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I dreamed about making bunny treats. That's where you take a spinch and put a little squished fruit on it to be sticky and roll it up. Then people can give them to the bunnies. I was helping Zsuzsanna before the zoo opened. It was nice to sit by her when it wasn't light out and gloop and roll and put them in boxes and talk about stuff. I almost told her about when Zora stole our treehouse, but she was really sad when she stopped being grownup-kissing friends with Zora, so maybe she didn't want to hear about Zora doing grownup kissing with different people. I told her about Blossom's blankie instead and she said that was really nice of us. Then Hebichi and Jacky came to help. Jacky didn't help much.
Jacky is Hebichi's dream helper. They're a jack-o-lantern monster with green magic fire inside. A jack-o-lantern is when you take all the seeds and inside goop out of a pumpkin and cut holes in it to be a face and put lights or fire inside so it's really spooky. Fairy-mom doesn't cut holes all the way through, so it looks like the pumpkin is glowing, and she make really cool pictures like that. Jacky has 5 or 6 vines that grow from the top to be arms and legs and can breathe out green fire at anybody who's mean to Hebichi.
Hebichi helped us roll bunny treats. Then Rei and Cara came too. Cara and Rei talked about going on the space train and seeing Isaac Mewton and the 2½-headed water monster that drives the train. Cara talked about having no gravity made her mom-chest floaty, and then her and Zsuzsy talked about bras and stuff. Hebichi listened because someday they'll have a mom-chest. I don't know if Rei is going to have a mom-chest but they listened too. I rolled more and more bunny treats. We made a huge pile!
When the box was full, Hebichi and I went around the zoo to check on the animals. Jacky came too, but they wanted to make scary faces at the feathery dinos that are all over the zoo. We looked at the clobber-birds, because they're new and sometimes new animals aren't happy, but they were OK. Clobber-birds are extinct in the Awake World. They're great big birds, taller than Big Sam's dad, so they can't fly. They run really fast, and when they catch up to a yummy animal, they squinch up one one foot like a fist and punch it so it falls over. Then they eat it. They're scary, but they live in big flocks so they know about being friends. We looked at the new capybaras too. We used to have capybaras to be friends with the other animals, but then those animals moved to a different zoo and their capybaras went with them. We got some new capybaras who are sitting in their own place getting used to how the zoo smells. They aren't people, so we didn't talk to them, but we petted them and gave them spinches. Capybaras look a little bit like hippos because they have big faces and they smell funny, but they're cousins to rabbits. Some of them are bigger than me, but they aren't as big as Fairy-mom. They hardly ever get mad so they're good for being friends with animals who get scared. We need to think up names for 12 capybaras!
I tried to do a piracy today but it DIDN'T WORK.
Rosie-auncle and VV-gram were sitting on the porch of the Gram House eating shrimp chips and drinking smelly grownup juice and talking about really old pictures. Rosie-auncle is Clover-auncle's mom. She's a black tuxedo cat, which Humboldt says is the best kind of cat for exploring, and she's a Dreamlands explorer. She's really tough and strong but she's nice to everybody and has lots of friends. We call her Rosie-auncle because her kitten isn't a grownup yet.
My tummy was hungry and the shimp chips smelled really good and my paws were wiggly, so I snuck up by the side of the porch and then I grabbed the bag of chips and ran away! I jumped up in the treehouse and dropped the bag and turned around to push anyone trying to jump after me but Rosie-auncle is TOO STRONG and she pushed me backwards and flopped on top of me so I couldn't move. I said, "I'm DEFEATED!" and she said, "That's right" and put the bag where I couldn't get it and ate some chips RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. Then VV-gram jumped up with the juice and they sat there having their picnic and talking about people who made fancy caves.
Sahara jumped up and sniffed me. She said, "How did you get defeated?" I said, "I tried to do a BOLD PIRACY but it didn't work." I felt a little bad because I got defeated but it was funny. Sahara said, "I don't think bold piracy is right for you. You should do carefully planned piracy. That's more Samuelish." I said, "I know, but it's really hot and making a plan was too much work."
Meeper jumped up and said, "No, Samuel! Like this!" She sat up and curled her tail around her paws and looked really pretty and cute. She put one hand by the bag of chips and said, "Beautiful Rosie-auncle, beautiful VV-gram, may I?" VV-gram said, "Of course you may have some crisps, dear." VV-gram calls them crisps because that's how they talk in Britain and she thinks that's the best way to talk in English. Meeper got some chips and ate them in front of me because I was still caught.
Sahara said, "That's not piracy!" I had to say, "She got more chips than me." Meeper looked really proud of herself and gave me one chip. It was really yummy! Sahara tried to grab one, but Rosie-auncle whapped her hand and she pouted.
Meeper was the best because she was a charming kitten, not a sneaking burglar or an attacking pirate. That works best against grams. I need to brush my fur more so I'm prettier.
I took Max and Meeper to my zoo and we went into the petting zoo to play with the friend animals there. I talked to all the sheeps from Tansy's Sheep Place who work there to make sure they are okay and get enough breaks from people, because if we don't treat them good, they won't come to work any more. Max went to play with the piggies, because they're her favorite. They're no-fur buddies. Our piggies are small, not like farm pigs, but still as big as me, and they're smart. They can't talk because they aren't people, but when Max puts out the bottom of her paw and says "Beans" because that's how she says nihao to people, the piggies know to put their hoof on her pawbeans and make a pig noise like eernk. Max is weird, but the piggies are weird too, so they're friends. They like playing fetch and catch and tug-o-war, like doggies do. But this time Max did something she knows she's not supposed to do. She let the piggies OUT.
It was a big mess. Piggies ran all over to see what was outside their yard. They ran to say nihao to all the animals they only saw from inside their yard before. They ran to ask people for treats. They ran because running is fun. Max ran with them. Everybody yelled. Some people were scared. Some thought it was fun. 7 piggies can make a HUGE MESS. Emmenthaler tried to get out the gate to the rest of the zoo when some kids opened it to come in. I yelled "Stop that pig" and they got in Emmie's way long enough for me to pounce on her. I caught her too fiercely and cut her with my claw, but I really didn't want her to get away. I yelled at Max to put the piggies back but she couldn't. I yelled at the sheeps to help. They made a line with Horsie and Donkey and Pony and Zsuzsy and Meeper and me so the piggies couldn't get past, and we walked until the piggies inside the line were back at the door to their yard. They didn't want to go back in because being out was really exciting, but Zsuzsy and I made them go in. Then we chased the piggies that were still out and got them back in too. It was really hard because every time we opened the door to put a piggie in, all the piggies tried to get out. I was really mad at Max.
