Twin Day

Disclaimer: I do not own Arthur or any of its characters or content from the series. The characters and etc. from Arthur belong to Marc Brown, PBS, WGBH, and Cookie Jar (formerly CINAR).

On Friday, April 21st, in Mr. Ratburn's class, Mr. Ratburn was wearing white suit and the students were wearing their casual clothes, and were all dressed differently. Mr. Ratburn had an announcement to make in front of the class.

"Class," said Mr. Ratburn, "next Friday is Twin Day. And it's the special day where each of you two can dress the same."

"Yay!" cheered the students.

"But you kids can't decide," continued Mr. Ratburn. "Only I may assign which one of your classmates can wear the same clothes you wear."

Arthur was nervous. He hoped it wasn't Binky Barnes. He wished for his best friend Buster.

While Mr. Ratburn was roll-calling, Arthur's twin partner was Buster, and they had to wear a blue T-shirt, blue jeans, and red and white sneakers. Francine's twin partner was Muffy, and they had to wear a pink dress and black Mary Janes.

Me wear a dress? thought Francine. I've always looked so silly in them, and pink is just not one of my favorite colors, just too girly.

Alan, who goes by "the Brain" had Binky as a twin partner, and they had to wear a green T-shirt, blue jeans, and red and white sneakers. Sue Ellen's twin partner was Fern and they had to wear a purple dress and white high-heel pumps. George's twin partner was the gray rabbit boy, and they had to wear a white T-shirt, cream-colored khakis, and brown shoes. Jenna's twin partner was the white rabbit girl with dishwater blonde hair and they had to wear a lavender dress and brown sandals. After Mr. Ratburn did the roll-calling for each of the pairs, he handed the students each a slip with their names and their partners and the clothes they needed to wear.

When the kids came home from school, they put the reminders on the wall in their own rooms.

On Thursday on the following week, Mr. Ratburn reminded the students once again that Twin Day was the next day, and that they should all remember.

When Arthur came home after school that day, Arthur took out a blue T-shirt and another pair of blue jeans and laid them on his chair behind his work desk.

At Buster's condo, Buster took out the same clothes Arthur did and put them on the chair behind his work desk.

At the Frenskys' apartment, Francine took out her pink dress and a pair of black Mary Janes from her and Catherine's closet in their room and laid them on the chair behind the work desk where the black computer with the CRT monitor was. She had not worn that dress since September.

At the Crosswires' mansion, Muffy took out her pink dress and a pair of black Mary Janes from her armoire in her room and laid them on the chair behind her work desk.

At the Powerses' house, the Brain took out his green T-shirt and another pair of blue jeans and laid them on his chair behind his work desk.

At the Barneses' house, Binky took out the same clothes the Brain did and put them on the chair behind his work desk.

The next morning, at the Reads' house, Arthur put on his blue T-shirt, a pair of clean jeans, and his sneakers.

At the Frenskys' apartment, Francine put on her pink dress and Mary Janes.

Arthur and his friends arrived to school on their bikes. Arthur saw Buster who was wearing the same clothes he was wearing, and they both walked together when they went inside. Muffy was wearing the same colored dress and Mary Janes as Francine, but Muffy's dress had long sleeves while Francine's had short sleeves, and both of the dresses had buttons on them. The Brain and Binky were both wearing green T-shirts, blue jeans, and red and white sneakers, but Binky was wearing his shirt tucked into his pants while the Brain's shirt was hanging out. Prunella and Molly were both wearing white dresses and pink high-heel pumps, but they didn't get along very well, and worst of all, Molly did not like to wear feminine clothes or anything neat and like new. Sue Ellen and Fern were both wearing purple dresses and white high-heel pumps, and Sue Ellen was wearing an orange bow and red barrettes in her hair, and Fern was wearing a purple bow on her head. Jenna and the white rabbit girl were both wearing lavender dresses and brown sandals. George and the gray rabbit boy were both wearing white T-shirts, cream-colored khakis, and brown shoes. Many of the other kids had twin partners.

