| September, 2033<<< | All Entries | >>>November, 2033 |
Bobtail Dragon came to the zoo to see all the animals. That made Hebichi really happy and they went all around the zoo looking at EVERYBODY. A lot of animals were a little bit scared, because dragons are big and have lots of teeth, but Dragon-mayor and Checkerboard Dragon and Polka-Dot Dragon have been to the zoo before and they didn't eat anybody because they know the difference between wild animals and friend animals. The bunnies and piggies are still too scared to have dragons in the petting zoo, but the sheepies came out and sat with us in the park behind the anteaters and told Bobtail Dragon about all the things Ruffur invented. Now Bobtail Dragon and Hebichi both want rocks that change color when you turn them over. Maybe Ruffur will send us some if we write him a letter.
It's October. That's Halloween month, so we need to start looking for ideas for COSTUMES. I don't know what I want to be yet.
I'm writing this in the afternoon because tonight there's going to be a SLEEPOVER PARTY for people to try to learn magic dreaming. I won't be able to write because I'll be having too much FUN.
The sleepover party last night was really fun. All us kittens were there, because nobody wants to be left out, and Spin and Jean and Blond Dmitry and Hebichi and Faun and Bina. Bina still has a cape because they want to be cool like Sabertooth Fox-teacher. We got to eat crispy fried chicken and potato salad and biscuits, and we had ice cream floats for dessert, and we watched a bunch of QUEEN OF THE SPACEWAYS which is a really exciting show about space pirates and then Max and Meeper had to go to bed and it was time for the rest of us to SETTLE DOWN. It was nice outside but we thought it was better to sleep inside so we could all be right together. We squished together and people who know about magic dreaming tried to explain to people who didn't.
One of the ways to get to the Dreamlands is dreaming about going up a really high mountain with lots of huge brown bugs on it. The bugs try to throw you off so you roll back down to the bottom, and you have to know how to fight them and make them roll down, or run away from them, or give them candy. But a long time ago, Number-dad got them a SUBSCRIPTION, so they get catalogs of candy and gift cards to order whichever ones they like every month. Now they don't bother us when we go up the mountain and usually there isn't even a mountain in the way when we try to have a dream adventure. But Number-dad said that might be a good way for people to go to learn, so we tried describing the mountain and the bugs and got everybody some candy for BRIBES and then we curled up and went to sleep.
It worked. We all dreamed that we were climbing up a steep mountain with rocks and dirt and some bushes, and brown bugs as big as us were peeking at us from behind the rocks. I thought the bugs were going to be the same kind, but there were all different kinds like mantis bugs and beetle bugs and moth bugs. Some tried to sneak in front of Spin, but we yelled at him to look out, and he saw them and threw a can of fizzy juice right at them so they all tried to get it and he ran by. It was a really good move! Spin is really nice so when the bugs couldn't get the can open, he got another can and whistled until they looked, and showed them how to open it. I think that's what Number-dad would have done.
At the top of the mountain was a TRAIN STATION, so we got on the train and went to my zoo and petted all the bunnies and Spin and Blond Dmitry and Bina and Jean were really happy that they had a dream adventure. Bina had her cape in the dream too, and it was even cooler.
Nico is in Teenagers II with Zora, so we got to cheer for both them at the same time. They're really good at lacrosse, but they couldn't beat the Fish Street Crushers. It was a good game, though, and everybody said Nico did really good.
All the people we taught about magic dreaming are going to try to come to my zoo tonight. I hope they can do it, but if not, we'll get Number-dad and VV-gram to help teach them.
Learning magic dreaming is harder than I thought. Nobody came to my zoo last night, and when I asked them about it today, they said they couldn't make it. Blond Dmitry and Jean dreamed about running around in a forest with train tracks looking for the mountain, so that's easy to help, and Bina dreamed about making their cape into a glider and going flying with Sabertooth Fox-teacher, so that's impossible to help until they want to do magic dreaming, but Spin tried to climb up the mountain and the bugs jumped on and stole all his soda and pushed him back down. That was mean of them, so I have to tell them to behave. Maybe I'll have to get Number-dad to help, but I want to try first. My parents say I can't do a sleepover EVERY night, but I can go over to Spin's to help tonight.
I talked to Number-dad and he gave me some ideas to try, so I'm ready to go over to Spin's house and help him learn magic dreaming. Jean and Blond Dmitry are going to be there too.
Bina and Faun couldn't come to the sleepover at Spin's, so it was me and my Dmitri and Humboldt and Jeanne and Blond Dmitry, and Spin and his big golden doggy Sonny. We had some soda and some purpleberry pie with ice cream, but it was only a little bit of a party. We were really serious about magic dreaming.