Max said, "Piggies play OUTSIDE! Piggies Max FRIEND, Max help!" She was mad at me for keeping the piggies in their yard. When somebody's mad at me, it makes me mad, but it's scary too. What if they're mad because I'm doing something wrong? I had to stop and think. That's what Big Sam would do. Max said, "Samuel think? Max think!" and sat down by me. We thought about what to do. The piggies are our friends, so we should make sure they aren't bored and sad. We can't let them run all over the petting zoo because they're too rambunctious. There isn't room to make the piggie yard bigger to have more fun stuff because there's a big water canal behind it. I wanted to ask Zsuzsy, but she was busy doing her job. I told Max I would have to think about it but we would give the piggies more fun stuff to do. She said, "Samuel BIG NICE" and kissed me. We weren't mad at each other any more.
Max helped me clean up the piggie poop so Zsuzsy didn't have to. She's a good sister.
I talked to Hebichi and Faun about nice things for piggies. Faun's auncle Udo works at the zoo in the Awake World so we're going to ask him about enrichment for animals.
Faun said his auncle Udo was going to come over to have dinner with his family on Sunday, so I asked if I could go and talk to him about piggies. He asked his parents and then they asked my parents and now everybody is going to the Gram House on Sunday to have a huge dinner all together. It'll be really fun but I hope the grownups don't steal Udo-auncle all the time.
Our house is 10 cats and 1 modern person, and the Cousin House is 5 modern people, and Faun's house is 4 modern people and 1 more with Udo-auncle, and 2 people we didn't know about came too, so when we all go over to the Gram House, it's A LOT OF PEOPLE! And we need A LOT OF FOOD! But it was a really good party and we had all kinds of food and dessert and hugs and we played games and the grownups talking about boring stuff and the kids had lots of fun.
Lots of people said the yummiest food was Nessie-auncle's mole chicken, but that's spicy choco sauce so it wasn't for cats. I think the chili bean stew that Humboldt and Dmitri and I made was the best, because Number-dad helped. We put in ground-up turkey and lots of tomatoes and veggies and made it spicy but not TOO spicy and it's really good! Trisa-auncle's sizzling rice soup was good too, because I like food that does stuff.
The people we didn't know were coming were Caleb and Ai. Caleb looks a little bit like a cat with soft white fur, and he has a hat with tentacley orange flowers that I think are a kind of chrysanthemum, and he came because he was on a date with Udo-auncle and wanted to say nihao to lots of Udo's friends. They didn't do grownup kissing, but they held hands. I think that was nice. Ai is the teenager who was in my treehouse with Zora. She's purple all over like an eggplant except not shiny and her hair is light yellow so it's almost white and she looks really cool and she's nice. She said Zora told her about the treehouse and she's sorry and then she gave me a box that makes WATER BALLONS and has a hook to go on the hose faucet so if anyone is in our treehouse we can throw water balloons at them until they run away. That's better than throwing Zora. Ai and Zora did a little bit of grownup kissing but it wasn't gross.
Udo-auncle is Trisa-auncle's little brother. He's brown and centauriform and he likes wearing nice clothes and he has lots of jewelry like a pirate. He really likes animals like me, and he works at the zoo in Starfall so he can take care of animals, and he's really nice so I like him. Sometimes when he's dreaming he comes to my zoo and helps out. I asked him a lot about enrichment for the piggies and told him what I read and he had some good ideas. I'm going to try to get the piggies to be polite on a leash, and then people can take them for walks!
I'm writing this all upstairs in a guest room, but then I'm going to go downstairs and play another game with everybody.
Last night I played a bunch of games of Aldebaran with everybody until Number-dad said it was time for medium-sized kittens to go to bed. I said I wasn't sleepy and stole his planet, but a little bit later he said it again and I didn't hear, so I went downstairs and hid under the couch with Meeper and Max and Beethoven and Flip-Flop and Flip-Flam and it was really cozy.
Then I had a dream with Udo-auncle where we went to my zoo and talked to all the people in the petting zoo about getting the piggies more toys for inside their yard and letting them go outside if people take them on a LEASH. Only grownups, because kids might get pulled around by the piggies! First we have to teach the piggies to walk really polite on leashes.
Udo-auncle was kind of grouchy when he woke up, because he said that dream was too much like REGULAR WORK, but he wasn't very grouchy because he got to sleep all snuggly with his date-friend Caleb who has really soft fur. They looked really cute!
Max did a piracy but it worked better than mine. Udo took off all his nice party clothes to sleep so they wouldn't get wrinkly, and his jewelry because it's too lumpy for sleeping, and Max and Meeper tried it on because Udo's legs are about as big as our arms and legs. That's really rude because they didn't ask and Udo frowned at them, but Max didn't want to give back a big shiny gold bracelet. She said, "PLEASE?" lots of times until Udo said she could BORROW it, but only until they meet again. Max gave Udo lots of kisses, which made Caleb laugh and then Udo wasn't grouchy at all.
We tried to learn a new technique at fighting class, but you have to make your shoulders go one way and your legs go another way and I couldn't do it right. It was really frustrating! I almost cried, but I didn't because I'm 8 and that's too old to cry just from being frustrated.
Number-dad said he would help me practice later.
After I was all done with classes for today, Number-dad helped me practice the technique I couldn't do. I still couldn't do it, and I was getting really sad because I thought I'm no good at fighting, but then he said, "Gotta do arms and legs together, but arms always first. Maybe think about legs first?" I tried that and IT WORKED! I got away! Number-dad is a really good teacher.
Sahara said, "Let me try, I think I have a counter!" so I let her grab me, and when I tried to get away like I did before, I couldn't. Sahara was really happy but then I turned my tummy and pushed on her legs with my legs and I got away. Number-dad said, "O, I can show you counter" so she let him grab her and he picked her up where she couldn't reach anything with her feet even when she wiggled and kicked and tried to smack him. She yelled "Being too big isn't a technique!" but Big Sam said, "It works for me" and everybody laughed. I gave her a hug when Number-dad let her down, because I know she works hard to be a better fighter so she can protect people from monsters.
When I got to the ellyphants in my zoo, Zig-Zag was there. He's a small ellyphant but he looks really cool because he has zigzaggy tattoos ALL OVER. He's a pirate ellyphant who ran away to sea because the grandma ellyphant of his family was snooty and mean and didn't like him thinking about new stuff. Maybe he was really fighty when he first ran away because teenager elephants are like that, but now he's nice. He's Captain Nelson's first mate, so he's really responsible and knows lots about sailing and pirating and ships and oceans.
