The Start of Autumn

Autumn clearly took over the trees and bushes in the following weeks. From a lushest green to warm orange and yellow’s. Luke’s tree was a special kind of tree, a forever emerald tree. However, this kind of tree was popularly named, evergreen, for short. The thick large leaves provides warmth for Luke and shelter from the winds. Not all trees in the countryside were evergreens though, most of them had orange, yellow or brown leaves, barley hanging on. It was about time they would start raining down.

That Wednesday morning when fixing up coffee for her father, Bell fall a dark brown leaf gracefully fall to the ground. Bell’s eyes went wide, autumn had begun!

“Oh mother!” she shouted, “Autumn has started!”

Heidi rushed down the stairs. She said, “Really?! Well, it’s time for some good old fashioned autumn cleaning.”

Then, Harlin rushed down the stairs, “Well, I better call the Hopper Kangaroos and let them know right this instance.”

“Yes, though the leaves in town and other areas must have fallen just now too,” said Heidi.

The Hopper Kangaroos understood the tradition, in fact once the phone started ringing a few leaves from their backyard fell too. Heidi briskly made large helpings of breakfast and one by one the children and babies awoke. Large pots of boiled flour with salt and pepper was made. Biscuits baked and vegetables grilled. Heidi worked away like a machine in a matter of minutes.

Skip ran over to tell the Tuxedo’s that autumn had started, they nodded and asked to borrow some cleaning supplies, they are also told that they can come over and have their bedding washed.

(The same went for Teri and the Chocolate’s) Bellia helped serve the babies a hearty breakfast, while David and Karen started organizing the various cleaning supplies. “Eat up, eat up!” claimed Heidi, “You're going to need the energy!”

Tasks were assigned, most had changed to keep the chore interesting. Heidi stayed in the kitchen, scrubbing away and Harlin still took care of washing the car, with a new assistant, his son, Skip. Quickly, Harlin bought two pieces of chalk for the babies to play with while everyone worked. Carefully, the beautiful handmade glasses were scrubbed by Bellia, while Bell washed the bedding and Karen cleaned the bathroom. David were to dry the blankets, pillows and towels.

“Scrub a dub dub, la la la la la,” sang Harlin.

The babies giggled as they curiously picked up the chalk and left to the field to play.

Later at the Tuxedo Cats house, cleaning was going well. Lily and Rose busily organized their room.

While Ginni and Olive were left on their own. “Hmmm, what we do?” pondered Olive.

For fun, Olive and Ginni hopped onto the electrical stairs and repeatedly pressed the “Up” button.

The stairs zoomed up all the way to the roof, surpassing the third floor. “Ooo,” Olive said as she got off.

Ginni simply laughed, it was a new hiding spot and Ginni could only imagine all the tea parties she could host up there. Luckily for these two kittens, they stayed on to the roof perfectly. Unlike Hopscotch and Chocolate Rabbits’ roof, the Tuxedo Cats had a flat roof. It was a perfect spot for playing. “Alright mother, I’ll come down!” said Lily.

The stairs whirred down and so did Olive and Ginni’s chance to descend. They didn’t seem to notice, they were having an intense conversation on food. “Yogurt,” said Ginni.

Olive smiled, “Donut.”

“Hmmm, tart,” replied the Silk Cat.

“Bread.”

Meanwhile at the Deluxe Village House, the babies were having much fun with the two sticks of chalk. They even brought some toys outside, before bringing them back in. Harlin had went inside to clean the fireplace, and everyone had begun wrapping up their cleaning. All was well, until they turned and saw two strange creatures up on the Tuxedo Cats’ roof. “Ahhhh! Monster!” Honey wailed.

Grace, taking big girl action, guided her siblings and Henry inside the house, even leaving the chalk behind in a hurry. They hurried up the stairs and into Skip’s bed where it was warm and safe.

“They are coming,” cried Henry before falling asleep. (It was because of his narcolepsy)

“What we do?” asked Honey.

Grace suddenly had an idea, “This case for Detective Skippy!”

Skip had finished cleaning the car with his dad, and had already came in for a shower. The sun was setting and all the cleaning was finished. WIth their stomachs still full from breakfast, everyone was preparing for some relaxation before hitting the hay. Skip walked over and noticed the strange lumps underneath his blanket. “Who’s there?” he asked.

4 pairs of eyes appeared, all with fear in them. “What happened?” asked Skip.

“We play out and then we all see monster on roof,” Grace explained.

“2 big monster,” added Hopper.

Honey chimed in, “On Olive and Ginni house roof!”

Henry just peacefully snored, he was still asleep. Skip, of course, knew what to do. It was yet another case for Detective Skip!

First, he gathered witnesses. With more information from Grace, they saw the monsters at the beginning of sunset. Now, Harlin, him, Mason, Natalie and his aunt Teri were all outside. Teri was cleaning her banners with her ladder and a towel, Mason had been getting rid of the ashes from his brick oven and Natalie was making sure all the tables and shelves for Flour to Dough (their bread bakery) were in place. Harlin and Skip was drying off the Seven Seater when this happened. Mason and Natalie probably didn’t see it because they were standing directly below the roof. The one with the most chance of seeing the monsters had to be Teri, she was high up and facing the right way if she turned her head.

Therefore, Skip called his aunt. Teri picked up, ready to rave about how clean her Lakeside Lodge was, but Skip intervened.

“Hi, aunt Teri! Autumn cleaning must be over for you.”

Teri replied, “Oh yes. The Lakeside Lodge was so clean, the biggest thing to clean was the kitchen! Breeze played this beautiful tune called, ‘Whistle While You Work’ which made this experience most pleasurable.”

“Mmmm,” Skip said before rushing to the point, “Well, the babies over here were scared off. They saw they saw a monster on Mason and Natalie’s roof. 2 to be exact. I was wondering if you saw anything during sunset.”

Teri was (finally) quiet for a moment before saying, “No, no, and what monster lives in the Cloverleaf Corners? Silly, Skip, it must have been one of their role play games. Did you know role play is very good for them at this age? It helps their brains, I made Breeze do it and she’s wonderfully smart!”

Skip didn’t want to argue, so he simply said, “I never knew that, aunt Teri! Well, I have to go, bye!”

“Ta-ta, and tell Heidi I’ll give her back the cleaning supplies tomorrow. Now don’t forget, role playing is VERY TERI!”

Skip informed his parents he would head over to the Tuxedo’s to pick up the supplies and be straight back. “Also, there’s a monster up on their roof,” he adds.

“Fine,” Heidi said, “But be back soon, it is getting dark.”

At the Tuxedo Cats’ house, it was a mess. The house was spic and span, but they couldn’t seem to find Olive and Ginni anywhere. Upon seeing the Hopscotch Rabbit boy, Natalie asked for some help. Skip obliged and when going up, he accidentally leaned his paw on the “Up” button for 10 seconds. The stairs whirred up, all the way to the roof!

At this point, the adrenaline hadn’t worn off yet. Ginni and Olive were still talking about food. “Milk,” replied Olive.

“Omelet.”

“Carrot,” Olive said.

“What are you guys doing up here?!” asked Skip, already herding them towards the stairs.

Ginni explanation was hard to decode, but Skip understood a few bits. The family greatly thanked Skip and the 7 of them went to Heidi’s house. The Tuxedo Cats and Ginni showered, returned the supplies and went home. Skip told the tale to Grace, Honey, Hopper and Henry.

As his tale ended, one beautiful red leaf fell.