Elmore Family Watterson (Ch.2: The Letter) REVISED

Anais was the first to notice how strange Gumball and Darwin were behaving lately, even more so than usual. Since last Thursday, they've been checking through their mailbox multiple times almost every day, even going so far as to be on the lookout from their bedroom window. This was not something they normally did since most of the time, they would watch TV, look up funny videos on the computer, play video games, or hang out with some of their friends from school. But constantly checking the mailbox was completely out of the ordinary for them. Whenever the 4-year-old would ask the boys what they were so eager to receive from the mailman, the only responses she got were, "It's a secret" or "We'll tell you later." What first started out as never-ending curiosity inside the young pink rabbit grew into impatient annoyance the more her brothers kept this "so-called" secret from her. It's been a week now (today was Thursday, March 19th) and the Watterson kids had finished another typical day at school. When they had entered the house, Gumball and Darwin immediately dashed up the stairs to look out their bedroom window, excitement growing inside them as minutes passed by.

"Do you see anything?" The blue cat questioned his younger brother as the goldfish viewed the street through his binoculars.

"Not yet. The message did say it should be here today."

Their irritated baby sister stomped over to them the moment they approached the window. She needed answers right here, right now!

"Alright, you two! What could be so important that you must stand at the window so much?! It's already been a week now, so I want to know!"

Unfortunately for her, the mail truck had pulled up in front of the house before they could tell her.

"IT'S FINALLY HERE!" the Watterson boys were out the door and down the stairs in milliseconds, standing out in the front yard to receive their mail of the day. Anais huffed out angrily at this.

Gary Hedges, the elderly purple moose who lived next door to the Watterson's, was quite surprised to see the two boys approach him the moment he pulled up, so he began to greet them politely.

"Hello, boys. Here's all your mail right here, including this shiny blue package. There must be something real special in here for you guys."

Darwin grabbed the mail while his older brother got the package.

"Thanks Mr. Hedges, sir!"

Gumball read the package to see if it was from the Seven Seas Company, and his expectations proved him right. Taped to the package was another letter like the rest of the family mail, but with the cruise logo stamped on it. He sure hoped it had what he thought it did…

"Darwin! Into the house now! We have to see what's inside!"

Eager, the 12-year-old grabbed his younger brother and ran back into their house, shutting the door behind him. As Anais approached the boys, she immediately became curious once she caught sight of a shiny blue package in Gumball's hands.

"Uh, guys, what is that?"

The blue cat saw this as the perfect opportunity to surprise his sister.

"You'll see once we open this baby up!"

He handed the package over to Darwin after taking the letter off the front and, for dramatic effect, slowly ripped the top open and saw a piece of paper all folded up, containing something inside. So, he proceeded to do the same thing he did with the envelope by slowly unfolding it, with Darwin holding his breath in anticipation and Anais leaning in to take a better look.

'Please be the tickets…'

'Please be the tickets…'

'Please be the tickets…'

When the paper was fully opened all the way, Gumball and Darwin gasped in shock as they saw, not one, not two, but five winning tickets for the entire Watterson family to go on the cruise ship! This, of course, caused both the Watterson boys to cheer out loud.

"YAAAAY! WE WON THE WINNING TICKETS!"

Anais jumped up at this and was now downright confused.

"Winning tickets? For what?"

The blue cat handed the paper over to the toddler, jumping with excitement.

"Read it for yourself!"

"Yeah! We wanted to surprise you all with this!" Darwin exclaimed.

The young prodigy proceeded to follow their instructions, reading the letter out loud.


Dear Sir/Madam,

Congratulations! You are one of the chosen winners of the Seven Seas Sweepstakes to take a free trip aboard our luxurious cruise for 7 days and 6 nights! The ship will be waiting for you at Port Coral and will be setting sail on March 30th, so make sure you prepare to come all the way over here to experience one of the most exhilarating festivities of your life! We are more than welcome to have you with us!