We started dreaming about being in the forest like Jean and Blond Dmitry were, but we showed them how if you go downhill you always get to water and if you go upstream you always get to the mountain. It was hard because Sonny wanted to go downstream and play in the mud and give everybody doggy kisses. but we got her to go with us up the mountain. Then the brown bugs came and got in our way so we couldn't go up. They aren't talking bugs, and I don't know if they understand words, so I waved the candy catalog at them to remind them Number-dad made a DEAL with them. They tried to get in between us so Humboldt and Dmitri and I could go up but the others couldn't, but we stayed with our friends. Dmitri said, "I don't like these bugs. I think they're RENT-SEEKING."
Rent-seeking is where greedy people say something belongs to them so everybody has to pay them to use it. It's really bad because then people get money for not doing anything, and they think they deserve being special. The bugs are spirits, though, so maybe it's different for them. Spirits don't always get to decide how they're going to be like people do.
We went back down the mountain and thought for a while. Sonny chased squirrels and chased more squirrels and fell in the creek and shook water all over everybody. It's hard to think when there's a doggy who wants to play! My Dmitri played a lot of tickling with Jeanne so they made weird noises, but I kept thinking. That mountain is where the bugs live, so maybe they want more sweets if more people are going there. Or maybe the mountain is bigger if more people climb it, so there are more bugs and the candy isn't enough. Either way, more sweets would help. I made a plan and told it to Spin and Blond Dmitri and they thought it was a good plan. We had to wait until we woke up to do it, though, so then we dreamed about playing with Sonny a lot and it was a really nice dream.
After classes, I sat with Number-dad and Dmitri and Humboldt and we did research to find a subscription to SODA. We found one that makes lots of weird sodas, like eggplant soda and pink salt soda and fried rice soda, but they have regular soda like root beer too. They send a new soda every month, and if enough people write back saying it was good, they add it to the catalog. I didn't know if brown bugs can write letters, but they can use gift cards to order from catalogs, so maybe they can!
We can't have ANOTHER sleepover, but my big brothers and I are going to try to give the catalog and the gift cards to the bugs, and if that doesn't work we'll have Number-dad try it. Then Spin and Jean and Blond Dmitry can get to the Dreamlands and maybe other people can too. That would be a really good magic WORKING for us.
Meeper stood up at dinner and miaued louder and louder until we all paid attention. "I try new name! ANNABELLE! If I like it, I keep it!" It wasn't a surprise because she said for a long time she likes that name, but we all cheered and clapped because changing your name is pretty scary, even if you can change back. We all said, "YAY ANNABELLE!" and gave her hugs. Max's tail went down and she said, "No more M-cats" but she gave Annabelle a HUGE hug and said, "Really good name!" because she's a really good kitten.
Humboldt and Dmitri and I went to the mountain with the brown bugs to give them the soda catalog and the first gift card and we told them, "This is so everybody can go up the mountain to the Dreamlands". I don't know if they listened, but a bug like a huge brown grasshopper grabbed the catalog and huge brown moth grabbed the card, and all the bugs ran away. We went up to the train station, and a big golden doggy jumped on me and gave me kisses! I don't know if the bugs ever stopped doggies, so I don't know if the soda helped, but it was nice to see Sonny.
Spin and Jean and Blond Dmitry didn't show up, so we went back down the mountain looking for them. We didn't find any bugs or any friends, and Sonny wanted to chase a squirrel, so we ended up at the train tracks down there and rode the train to the Awake World.
Annabelle was really worried about going to school with a new name, but Max said, "Everybody NICE! Everybody love Annabelle!" and we all said she was right, so Annabelle felt better.
Everybody was really nice to Annabelle at school and said her new name is really pretty, so she came home really happy and that made all of us happy. We sang some Hurray Songs for Annabelle and she wiggled really cute!
After classes, we went to the spider park to talk to Sping and Jean and Blond Dmitry, and all the other kittens came too so Clover came to keep an EYE on us. Spin said he had imaginary dreams about regular stuff, but he was really happy that Sonny had a dream adventure. She couldn't tell him about it, but she barked and wagged her tail and gave him kisses, which is how a doggy says "I love you big brother". It was really nice. Jean said he dreamed about a big brown seal trying to splash him, and my Dmitri said, "Like this?" and squirted him from the sandbox faucet so Jean yelled and tried to tickle him and they ran all over the park. I said to come back and talk about magic dreaming, but then Clover said, "It OK, they back when they done flirt" and Spin and I did HUGE SQUACKS. We said they couldn't flirt because they aren't teenagers, but my Dmitri is 11 and a half, so he's getting to be a teenager. Even if he isn't as grown up as modern kids who are the same age as him, he does the same things they do. I got worried that Dmitri and Humboldt will play flirts with teenagers all the time and not play with me. It feels really bad to think your brothers won't want to be friends with you. Clover said they won't want to do grownup kissing for a long time yet so they'll still play with me, but I was really sad and Spin and I sat in Clover's lap. We didn't talk about magic dreaming any more.
