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Description
I wrote this *story in ye olde 2017, but lost the original drawing... so I've made a new sketch to go with it (hence the ''19' in the signature).

Below appears the original description. Enjoy! :3

*I wrote Jackie and Caleb's parts---the 'story' was written by someone else. :3

===============

It's been a while since I last drew Jackie and Caleb. Jackie and Caleb are original characters of mine, based loosely on Custard and Pupcake from the 'Strawberry Shortcake' series. They live together, and are affectionate with one another, but they are not in an ‘official’ relationship. Worry not, though: in people years, they're roughly 16.
They are more animal than human - I think of these two as ’smart pets without owners’. That is, they are more ‘funny-animal’ and less ‘furry’.

If this drawing looks like a tracing, that’s because it is! The original was creased pretty badly before I could scan it, so I went over it with a fresh sheet of paper. It’s still my art, and ACEO-format, but because this is a redrawing, I will not tag it as ‘ACEO’.

Anyway, the drawing shows Jackie trying to read Caleb a story. Caleb can read, but he has a bad habit of chewing up the books he's reading, so it's best that Jackie read to him.
Caleb loves stories, but... He gets a bit too excited, so much so that it's hard for him to sit still and be quiet while Jackie reads. Luckily for Caleb, Jackie has the patience of Job. ^_^

So, what's the story? Well, as some of you know, I like visiting the used-book shelf, to see what I can find (some things I keep, others I sell). I look for antique/rare books, signed biographies, etc. In doing so, I've found all kinds of things hidden in the books, twixt their pages: flowers, calling cards, plane tickets, love notes, etc (no money, yet!). But among the more curious things was a book within a book.
inside of an old hardcover, I discovered a 'book' made from tablet paper, folded and stapled together into pages. It was, apparently, written by a fourth-grader (I'll keep their name private).

I thought the homemade book was charming, so I got it... And that will be today's story!

NOTE: If anyone has an issue with this, I'll GLADLY take both the story and the drawing down. I do NOT intend to make money from, nor would I accept money for, this upload - nor do I claim authorship of the proceeding quoted material. I include the quoted text ONLY for the singular purpose of amusing the dozen or so persons who follow my art. As far as I know, mine is the sole copy of the work, and was donated voluntarily by its creator.
I count the proceeding quoted material as a 'Found Object' and as public domain. If I'm wrong, PLEASE inform me.

JACKIE: All right, Caleb, pick a story and I'll read it to you.

CALEB (excited): Read them all to me, Jackie! There's too many to pick from!

JACKIE: Uh, no. You'll have to choose one - and I mean only one!

CALEB (indecisive): Oh, so many... Uh... No, not that one... Maybe th-- no! Err... This one looks - no, I ate too many of its pages... Oh, we read that one last time... Oh, I know! ...Wait, no I don't... Um..

JACKIE: I'm going to count to three. If you haven't chosen a book by the time I finish, I'm choosing for you.

CALEB: That's unfair, I --

JACKIE: One...

CALEB (freaking out): Oh, oh my!

JACKIE: Two...

CALEB (pointing frantically): Uh - That one! Read that one!

JACKIE (patting Caleb on the head): Good boy! (removes Caleb's selection from the shelf) 'War and Peace'?

CALEB: Uh-huh! I saw it mentioned in a Peanuts cartoon. I think it's Snoopy's favorite!

JACKIE (flipping through the pages): It will take at least six of my nine lives to read this.

CALEB (seating himself on the floor): Ok!

JACKIE: You have only one life, Caleb. You'll never know how it ends!

CALEB (gasps): You're right! Oh, Jackie, what ever shall we do!?

JACKIE: Pick another story.

Caleb scampers back to the shelf, looking meticulously over every title. Jackie stands aloof, glancing every now and again at her wrist, as if she were wearing a watch (just as well she isn't wearing one: she couldn't tell time anyway)!

JACKIE (slightly annoyed): Caleb, just ---

CALEB (standing behind a book that's top-to-bottom almost as high as he): Jackie, do you think this counts as a tall tale!?

JACKIE (rolls her eyes, sighing; she turns and notices a book lying on a table next to her): Why don't we read this one? I don't recall seeing it before.

CALEB (bouncing): Oh, what story is it, what story is it!?

JACKIE: "A Book About a Potato".

CALEB: Oooh! What's the title?

JACKIE: That is the title.

CALEB: 'That' is the title?

JACKIE (taking a deep breath): Sit down, Caleb.

Caleb seats himself on the floor near Jackie's reading stool. Jackie sits herself on the stool and begins to read.

JACKIE: "Once upon a time ---"

CALEB: Wait, wait, wait! That sounds familiar. Are you sure we haven't read this?