Best Regards,




Captain Mickey Mouse


To say Anais was surprised after reading the winning letter would be a huge understatement. In fact, she was downright astonished that the entire family would be awarded with something as major as this!

She was frozen with shock, trying her hardest to get more words out of her mouth. The Watterson boys were worried for their baby sister, so Darwin tried to get her attention.

"Um, Anais…is something wrong?"

"…How…How did this happen? When did you guys do this?"

When she fully recovered from her state, Gumball proceeded to give her the news.

"Well Anais, it all started when we turned on the TV and watched a commercial about it last Thursday when we came home from school."

Darwin gave the Seven Seas catalog and cruise schedule, which were both taken out of the package, to the young girl to take a quick peek.

"Take a look at these! This ship has everything!"

Anais' second older brother proved to be right as she flipped through every page of the book. It contained a map of the entire ship, featuring all different types of cabins, restaurants, stores, pool areas, and much more. She even went through the schedule’s pages, which gave all the details on what will be going on throughout the seven days. At the same time, the eldest Watterson child continued with his explanation.

"And we both decided we could use a vacation for once. Well, unlike that creepy road trip we went on, but still. So, we thought, 'why not' and decided to sign up for it immediately before the sweepstakes ended last Saturday."

"Guys…I don't know how else to say this but…this is amazing! And Mickey Mouse is hosting it? The Mickey Mouse?! He's one of the most popular celebrities around here! But wait! Does Mom know about this yet?"

Gumball was caught off-guard by this, as well as Darwin.

"Well…no, not yet. But we'll tell her about it when she gets home."

"As much as I want to go on this vacation myself, I'm not sure if we'll have enough money for all the activities we'd want to do. Sure, we won the trip for free, but almost everything would cost money on there."

The blue cat pondered over this when Anais finished. Even the middle child began to agree.
"Actually, Anais does have a point there. Does our family even have the money for everything that's going to be on the cruise?"

Anxiety began to grow a little inside Gumball. The last thing he wanted was to spend time on the ship doing absolutely nothing due to a lack of cash.

"I'm…pretty sure things will turn out well for us. We'll see what Mom will think. I just hope she says yes."

The Watterson kids decided to watch some TV (since they had no homework for the night), waiting for their mother to come home to tell her the news.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Nicole was driving home in the early evening after a whole day of working. It could get incredibly stressful at times, but with her best friend Yuki (the manager's wife) helping her out, it lifted her spirits to get her through the day. She may have been a workaholic most of the time, but even she needed a break occasionally. When she pulled over to the driveway in front of the house, she got out the car, thinking about what to cook for dinner. Right when she unlocked the door, her two sons stood right there at the doorway, greeting her happily.

"Hi Mom!"

"Hi Mrs. Mom!"

"AH!" Nicole jumped up in fear the moment she heard them but recovered immediately when she realized they were glad to see her after a long day.

"You really didn't have to do that, you guys," Anais rolled her eyes in amusement after watching the funny display of her mom getting spooked because of her brothers.

"Hi kids. How was school today?"

"It was good as usual. But there's something great we want to show you!" Gumball decided to hand the letter over to his mom the moment she came inside.

Nicole wondered what the great surprise was. "What's this?"

"Take a look inside!"

The children eagerly watched their mother look inside the opened envelope, taking out the paper and finding five tickets along with it.

"Tickets? What could these possibly be…?"

Before she could finish her sentence, she read the winning paper and became filled with shock once she got to the bottom of the page.

"A free cruise ship vacation?! Kids, how did this happen?!"

Just like what he had to do with Anais earlier, Gumball happily explained the situation to Nicole. He gave her all the details, from the cruise ship commercial to visiting the website to sign the entire family up for the sweepstakes. This was where each of the kids went into full detail about the ship.

"Just check out the catalog and schedule!" Anais happily handed the Seven Seas book and Family Cruise schedule over to the mother so she could look inside for herself. "This cruise has so many fun things in there! And the best part of all is that Mickey Mouse is the captain!"