Fairy-mom saw my tail was down so she curled up with me on the porch and we talked about growing up until I felt better. I squished between Humboldt and Dmitri at dinner and sang the You Have To Always Be My Brothers Song to them. They washed my ears because they're still my big brothers and they still love me.
I'm going to try to find Spin and Blond Dmitry in the Dreamlands.
Spin and Jeanne don't have to go up the mountain of bugs to get to the Dreamlands. When I went to the Basking Shark ice cream store, they were already there, and Sonny was outside with a big dish of water getting pets from people who walked by. She's a really good doggy. I ran in and hugged Spin and Jeanne and did a piracy on their ice cream but then I worried that was flirting, so I got some peanut butter crunch ice cream and shared it with them like FRIENDS. Then Humboldt and my Dmitri ran in and Dmitri did a piracy on Jeanne's ice cream, and finally Blond Dmitri came in with Max and Annabelle and 3 kids Annabelle made friends with on the way from the park. We had a huge ice cream party! I tried all the kinds of ice cream people had that weren't choco, but I liked my peanut butter crunch the best. I like all my friends and siblings the best, too.
When we had enough ice cream for right now, we went back to the park and played Calvinball. That's when you make up lots of new rules and everybody gets really confused and laughs a lot because the new rules are really SILLY. Dragon-mayor and some of the other dragons came to watch us, and when Annabelle ran over to tell them her new name, she got lots of dragon-hugs. I like the dragons we have now.
It was a really nice dream even though Sahara and Simoun weren't there. They said they were busy making their flying boat cooler and Nico helped. I hope they didn't do any flirting.
After classes I sat in the treehouse with Annabelle and we talked about how music works while Beethoven-doggy and the bunnies snuggled between us. There was lots of stuff I didn't know so we made notes to ask Dragon-mom, but when the wind made our EARS cold and we had to take the animals home and run inside, she was busy with dinner so we helped her while she told us about music THEORY. Then we all ate bread salad and chicken and veggies with tomato sauce and little spuds. It was SUMMER food, so we might not eat it again until next year. We can get every kind of food every day, but some things are yummier in warm weather and some in cold weather.
Faun and I went to Hebichi's house and we had a MEETING about Halloween costumes. We had lots of ideas, but some of them weren't GOOD ideas. We couldn't agree if we want to do a costume together. If we do, maybe we would be a ZOO. We'd get heads like different animals and then put a sheet over us so only our heads stick out, and draw the zoo on the sheet. I think it would be really cool and lots of people would like it, but it would be hard to play because we'd be stuck together. If we're all different animals by ourselves, people won't know we're a zoo. We have to think about it some more, and maybe we should talk to Spin and Jean and Blond Dmitry in case we want to do a really BIG group costume. Maybe Jean will want to be whatever my Dmitri thinks is pretty. Lots of teenagers like costumes for flirting.
We did lots of outside volleyball today. It was a lot of fun, even though I fell down a lot and got lots of grass and dirt in my fur. I took a bath with Number-dad and we brushed each other really beautiful for dinner at the Gram House. VV-gram is doing really GOOD with growing a kitten in her body, and Flower-gram and Lilja-auncle and everybody are taking good care of her, but we all want to helpe take care of her and give her a masquillion hugs and watch nice shows with her.
I dreamed about VV-gram's beautiful fluffy tummy, but when I woke up in the middle of the night, my nose was in DMITRI'S beautiful fluffy tummy. Sahara's nose was there too, so I made a MENTAL NOTE before going back to sleep. Then I dreamed about a really nice party because it was the underhiders' mom's birthday. She's a tiny troll creature with red hair that goes up in an egg shape and a black dress and striped socks and she pretends to be mean and pointy but really she's nice. A lot of her lizard friends were there too, and they brought pizza, and ninja monkey Akimori-teacher was there and he brought ice cream, and some more ninjas and monkeys came, and it was a really nice party. It wasn't really loud and exciting because the underhiders and their mom don't like that, but we watched some movies and petted lizards and ate lots of ice cream and pizza. VV-gram got an extra pizza for the kitten. The underhiders stayed in some holes under some trees, but they pushed presents out with their tongues and it was really CUTE. She got some books she liked and a sparkly lamp and a fork that she said is for taking out people's BRAINS but I think it was a joke. She only pretended to take out Number-dad's brain.