Zig-Zag wasn't there to talk to ellyphants, though. He was waiting for ME! He said, "Come on, we need to start getting the ship ready" and we were already going to the train station before he even gave me an ellyphant kiss.
There weren't any scary crystal ships at the docks this time, but Nelson and Zig-Zag's ship DAPPER CAPYBARA was there and Nelson-captain was there. He said, "It's about time you got here! Everyone else is already at work. I thought we were going to have to keelhaul you." He wasn't really mad, and he really wasn't going to keelhaul me. Keelhauling is a really mean thing where you drag somebody on the bottom of a ship when it's going, from the front to the back so their back gets scraped off, and if there are any monsters sticking to the bottom of the ship they bite them, and if the people doing it don't like them, they do it so slow the person drowns. Nelson wouldn't ever do that!
Nelson-captain is a big weasel, as big as Number-dad, and he was a pirate for a long time, until Dragon-mayor got rid of the people who wouldn't share. Now he still sails, but he carries things that are too big for trains or to islands where trains don't go, and sometimes he goes to scare away the greedy people from other countries. Sometimes he goes exploring, but he doesn't take kittens or people with families because it's DANGEROUS.
All my family was there with the crew, cleaning the ship and putting new ropes everywhere and making it ready to go to the Northern Shores. That's where we go on vacation in August. Last year we went by train, but this year Nelson is carrying some really big generators there so the pengies and moosies and spideries and sealies and turtlies will have electricity in the winter, and we get to go with him.
I was afraid I was going to have to go in the bilge with Max and Meeper because we're the littlest and it's really squeezy in there. It's really yucky too, because water goes in there and sits and slimy stuff grows in it. That's called being STAGNANT. But we didn't have to, because Ruffur-teacher invented Cleaning Bombs. He threw one in the fore hatch of the bilge and it made a HUGE FOAMY BLOOSH! But foam didn't come out the aft hatch, so he threw another one in there, and it made another BLOOSH!
Ruffur is a really smart inventor dog who lives at Tansy's Sheep Place. He used to be a sheepdog, but he likes inventing more. Most of the things he invents are just for fun, but sometimes one is great. He invented electroroasting, which is a really fast way of cooking that lots of people use, and he invented the zoingaphone, which is a musical instrument that the sheeps play. It takes a lot of them but they're really good.
When we got pumps to wash out the foam with water and throw it over the side, Nelson-captain crawled inside and said that's the cleanest bilge he's ever seen. Weasels are good in squeezy spots, even better than cats, but Nelson doesn't usually have to look in a bilge because he's a captain. But he wanted to see how the cleaning bombs work, and they work really good. And it's OK to throw the water overboard because the foam is BIODEGRADABLE. That means germs and plants can eat it up so it won't be pollution.
Rei came to help us clean the whole ship by taking things that might get ruined out of every compartment and throwing in a cleaning bomb and washing it out with a hose and putting things back. That made it lots easier. Rei wanted to know if the cleaning bombs were like corpse-destroying dust, and Ruffur said they were a little, but they were more like Supermonkey's Grape Punch.
Supermonkey is the strongest monkey in Dragon-mayor's city. He's a superhero. He can't fly, but he can climb and jump on the tall buildings, and he has a utility belt with all kinds of cool stuff. One of the most famous ones is Grape Punch. The name is funny because punch means two things, but it's a really powerful attack even though it fits in a pocket. A long time ago when Aimée didn't know about getting Octavio-auncle to help her with people, she sent an ARMY of meerbots to get sushi for her and they stole all the sushi from restaurants and Supermonkey had to use Grape Punch. It knocked out all the meerbots, but the sushi was still yummy. All the sushi got turned purple, though, so now those restaurants make purple sushi to remind people how great Supermonkey is.
Corpse-destroying dust is for hunting vampire and zombies in the Awake World. You can throw it in the air so it gets all over, and if any speck of it gets on anything from a dead animal, it eats it up and turns it into more corpse-destroying dust. It can't do that forever, though, because that would be TOO SCARY. It isn't good for live animals, because fur and the outside of skin and eyes are dead, so you have to be careful with it, but one speck can eat up a vampire until it's just bones.
We got all the inside of the ship clean so fast we went on deck and had a picnic with everybody. Clover-auncle thought she was really smart to come just in time for lunch but we didn't let her get away. She had to help check the sails when she was done eating.
It was a lot of work, but now DAPPER CAPYBARA is almost ready to sail.
We weren't done working when we woke up, though, because it's Checklist Day. We have to make checklists of everything we want to take to the Northern Shores. We can look at last year's lists, but we're always GROWING UP and doing different things. This year I'm big enough to wear the littlest cold water suit, so I need to bring my favorite frog shoes. We have to fix mistakes we made last year too, like when Max said she only wanted to take suit jammies because it's cold and then she got there and went to Shriek City because she didn't have any dress jammies. It's a lot of work, but when we get to the Northern Shores, we can't come back to get something we forgot!
I didn't write yesterday because I was too busy PACKING. We are all packed so we can go tomorrow!
We had 2 more dreams about getting the ship ready, and 1 was scary because it almost didn't work. We took off the deck to put the generators in, but they were in boxes that were TOO BIG and wouldn't fit in the top deck. Nelson was really mad at the generator people, but they couldn't change the boxes without taking a long time. He decided to take out the middle deck and put the generators on the lower deck, so the middle deck would be missing and not the top deck. Lots of people will have to sleep on deck because the bunkroom isn't there any more, but Fairy-mom and Number-dad ran up to the top of a magic mountain to see what the weather is going to be like, and it should be OK.
All the crew is at the ship now, and they're mostly weasels, but Stick Legs is there too. He's a tuxedo cat who fought against the mean dragons a long time ago and his legs got burned up so much they fall off but some nice veterinarians made him new legs. They look like black sticks with rubbery bumps on the end, but he can run and jump really good. He says a cat who knows how to fight and has peg legs has to be a pirate, so he is. When it's not sailing season, he works at Pirate Cat Radio, which is some cats who go around and send out radio music and news that greedy people in other countries don't want anybody to hear. It's called Pirate Cat Radio because a radio station that doesn't have lots of certificates is called a pirate station. Pierce Cat works there too.
I'm really excited to go sailing on DAPPER CAPYBARA!