JACKIE: Yes, I'm sure. *ahem* "Once upon a time, there was an awesome potato. His name was George.
Wild potatoes are known for barfing poisonous rainbows, so ---"

CALEB: They Are!? I didn't know that!

JACKIE: Caleb, I cannot read to you if you keep interrupting. "...So nobody wanted to be George's friend".

CALEB (politely raising his paw): But I know a pony who does that, and he has lots of friends!

JACKIE: Well, George is a potato and he doesn't have the benefit of being a meme on the internet.

CALEB: Yet!

JACKIE (sighs): "George had to literally make his own friends. His first friend was Ron the Rock (an ordinary rock George glued some eyes onto). Unfortunately, because of his Googly eyes, Ron never looked at George while he was talking".

CALEB: You know I'm your friend, Jackie! I look at you all the time!

JACKIE (poking Caleb lightly on his nose): And I, you!

CALEB: *giggle*

JACKIE: "George ended up using his magical poisonous rainbow barf to dissolve Ron into a puddle".

CALEB: AAARRROOO!!!

JACKIE (wincing from ear pain): Don't do that!

CALEB (holding back tears): I'm sorry, but *sniff* Poor Ron! I felt I knew him so well! *sniffle*

JACKIE (pausing a moment before continuing): "George was alone again. He also didn't have any money and he wanted some. So George went to a job interview. He tried not to barf".

CALEB (politely raising his paw): Jackie, will you give me a job?

JACKIE: Yes. Your job is to sit and be quiet while I read.

CALEB: I got a job! I got a job! When do I start?

JACKIE: Now. ...Where was I?

CALEB: I'm working! Am I doing it right?

JACKIE: No. Just settle and be quiet.

Caleb sits up straight with his hand-paws folded; his tail sweeps back and forth upon the floor.

JACKIE: You're not allowed to fidget on the job.

CALEB: Boy, work is hard!

JACKIE: Anyway... "In the end, George got the job, and went to the tie store to get a tie. There were a lot of ties".

CALEB: How many?

JACKIE: A lot.

CALEB: How many were in the lot?

JACKIE: Caleb, your job is to be quiet and pay attention.

CALEB (matter-of-factly): Pay? Nuh-uh! If I work for you, you're the one who pays!

JACKIE: That's it, you're fired!

CALEB: I am!? Not fair! What'd I... Is it because I'm not wearing a tie!?

JACKIE (facepalms): "There were a lot of ties. But only one was perfect. George had picked the best most awesomest, most majestically majestic and potato-ey tie in the fancy-tie store... The bow tie.
With his new striped bow tie, he hopped to work".

CALEB (politely raising his paw): What's George's job?

JACKIE: To sit behind a desk and look good in his tie.

CALEB: I can do that! I can do that and get paid for it and make us rich!

JACKIE: It's probably more complicated than that, and anyway, you don't have a tie.

CALEB: I can make one. I have ambition!

JACKIE: There's more to George's story. "But George realized... Work was boring! George walked right up to his boss and said, 'This is boring!'. George used his magical poison rainbow barf to dissolve his boss".

CALEB: Whoa! Is work really boring like that!?

JACKIE: I think so. And it's hard. It never ends and you have to do it even when you don't want to.

CALEB: But I get to wear a tie?

JACKIE: Yes, but you don't need a job to wear a tie.

CALEB: Really? Thanks, Jackie!

JACKIE: For what?

CALEB: For firing me. Now my life won't be hard and boring!

JACKIE (ignoring Caleb): "George used his tie to carry him off into the sunset".

CALEB (politely raising his paw): Ties can do that?

JACKIE: George's bow tie is magic. It spins around really fast, like a helicopter, and carries him aloft.

CALEB: Oooh! Where'd George go?

JACKIE: "Our potato, George, found a place called Potato Land. The potatoes of Potato Land told George about the horrible, potato-eating dragon who ate half the population!"

CALEB: Yikes! I'd protect you from the potato-eating dragon, Jackie! With or without a magic tie!

JACKIE: I'm not a potato.

CALEB (matter-of-factly): No, but all dragons like princesses, and I deem you a princess!

Jackie blushes under her fur. It's easy to be patient with Caleb when he says things like that.

JACKIE: "George knew exactly what to do. George used his poisonous rainbow barf to dissolve the potato-eating dragon. And that is how George Potato became the king of Potato Land.
The end!"

CALEB (clapping his hand-paws): Woo-hoo! Thanks for the story, Jackie!

JACKIE (looking at the book and wondering where it came from): You’re most welcome, sweet prince.

The two nuzzle (nose kiss) as our curtain closes.

