It was little Joyce’s first day at her new school. When the teacher asked her name, she proudly said, “Happy Butt.”
The teacher blinked, unsure if she’d heard right. “Honey… I don’t think that’s your real name. You should go to the principal’s office and get this straightened out.”
So Joyce marched down the hall to the principal’s office, swinging her backpack and humming a tune. The principal, Mr. Thompson, looked up from his paperwork.
“And what is your name, young lady?” he asked.
“Happy Butt!” Joyce announced with a grin.
Mr. Thompson’s eyebrows nearly hit the ceiling. He picked up the phone to call Joyce’s mother.
“Hello, ma’am. This is Principal Thompson. We have a little… confusion about your daughter’s name. She insists her name is Happy Butt.”
The mother laughed so hard she almost dropped the phone. “Oh, yes… that’s Joyce. I don’t know where she got Happy Butt from! She just started calling herself that last week after watching a cartoon.”
“Well,” said the principal, trying to maintain order in his voice, “we need to make sure she uses her real name here at school.”
When Joyce returned to class, she was in high spirits. The teacher tried gently, “Joyce, can we use your real name today?”
“Nope! I’m Happy Butt!” Joyce declared, sitting down with a triumphant wiggle.
By lunchtime, her classmates were laughing so hard they couldn’t eat. “Hey, Happy Butt, can I sit with you?” one of them asked. Joyce beamed. She had instantly become the most popular kid in school.
After school, her mother picked her up. “So, how was your first day, Joyce?”
“Awesome! Everyone loves Happy Butt!” Joyce said proudly.
Her mother shook her head and laughed. “Well… I guess Joyce will have a nickname for the ages.”
And from that day on, the school had a new unofficial mascot, whether they liked it or not—Happy Butt.
