The weather in Cloverleaf Corner was generally pleasant throughout the seasons. Spring and summer had just the right amount of sun, while autumn and winter brought about cooler breezes. It was nothing a cold glass of lemonade or hot cup of carrot tea couldn’t resolve. That was until this fine afternoon. Every critter was perishing under the sudden heat.
“What is this weather? It was only winter a few weeks ago!” Bellia complained. “This is preposterous,” she added with frustration.
“I think it’s a heat wave,” Karen replied with all her knowledge. “Do they happen often here, Mrs. H. Choch?” she asked Heidi.
“Well, just every few decades, but still, they are quite troublesome to bear.” Heidi responded.
“Open up the windows already!” Skip suggested, as he made his way around the house to open up all the windows.
That was the exact idea the Tuxedo Cat ladies had when they were trying to deal with the heat. They had already opened up their window shutters, but no breeze ever swept.
“Oh, mother, can’t I switch to something more suitable for this weather?” Rose begged as she wore a thick silk dress.
“You may not!” her mother declared. Natalie had always placed lots of importance on her daughters to act as ladylike as possible. “But you may have some ice cream,” she added nicely.
Gorging in, Natalie’s twin daughters devoured the sundae adorned with fruit but got no relief.
Teri and her daughters were not doing any better.
“This heat is not VERY TERI,” Teri Choch screeched to her daughters, all dreary from the temperatures.
“I need another glass of lemonade,” Freya decided, as she poured herself and Breeze a generous amount of lemonade.
“Pour me some, too,” Teri ordered. Then, she muttered, “Hmph, I wonder how the rest of them in the countryside are holding up.”
The critters of the Deluxe Village House were sluggish, and they sat along in the living room. “If I stay perfectly still, maybe it won’t feel so hot,” Skip hoped.
Then, Karen roused up the troops. It was remarkable how she could, considering the fact that she was wearing a starched cotton dress!
“Now, now, we just can’t sit here all day. We’ll make the most of today!”
“But what are we to do?” a frustrated Bellia challenged.
“Lots of things: extra cool bubble baths for the babies, getting some lemonade from Mrs. T. Choch, or even having cold carrot tea!”
The critters were all motivated, and they moved off the living sofa and armchairs.
Hopper, Grace, and Honey were undressed and placed into the bathtub with running cold water. David carefully added shampoo until the babies giggled their first laugh after such a sufferous day.
“Oh, you poor babies, you must have been so hot today!” Karen commented when she realized how thick the quality clothing of the babies were.
“I not baby! I big girl!” Grace yelled. Then, it was the Chiffon Dog Children’s turn to laugh.
Heidi got to work; she spooned spoons of tea powder into the teapot only slightly filled with boiling water. This was done to make sure that the powder would actually dissolve. It did, and Heidi went on to pouring in the coldest water the kitchen sink could offer.
As David and Karen were washing babies in cold water and bubbles either alone or sibling with sibling, they couldn’t help wanting a cold water shower themselves.
Karen went down the stairs and asked Heidi, “Mrs. H. Choch, may I use the handheld shower?”
Heidi, not knowing where this was going,” questioned, “Why, for what, Karen?”
“Well, I was thinking that everyone could do with a good cold sprinkling right now. But, we can’t all shower in the tub at once, so we could sprinkle everyone outside. The bathroom has a perfect open window.”
Karen explained her marvelous idea to the excited children.
Bell, always so considerate of others, realized that every other critter living in the countryside would also be suffering from this heat wave.
“May we invite the other children over, too?” she asked her nodding mother.
Skip quickly rushed to the phone to phone her cousins and aunt to come over. The phone rang in the Lakeside Lodge just before Teri picked it up.
“Who is calling on this intolerable day?” she demanded.
“Me!”
“Who is this ‘me’?”
“I mean, Skip!”
“Oh, hello, Skip! What’s the matter? Are you in need of my VERY TERI advice?”
“Hi, Aunt Teri. Uh…, I was actually just asking if you and Cousin Freya and Cousin Breeze want to come over. Karen had the idea of setting up a water sprinkling pastime with this heat.”
“Oh, yes, we will! Anything to deal with this bad weather,” Teri grumbled.
As Skip was calling, Bell had walked to her next door neighbors, the Tuxedo Cat Family.
Mason was not home, because he had an important meeting in town. Harlin had dropped him off early in the morning along his usual commute to work.
Natalie Tuxedo Cat, struggling to hold herself together and maintain her posture, beckoned Bell in.
“Hi, Bell,” the twin daughters chimed in sync.
“Hi! Feel like cooling down? We’re having a sprinkler party over at my house! Freya and Breeze are also coming.”
“Can we, mother?” Lily asked politely.
“Of course, I would appreciate the time to ask Teri if she had any VERY TERI tips for dealing with bad weather,” gushed the fan girl.
Bell led them all, and Ginni and Olive, to her house, where Karen was busy setting things up.
She had carried the sink stool up against the window’s walls and already had the handheld shower in her hands.
“Yay!” David cheered from below the window as Karen’s showerhead doused him.
“Ye,” Olive let out as the misty water sprinkled against her fur.
As the children were prancing around in the water’s mist, Teri and her daughters pulled up in their red Cherry Cruiser.
“Oh my! It’s Teri,” Natalie and her young daughters remarked, for they loved Teri’s daily writing in the newspaper.
“My dear sister,” Heidi called out as she was passing out various sweet treats to her guest. She took great pride in being a good hostess no matter the scenario.
“Hello, my admirers. I brought a surprise!” Teri boasted. In her hands was a cold pitcher of lemonade and her prized glass lemonade glasses. Heidi quickly collected her sister’s items with a grateful thank you.
Freya immediately ran for the shower’s range, desperate to cool down and attracted by the squeals of joy coming from everyone under it.
“Aah, this is the stuff,” she commented.
Breeze, the last to join, was hesitant. She stood next to her mother quite still.
“What’s the matter?” her concerned sister inquired.
“Not fancy,” she stuttered, for Breeze did everything she could to impress her mother, who placed a fine importance on public appearance.
“Oh, go right ahead,” Teri encouraged. “Even VERY TERI figures need to relax!”
So the children and babies all had a great time twirling and running in the shower water, while the adults cooled off in the shade of the patio with lemonade and dessert.
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