When they walked inside, some of the teachers were dressed the same. Mr. Ratburn and Mr. Marco were both wearing white T-shirts, blue jeans, and blue and white sneakers. Miss Sweetwater and Mrs. Fink were both wearing lavender dresses and purple high-heel pumps.

When Arthur and his friends walked into the classroom, they were each talking to their twin partners. In the next few minutes, Mr. Ratburn walked into the classroom.

"Good morning class," said Mr. Ratburn. "I'm glad to see you guys all dressed up in the same clothes as your partners."

The class all smiled. In the next few minutes later, Mr. Ratburn brought in a tall cart with a CRT TV on the top and a VCR on the shelf below the TV. He then plugged the TV and VCR into the outlet at the front of the classroom. He then turned on the TV and VCR, and then picked up the VHS cassette off of his desk and took the cassette out of the case and put it into the VCR and pressed the PLAY button. He then skipped the trailers and to the very start of the feature presentation.

"What movie are we watching?" asked Binky.

"Binky…Shhhh!" said Mr. Ratburn. "We don't talk while I play the movie."

"Whoops," whispered Binky.

"Shhhh!" the Brain told Binky. "Don't talk."

"Okay," whispered Binky, without letting anyone hear him.

After the class watched the intro to the movie, on the screen were two nine-year-old twins who were tan cats that had short brown hair with bangs, and they were both boys. The twins in the movie wearing white T-shirts, blue shorts, and brown sneakers. They were entering an amusement park with an older sister who was sixteen years old and was taller with longer hair and bangs, and wore nearly the same clothes.

"Let's ride on the wood twist," said the first of the twins in the movie.

"Yeah, lets," replied the second of the twins in the movie. "Our first ride."

"My favorite ride," said the older sister in the movie.

While everyone was watching the movie, Arthur wanted to compare the characters in the movie riding on that wood twister roller coaster to the whole class going on that same roller coaster together, so he imagined his whole class riding on the roller coaster together.

Later on at 9:45, it was time for recess. Mr. Ratburn's class was about three-quarters through the movie.

"Remember to stay with your twin partners," said Mr. Ratburn. "That's one of the rules of Twin Day."

Outside at recess, Arthur and Buster were on the see-saw. Francine and Muffy were on another see-saw. Sue Ellen and Fern were on the swings. The Brain and Binky were on the jungle gym where Binky and his gang, the Tough Customers liked to hang out on. Prunella and Molly were on the jungle gym, also. Rattles and the brown dog guy were also on the jungle gym, and they were wearing black T-shirts, blue shorts, and green and white sneakers. Prunella and Molly sat facing away from each other. Binky then started talking with Molly, Rattles, and the dog guy; and then the Brain and Prunella both went down the slide.

After recess, all of the kids came back to their own twin partners and they all walked back inside.

Back in Mr. Ratburn's classroom, Mr. Ratburn continued playing the video where they left off.

After watching the movie, Mr. Ratburn called the students questions about the movie. The students raised their hands per question being asked. After answering, Mr. Ratburn would tell the student to call on another student raising their hand for the next turn.

After Q&A's about the movie they watched, Mr. Ratburn assigned the twin partners each some games to play: Arthur and Buster to play a game of checkers, Francine and Muffy to play a game of trivia, the Brain and Binky to play a game of chess, Sue Ellen and Fern to play a game of hearts, George and the gray rabbit boy to play a game of Go Fish, and Jenna and the white rabbit girl to play a game of Chinese checkers.

Everyone played games until it was time for lunch. Before they left, they put the games away and back into the shelves where they found the games.

The kids started heading to the lunchroom. Arthur, Buster, Francine, and the Brain were carrying blue Bionic Bunny lunchboxes. Muffy was carrying a purple lunchbag with a princess on it. Sue Ellen was carrying a teal lunchbox with martial arts fighters on it. Fern was carrying a purple lunchbox with books on it. George was carrying a green lunchbox with a giraffe and an elephant on it. Jenna was carrying a pink lunchbag with a soccer player on it. The gray rabbit boy was carrying a plain red lunchbox. The white rabbit girl was carrying a plain purple lunchbag. Prunella was carrying a sky blue lunchbag with a magical fairy on it. Binky and his members of the Tough Customers were the ones to eat the school's lunch. Of course the kids were supposed to stay with their twin partners.