We got everybody and all our stuff put into trucks and the grownups hardly yelled at all. I tried to help by sitting in the truck really quiet and not remembering stuff to go get and making Max and Meeper sit by me. Rei helped me, but they didn't smile very much and Cara was in a different truck so I asked where she was and Rei said they didn't know, I should go ask her. Then I asked if they were doing an argument, and Rei said no but I knew it was a fib and they wouldn't talk to me any more. I got pretty worried but Dragon-mom says you have to let people work out their own arguments unless they ask for help.
We had 10 trucks because we have so many people and so much stuff. Everybody from my house and the Gram House and the Cousin House and Hebichi's house and Pocket Fox Manor and Faun's house and Udo and Udo's parents and Big Sam's parents and Cara and her mom was there and we had lots and lots of stuff for us for our vacation and lots of stuff for the Northern Shores people. It was a lot! But we drove to the secret cave and down to the Mole-Wombat People train station and put all the trucks on the train and all the people on the train and ate potato chips. The people had to be on the train not inside the trucks because the passenger cars are safer. I was really sorry to Rei and now they're talking to me again but they're still sad.
When we got to the train station by Tansy's Sheep Place, some people got off because VV-gram and Rosie-auncle are going to go with their sister Tansy and Lilja-auncle and all the sheeps on a different train because the ship isn't big enough for everybody, but some people got on because Ruffur and Heather and California Golden Bear are going on the boat with us. Udo and Heather are really happy to see each other. It made me happy just sitting by them!
When we got to the train station by the docks there was a lot more running around because everything had to get unloaded from the trucks and put on the DAPPER CAPYBARA. Elephant Cat was there to help, but I didn't help. I helped Rei and Humboldt and Dmitri keep all the kittens and little kids by the ice cream store OUT OF THE WAY. It was a really nice day and everybody was excited about going on a ship and seeing pengies and it was really fun and nice. Then we got to go on the ship and everybody yelled so much! Elephant Cat yelled the loudest, because he's HUGE! I'm glad he's coming with us even though he makes the ship seem a lot smaller.
DAPPER CAPYBARA is a kind of ship called a clipper, which is the fastest sailing ship. It doesn't have any motors, though, so getting out of dock is tricky and the weasels had to climb up and down all over adjusting the sails until the wind pushed us out and the tide going out pulled us and we could sail in a circle and get going. But then we went really fast! The wind blew in our fur and the waves at the bow sprayed cold ocean water on us and there were dolphins and albatrosses and it was awesome!
It isn't ever OK to hunt dolphins and porpoises and whales, so I don't have to call them dolphies, but sometimes I do. Albatrosses aren't like people, but it's bad luck to hurt them, so it's kind of the same.
We helped the sailors when we could. We aren't as good at sailing, but modern grownups and teenagers and big cats and Elephant Cat are strong enough to move the sails really fast, so they did that and we kids carried stuff around and got water for people and watched how things work so someday we can be sailors.
Now it's night and kids are going to bed, but I'm writing with a little tiny light in my pen. We're still sailing because the water is nice and deep here, and maybe in the morning we'll see land again.
I'm going to snuggle in between Hebichi and Elephant Cat now.
I didn't know why I slept really good until I woke up and had Zig-Zag snuggles on one side and Hebichi snuggles on the other. I didn't have Elephant Cat snuggles because he had to be on watch. It was really nice, but I couldn't stay there because I had to get up and help make oatmeal for breakfast. I made sure we had lots of raisins, because that's Zig-Zag's favorite, and lots of walnuts, because that's Hebichi's favorite, and lots of oatmeal, because Elephant Cat has a huge tummy.
We didn't see land until after breakfast was all washed up, and then it was only far away, but we could see the lighthouse that warns ships to stay away from the dangerous rocks so they don't run aground and get eaten by sirens. I think maybe the sirens left because ships don't run aground there any more, but the rocks are still there.
We saw some whales and gliding fish and a huge flock of green birds and those were all really cool, but we only saw one scary thing and that was a HUGE SKY SHARK. It dived out of some clouds when Cara and one of the weasels were in the crow's nest and tried to eat the whole top of the mast! Fairy-mom got a rocket launcher and Number-dad started magic singing, but Cara shot a signal flare right into its mouth and jumped down from the crow's nest to the yard. The shark waved its head around all over like it ate something yucky and smoke came out, but it coughed the flare out of its gills before it exploded. It really didn't like that and flew away as fast as it could go and didn't bother us any more.
I felt a little bad for the sky shark because having something burning where you breathe must really hurt, but it shouldn't try to eat people. Lots of people in my family don't like sharks because an ocean shark ate Number-dad's foot when he was little and he had to take months and months to grow a new one, but ocean sharks are just animals and it was trying to find out what he was like and didn't know his foot would come off. But it was a wild animal so it was okay for Flerb to hunt it and everybody eat it all up. Sky sharks are animals too, I guess, but they're really mean and want to eat everything, and when they get hungry and mad they really try to eat everything, even each other. They hunt cloud sheeps too, and cloud sheeps are really nice. Maybe sky sharks are like what people think ocean sharks are like.
Cara is really pretty and good for hugging and likes giving sparkly kisses and being friends with people, but she's a modern person just like Nessie-auncle and Big Sam, and they hunt VAMPIRES. You better not mess with Cara's friends!
When Cara got back down Rei ran to hug her and make sure she was OK but Cara was making sure Jackie the weasel wasn't hurt and Rei got mad and went to stand at the very back of the ship and watch birds hunt the fish that got bothered by the ship. I think they're JEALOUS. That means they're scared Cara being friends with other people will make her not be friends with them as much. I don't think that's true, because Cara has a really big heart, but it's scary.
The generators wanted to wiggle around so Elephant Cat had to hold them while the ship's carpenter, that's Nails, and her carpenter's mate Jackie and Flower-gram made more things to brace them and I helped by bringing them tools and wood and taking away stuff they didn't need any more. It took all afternoon but I think we did a good job. The pocket foxes thought so too.
Nessie-auncle helped the cook make really good beef steaks and mashed potatoes and gravy with veggies and we all ate until our tummies were FULL. I tried watching stars with Hebichi and Faun but we fell asleep from working so hard all day and now I'm writing this with my light pen in the middle of the night.
Some of the sailors tried to get Max to eat hardtack for breakfast by telling her it's REAL sailor food. She made really funny bitey faces trying to eat it but eventually she gave it back. "Max no eat. Blue? Max no eat." Then we had to tell them about how "Max eat blue flower! Blue butterfly! Blue star! SOMEDAY!" and the sailors got really worried and said, "Max, don't eat the stars, we need them to navigate!" It was really funny! Max said she only wanted to eat that one blue star, but I think they were still worried.
