. They stopped in their tracks and looked over at
what had fallen. Their eyes all widened and pupils shrunk in dawning
comprehension.

The pepper had been knocked over, and the lid had
fallen off, and a large cloud of every bit of pepper that had been
inside was now spilling out and engulfing all three the Girls.

"Haaaaah-!"
 Audrey quickly inhaled as her nostrils flared widely. She tried to stop
 the sneeze by pinching and holding her nose with one hand, but it was
no use; the pepper was already bothering her nose beyond resistance.
"Aaaaaah, haaaaah..." She pulled her hand away from her nose, gave a
final inhale as she sent her upper back, and then exploded massively -
indeed, similarly to the whale from the Pinocchio movie.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH-TTTTTTCHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Huuuh...
 Heeehhhh..." Dot, meanwhile, was about to sneeze, too. Unlike Audrey,
she didn't try and stop it - most likely because of how strong her urge
to sneeze was. Her eyelids slid shut as she tilted her neck back, and
then released a whopping five sneezes.

"HAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH-TCHYEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWW!
 AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH-CHEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWW! NNNNNTCHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!
HEEEEEEEEEHHHHHH-TCHEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWW! Aaaah...
AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH-SHYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWW!"

"Aaaaaaah...
AHHHHH-TCHYU!" Lotta doubled over as she sneezed loudly but briefly. And
 hearing her friends sneeze made her need to sneeze even more.
"HAAAH-CHEW! AH-CHEW! HAH-CHU! TCHU! AAAAHHHHH-TCHYEW! HHHHH-TCHEWWW!"

"HAAAAAAAAAAH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
 AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH-SHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!
HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHH-TCHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"
Audrey, meanwhile, had entered a fit of incredibly loud and strong
sneezes. She could feel saliva rushing from her mouth, and mucus
escaping from her nose.
"HaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH-NNNNNNNNNTTTTTTTTSHIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"HuuuUUUUUUHHHHHHH-TCHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"
 Dot gave another loud sneeze, throwing her arm over her mouth. That was
 a bit of a mistake, as it quickly became soaked with her spit, but she
kept it in front of her face as she sneezed over and over.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH-CHEEEEEEEEWWWWWW! HAAAAAAAAAAH-TCHYEEEEEEEWWWWWW!
NNNNNNNSHEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWW! HEEEEEEEEEHHHHHH- TSHEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWW!"

"AH-CHEW!
 HAH-TCHEW! TCHEE! HEH-CHYU!" Lotta shot her upper body forward again
and again, then reached her hand up to her mouth as a rapidfire triple
escaped. "AH-CHOO, AH-CHU, HAH-CHEWW!"

For the next minute or so,
the Harvey Girls were sneezing, and sneezing, and sneezing some more. A
loud "AH-CHEW!" or a messy "HUH-SHU!" here, a long-lasting "HAH-CHOO!"
or a forceful "HEH-SHYEW!" there. Their eyes were stinging with tears,
both from being sneezy and being burned from the pepper; their noses
were turning bright red and leaking with clear mucus; and every sneeze
they felt had never felt more painful or forceful, nor sounded louder.

By
 the time the pepper had settled to the floor, the Harvey Girls needed
to release one last, good sneeze, in unison. It was the only way their
noses could get the relief they so desperately cried out for. They all
pulled their arms and hands away from their noses and let their eyes
squeeze shut. They inhaled at the same time, their noses rumbling like a
 volcano about to erupt, and their nostrils growing and shrinking over
and over. This was going to be one of the biggest, loudest and most
throat-achingly forceful sneezes they would ever release...

"Aaaaaaaaaaaah... HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH..."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

...and
 as a matter of fact, that was exactly what it was. Gigantic amounts of
spit and mucus - the latter of which was fortunately clear with black
specks - came rushing out of their mouths and noses, hitting the
pepper-covered floor.

After what felt like ten straight seconds,
the Harvey Girls' sneeze finally concluded as they lost their breath,
opened their eyes slightly and sulked. They all sniffled audibly and
rubbed their blood-red noses; Audrey used her forefinger, Dot used her
arm, and Lotta used the back of her hand. Their noses all felt runny and
 stuffy at the same time, and their throats had begun to hurt quite
badly, like they'd come down with terrible colds.

"Uuuughhhh..."

"Oh,
 by gosh..." Audrey said, her voice sounding a bit stuffy due to her
now-congested nose. "That was wud crazy sdeeze attack..."

"Crazy is right," Dot replied. She sniffled wetly. "I thidk I deed to blow by dose."

"Be too," Lotta agreed. She looked over at Audrey and Dot. "Got a hanky?"

Dot reached into the pockets of her pants, but couldn't find anything. "Sorry, I dod't have ady."

"Well,
 at least there's sobe tissues id the bathroob," Audrey said. She then
turned to Dot, who was rubbing her red nose some more. "Ad by the way,
Gesundheit."

"Thadk you," Dot replied. She looked up at Lotta. "Ad Gesundheit, Lotta."

"Thadks."
 Lotta sniffled rather loudly before she pulled her hand away from her
nose, and then she and Dot blessed Audrey, who still had her forefinger
underneath her nose.

"Gesundheit, Audrey."

Audrey replied
with a sniffle and some more nose-rubbing, but she smiled at her friends
 to thank them. Then she made her way to the bathroom, with Dot and
Lotta following her from behind. The trip there was mostly quiet, except
 for the occasional sniffle.

When they got there, Audrey pulled
out a tissue from the box marked Kleenex and blew her nose loudly,
holding the tissue in both of her hands. She then walked away from the
box as she wiped her nose, holding her tissue in one hand. Dot and Lotta
 each pulled out a tissue and blew their noses as well; Dot had to do it
 twice in order to stop her nose from running. It took them and Audrey a
 few minutes of audible blowing, but soon their noses began to lose
their red tinge.

The Harvey Girls stood where they were, wiping their noses with their tissues and sniffling loudly.

"We really deed to be bore careful with that pepper," Dot pointed out.

"Yeah," Audrey agreed. "To thidk I thought that odly happened id cartoods, whed it's true as heck..."

"I'b
 so sorry, guys," Lotta apologized. She knew it was her fault they'd
sneezed so much. "I wish I could've been bore careful, too, so we
wouldn't have sdeezed."

"It's alright, Lotta," Dot replied.

"Yeah.
 At least we didn't ruin the lunch we bade for our friends," said
Audrey. "That would've been the odly thidg worse thad how buch we
sdeezed."

Dot nodded in agreement, giving another sniffle. "Let's just wash our hands and take sobe tibe to feel better first."

Audrey
 and Lotta's expressions told her they agreed. About a couple of minutes
 later, they threw out their used tissues, and took turns washing their
hands at the sink. Their hands now rinsed off and dried, Dot handed some
 of her sanitary masks to Audrey and Lotta so they could help clean up
the mess of pepper and mucus that they'd made in the kitchen.

They
 were feeling a bit better now, but they could only hope none of the
other kids on Harvey Street had heard them sneeze as much - and
especially as hard - as they did. It was incredibly unlikely - almost as
 unlikely as finding a shooting star or a four-leaf clover - but if one
of them had heard it all, at least they would probably bless them or
offer them some tissues. Because that sneezing fit that the pepper had
thrown Audrey, Dot and Lotta into had been something to sneeze at, in
every sense of the word.