Captain Fresh Breath

One sunny day Jimmy’s teacher let the class outside to play.

Jimmy ran to his friends.

"Let’s play Pirates!" he shouted.

"I’ll be Black Bart!" said one boy.

"I’ll be a Princess that needs to be rescued!" said a girl.

The children quickly turned the jungle gym into a pirate ship and began to play.

Jimmy should have been having fun. But he wasn’t.

Every time Jimmy was near one of his friends they would make a face. The more Jimmy tried to talk to them, the farther away they would get.

It seemed like none of his friends wanted to play with him.

"What’s the matter guys?" Jimmy called out.

"Why won’t you play with me?"

"Your breath stinks!" Said one boy.

"Yeah, it’s gross!" Said another.

"Stinky Jimmy" one boy said meanly.

"Stinky Jimmy, Stinky Jimmy!" The children began to shout.

Jimmy ran off to hide.

He found a tree in the back corner of the playground and sat down with his back to it. Pulling up his knees he put his head down and began to cry.

His friends had hurt his feelings and he didn’t understand why.

"Mean old kids calling me Stinky Jimmy" he muttered to himself.

"Saying my breath stinks." "My breath smells just fine to me."

"I know what you mean." Said a voice beside him.

Jimmy jumped up and turned to look. There was an ugly man leaning against the tree right next to where he had been sitting.

"Who are you?" Jimmy asked as he began to smell something bad and took a few steps away from the stranger.

"Most people call me ‘The Evil Halitosis’ " said the man, "But you can call me Hallie."

Jimmy wiped his nose on his shirtsleeve and sniffed as his eyes began to water from the man’s smell.

"The Evil Halitosis?" "What kind of name is that?" He asked the man as he took a few more steps back.

It seemed like Jimmy could actually see a cloud of stink around the man. And it grew every time the man breathed.

"I have super powers," said the man "my goal is to make everybody’s breath stink just like mine." "And the grown up word for stinky breath is halitosis, so that is my name."

"I think I know where the evil part came from." Said Jimmy. "No one would call a smell like that good."

"Well, I have to go now," said Jimmy "play time is over and I have to get back to class."

Jimmy turned and started to head back to the school.

"Not so fast boy," said Hallie grabbing Jimmy’s shirt and holding him back, "I have plans for you." "You’re going to help me spread bad breath everywhere."

Jimmy started kicking Hallie in the shins and screaming "Help, help, let me go you stinky man!" "I don’t want to spread stinky breath around!" "I don’t want to be like you!"

"Let that boy go!" Said a deep voice.

Jimmy turned to see a giant man and a small boy wearing bright white costumes with red capes. The man’s costume had CFB on the front in red letters.

"Great googley moogley," said Hallie, "If it isn’t ‘Captain Fresh Breath’ himself!"

"Indeed it is" said the giant man.

"Hey," said the boy. His costume had a red letter S on the front.

"Oh, and his sidekick ‘Spritzer’, "Hallie said.

"That’s right", said the boy, "and don’t you forget me!"

As Captain Fresh Breath grabbed Jimmy, Spritzer pulled a spray can from his belt and started to spritz Hallie with it.

"Take that Evil Halitosis!" Said Spritzer.

"Aaaauugh!" Cried Hallie as he was running away, "It’s minty!" "It will take me days to get my smell back!"

"Uh... Thanks Mister." Said Jimmy.

"No problem kid, It’s what I do." Said Captain Fresh Breath.

"Hey!" Said Spritzer.

"Uh... It’s what we do", said Captian, "our goal is to wipe out stinky breath everywhere."

"What was that stuff you sprayed on him?" Jimmy asked Spritzer.

"It’s a special mixture of antiseptic and breath freshener we make", Spritzer replied. "The antiseptic kills stinky germs and the mint smells good." "It comes in handy when The Evil Halitosis has stepped in."

"But it is better to keep him away in the first place", Captain Fresh Breath said.

"How do you do that?" Asked Jimmy.

"Well kid, the best way is through proper oral hygiene", Captain said.

"What?" Said Jimmy.

"Taking good care of your teeth", Spritzer said. "Like brushing after every meal and flossing regularly."

"How do my teeth make my breath stinky?" Jimmy asked. "They’re hard and smooth." "How could smell stick to them?"

"It’s not your teeth that smell, it’s the bacteria on them" said Captain.

"Bacteria?" Jimmy seemed confused.

"When you chew your food little tiny pieces of it stick to your teeth, especially in the cracks between them." Spritzer replied. "And if you don’t clean away those tiny bits of food, they rot." "And rotten stuff smells stinky."

"Eeewwww, yuck!" "I sure don’t want any rotten stuff in my mouth" Jimmy said, "that’s gross!"

"It sure is" Captain Fresh Breath said, "that rotten stuff also causes cavities and can even make you loose your teeth."

"I guess I better start paying more attention to brushing my teeth." Said Jimmy. "I’ll brush them as soon as I get home."

Spritzer reached into a pack he was carrying and took some things out.

"Here is a new toothbrush, some tooth paste and floss for you Jimmy" he said, "Use them after every meal and you will never see The Evil Halitosis again."

"That’s right Jimmy" said Captain Fresh Breath, "And tell your friends what you’ve learned so they can keep him away too."

"I sure will Captain Fresh Breath", Jimmy replied. "Thank you for everything, I sure learned a lot."

"Hey!" Said Spritzer.

"And thank you too Spritzer", Jimmy called as they walked away.

That day after school Jimmy tried out his new toothbrush, tooth paste and floss.

"This tooth paste tastes pretty good", he said to himself, "I can’t wait for my friends to smell my new fresh breath."

The next day at school Jimmy met up with his friends on the playground. He tried to breathe on them as much as he could.

"Hey Jimmy, stop breathing all over me!" One boy said.

"Yeah", said another, "it’s really annoying."

"I’m sorry guys", Jimmy said, "it’s just that I wanted to show that my breath doesn’t stink anymore." "Now you can stop calling me ‘Stinky Jimmy’."

"He’s right", said a girl, "in fact his breath is kind of minty now." "I like it, but you should stop breathing on people." "It’s not nice, no matter how good your breath smells."

"How did you get your breath to smell good Jimmy?" A different girl asked.

Jimmy had all his friends sit around him. He told them all about how he had met The Evil Halitosis the day before. And then he told them about how Captian Fresh Breath had shown up. Jimmy had fun showing his friends how Spritzer had run around spritzing The Evil Halitosis with antiseptic making him run away.

Jimmy’s friends laughed at that part of the story. They grew quiet when Jimmy started explaining about the rotten food and bacteria.

"That’s really gross!" Somebody said.

"I know", said Jimmy, "that’s why I brush my teeth every time now." "No more stinky breath for me!"

All his friends shouted out "Me either!"

And they all ran off to play.

Captain Fresh Breath and Spritzer had been watching Jimmy and his friends from behind a tree.

"It looks like our job here is done Spritzer." Said Captain.

"I agree", said Spritzer, "it’s another bad day for The Evil Halitosis."

Captian Fresh Breath and Spritzer left to help other kids and Jimmy kept brushing his teeth and keeping his breath minty fresh.