The Merry Adventures of Buzzer Bug and His Cousin Joker Bug

By Phyllis Martens

Dear children,
In these stories Buzzer Bug and Joker Bug go wandering around their towns in Kansas, looking for ways to scare people or make their lives more interesting. They make all kinds of noisesscary ones, very unexpected ones. Would you like to help them make their noises?
The Buzzer Bug noise goes like this: make a ZZHH sound like the one in the middle of the word treasure. Now go up like a police siren, getting louder as you go up, and down again, just one time. Sometimes Buzzer Bug and his family make short little noises, zzhh, zzhh.
Joker Bug makes noises you already know. He can croak like a frog, howl like a coyote, whistle like a steam engine, ding like a bell, and so on.
If somebody is reading the book to you, help make the proper noise whenever it comes up in the story. If you are reading the book to yourself, you can decide whether to make the noise or not.
I hope you have as much fun as those two mischievous bugs did!
Your friend, Phyllis Martens

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 31, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499048100

Phyllis Martens

Phyllis Hiebert Martens was born in Minnesota but grew up in India, the daughter of missionary parents. She returned to a small town in Kansas to attend college. Phyllis has master’s degrees in English and counseling, has taught college English and ESL. She is married to Dr. Elmer Martens. They have four children as well as nine grandchildren who, when they were kids, would on every visit insist on being told a Buzzer Bug story that very night. She recently published Stories from an Old Town, about life in a Minnesota town many years ago.

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Copyright © 2014 by Phyllis Martens.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2014912355

ISBN:      Hardcover     978-1-4990-4808-7

                Softcover       978-1-4990-4809-4

                eBook            978-1-4990-4810-0

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 09/04/2014

Xlibris LLC

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Buzzer Bug And The Glass Jar

A Plane Ride In A Hat

Buzzer Bug In Paris

Joker Bug At The Zoo

Joker Bug In The Old Folks’ Home

Buzzer Bug Goes To School

Joker Bug And The Burgulars

Buzzer Bug And Joker Bug On A Farm

The Great Athletic Competition

The Talking Dinosaur Skellington

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I thank my four editors for their interest and helpful comments: my granddaughters Abby Martens, Catherine Martens, Grace Bartlett, and Lan Friesen. My thanks also to Christina Lumeya for providing the French phrases in the third story; to Will Martens for his cover drawing of Joker Bug; and to all the children who have listened with great enthusiasm to these Buzzer Bug stories over the past years.

Dear Children,

In these stories Buzzer Bug and Joker Bug make a lot of noises. Would you like to help make the noises with them?

The Buzzer Bug noise goes like this: make a ZZHH sound, like the one in the middle of the word treasure. Now go up, like a police siren, getting louder as you go up, and down again, just one time. Sometimes Buzzer Bug makes short little noises, zzhh zzhh.

Joker Bug makes noises you already know. He can croak like a frog, howl like a coyote, whistle like a steam engine, ding like a bell, and so on.

If somebody is reading the book to you, help make the proper noise whenever it comes up in the story. If you are reading the book to yourself, you can decide whether to make the noise or not.

I hope you have as much fun as those two mischievous bugs did!

Your friend, Phyllis Martens

BUZZER BUG AND THE GLASS JAR

Once upon a time there was, in the state of Kansas, a town named Good Grief. The town had that name because when the first settlers arrived there were no trees, just tall grass everywhere. When the man stopped his wagon in the middle of this ocean of grass, his wife looked around and exclaimed, Good grief! We’re gonna live HERE?

In the town of Good Grief lived a small critter named Buzzer Bug. He had that name because he was, after all, a bug, about two inches long with strong little wings, who made a very loud buzzy noise like this: zzhhZZHZZhhzz. He lived with his wife and four or five little buzzer bugs under the roots of an old elm tree in the park. The park was only one block square. Nobody came there much except on hot days to cool off. Buzzer Bug and his family lived quite safely in their hole under the roots of the tree.

Mrs. Buzzer Bug was grumpy most of the time. She had a good reason for being grumpy. Her husband, who should have stayed home to help manage the noisy kids, hang up laundry, and sweep dead spiders out of the entrance way, didn’t like doing those things. What he liked was going around town scaring people. He scared them with his noise. When they jumped up and rushed around, wondering what that awful noise was, he would sit in his hiding place and laugh and laugh.

Not far from the park was a tall yellow house with a big front porch. Trees and bushes grew all around it. In this house lived Mr. and Mrs. Brown and their children Peter and Jenny.

One evening in summer Peter and Jenny were playing on the front porch under the porch light. Peter was racing his matchbox cars. Jenny was putting clothes on and off her Barbie doll. They were very busy playing and did not notice a small bug flying into the bushes near by.