Nicole's eyes widened at this. "Is that right?"

The eldest child began to chime in. "It's true! It has a gigantic pool area!"

"And a lot of restaurants, including a limitless buffet, which Mr. Dad would love!" Darwin added.
"And a relaxing spa you could go to if you're stressed out!" The youngest child mentioned.

"And they have hang-out areas just for kids in case you and Dad want to walk around by yourselves!" Gumball told Nicole.

Eventually, all the Watterson children begged the matriarch if they could go on this trip. "Can we go, please, please, PLEEASE?!"

"Kids, calm down! We'll all discuss this over dinner, I promise. For now, I’ll think about it, so you all head upstairs while I make the food, okay?"

"Okay!" The kids agreed to the plan.

After they went upstairs, Nicole went to the kitchen to prepare tonight's dinner (consisting of Spaghetti and Meatballs with a side of Broccoli). At the same time, she couldn't help but think about the free cruise vacation the family had won. She was quite ecstatic at the thought of everyone going on this trip, but she was concerned as to whether they had enough money for the activities they wanted to do. Of course, the kids would be hanging out with some new friends they would make on the ship, she would want to go to the spa to relax and exercise at the gym, and as for her husband…well, he would probably be exploring the whole entire buffet. When the food was done, Nicole walked over to the counter and picked up the Seven Seas catalog, looking through every single page. The scenery of the pool area looked refreshing, the special dishes served at the buffet were appetizing to her eyes, and the concerts looked lovely! She would be more than happy to visit those places!

Next, Nicole picked up the schedule packet titled “Seven Seas Cruise,” which showcased what would be going on throughout the seven days on the first page, including the departure times and what fun things to do on the ship. The next page featured tips for first time cruisers, such as bringing passports and what medications to take in case of motion sickness, so the Watterson matriarch knew this was something she especially had to go over with the whole entire family. The third and final page was under the title “About Our Ports of Call” and it listed off every single island the cruise will be making stops at along the way; Stellawand, New Motonui, and Grand Lamina. The descriptions for each of them were quite intriguing too, what with the excursions and multiple activities to do!

As a soft smile immediately appeared on the woman's face, she knew exactly how to get this family prepared for the trip…
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Dinnertime had rolled by during the late evening, and the entire Watterson family was enjoying their food. The kids were anxiously waiting for their mom to start the discussion on whether they were going on the trip or not. The only one in the family who was clueless about the whole thing was Richard, who was asleep in his bedroom the whole day, making it even more urgent. As everyone finished their food, Nicole called for everyone's attention.

"Richard, kids, I have an announcement to make."

The children perked up at this while the father looked at his wife in curiosity. She pulled out the letter, catalog, and schedule to show off to them.

"We have recently received something special in the mail today, and it's from a cruise ship company called Seven Seas. It says right here that we are one of the chosen winners for a free trip on the cruise for 7 days and 6 nights." The head of the household pulled out the 5 winning tickets out of the letter to show proof.

"A free trip on the cruise?!"

Nobody was surprised at Richard's outburst.

"Wait. This isn't going to be like that creepy road trip we went on, is it?"

Nicole smiled at him amusingly while shaking her head. "No, Richard, there will be hundreds of passengers onboard. And there are going to be a bunch of festivities involving swimming pools, concerts, and restaurants, including a mile-long buffet."

As she emphasized the last part, the giant pink rabbit immediately fantasized about it.

"Mmmm…mile-long buffet…"

Gumball saw this as the perfect opportunity to ask her the important question.

"So, does this mean we're going?"

The mother gave him a soft smile.

"Yes."

"Alright!" The three Watterson kids cheered out loud at the answer. It was Anais' turn to ask their mom some questions.

"How are we going to travel there? The letter says the ship will be at Port Coral, which is one of the Californian docks."

The head of the household began to discuss the plans to her family.