After lunch we met some whales. I think maybe they were HUMPBACK whales, because they were big and grey and kind of bumpy. It was a whole bunch, and they had baby whales too. The babies were still really big, but they were weird and cute like Max. The whales came up by the ship and sang about how they wanted to COMPLAIN so Nelson-captain leaned over the side to talk to them. They said, "How come your ship makes a horrible noise, like vrooeep vrooeep? It makes our babies cry." Nelson said, "That's our sonar machine. It works like your songs, to find things by echoes." The whales said, "That isn't anything like our beautiful songs. Make it stop." Nelson said, "We use it to make sure our ship doesn't run around or crash into any whales or sea monsters." He thought about it. "We could make it quieter, or we could make it call less often." The whales said, "Do both. It's OUR ocean." Nelson said, "I could only do that if you send someone to guide our ship and make sure we don't get too close to anything until we're far away from your babies."
That's how we got a whale to swim with us for the whole rest of the day! It was a medium-sized girl whale, maybe like a teenager, and her name was a whole song that I can't write down. All the songcats sang with her, and Dragon-mom tried to write down her songs. The whale thought air-singing was weird and squeaky except maybe when Elephant Cat did it, and thought writing down music was dumb, but she was mostly nice. She told us where the seamounts were, and reefs, and where a sea serpent lived. We stayed far away from that.
When the sun was setting really pretty, the whale said she didn't like these jellies, because they're the kind that make people swim funny. She went back to the other whales and we turned the sonar back on so we wouldn't crash.
When it got dark, the whole ocean shone because the jellies were glowing and flashing all different colors. It looked like a party. The sailors caught some jellies in clear buckets and hung them up to light up the ship and Nails got out a FIDDLE and played dancing music. Everybody danced! I danced with Hebichi but then we got our fiddles from where they were packed and fiddled too! Everybody sang and danced and grownups drank their silly juice except some people had to stay on watch. They were grouchy, but Nelson-captain said they could get off the boat and have parties first when we get to Northern Shores. Big Sam helped the cook make a bunch of yummy food and it was a really fun party. Elephant Cat couldn't dance very much but he wiggled and it made the whole ship rock.
Jellies don't have brains, even tiny ones like regular bugs, so they don't have feelings, but I felt bad for them being in buckets, so when they got tired and stopped flashing, I put them back in the ocean and scooped up new ones. But then I made a mistake and my hand went in the bucket and the jelly STUNG me. It really hurt, like ZAP! and I squacked and the jelly fell into the ocean. I hope it was OK, but I was kind of mad then. Fairy-mom and Clover-auncle ran to see what happened, and they got worried because some jelly stings are really poisonous and then I got scared, but the weasels said these jellyfish aren't dangerous at all. I got dizzy and fell down and they said it's like that for a while. I was still worried, but Clover got my scruff and carried me back to the party. I tried to walk but she wouldn't let me so my paws went all over and people laughed but I didn't get mad at them. I felt dizzy but OK. Hebichi and everybody came to see what happened and then the weasels said it wears off faster if you move around, so they grabbed me and made me dance and dance. I wasn't good at dancing because my paws were all wobbly, but it was fun. I went around and around in circles and sometimes I fell down and danced by wiggling and everybody laughed because I was FUNNY. But then I got sad because some of the jellyfish were completely dark and I thought they were dead so I cried. Number-dad got my scruff and carried me away and put me in a cozy spot belowdecks and curled up around me. His chest ruff is really fluffy and it makes him look big and pretty, but it's nice for cuddling too and I fell asleep.
I didn't feel good when I got up and the ship was really loud. I love everybody here but there are lots of them and they're really busy. I got some scrambly eggs from the cook and hid behind the generators where nobody wuld talk to me. I don't like to go back and write about yesterday, but I fell asleep before I could do any writing because of the jelly sting so I had to write it today but now that's done.
I feel better so I'm going up to help people. I don't want to be a LAZYBONES.
I felt lots better when I went up in the rigging and the wind blew my fur and I could see the whole ocean. It was a really good day and the sailors said I helped a lot and I saw Cara and Rei holding hands and Jackie tried to tickle me but I tickled her BACK and the wind was kind of lazy but we saw the island with the cliff that looks like a old person face so we'll be at the Northern Shores tomorrow.
We knew we were almost there when mermaids started surfing on the bow wave and everybody yelled nihao to them. I think they did flirts with the teenagers, because they were TEENAGER mermaids, but they were nice. Then they swam away to tell people we were coming. They could swim faster than DAPPER CAPYBARA because they didn't have to worry about rocks.
Because of the mermaids, everybody was there to say nihao when we got to the Northern Shores. It was a little bit scary to have a masquillion sheepies and moosies and spideries running at us, but it was really happy too. We got lots of woolly head-bumps and hugs and yays. The pengies didn't run as fast, but they gave us flipper-hugs and petted us with their beaks when they got there. It was Hebichi's whole family's first time here, so they were really excited. Toka ran around and around yelling, "NIHAO MOOSE! NIHAO SHEEP! HIHAO BUG! NIHAO PENGIN!" until they got so squished they couldn't run anymore and shrieked really happy.
Everybody we made friends with when we visited before was still here to hug us and get introduced to Hebichi. Jaunty Jonquil Spider is even bigger because she already molted this summer, and Lurking Lemon Spider did too but he's still little. Hebichi thought it was weird for penguins to be on skateboards, but Catherine and Josephine and Ricky and everybody are getting really good and they zoomed all around. Even little Anthony is good and only fell off once and Polly Penguin helped him get right back on. Toka said she's a really good big sister and they're RIGHT.
Boogie ran up to Pixie yelling, "I'm gonna steal your nose!" so Pixie ran away, but it was a TRICK because when they ran by Hebichi, Boogie turned and STOLE THEIR TAIL! Hebichi fell over because they didn't have a tail for balancing and yelled "GIVE THAT BACK!" but Boogie laughed and laughed and ran away. I told Hebichi to get on and carried them ZOOM after Boogie. She has long moosy legs, but I can do better climbing and jumping and we went right OVER part of the warm maze and jumped down at her. I didn't jump on her because I didn't want to hurt her, but Hebichi jumped off and grabbed around her neck and yelled, "GIVE ME THAT TAIL!" and grabbed it. Boogie and I were laughing so much we fell down but then Hebichi got really mad so I hugged them and helped them stick their tail in the back of their shorts and it popped back on. Hebichi said, "How come you did that?" but Boogie said, "Because you made a really funny face" and that's why Hebichi put spicy drops in their dads' juice, so they couldn't be mad any more. Now they're friends.