When we woke up, I asked Sahara if she dreamed about VV-gram's beautiful fluffy tummy too and she DID. We laughed and laughed and hugged Dmitri a lot. His tummy is really good!
I was playing chase with Annabelle and Max and Fairy-mom and I tripped over the spaceship Simoun was building with Lego and broke it, and she BIT me. It really hurt! She got in trouble and had to sit in her closet, but it made me feel really bad. I didn't want to break her spaceship and make her mad, and I didn't want her to get put in time out, but I didn't want her to be so mad at me that she hurt me, even if she was really sorry after. I hid under a bunch of blankets on the shelves and Clover and her friends didn't even see me when they came to do homework until Rafe and Oona SAT on me. That was funny because they were really suprised and we all laughed and I felt better.
It was an up-and-down day.
Hebichi and I dreamed we were going up the mountain to the Dreamlands, but the bugs didn't bother us. They were busy making WEIRD NOISES. It sounded a little bit like fiddling but we didn't know bugs could fiddle, and they were really quiet before, so we snuck on top of a rock to peek at them. They really were fiddling, but they didn't have any fiddles! They had bows and they were fiddling on their arms and legs and bodies and sometimes each other's bodies. It was really weird but lots of bugs make noise by rubbing their legs together so it made a LITTLE BIT of sense. We listened to them and tried to remember the music until they finished and put their bows away and crawled into a secret dave. Then we went up the mountain and had a dream adventure about hiking with Bruno and Beezer and Ash and Rowan and making sure no monsters were sneaking in, but when I woke up I remembered the bug music and I tried to find out what pieces they were playing but I couldn't find them anywhere. It was really MYSTERIOUS because usually I can find music even if I only have a few notes. I talked about it with Hebichi but he couldn't find it either. We decided not to tell anybody about the bug music, not even Pion-teacher, unless somebody else hears it.
We did a really cool lesson about TELESCOPES in school. We're going to build a telescope all together, and then later take up to the mountains to look at stars and PLANETS. We can only see our planets with a telescope we make, not like telescopes in SPACE, but we can see Mars and maybe let Sahara and Simoun look. Maybe Simoun will build a telescope out of LEGO.
We still can't decide what to do for Halloween. We talked to Spin and Jeanne and Blond Dmitry, but they can't decide either. It's really hard to have a good idea that everybody likes.
Humboldt and Dmitri and the rest of the Exploration Club who live here aren't doing a group costume, but they're all doing UNDERWATER costumes. Dmitri is going to be a sea anemone and his fluffy tummy fur will be his tentacles that lure hands in and EAT them. I think Humboldt is going to be a penguin, because there's a kind of penguin called Humboldt. They're little and live in South America and have a stripe that goes across their chest and down both sides. Humboldt will be really cute.
Spin and Hebichi and I dreamed we met at Number-dad and Shoe-auncle's meadow in the forest and went for a walk. We climbed a lot of trees and chased a tree squid and it was really fun. Then we got to a different meadow that still had some flowers so I made flower crowns for Hebichi and Spin and they made one for me. We were all beautiful! Then some fairies came to see what was going on. They were as little as dolls, but the dragonflies they rode on like motorcycles were really big for bugs. They were all really pretty and they did loops and flew right over our heads and threw flowers at us. They tried to steal my hat, so we threw flowers in the air for them to catch instead and they really liked that. They brought more flowers to put in our crowns, gold and red and orange ones, and we were EVEN MORE beautiful. We danced around in a circle and the fairies and their dragonflies and beetles flew around us the other way and maybe it was MAGIC. But I think it was just really fun.
When I saw Hebichi at school we were really happy and everybody noticed so we said we had GOOD DREAMS. Lots of people wanted to learn magic dreaming, so I said sometime we'd have a sleepover to help people learn. I did pretty good at teaching Spin and Jeanne and Blond Dmitry, but maybe I should Humboldt and my Dmitri to help if it's going to be a lot of people.Spin was happy too, and he's prettier than before because his hair finally got long enough to BRAID. It's just a little braid, but it has soft rainbow colors going in and out and I really like it. I hope he grows his hair out really long like Nico's.