It was, of course, Buzzer Bug, who had gotten tired of listening to his wife’s scolding for not helping with the kids’ baths, and gone out to look for some fun. When he saw the two children playing on their front porch, he knew exactly what he was going to do.

From his hiding place in the bush, he made his loud, scary noise: zzhZZHZhhzz!

Peter jerked up. "What was that!"

I hope it isn’t a … a bat or something, Jenny said. She sounded nervous.

Bats don’t make that noise—they squeak, Peter said. I think it came from over there. He pointed toward the bush. But it was dark and they couldn’t see anything. It could be a cicada, except cicadas sound different.

Buzzer Bug laughed to himself: "Hee hee! Did you see that boy jump!" He took another big breath: zzhhZSZHZZhzz!

Jenny gave a little scream and dropped her Barbie.

Peter stared at the bush. After a moment he went over to Jenny and whispered, I think I know what it is. I heard that noise in the park. Somebody said it was a bug. I’m going inside to find a flashlight and a jar with a lid. You stay here and pretend to play. If he makes that noise again, pretend to be very scared to keep his attention. I’ll sneak around and catch him in the jar.

Okay, Jenny said, but hurry up! What if the bug attacks me?

Peter quietly opened the door and went inside. Jenny picked up her Barbie, yanked off one dress and pulled on another one, trying to look occupied.

Buzzer Bug was delighted. Girls were much easier to scare than boys. He waited a bit, took a huge breath and made his loudest noise: zzzhhZZZHZZZhhzz! Jenny jumped, dropped her Barbie again, and screamed. She didn’t have to act scared. She WAS scared.

Hee hee, Buzzer Bug laughed in his hiding place in the bush. But the next second a bright light went on behind him, a big glass jar swooshed down over him, and a hand quickly screwed a lid on the jar.

When Buzzer Bug realized he was caught with no way to get out, he was furious. He zoomed around and around in the jar, zZHh zZHh! This had never happened to him before.

You naughty bug! Peter scolded. Scaring children in the dark! You belong in the park! That’s where we’re taking you, and don’t you dare come back!

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Peter and Jenny carried the jar to the park. Peter held the flashlight while Jenny nervously unscrewed the lid. Buzzer Bug hopped out into the grass with an angry zzhhzz, and disappeared.

For about a week the street was quiet. No scary noises, only the usual sounds of crickets chirping in the dark and dogs barking in nearby yards. Peter and Jenny played peacefully on the porch in the evenings, under the porch light.

Meanwhile, Buzzer Bug was getting frustrated. Very, very frustrated. Mrs. BB was making him clear away the junk around their hole and babysit the little bugs, who were always climbing over the tree roots and getting lost. Bj (Buzzer Jr) lazed around sorting his ladybug collection instead of helping his dad. It was not fun. So one night he sneaked out. He flew here and there, being careful not to go too near the Browns’ house.

Right next to the Browns was a small white house in which lived two elderly ladies. Their bedroom was on the far side of the house from the Browns. Because it was hot, their bedroom window was wide open. The light was on, and they had their nightgowns on and were just getting into bed. The ladies said, Good night, Justine, Good night, Maybelle, and turned off the light.

Buzzer Bug had seen the light and was now sitting in a bush just outside their open window. He couldn’t believe his luck. This was going to be good! He waited. When they were settled down and almost asleep, he took a big breath and made his scary noise: zhzsZZHZhhzz!

Both ladies sat straight up. Wh … what … was that … noise? Maybelle quavered.

It sounded like it was outside our window, Justine said, trying to sound unconcerned.

Is it a … a burglar?

It didn’t sound like a burglar. I’ll take a look. Justine bravely got out of bed, tiptoed to the window and looked out. I can’t see anything, it’s too dark.

M-maybe it was a … a cat, you know, f-fighting.

Yes, it probably was a cat. Justine got back in bed. They both lay down and pulled up the covers and lay very still.

Buzzer Bug waited a while. Then he made his noise, louder: zzZZHZHZSSHZ!

The ladies jumped up, scrambled out of bed and caught hold of each other. I’m so s-scared! It MUST be a … a b-burglar! That was Maybelle.

I have no idea what it is. I’ll call the police. That was Justine.

Yes, c-call the police!

They tiptoed to the hall where the telephone was. Buzzer Bug heard them talking. "Police? This is Justine. You know? Next to the Browns. Please come quickly, there’s an awful noise outside our window. Oh, an awful noise! We think it’s a burglar. Oh, thank you."

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Hee hee hee! giggled Buzzer Bug. He crawled into a thick tangle of leaves in the middle of the bush so that the policeman wouldn’t find him.

The policeman, whose name was Marvin, put down the phone and sighed. He got calls from Justine and Maybelle about twice a week asking him to check for burglars. It was no use arguing. He just had to go. He picked up his big policeman’s flashlight and walked over.

Justine? Maybelle? It’s me, the police, he called