~Fin

Description
I wrote this *story in ye olde 2017, but lost the original drawing... so I've made a new sketch to go with it (hence the ''19' in the signature).

Below appears the original description. Enjoy! :3

*I wrote Jackie and Caleb's parts---the 'story' was written by someone else. :3

===============

It's been a while since I last drew Jackie and Caleb. Jackie and Caleb are original characters of mine, based loosely on Custard and Pupcake from the 'Strawberry Shortcake' series. They live together, and are affectionate with one another, but they are not in an ‘official’ relationship. Worry not, though: in people years, they're roughly 16.
They are more animal than human - I think of these two as ’smart pets without owners’. That is, they are more ‘funny-animal’ and less ‘furry’.

If this drawing looks like a tracing, that’s because it is! The original was creased pretty badly before I could scan it, so I went over it with a fresh sheet of paper. It’s still my art, and ACEO-format, but because this is a redrawing, I will not tag it as ‘ACEO’.

Anyway, the drawing shows Jackie trying to read Caleb a story. Caleb can read, but he has a bad habit of chewing up the books he's reading, so it's best that Jackie read to him.
Caleb loves stories, but... He gets a bit too excited, so much so that it's hard for him to sit still and be quiet while Jackie reads. Luckily for Caleb, Jackie has the patience of Job. ^_^

So, what's the story? Well, as some of you know, I like visiting the used-book shelf, to see what I can find (some things I keep, others I sell). I look for antique/rare books, signed biographies, etc. In doing so, I've found all kinds of things hidden in the books, twixt their pages: flowers, calling cards, plane tickets, love notes, etc (no money, yet!). But among the more curious things was a book within a book.
inside of an old hardcover, I discovered a 'book' made from tablet paper, folded and stapled together into pages. It was, apparently, written by a fourth-grader (I'll keep their name private).

I thought the homemade book was charming, so I got it... And that will be today's story!

NOTE: If anyone has an issue with this, I'll GLADLY take both the story and the drawing down. I do NOT intend to make money from, nor would I accept money for, this upload - nor do I claim authorship of the proceeding quoted material. I include the quoted text ONLY for the singular purpose of amusing the dozen or so persons who follow my art. As far as I know, mine is the sole copy of the work, and was donated voluntarily by its creator.
I count the proceeding quoted material as a 'Found Object' and as public domain. If I'm wrong, PLEASE inform me.

JACKIE: All right, Caleb, pick a story and I'll read it to you.

CALEB (excited): Read them all to me, Jackie! There's too many to pick from!

JACKIE: Uh, no. You'll have to choose one - and I mean only one!

CALEB (indecisive): Oh, so many... Uh... No, not that one... Maybe th-- no! Err... This one looks - no, I ate too many of its pages... Oh, we read that one last time... Oh, I know! ...Wait, no I don't... Um..

JACKIE: I'm going to count to three. If you haven't chosen a book by the time I finish, I'm choosing for you.

CALEB: That's unfair, I --

JACKIE: One...

CALEB (freaking out): Oh, oh my!

JACKIE: Two...

CALEB (pointing frantically): Uh - That one! Read that one!

JACKIE (patting Caleb on the head): Good boy! (removes Caleb's selection from the shelf) 'War and Peace'?

CALEB: Uh-huh! I saw it mentioned in a Peanuts cartoon. I think it's Snoopy's favorite!

JACKIE (flipping through the pages): It will take at least six of my nine lives to read this.

CALEB (seating himself on the floor): Ok!

JACKIE: You have only one life, Caleb. You'll never know how it ends!

CALEB (gasps): You're right! Oh, Jackie, what ever shall we do!?

JACKIE: Pick another story.

Caleb scampers back to the shelf, looking meticulously over every title. Jackie stands aloof, glancing every now and again at her wrist, as if she were wearing a watch (just as well she isn't wearing one: she couldn't tell time anyway)!

JACKIE (slightly annoyed): Caleb, just ---

CALEB (standing behind a book that's top-to-bottom almost as high as he): Jackie, do you think this counts as a tall tale!?

JACKIE (rolls her eyes, sighing; she turns and notices a book lying on a table next to her): Why don't we read this one? I don't recall seeing it before.

CALEB (bouncing): Oh, what story is it, what story is it!?

JACKIE: "A Book About a Potato".

CALEB: Oooh! What's the title?

JACKIE: That is the title.

CALEB: 'That' is the title?

JACKIE (taking a deep breath): Sit down, Caleb.

Caleb seats himself on the floor near Jackie's reading stool. Jackie sits herself on the stool and begins to read.

JACKIE: "Once upon a time ---"

CALEB: Wait, wait, wait! That sounds familiar. Are you sure we haven't read this?