Boogie is a kid moose, but I don't know how grownup she is. She's really silly, and sometimes she seems like my age but sometimes she seems like Humboldt's age. She has stripes because her dad is Disco Moose, who has blue and white stripes and golden antlers. Number-dad said he always thought Disco Moose's fur was dyed, but maybe it wasn't, because Boogie has stripes and yellow antlers. We don't know who her mom is. I think it's a moose secret. Boogie knows the magic technique for stealing people's noses and tails and stuff, and she really likes using it, especially on Pixie because of that time Pixie lost all her legs. Boogie always gives them back, though. She's full of teasing, but I really like her.
After we said nihao to everybody, we had to unload the ship and that took a long time. The docks had one crane that was big enough to lift the generators, but Elephant Cat and Big Sam and Number-dad and Clover had to help a lot. The generators are going to get hooked up to TURBINES, which are like underwater windmills, so they make electricity from the big current that's in a canyon away frmo the shore. I brought a gill mask and a cold water suit so maybe I can swim down and see it.
Penguin Max and James look pretty old now, and I'm scared that someday we'll come to visit and they won't be here to meet us, but they look lots happier than last year. I think their broken hearts got better and I'm glad. They were really sad after Judith died, and I was scared they wouldn't even be happy again. I gave them a whole bunch of kisses even when Penguin Max said, "Treat me with some dignity, you young rapscallion!" in his funny old-penguin voice.
Penguin Max said there should be a party for all the visitors, but not until tomorrow after everybody rests up. I wasn't tired, so Faun and I got all our moose and spider and penguin friends and took Hebichi and Toka and their dads all around the Penguin Palace and the town. It's bigger even than last year! We showed them the watch tower where you can see the whole ocean and all the way to the mountains and the new valley and the penguin caves and the sea turtle beach and the audience chamber and the spider workshops and the warm maze and EVERYTHING. They said it was just as good as we told them!
Northern Shores people have to sleep inside all winter, so we're all sleeping outside in a big campground with pavilions in case it rains and herds of moosies and flocks of pengies and some spidies hanging upside-down on the roofs of the pavilions. The wind from the ocean might get cold in the night, but we have A MASQUILLION FRIENDS to stay warm and it's really nice.
Max woke me up by yeling, "Mommy, look! Humboldt, look! Baby moose, SUIT JAMMIES! Like Max! Clover, look!" She was right, there were 2 little mooses wearing pajamas like the baby goats do. They were really cute! They didn't like loud yelling, though, so they went to the other side of the campsite by their mom. Max was sad, but then Number-dad, who has been a friend to the mooses of Northern Shores since he was a little kitten, took her over to say nihao, and now they're pajama friends. Some people think Max is weird, so I'm glad when she makes friends.
Everybody went to the park with the ocean beach and we visiting kids told the Northern Shores people about all the stuff we did in Starfall and the Sheep Place since last year, and they told us about all the stuff they did at the Northern Shores and we played frisbee because even pengies and moosies and sealies can play that. The pengies can throw pretty good with their long beaks. Sea turtlies can't play frisbee, but they came up on the beach when we were sitting and we petted them because they're really friendly. I know some penguins were really mad at the turtlies because Princess Judith got killed helping them, but I think they're really nice and I'm glad they got saved even though I'm really sad about Judith.
All day the grownups were doing important grownup stuff that looked really boring except the ones who were working on the generators. They had to take them out of the boxes and they put a big crank on them for Elephant Cat to turn so they can check they worked. Elephant Cat is really strong! Then they painted the generators all over with special paint so coral wouldn't grow on them, because they don't want them to get stuck. I think it works by being really STINKY and we had to go find a place to play that wasn't downwind. We went swimming so kids who aren't ultra-modern had to have cold-water suits, but we all had them because of checklists. It was a little bit like being at the pool except with pengies and sealies and mermaids and turtlies and moosies all swimming around and fancy corals and all kinds of fishes. Toka caught a fish, and the mermaids said they should eat it because that kind is yummy, but they let it go.Most mermaids are like dolphins, but we saw some like WHALES. They weren't as huge as blue whales, but they were pretty big. When Elephant Cat was on the dock by the deep water where they could go, they were just the right size to give him nice hugs like me and Hebichi. I think that made him really happy. The big mermaids are really smart, too. They have certificates in Civil Engineering andPower Engineering, which means building stuff with generators and electricity. I think mermaids are teenagers for a long time and only think about playing and doing grownup kisses but when that's BORING they go to ocean school and get really big and smart. The kid mermaids won't tell me if that's right, and I know it's a mermaid secret like songcats have secrets, but it's really FRUSTRATING because I want to know.
After the wind changed so the park wasn't stinky, we tried to go back and play but we couldn't because grownups were busy setting up for a party and when we tried to run away, they CAUGHT us and made us help. But that wasn't unfair because it's a party for kids too.
The mastydons from the new valley came too, and helped with tables because they're big and strong. The kid mastydons liked putting everything just right and went around fixing what the grownups did. It was really cute. The kid mastydons are nice, even if they don't talk much.
Humans visited too. I think it was people to work on the generators and electricity, and their families. They didn't have any kids my age, but there were some teenagers that went and looked at our teenagers with big eyes because our teenagers are really pretty. I think they did some flirts, because they're teenagers.
When everything was set up, we all ran to make ourselves pretty. We kittens had some jewelry that we got when Max got a new bracelet so she could give back the one she borrowed from Udo. Mine is a necklace with a gold sun in the middle and blue wings with feathers made of lapis lazuli that go around my neck. We all got sparkly ribbons and Max and Dragon-mom and Humboldt put on pretty dresses. We were SPLENDID.
Then there were really good smells, because it was time for making dinner and eating. All our grownups helped, because they're good cooks, and some of the humans did too, and we had sushi and barbecue fish and salad and all kinds of veggies and some grain stuff that was good in soup and lots of bread and it was really yummy. I didn't have to sit right by my grownups because I'm 8, so I sat at the next table with a mastydon and some of the humans and Nico and Faun and 2 penguins named Julia and Thomas. They're EXPEDITION penguins, which isn't like exploring because they go to places where people already are, but they like going to new places and talking to new people so they do lots of stuff for Penguin Max. They went to find the generators and some humans to help work on them. They had lots of good stories about people in different places being funny.