After they entered the lunchroom, Arthur and his friends sat together at a table, except the Brain sat with Binky at a table where the Tough Customers usually sit; and Molly sat at the table where Prunella and her friends were sitting at, because Prunella wasn't comfortable sitting with the Tough Customers.

Arthur's lunch had an apple, a chocolate chip cookie, and a lemon juicebox. Buster's lunch had two carrots, two candy bars (one chocolate and another peanut butter), and a blueberry juicebox. Francine's lunch had a pear, a cherry cupcake, and a cherry juicebox. Muffy's lunch had a peach, a chocolate chip muffin, and a grape juicebox. The Brain's lunch had a grape jam sandwich, a slice of raspberry pie he baked with his mother at home, and a lime juicebox. Prunella's lunch had a lemon, an orange, a blueberry muffin, and a raspberry juicebox. Sue Ellen's lunch had an onigiri, a chocolate chip cookie, and a cherry juicebox. Fern's lunch had a peanut butter and jam sandwich, a peanut butter muffin, and a grape juicebox. Binky, Rattles, Molly, the brown dog guy, and the round cream-colored cat were eating a slice of pizza, a carrot, a peach, and they were drinking chocolate milk; except Molly had grape juice instead.

After lunch, the kids went outside for recess again. Arthur and Buster were on the see-saw again. Francine and Muffy were on the swings. Sue Ellen and Fern were playing a game of tag.

When the kids came back in after recess, Mr. Ratburn was presenting the twin partners for some drama. He would time the twin partners one minute before the next two do their act. The twin partners were each pretending to be some characters they made up in their minds. The first pairs to act were Arthur and Buster, then Francine and Muffy, then the Brain and Binky, then Sue Ellen and Fern, then Jenna and the rabbit girl, and last George and the gray rabbit boy. After each of the twin partners did their acts, the rest of the class would clap at the end of each act being performed.

For the third and last recess, Arthur and Buster were now on the swings. Francine and Muffy were both on the see-saw once again. All of the other kids continued playing around.

After recess, Mr. Ratburn's class then headed to Miss Bryan's art classroom. Miss Bryan was demonstrating to the class on how to draw a cruiser boat, plus draw it in a background where it sails across the ocean, and that each students should have his or her name on the cruiser they drew, plus draw themselves on the cruiser as a logo along with their names. The picture reference was also used to help the students draw the cruiser. So, Miss Bryan passed out to each of the students a picture of a cruiser sailing in the ocean. She also said that the art assignment was homework and it was due next week.

During the last hour of school, the teachers were each passing out Twin Day T-shirts for each student, and the shirts were on the hangers. On the front of the shirts, it said "Lakewood Elementary School Twin Day – April 28th, 1996"; and on the back of the shirts, it showed the teacher's name at the top and it showed the students' names from top to bottom where two names of the students on each line were twin partners. Whenever the students wore those Twin Day T-shirts, they would remember how great that special day was.

As the students were leaving, they stuffed their new Twin Day T-shirts into their bookbags before they left the building.

After school, Arthur, Buster, and the Brain went to Buster's condo, and Francine, Muffy, and Prunella went to Muffy's mansion. Prunella was happy to stay away from Molly.

At Buster's condo, Arthur, Buster, and the Brain were watching a Bionic Bunny VHS video. They kept on laughing when they watched the funniest scenes.

At the Crosswires' mansion, Francine, Muffy, and Prunella were all drinking tea at a small table in Muffy's room.

Later at night, Arthur, the Brain, Francine, and Prunella went home. As Arthur came home, he couldn't wait to see the whole school being dressed differently. He continued working on his art assignment until it was bedtime.

Three days later on the first of May, all of the students and teachers were back to being dressed differently. However, about two-sixths of the students were wearing Twin Day T-shirts that day, while Arthur and his friends were just wearing their casual clothes.

THE END