JACKIE: Yes, I'm sure. *ahem* "Once upon a time, there was an awesome potato. His name was George.
Wild potatoes are known for barfing poisonous rainbows, so ---"

CALEB: They Are!? I didn't know that!

JACKIE: Caleb, I cannot read to you if you keep interrupting. "...So nobody wanted to be George's friend".

CALEB (politely raising his paw): But I know a pony who does that, and he has lots of friends!

JACKIE: Well, George is a potato and he doesn't have the benefit of being a meme on the internet.

CALEB: Yet!

JACKIE (sighs): "George had to literally make his own friends. His first friend was Ron the Rock (an ordinary rock George glued some eyes onto). Unfortunately, because of his Googly eyes, Ron never looked at George while he was talking".

CALEB: You know I'm your friend, Jackie! I look at you all the time!

JACKIE (poking Caleb lightly on his nose): And I, you!

CALEB: *giggle*

JACKIE: "George ended up using his magical poisonous rainbow barf to dissolve Ron into a puddle".

CALEB: AAARRROOO!!!

JACKIE (wincing from ear pain): Don't do that!

CALEB (holding back tears): I'm sorry, but *sniff* Poor Ron! I felt I knew him so well! *sniffle*

JACKIE (pausing a moment before continuing): "George was alone again. He also didn't have any money and he wanted some. So George went to a job interview. He tried not to barf".

CALEB (politely raising his paw): Jackie, will you give me a job?

JACKIE: Yes. Your job is to sit and be quiet while I read.

CALEB: I got a job! I got a job! When do I start?

JACKIE: Now. ...Where was I?

CALEB: I'm working! Am I doing it right?

JACKIE: No. Just settle and be quiet.

Caleb sits up straight with his hand-paws folded; his tail sweeps back and forth upon the floor.

JACKIE: You're not allowed to fidget on the job.

CALEB: Boy, work is hard!

JACKIE: Anyway... "In the end, George got the job, and went to the tie store to get a tie. There were a lot of ties".

CALEB: How many?

JACKIE: A lot.

CALEB: How many were in the lot?

JACKIE: Caleb, your job is to be quiet and pay attention.

CALEB (matter-of-factly): Pay? Nuh-uh! If I work for you, you're the one who pays!

JACKIE: That's it, you're fired!

CALEB: I am!? Not fair! What'd I... Is it because I'm not wearing a tie!?

JACKIE (facepalms): "There were a lot of ties. But only one was perfect. George had picked the best most awesomest, most majestically majestic and potato-ey tie in the fancy-tie store... The bow tie.
With his new striped bow tie, he hopped to work".

CALEB (politely raising his paw): What's George's job?

JACKIE: To sit behind a desk and look good in his tie.

CALEB: I can do that! I can do that and get paid for it and make us rich!

JACKIE: It's probably more complicated than that, and anyway, you don't have a tie.

CALEB: I can make one. I have ambition!

JACKIE: There's more to George's story. "But George realized... Work was boring! George walked right up to his boss and said, 'This is boring!'. George used his magical poison rainbow barf to dissolve his boss".

CALEB: Whoa! Is work really boring like that!?

JACKIE: I think so. And it's hard. It never ends and you have to do it even when you don't want to.

CALEB: But I get to wear a tie?

JACKIE: Yes, but you don't need a job to wear a tie.

CALEB: Really? Thanks, Jackie!

JACKIE: For what?

CALEB: For firing me. Now my life won't be hard and boring!

JACKIE (ignoring Caleb): "George used his tie to carry him off into the sunset".

CALEB (politely raising his paw): Ties can do that?

JACKIE: George's bow tie is magic. It spins around really fast, like a helicopter, and carries him aloft.

CALEB: Oooh! Where'd George go?

JACKIE: "Our potato, George, found a place called Potato Land. The potatoes of Potato Land told George about the horrible, potato-eating dragon who ate half the population!"

CALEB: Yikes! I'd protect you from the potato-eating dragon, Jackie! With or without a magic tie!

JACKIE: I'm not a potato.

CALEB (matter-of-factly): No, but all dragons like princesses, and I deem you a princess!

Jackie blushes under her fur. It's easy to be patient with Caleb when he says things like that.

JACKIE: "George knew exactly what to do. George used his poisonous rainbow barf to dissolve the potato-eating dragon. And that is how George Potato became the king of Potato Land.
The end!"

CALEB (clapping his hand-paws): Woo-hoo! Thanks for the story, Jackie!

JACKIE (looking at the book and wondering where it came from): You’re most welcome, sweet prince.

The two nuzzle (nose kiss) as our curtain closes.

~Fin