Unbelievable (short story collection)
Unbelievable is the second in a series of collections of short stories by Australian author Paul Jennings. It was first released in 1987.
The stories
Pink Bow Tie
A pupil is in trouble for dyeing his hair white. He explains to his principal the events of the previous day that led to his hair changing color, involving an age-altering device that a man accidentally kills himself with. Was later adapted as an episode of Round The Twist.
One-Shot Toothpaste
A dentist tells one of his patients the story of how he became a dentist in spite of wanting to be a dustman: one of his neighbors, despite being nearly toothless, always had his bin full of toothpaste which he tested on locked-up animals. This toothpaste is supposed to make sure people never have to clean their teeth again, but has a horrible taste. The old man gets a taste of his own medicine and transforms into a giant tooth, which the patients think becomes the dentist's sign. The story ends with the dentist telling a similar story to another child of how he became a dentist in spite of wanting to be a ballerina, revealing that the story is made up.
There's No Such Thing
An old man is forced to go to a nursing home. He can only leave if he can prove the existence of a dragon, so he sends his grandson into the sewers to take photos of the dragon. The grandson returns with a box which turns out to be a dragon egg from which a baby dragon hatches. Was later adapted as an episode of Round the Twist, was one of two adaptions to be combined into one episode.
Inside Out
A boy who is a fan of horror films and isn't scared of anything leaves his sister at home alone for a night because she has stolen his rented scary movie. He decides to rest for a night at an old house, but it turns out to be the home of a student spook who has an upcoming exam; if the student fails his exam to scare the boy, he'll be frozen for a whole year until the next exam. Was later loosely adapted as an episode of Round The Twist.
The Busker
A boy needs money because he wants to go on a date. When his father refuses, he spends the night to find a job so he can get the money. However, he meets an old man who tells him a story of how he worked as a busker when he was younger with his only friend, a little dog named Tiny. He becomes so desperate for friendship that when he wins the lotto and becomes rich, he tries giving the money to people so they will like him. Too late, he realizes that money can never buy true friendship, and that he never appreciated the only real friend he ever had.
Souperman
A boy who spends his whole school time reading Superman comics is forced to throw them away by his father due to his failing school grades. He then meets a man who resembles Superman, but this superhero gets his powers by drinking soup.
The Gumleaf War
A boy gets his nose stretched in an accident and is sent to his grandfather's house in the country to take his mind off it. However, his grandfather is embroiled in a decades-long feud with another old man, as they are able to transfer illnesses to each other by blowing into magic gumleaves. Later a bushfire burns the tree which had the magic leaves on it. The boy blows the last leaf and his stretched nose is gone. This was later adapted as an episode of Round The Twist. In Round The Twist a girl stretches her nose when being scared by her brothers - she falls down the tree and later she goes to the hospital and they say they can't fix her nose for three years. She doesn't want to go back to school so she goes to her grandmother's house for some time. Her grandmother is embroiled in a decades-long feud with another old man, (Foxy). There happened to be a bad bushfire that year and the grandmother helped Foxy. Later they talk about a gum tree and then they yell "THE GUM TREE!" when they arrive at the gum tree there is only one leaf left and the girl gets it and Foxy and the girl's grandmother and yelling "give it here!" So she runs and plays the song Click Go the Shears, and passes the stretched nose to her parents who were there at the time and then she lost her stretched nose and her brothers and father had stretched noses. The reason why Foxy and her grandmother didn't get the injury was because they had ear plugs in. After she leaves on the train she hears the park ranger say that gum leaf trees grow back. She screams and wakes up in the hospital she asks her parents to take off their masks. They do as told and their noses are the same and then before it ends there is a gum leaf in her hand.
Birdscrap
Twin girls walk to an old house where their late father has hidden rubies. Along the way, they are attacked by seagulls. Was later adapted as an episode of Round The Twist, was one of two adaptions to be combined into one episode.
Snookle
A boy finds a milk bottle with a pair of eyes inside. The trapped creature (who the boy calls snookle) is freed by the boy and becomes his servant - however, the boy soon discovers that his new servant helps him far too much, before giving the creature to an old woman who needs a lot of help.