Hebichi had to sit with his dads and Toka because they were a little bit worried about them on their first time here, but then after dinner and dessert and lots of talking and a speech from Penguin Max, it was dark so it was time for DANCING. Penguin Max and James always get to dance first, but after they dance for a little while other people can dance and I got Hebichi to dance with me. We were both kind of nervous but everybody cheered for us and we danced really cool. Then EVERBODY DANCED! We danced with kids and teenagers and grownups and pengies and moosies! We danced with a masquillion people! It was great!
My paws got tired, so I got my fiddle and found Nails and Hebichi and we turned off the music player and fiddled for people. The sheeps played their electric zoingaphone, which doesn't make as nice a tone as the real one but is easier to bring to the Northern Shores. Nessie played her flute. Lots of people sang, but lots of people danced to our music. Lots of people said our music was really good. Even Penguin Max said we were good! It made me really happy.
It was such a fun party that we stayed up really late, so I'm writing in the middle of the night with my light pen again. My paws are sore from so much fiddling and dancing but I'm still really happy.
I've been so busy I haven't written any journal at all for a long time. Every time I want to write what we did, I fall asleep because I'm tired from doing fun stuff all day. Today we did a lot of inside stuff because there was rain, so I'm not so tired, but I'm still pretty tired. I'll write about the most interesting things we did.
We went to see the new marsh, where the river from the new valley runs into a big flat spot before it spills over to Picklefish River. Some people want to call it the Mastodon River and the Mastodon Valley, but the mastydons said it isn't theirs. Some people wanted to call it the 1-Legged Leaping Monster Valley, but that's too long. Last year it was just a flooded place with dead grass, but I think seeds and eggs came down the river and now it's a pretty good marsh with cattail plants and fish and bugs and lots of birds go there to eat. It's a long ways from the palace, but there are sidewalks almost all the way for penguins to skateboard on, and we built some more forms for pouring a bunch more sidewalk when the concrete planters get there. We did lots of helping like that because we have hands. The moosies and pengies can do a lot with their mouths, but it's not the same.
The moosies and sheepies played a loot of hoofball, which is like soccer only for people with hooves. The moosies are bigger and have longer legs, so when it was moose vs sheep, there were more sheepies on a team than moosies to make it fair, but usually they played on mixed teams. They had a whole bunch of fun because they don't get to see each other very often.
I got to go down and see where the generators are going to go! We had to go in little groups, so there could be enough pengies and mermaids and sealies to make sure we were safe, and maybe so we would fit on the boat. I went with Number-dad and Sahara and Simoun and Faun, because Hebichi had to go with their dads. Brave Bronze Spider rowed us out so we didn't have to swim all the way, but we could have. Then we fell off the boat BACKWARDS so our masks didn't get messed up and swam down. We couldn't go all the way down because that's so deep you have to worry about pressures, but we went down where it was all blue, and there were masquillions of shiny fish and big towers of coral and we could see sponges getting bent by the current down in the little canyon. It was scary being way underwater, but it was really cool too. I like diving. Hebichi said they like it too, so we're going to try diving in the lake when we get back to Starfall.
All the sheepies went to Picklefish Point to see the duckies and we went with them. Anka was already there telling the duckies about good places to go when they migrate in the autumn. They're really nice duckies, like the ones at Crocodile Marsh. They know the Fire-Starting Dance and the Monster-Defeating Quack and the Dinosaur Roar. The Dinosaur Roar isn't magic, but it reminds people that ducks are a kind of DINO!
Anka is a really nice duckie who lives at the Sheep Place but flies around a lot. She has a green head like a boy mallard duck, but she's a girl, so she's a special duck. She's been friends with Shoe-auncle for a really long time even though he broke her leg when they first met. He didn't know she was a duckie, so he tried to hunt her, but then he was really sorry, and they got to be friends.
Nessie-auncle and Big Sam went into the forest to say nihao to the wolves that live there. The wolves don't bother the penguins ever since James KILLED a wolf that tried to eat him, but Nessie and Sam stay friends with them so they won't let other wolves move in, and because Nessie likes wolves. When Nessie was a kitten like Max and Meeper, she was friends with the wolves who lived near her house. It made Flower-gram squack and squack but they never hurt her.
Secret's mom Sara-auncle and Cara's mom helped the pengies with their news. In the Northern Shores, news is really old-fashioned, on PAPER, but doing it right is the same everywhere. They gave lots of lessons to the pengies who want to be journalists.
The pocket foxies flew around in their zeppelin and sailed around in their submarine looking at everything and making sure it was OK. They helped with the generators because they're really smart with building things.
We had a party for the sailors and Elephant Cat and Stick Legs and Zig-Zag and Nelson-captain when they were ready to sail away. It was a more grownup party and I think they drank a lot of grownup juice when the kids were in bed, but it was fun before that. Hebichi and I did more fiddling with Nails and everybody danced. Even the spideries danced, because they're sailors too. It was sad that they had to leave, but there was lots more they had to do.
Today it was rainy and thundery, so we stayed inside and played some music and read stories. Penguin Max and James are really good at reading with voices and all the kid mooosies and pengies and spidies love Emperor Story Hour, and now kid visitors do too. Toka loves it the most because he's still little, but everybody likes being read to. Even Maa-uu and Explorobot like it. They got here yesterday on the train.
I hope it's not rainy tomorrow because the Exploration Club wants to go over the mountains on the north of the new valley with Rose-auncle and Clover-auncle and some moosies and spidies. Nobody from the Northern Shores has gone there yet because they're worried about the 1-legged leaping monster. They have gone in the valley, but there are DIRE WOLVES there.
I'm writing everything out of order so I better go to sleep before my brain FALLS DOWN.
I didn't write for a long time again. I'm sorry. I'll write about the interesting stuff we did.
I didn't write about it last time, because it was too sad, but on the rainy day we went to Judith's grave and put some flowers there to help remember her. I cried a lot, because I really miss Judith. She was a really good penguin princess and it's no fair that she got killed trying to help somebody. Maybe it's not ever fair for somebody to get killed.
The day after the rainy daty was really sunny so the Exploration Club, which is Humboldt and Dmitri and Maa-uu and Explorobot and Pixie and Rei and Cara, and Dreamlands Explorers Rosie-auncle and Clover-auncle, and Chibi-Moosa and Peculiar Purple Spider, all went to explore the mountains and find out what's on the other side. They only wanted to be gone for five days, so they couldn't explore everything but maybe they could find something really cool. I was a little bit worried, but our parents wouldn't let them go if it wasn't safe. Rosie and Clover are really strong and brave explorers. But even when Boogie and Grant and Jaunty Jonquil Spider told people that, they still couldn't go with the explorers. Mooses look really funny when they pout.
