Poppin’ Fresh was gone. I don’t know where he could have gone to – last I had seen him he was sitting right there on the table, grinning like he always did. I’d only been gone a few minutes – just enough time to take a piss – but now he was nowhere to be seen.
I looked at my classmates – none of them spoke. This made me immediately suspicious, but I decided not to say anything. Not just yet, anyway. The teacher was glaring at me from the chalkboard, her eyes telling me to just sit down already and stop disrupting the class.
I sat down.
As the twenty of us sat there, listening to the teacher drone on about geometric proofs or trigonometric ratios or some such nonsensical jibber jabber, my mind kept returning to the plight of the lost doughboy. Where could he be? He was just a little guy – he couldn’t take care of himself in this harsh world. He needed me and I needed him – my one and only friend.
Finally after what seemed like forever the bell rang. We all jumped out of our chairs and headed for the halls. I walked to my locker, still wondering about the fate of my poor friend Poppin’ Fresh. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed several of my classmates watching me, giggling to themselves.
I opened my locker and there, hanging by his neck from a rope was the lost doughboy.
