Dive bomb day at the backyard pool goes sideways fast when Slick builds a wobbly tower of lawn chairs to beat Muffin’s perfect swan dive. He misses the water completely, finds the sprinkler instead, and Muffin never even looks up from her lemonade.
What’s Inside
Good afternoon, sports fans, and welcome to the Backyard Pool Classic, where the water is cool, the lemonade is cold, and one raccoon is about to make a very bad choice. In lane one we have Muffin, the calm and clever champion in the pink bow. In lane two, wearing his black backwards cap and his lucky black-and-orange jacket, it is Slick, a raccoon who has never once been right and has never once let that stop him.
The Dive Bomb Play-by-Play
Muffin steps up first. She walks to the end of the diving board, takes one quiet breath, and floats into a perfect swan dive. Barely a ripple. The judges, who are three garden gnomes and a confused squirrel, hold up imaginary tens. The crowd goes wild. Well, the squirrel goes wild. The gnomes stay gnomes.
Now Slick has a problem. You cannot beat a perfect swan dive with another swan dive, folks. So Slick does what Slick always does. He goes bigger. He announces, with a lot of pointing, that he will perform the greatest dive bomb in raccoon history.
And here comes the tower. Slick is stacking lawn chairs. One chair. Two chairs. Five chairs. The stack is leaning like a tired giraffe. Muffin pours herself a glass of lemonade and does not look up. That, sports fans, is the face of a raccoon who has seen this movie before.
Slick climbs. The chairs wobble. He waves to the squirrel. The squirrel does not wave back. He bends his knees, tucks his tail, and launches the dive bomb of the century.
Oh no. Oh, no, no, no. A gust of wind! Slick drifts left. He drifts more left. He sails right past the pool, over the flower bed, and lands belly-first on the garden hose reel. The reel spins. The sprinkler pops up. And Slick is now spinning in a circle, getting sprayed from every side like a raccoon in a car wash.
Somehow, he is soaked, and he never even touched the pool. That is a first in Backyard Pool Classic history. Muffin takes one calm sip. She still has not looked up.
Dive Bomb Replay: What the Judges Saw
Let us go to the slow-motion replay. Watch the takeoff. Good height, good tuck, great confidence. Now watch the landing zone. Notice that the pool is over here, and Slick is going over there. Our experts call that “a geography mistake.” The squirrel gave it a two. One gnome fell over, which we are counting as a zero.
When the sprinkler finally stopped, Slick stood up, dripping, and gave a big thumbs up. He believes he won. He will tell everyone at dinner that he won. Muffin will let him, because she is kind, and because the lemonade is very good.
Silly What-Ifs for the Next Dive Bomb
What if Slick had used one lawn chair instead of five? He would still miss the pool, but he would miss it from a much safer height, and the squirrel might give him a three.
What if Muffin had taught him the swan dive? She did offer last summer. Slick said swan dives are “for birds.” He was not wrong, technically, which may be the only time that has ever happened.
What if the wind had blown the other way? Then Slick would have landed in the lemonade pitcher. Muffin has asked us to say that this would have been far worse, and she would have been very upset.
What if the sprinkler was the goal all along? Slick says yes. Slick says that was the plan. Nobody believes Slick.
And what if Slick tries a brand new dive bomb next weekend? Sports fans, you know he will. He is already eyeing the roof of the shed. Muffin is already hiding the ladder.
That is all from the Backyard Pool Classic. Remember, kids: Slick is a cartoon raccoon, and real pool fun means a grown-up nearby and no chair towers. Our final score tonight: Muffin, a perfect ten. Slick, a very wet thumbs up. Back to you in the studio.
Love these two? Slick and Muffin also solve real mysteries in the Heritage Hollow Adventures books for kids ages 9-12. Find them on our Heritage Hollow books page and the full Choice1-3D Bookshelf.
The Funniest Moments
Want the backstory? Read up on the real sport of diving, then come back here for more Slick & Muffin.
Your Questions, Answered
What happens in the Slick and Muffin dive bomb episode?
Slick tries a giant dive bomb off a stack of lawn chairs to beat Muffin’s swan dive. The wind carries him onto the hose reel, and the sprinkler soaks him instead.
Why doesn’t Muffin react to Slick’s stunt?
Muffin has watched Slick try big ideas many times before. She knows how it ends, so she just enjoys her lemonade.
Where can I find more Slick and Muffin?
New silent comedy shorts post every weekend on Choice1-3D. You can also read their mysteries in the Heritage Hollow Adventures books for kids ages 9-12.
Read Slick & Muffin’s Mystery Books
Slick and Muffin star in the Heritage Hollow Adventures, a funny kids mystery series for ages 9 to 12 with real clues and real skills.
More books for every mood: Heritage Hollow Adventures (kids mysteries), Amelia Shade (dry humor for grown-ups) and Dusty Shepherd (the hidden meaning of numbers in the Bible).
