There once was a little brown bug, which lived in a rolled up rug, He had a rather funny name. It was Excuse Me. He lived all alone in a storage room in a very big mall. Luckily, the food court was nearby so he always had plenty to eat.

During the day lots of people came to the mall to go shopping and spent a lot of time rushing around and bumping into each other. Excuse Me did not understand what all the fuss was about. "This is all very confusing" he would say and go home to his little rolled up rug that he called home.

Sometimes someone in a rush would say, "Excuse me" as they rushed to and fro. Excuse me would jump up when they called his name and rush right over. It seemed to happen all the time. Especially when it was really busy and there were a lot of people around.

A short bald man accidentally bumped into short round woman in a red dress.

"Excuse me" he said.

Excuse me rushed right over.

"Yes sir. How can I help you?" Excuse Me said.

"What?" said the man.

"You called, sir" Excuse Me said.

"Huh?" said the man. He looked kind of bewildered.

"What?" said Excuse Me. It was a little noisy in the busy mall. Maybe he hadn't heard right.

"Who?" said the short bald man. He didn't look very happy.

"Excuse Me" said Excuse Me. Maybe this would clear things up a bit.

"Your excused" the man said.

"No sir, Excuse Me" said Excuse Me. Maybe he was finally getting through.

But the man just gave him a little nod and rushed off. Excuse Me sat down on a step and sighed. That hadn't made any sense at all.

"That was just so confusing," said Excuse Me. "I think I'll just go to bed." And he did.

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One day Excuse Me he went for a long walk to the other end of the mall. He needed to do a little thinking. He wanted to be helpful and maybe make a friend. He was so tired of being lonely.

Several times he heard his name called but he just ignored them. He didn't feel like being very friendly or helpful today.

Suddenly there was a loud crash and a whole lot of commotion up ahead.

Someone yelled "Well Exuuusssssssee Me" in a rather excited voice.

This sounded rather serious to Excuse Me and he ran up to the scene very quickly.

Several people sat on the floor surrounded by packages and shopping bags. They slowly began to  get up from the floor and pick up the scattered packages. They all seemed to be very embarrassed.

"Excuse me, pardon me" said a rather tall man in very nice suit. He started to help up the other people. "My fault, so sorry, I beg your pardon." He appeared to have rushed around a corner without looking and knocked down some other shoppers. It was the worst mall accident Excuse Me had seen in days. The man in the suit seemed to be very sorry about the whole thing.

"He must really need my help," thought Excuse Me. "He keeps calling my name."

As he rushed up to help, another bug bumped into him.

"Pardon Me," said Excuse Me.

"Yes?" said the other bug.

"What?" said Excuse Me.

"Huh?" said the other bug.

"Oh boy," thought Excuse Me, “this is starting to sound confusing."

"I said Pardon Me," said Excuse Me a little louder. Maybe if he spoke a little louder the other bug would understand him better.

"That's my name," said Pardon Me with a smile. "How can I help you?"

"Your name is Pardon Me?" said Excuse Me. He could hardly believe it. "My name is Excuse Me."

"What a funny name you have" said Pardon Me. "But it is very nice to meet you."

The two bugs shook hands and right away knew that they were going to be great friends.

Pardon Me took Excuse Me to meet his parents.

"Mom! Dad! I want you to meet a new friend of mine.

His name is Excuse Me."

"Nice to meet you," said Pardon Me's mom and dad. They seemed like very nice bugs.

"Excuse Me, this is my family. My dad, So Sorry.  My mom, My Fault. And this is my Grandpa, Beg Your Pardon" said Pardon Me. "I was named after Gramps," he said with chuckle.

"So Sorry, My Fault, Beg Your Pardon and Pardon Me", said Excuse Me. He could hardly believe what he had just heard.

"Well I'll be, " he said shaking his head.

"No." said Pardon Me. "That’s my little sister".

Well after that Excuse Me and Pardon Me were always together. Excuse Me no longer was the little brown bug who lived in a rug but moved to the other side of the mall to be near his new friends. They had many great adventures and were best of friends. So the next time you are in the mall and hear people calling out "Excuse Me, Pardon Me" look around and see if you can see those two little bugs with the most unusual names.

The End