"Simple. We'll arrange for a cab to take us there in the early morning since we also live in California, so it wouldn't take long to get there. Also, we would have to prepare ourselves throughout all next week by cleaning the entire household, that way we won't have to worry about the place being messy when we get back. Of course, I would have to work extra hours at my job to earn more money, buy some supplies like sunscreen and medicine, and last but not least, we would have to call Granny Jojo and Grandpa Louie to watch the house for us while we're gone."

Nicole turned to her husband after finishing the last part.

"Richard, you would have to talk to your mom about our plans."

"Why do I have to do it?"

"Because your mom and I can't stand each other," she answered him in a deadpan tone.

Richard immediately understood. "Oh. Right."

"So, am I clear on what we all have to do the next following days?"

"Yes!" Everyone answered her in a clear voice.

"Alright then, it's settled. Since we're all finished with dinner, it's time for you kids to get ready for bed. It's still a school night after all."

"Okay." Gumball, Darwin, and Anais obeyed their mother's orders, heading upstairs to get some rest. Thank goodness it was Friday tomorrow.

Each member of the Watterson family retreated into their sleeping quarters to get ready for a long, busy day in the morning. Before all of them could fully go to sleep, the mother had gone upstairs to tuck her children in and kiss them goodnight, starting with her youngest one.

"Goodnight, Mom."

"Goodnight, sweetie," Nicole kissed Anais' forehead after pulling the bed sheets over her and went towards the doorway to switch the lights off, closing the door behind her as she exited the room. She walked down the hallway towards Gumball and Darwin's room to repeat the same thing, only to stop in her tracks when she heard the two boys moving some stuff around behind the closed door, meaning they were wide awake.

"Will this be good for the trip?" She heard Darwin's voice from the room.

"Yeah. Just try to pack up anything that would be useful." Gumball's response was heard next.

‘What could those two be possibly doing this late at night?’

Whatever it was those boys were up to, Nicole was going to find out for herself once she went into their bedroom. She continued walking down the hall, approached the door, and turned the knob, opening it all the way to see what was happening…

A loud gasp escaped from Nicole's mouth.

She was absolutely horrified at the sight before her very eyes! The entire room that belonged to the Watterson boys was a hot mess! Clothes were thrown out the drawers, comic books laid flat on the floor, even some of their electronics were carelessly moved about! After looking around the entire room with her mouth agape, her eyes laid on Gumball and Darwin, who were currently stuffing their belongings into their suitcases.

"Gumball and Darwin Watterson! What on earth are you two doing?!"

"We're packing up for the trip," The eldest boy was so wrapped up in packing up his things that he failed to notice the shocked tone in his mother's voice.

"But have you two looked at the mess you made while doing that?! It looks like a tornado just came in here!"

"Sorry Mrs. Mom,” the middle child did his best to reassure her. “We were so excited to go on the cruise ship next week that we couldn't sleep, so we decided to pack up early."

Nicole sighed, taking a moment to calm down before speaking again. "Boys, I understand how excited you are about this trip, and I appreciate how you're getting prepared ahead of time, but you have school in the morning. Could you get into bed, please?"

"Okay," The boys were disappointed they couldn't continue with their luggage, but they knew better than to go against their mother's orders (especially when it came to her infamous temper), so they obliged and got into their respective sleeping quarters (Gumball on the bottom of the bunk bed and Darwin inside his fishbowl). Their mother smiled and went over to kiss them both on their foreheads.

"I promise we will all work together to get prepared when you get back from school tomorrow. Now goodnight you two."

"Goodnight!"

Making her way towards the door, Nicole made one last request to her sons.

"And please make sure to clean your room when you get the chance tomorrow."

"Okay."

She switched the lights off and closed the door, heading downstairs to her own room to rest. Before going to sleep, the Watterson boys cracked an eye open, whispering to one another in ecstatic tones.

"Hey Gumball, this wasn't such a bad idea after all. I can't wait 'till we go on that cruise."

"Me too, buddy."