Governor Gaudy woke up early one morning and put on his flashy, satin, purple suit. He didn’t look twice at his new sleek leather shoes as he went for a pair from his collection of tacky orange flip-flops. As Governor Gaudy left his room, he didn’t bother turning off his ridiculous disco ball (that matched the tasteless ones hanging in every other room). Governor Gaudy went downstairs and didn’t flinch at a giant pile of giant gold pancakes as he began eating. He barely finished his second pancake when he decided to go to work. As Governor Gaudy left the house he almost forgot his gold chain (which he didn’t go anywhere without). When Governor Gaudy finally got in his shiny, bedazzled Smart car, he remembered that his new building was going to have its grand opening today. He couldn’t contain his excitement as he pictured the new building with his name in giant gold letters. He turned on the radio and his favorite song blasted out, hurting the ears of everyone driving around him. Governor Gaudy couldn’t help himself as he grinned thinking that today was going to be the best day of his life.

When Governor Gaudy finally got to Tasteless Towers (named after his personality), he was greeted by Senator Sullen (who was always in a bad mood). Governor Gaudy nodded at his best friend and they did their weird handshake before walking into the building. As they walked down the golden halls, the only sound was the squish of Governor Gaudy’s tacky, orange flip-flops. He approached the heavily studded doors to his office, but stopped when he heard the soft voice of Tabby Tasteful.

“Good morning Governor Gaudy!” said Tabby Tasteful (who was the opposite of Governor Gaudy). Governor Gaudy nodded a greeting in return; Tabby Tasteful was his other best friend who helped him manage the state of Vocabularia. Joined by his two best friends, Governor Gaudy pranced into his office where they had a great view of the new building. Governor Gaudy loved the new building. It was giant, made of solid gold, and had his name written in gold so that it wrapped around the building. Governor Gaudy turned to his friends, grinning.

“So, what do you think?” Governor Gaudy asked. His friends exchanged glances and Senator Sullen muttered, “I hate it, Tabby hates it, and the city hates it.” Governor Gaudy blinked, confused about how anyone could hate his fabulous new building. Suddenly, Ms. Firebrand (who passionately led protests against all of Governor Gaudy’s bad policies) burst through the doors followed by a crowd of local citizens, all of them frowning.

“How much money did you spend on the new building?” Ms. Firebrand asked. Governor Gaudy winced as he whispered, “All of it.” The crowd started murmuring and Governor Gaudy started getting nervous.

“Your building is terrible!” Señor Candid said truthfully (as always), crossing his arms. A couple of people nodded.

“You can’t truly all believe that,” Governor Gaudy said then and pointed at Mr. Apathy. “What about you, what do you think of the new building?” All eyes went to Mr. Apathy (who never cared about anything) who said, “Usually I would say I don’t care, of course, but even I can’t stand the building!”

“I agree,” Concurring Cleo (who always agreed with everything) said, which was no surprise. Ms. Firebrand crossed her arms, “So we all agree. We’re sorry Mr. Gaudy, but you are no longer governor. Tabby Tasteful will be replacing you,” Ms. Firebrand said pointing to the door. Tabby Tasteful shook her head sadly and ushered the crowd out of the governor’s office. A tear slid down Mr. Gaudy’s face as he packed up his things and went home.

Early the next day Mr. Gaudy had an idea. If he got rid of all of his gaudy belongings maybe he could get his job back! Mr.Gaudy threw out all of his orange suits, flip-flops, gold chains, and disco balls. No matter how much he got rid of, he couldn’t stop thinking about his crazy building. He now understood how ugly it was and so he decided to call up LIttle Miss Annihilate (who could destroy anything) and Patty Pelt (who was always throwing something). He asked them if they could destroy his building. They were both happy to help and soon it was well known that Mr.Gaudy had ordered his own building to be taken down. He also paid a large fee to help cover the cost of the new building.

The next day, Mr. Gaudy woke up and made breakfast for himself. Halfway through his morning bowl of oatmeal, there was a knock at his door. When he opened the door he was surprised to see Tabby Tasteful standing there with blueprints in her hand.

“As the new governor of Vocabularia, I was ordered to rebuild your building.” She rolled out the blueprints and Mr. Gaudy couldn’t believe his eyes as he looked at the beautiful, sleek, and modern building.

“I love it!” he said. Slowly he looked around and gagged at the inside of his house. How could he have been so tasteless?” He looked back at Tabby Tasteful and said, “From now on I will be known as Mr. Sophisticated!” Tabby Tasteful smiled and said, “After everyone saw what you did to make up for your horrendous building, they want us to be co-governors! How would you like to be Governor Sophisticated?” she asked excitedly. He grinned at her and shook her hand.

The next day Governor Sophisticated went to his old office and smiled as he walked into his newly remodeled, modern office. Gaudiness all gone, he thought to himself with a smile.