Note: obviously, read “Calvin Korkea Day” first.
You are Lavender, and right now, you’re having a good time!
Today is a very special day. It’s been four yeews since that thing with the red skies and your old munstah daddeh and munstah James coming back as dee-muns.
There’s a big caw-nih-vaw at the sitty, with games and rides and all kinds of nummies, for fluffies and hoomins to enjoy.
And the whole Kay-oh-tiks is here.
That includes you, and your family and fluffy friends. After all, you’re in the Kay-oh-tiks too!
And it includes little Noel, one of Daisy and Oak’s babbehs. She’s red and white, with green see-places, and a hornie.
Like their first babbehs, Noel’s bwuddahs and sissies have gone to new hoomin daddehs and mummah’s.
And of course, that means it’s Rose and Rowan’s turn to have babbehs now. Rose is already a soon-mummah, but she can still do walkies.
Hey, you and Oak went first last time.
Right now, you and your daddeh are at one of the games. It’s an interesting one. A big boxie full of stuffy friends, with a metal grabby thing hanging at the top.
Your daddeh has to push buttons to make the grabby thing move, and, hopefully, it’ll grab one of the stuffy friends and drop it in a hole.
Your daddeh said that if that happens, you can keep the stuffy friend!
“I already won one for Keith. Heh heh, look at him holding that plush Henry.”
There’s a bunch of games like this one in a row, and each one has different stuffy friends inside.
But they’re all stuffy friends of the Kay-oh-tiks. You saw one filled with stuffy mistah Cals, and another full of stuffy Marleys.
And… this is the really cool bit…
One of those games has stuffy friends of you!
A while back, Mistah Cal came to the fawm with missus Susan to ask you and your daddeh if that was okay.
“It’s your image, Lav, so we need your permission. Of course, you’ll be getting a cut of the profits.”
“Wut am pwoff-its?”
“The money, Lav. Trust me, I make a bundle off all that merch with my face on it.”
“Wavendew nu mine dis, but Wavendew nu knu wut a fwuffy cud du wif aww dem muh-nees.”
“Hey, Blueberry has money. He’s taken you through the drive-thru before, hasn’t he?”
Blueberry has. In his big metal stompy thing.
You’ll never forget the looks on the hoomin’s faces when you two pulled up.
“Mebbeh Wavendew am jus gunna put it aside.”
“Smart call, Lav. Never hurts to save money for a rainy day.”
“Wawa am–”
“Figure of speech, Lav.”
As your daddeh keeps trying to win a stuffy friend for you, you see mistah Jack and his fluffies walk up to the next game, full of stuffy friends of… mistah Jack.
You’re good friends with Magnum. You both learned how to do the floaty thing better together, from Chakra and miss Famke.
And you’ve met Johnny and Nebula before, but there’s a fourth fluffy, watching mistah Jack.
“Hewwo, Magnum! Hu am dat wite fwuffy?”
“Hewwo, Wavendew. Dat am Wucas. Wucas am bit scawedies of cwowds–”
You look up at the sky.
“But cwowds am su pwetty.”
“Nu, cwowds. Pwaces wif wots of hoomins an fwuffies.”
Magnum gestures around with a hoofsie.
“But Wucas am twy-in tu… um, daddeh, wut wuz da fwase?”
“Come out of his shell, Mag. Oh damn, that was a close one.”
“Fanks, daddeh. Aneeway, Wucas am twy-in tu du dat, an we am hewe fow sup-powt. Magnum an Wucas nu haf da same fwuffy mummah, but we am stiww famiwy.”
You nod, smiling at him.
“Da Kay-oh-tiks am wun weawwy big famiwy.”
Your daddeh laughs.
“Damn right, Lav. Ey, I got it!”
Your daddeh reaches into a flap on the bottom of the game, pulling out…
A stuffy friend of mistah Cal.
“Here ya go, Lav. I’ll, uh, hold on to it for you.”
“Nu nee, daddeh. Wet gu.”
So he does, and you use the floaty thing to place it on your back. Like it’s riding you.
“How it wook, daddeh?”
“Looks kinda funny. If we run into Cal here, I think he’ll like that. Whaddya say we go get something to eat?”
“Soun gud tu Wavendew.”
As you and your daddeh go find the rest of the family, you see something up in the sky.
A big black birdie munstah, landing on a woof.
What’s that about?