Critter See, Critter Do

Half days of studying came for spring passed soon. That afternoon, Lily and Rose were having a chat with their best friend, Susie Silk Cat, who lived in the city. The friends had just finished ballet class together. They were remembering the times they had at the Country Tree School together before the Tuxedo Cats moved. “Remember the big soccer match?” Susie asked, “That was fun to watch.”

“Why wouldn’t we?” Lily exclaimed.

“It was fun,” agreed Rose.

When they got back home, the twins both had an idea. Rose asked her twin, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

Lily let out a smile, she had played this with her sister for years, “Only of you’re thinking what I’m thinking.”

“So, what are you thinking?”

“What are you thinking?” repeated Lily.

Both girls shouted at the same time, “Soccer in the countryside!”

They started racking up ideas and then, they headed off to Teri Choch’s Lakeside Lodge. “Come in!” Teri said.

“Hello!” the twins greeted in unison.

Freya and Breeze waved at their friends.

Then, Lily began to explain, “Could we borrow your hammocks? We need them for a city sport.”

“We will be extra careful!” added Rose, “Not a single stain or imprint of dirt.”

They are very responsible, Teri thought, Hmmm, I guess I will trust them. I’ll even let Natalie know. “Alright, but remember: dirtiness is not VERY TERI!” claimed Teri, already about to rant about dirtiness.

The twins thanked their mother’s idol and headed towards Teri’s sister’s home. There, Heidi was busy cooking away. “Hi,” Honey said as she went to go fetch her mother, “Rose and Lily here.”

This time Lily and Rose asked to borrow some soap and bath toys. Heidi instantly said, “Yes,” and the twins got to work. Little did they know that a shy little chipmunk was watching. He carefully peered through a thicket of leaves, Luke Hazelnut Chipmunk was a shy critter and was still getting to know everybody.

“A little bit more in the back, the field isn’t big enough,” instructed Lily as they heaved a hammock to it’s spot.

Rose claimed, “I like how we’re doing this. Let me go get a bench for the referee and tired players. Plus, a clock to keep track of time.”

After the twins placed their items and left to round up the rest of the children, Luke emerged from the small tree he lived in and started checking out the two hammocks lied down on their sides on the white pavement. “Interesting,” he said to himself, before scurrying back to his house.

“So here’s how this works, you kick the ‘ball’ in our case it will be Sharko, Hopper’s toy shark. Kick it into your goal you get a point. The team with most points win,” stated Lily to all the children.

Skip asked, “So, how did you figure this out?”

“It was a city school sport,” answered Rose, “Now let’s organize some teams. I’ll sit this one out and be the referee, I’m not going to dirty my dress.”

Lily giggled, her twin never got stains on her pink silk dress. Even Lily made some exceptions once in a while. In the end, Bell, Bellia and Skip were on a team and David, Karen, Freya and Lily were on the other. Since, Freya was also the Hopscotch Rabbit children’s cousins, she would join them for the next half of the game. Rose clapped her hands and immediately, Skip stole the ball and dribbled it around the field, before David steals it back and passes it to Freya. Natalie and Mason heard all the commotion of children laughing and decided to check it out. Natalie carried a bottle of water in her paws and happily watched.

“Ah!” yells Freya, as she accidentally trips on her dress.

“Freya!” shouted Teri from her window, “Don’t dirty your dress!”

“Yes, mother. It won’t happen again.”

“I still see dirt!” Teri says, coming out, “May I borrow your water?”

Natalie answers cheerfully, “Of course!”

Skip sees an opportunity to score as Lily and Karen are busy gossiping about books. Freya was being sprayed down by with Natalie’s water bottle by her VERY TERI mother. “GOAL!” he announces in triumph.

“YAY!” exclaims Skip’s twin sisters.

“Pay attention!” David says to his “busy” teammates.

About 20 minutes later, everyone took a break. Freya would now join her cousins. Natalie passed out her water bottle to all the kids who began squirting water into their thirsty mouths. “This water tastes different,” notes Bell, as Rose squirted some into her thirsty mouth.

“Yeah,” agrees David, “Somewhat better than the tap water.”

Natalie smiles at her husband, “See! Someone appreciates my store bought water. It is different than tap water. Don’t forget, Teri used it too. There’s two good reasons to buy it!”

Mason replies, “That still does not justify the ridiculous prices.”

“Mom! Are you paying attention?” Lily questions.

The Charcoal Cat turns her head and realizes the children had began playing again. “Oh, sorry. Go Bell!”

“She’s on the opposite team! Were you even listening when I told you about soccer this morning?”

“Yes, yes, of course. Y'all are using Ballerina Bunny as your soccer ball.”

Rose does a face plam before saying, “No, no, no. We used Sharko as the ball.”

“Hmmm, then where’s Ballerina Bunny?” questioned their mother.

The children turned to the spot where Ballerina Bunny and a piece of soap should’ve been, Instead there was just grass. “This is preposterous!” Bellia stated as she looked around.

“Where’d it go?” wondered David as he peeked under the bench.

The day passed, but there was still no luck. The kids told their parents who decided they should all get some rest and continue the search for tomorrow. “It can’t be gone just like that,” ranted Skip to his siblings at dinner time.

“It is strange,” comments Bell as she holds her baby sister.

Skip sighed, “Then I guess this is another case for Detective Skip!”

The next day, a house search was done. Still no bunny. However, there was another thing missing: the cheerful laughter of babies. Apparently, all the babies in the countryside had went over to Luke’s treehouse to play.

Meanwhile at Luke house’s, things weren’t going so well either. The shy critter had invited his friends over for soccer, but it clearly was not going as smooth as the game Luke saw yesterday. “I can’t kick,” Ginni complained.

“Who’s hurting Ballerina Bunny?!” cried Honey.

Hopper yelled, “Do not give Ballerina Bunny boo boo!!!”

Grace Hopscotch Rabbit, decided to calm down her friends. She often saw her older sisters doing it, so how hard could it be? “Let’s throw Bunny instead!” she suggested.

The cries softened and the game continued. For the simple minds of the babies, lots of rules were dismantled. There would be no teams, no kicking, no referees and plenty of breaks. “Score!” Olive stated as she tosses the bunny into Luke’s hammock.

After a long game, the babies easily tire out and decide to rest in Luke’s treehouse. “Who win?” ponders Hopper.

“I WIN!” declares all the babies in unison.

“I WIN!” protests Breeze, “Me the best.”

“Hmph!” Grace protests, “I the biggest girl!”

“But I the biggest boy,” Luke reasons.

Ginni angrily questions, “How does that help?! I winner, duh!”

Skip overhears the argument and decides to check it out.

There he finds a group of angry children shouting at the top of their lungs. Skip also finds a quiet spectator hidden amongst the crowd, Ballerina Bunny, carefully hidden behind Grace and Breeze. “Settle down,” he states.

Honey wails, “Skippy! They say they winner, but I winner.”

“What were you playing?”

“Soccer. We toss bunny in net,” Honey answers.

“There, there, everyone. Skip here will teach you how to play soccer,” soothes the keen detective.

Everyone returns to the small field and Skip demonstrates how the game works. “Rub some soap onto the bottom of the bunny, so she can slide. Give her a gentle kick into the net and you get a point. For now, there won’t be teams, just practice. I’ll even keep track of everything for you guys,” he explains.

This time the game runs better than the last. Skip smiles and says to himself, “Another case closed for Detective Skip and another game for the happy babies.”