Nessie and Big Sam came back from visiting the wolves the day after the explorers left, but then they went out right away to see the dire wolves and make sure they knew to stop bothering the regular wolves. I worried about that too, but Nessie and Big Sam are really fierce and Nessie is really good at wolves, so I think it will be OK.
Hebichi and I went diving a whole bunch! There are always lots of pengies and selies and mermaids around, so our parents didn't worry too much. Nico and Zora and Sahara and Simoun did some diving too, but Nico and Zora liked playing grownup kissing with the mermaids more. Nico is really nice, but he's a TEENAGER. He helped us scare fishes into a big school so the pengies could catch them all, though. We looked at all kinds of corals and fishes and stars and jellies and kelp and seaweeds and pengie dances and played frisbee and tag and tussling with the sealies and helped teach the turtlies tricks by giving them sushi and it was REALLY FUN.
2 nights after the explorers left, I woke up in the middle of the night because I had the WIGGLES. I thought about writing but I didn't want to sit still so I got up to go for a walk. I was really sneaky, but Max ran after me. "Max too!" We went for a walk together and it was really nice. The wind was a little bit cold from the new valley, but I have good fur and Max had polka-square pajamas. All my friends and lessons and school and everything are in the day, so usually that's when I'm awake, but I really like nighttime. Maybe lots of cats like nighttime, because when we went around the hill with the steps for growing spinch, we saw some cats up on the hill and they were stting around something and talking. Max said, "What that?" I said, "It's a telescope, for looking at stars." It was an old-fashioned telescope, with mirrors and lenses, but it looked really cool. Maybe I'll get Simoun to help me build one. Max got really excited! "Look Max blue star?!" We snuck up the hill to see what was going on, but before we got there, a bunch of grass turned into a HUGE CAT who pounced on us and caught us and WASHED OUR EARS. It was Pounce-auncle. He carried Max up to the telescope and put her down in Tansy-gram's lap. Cally-auncle and Edward-auncle and VV-gram and Nico were there too, and they were looking at stars and Cally was reading about the stores from a really old book where all the letters looked like dancing spiders. Max said, "Look Max blue star" again, so VV-gram made her show where the star is, and pointed the telescope at it, and Cally looked it up in the book. "Oh no, Max, you can't eat that star. It's where the Whirling Space Dragons go to have parties." Max's eyes got really big and I thought she was going to shriek, but she thought about it really hard. "SOMEDAY, dragons new star. Max eat old star. SOMEDAY." Everyone was glad Max wasn't mad, and said that was really smart, because no party place stays popular forever. We learned about lots of cool stars, and Cally said she'll teach me dancing spider pictograms. Max fell asleep, but I was still awake when Number-dad came to find us, so I could curl up next to him and sleep really cozy.
In the morning, I woke up so much I flew into the air, because Jaunty Jonquil Spider was giving me a MASQUILLION TICKLES! I wasn't really scared but it freaked me out a lot, and everybody laughed because the noise I made was really funny. I got kind of mad, but Jaunty Jonquil Spider gave me a big plate of waffles with blueberries and all my sisters were there and Faun and Hebichi, so we had a good breakfast with snuggling and we taught Boogie and Grant the Waffle Song.
Nessie-auncle and Big Sam came back that morning and said the dire wolves were pretty grouchy but they understand the Great Wolf Spirit made special rules for the Northern Shores and won't cause any trouble. Sam said the dire wolves wanted Nessie to stay and get married with them, and everybody thought that was ridiculous. It is ridiculous, but I think it shows how amazing Nessie-auncle is.
The explorers should be back tomorrow, so I'm going to go to sleep and be ready to hug them when they come back, or be ready to go rescue them if they're late.
The explorers came back on time yesterday so we didn't have to go look for them. Really they came back early, because we thought they wouldn't come back until dinnertime but they were back for lunch. Everybody hugged them a lot because we're glad nothing bad happened.
They said it wasn't a very interesting exploration. They went over the mountains and there was some littler valleys, with a lake and some caves. There were footprints from 1-legged leaping monsters, but they just go back and forth from the really high steep mountains on the other side of that valley, and the caves don't look like anybody lives in them except sometimes rabbits. There were some tree stumps that maybe used to be buildings, but maybe were just tree stumps. The little valleys are probably good for mooses to live in, except the one with giant footprints, unless the dire wolves start going up there. So it wasn't exciting to explore, but the mooses are happy that there might be more places for them to go and Penguin Max is glad he sent explorers.
It was too crowded, so I went to be by myself, but then I wanted to go diving, and I'm not supposed to dive without a grownup. I got my cold-water suit and gill mask and flippers and found Clover, but she was busy playing grownup kisses with the teenager mermaids and didn't want to go diving. I got kind of mad because teenagers and grownups are always doing that stuff and went diving by myself even though I'm not supposed to. It wasn't a good idea because it's no fun doing things when you're mad, and then I didn't watch the fishes and got caught in the current. I don't need a grownup to tell me to swim SIDEWAYS so I got to the beach again all on my own. One of the big whale mermaids came to see if I was OK, and she came right up on the beach with me. Her everyday name is Pentameter, which is a kind of poetry. Then I got worried, because whales can DIE if they get stuck on the beach. She said it was OK because she's not a whale, she has ARMS. She did a pushup and rolled all the way over and did another pushup so I knew I didn't have to worry. We sat on the beach and talked about why teenagers are like that. She used to be a teenager mermaid so she knows, but it didn't help. I was still grouchy, but not at Pentameter. She had to go back to work on the generators but she rubbed under my chin first so I purred and sang the New Friend song and wasn't so grouchy. I took off my diving gear and started walking back to the palace and thinking about what I should do. I wasn't looking where I was going when I got to the trees by Lookout Rock, and a GIANT SPIDER jumped down on me so I got SQUISHED! I rolled over to fight, but it was Lurking Lemon Spider, who does ambushes all the time when people don't look out. He waved all his arms and legs around really wild, because that's how he laughs, and gave me a big hug. He's a really good spidie.
Clover got in trouble from her mom for not making sure somebody took care of me and now she's really sorry. I'm still a little bit mad at her.
We had a little party for dinner, because we're going home tomorrow. There was some yummy grilled fish and lots of people were there, but we just sang some songs and Hebichi and I fiddled for a while and now everybody is in bed.
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