Spin and Hebichi and I found the fairies again. We had to look all over the forest because we didn't remember where we left them but they were sitting on some rocks in the creek getting watter for their dragonflies. Hebichi and Spin are ultra-modern kids so they put their feet in the water, but I didn't because it was REALLY COLD. I splashed Hebichi, but I didn't splash the fairies because little creatures get cold really easy. We played fairy chase again, and the fairies tried to catch Spin's rainbow braid and it was really fun. We ran all over the forest and came to a big tree with a hole in it that was the fairies' CASTLE. They went in and out and I don't think there were a masquillion of them but maybe there were DOZENS. We still couldn't talk to them because they were too little, but they brought us some juice in little cups made out of gold. I think maybe it was apricot juice. There wasn't enough of it to make us not thirsty from running, but that's not what it was for. It was MAGIC juice and it turned us tiny like the fairies and we had BUTTERFLY WINGS! Spin's were soft rainbow colors and Hebichi's were all different shades of pink and white and mine were bright rainbow. We were the most beautiful of all. We could talk to the fairies and we said nihao to all of them and how fun it was playing with them. The fairy who talked to us the most was Dandyclock, and they had big poofy white hair like a dandelion with seeds but I don't think they were old. They were really good at riding a dragonfly. But we could ride dragonflies too because we were tiny! They had dragonflies already picked out for us and mine was red on top and black on the bottom and her name was Candlewick. She tried to eat my tail but not very much because the fairies picked her for being nice and easy to ride. Hebichi's dragonfly was called Tsunami and she was all green and blue and looked really pretty with their pink wings, and Spin's dragonfly was pink and blue and her name was Dawnlight. Riding dragonflies is scary and really fun like riding Number-dad's ornithopter except you're driving and the dragonfly is HELPING. We had to practice a lot, but by the time we woke up, we were pretty good, and full of yummy fruit that we grabbed off bushes by zooming past. When you're as little as a fairy, 1 blackberry is a whole bunch of food.
Being regular-size was WEIRD after being tiny and flying, and I was worried everybody would notice and ask about my dreams and want to come play with the fairies so it wouldn't be just for the 3 of us any more, but they were busy talking about Simoun and Sahara and the Exploration Club going to explore a new valley on the other side of Crocodile Marsh. It sounds really fun, but not as fun as flying around a blackberry bush on a dragonfly and swiping blackberries.
Spin drew pictures of us being tiny with wings and dragonflies. They were really cute. He's a really good artist.
I slept in my closet so I could look at the picture Spin drew of us all with butterfly wings without anybody asking about it. It worked really good and we dreamed we were already tiny. Flying is really hard, so we had to run to get to the fairies, and it was a long way and we were really tired when we got there, but they had lots of apricot juice for us. It's weird drinking thick juice when you're tiny, because it seems even thicker, like drinking JAM. It made us feel better right away, though, and we were ready to do play singing and dancing. The fairies are really good, and we weren't very good, but it was lots of fun. I can sing almost as good as Peaseblossom, and they're the best singer on the East Wind team, so I was really proud. Then we did a lot more dragonfly races, because that's the most EXCITING. I didn't do my saddle right at first, so I FELL OFF! That was so scary my pee almost came out, but my wings flapped all on their own and I didn't get hurt at all. Some of the fairies laughed at me and that made me feel really bad, so Dandyclock made them stop and they were sorry. Then Bellhood showed me the right way to do it so I wouldn't forget, and Spin and Hebichi gave me kisses to make me brave, and I tried again. It worked really good and I flew upside-down and didn't fall off. We flew all over the forest playing dragonfly tag. By the river, we saw a big white monster catching fish out of the river, but it wasn't a monster. It was VV-GRAM. We yelled nihao to her, but she couldn't hear us because were were tiny and I think we were INVISIBLE. We played all day until it was almost sunset. Then Dandyclock said it was time for the most important race, that was just going to be visitors, and whoever won was going to be the king of the fairies.
The fairies were really surprised when we said we didn't want to race. We had to tell them how kings are really bad because if 1 person gets to say what everybody does, it's always things that help that person and not everybody. Dandyclock said, "So it's good to be the king!" but we said, "No, it's really mean! Everybody has to decide what everybody does!" Peaseblossom said, "Maybe the race could be to decide the prince?" but that was just as bad. Then the fairies went to talk by themselves. I know it's rude to listen to people who aren't talking to you, but we thought the fairies were being SKETCHY so I listened really carefully and I could hear them because I learned magic LISTENING in magic singing class. They were really worried because they needed a king really bad, but they didn't say why. They came back and told us how the king of the fairies gets to have adventures and do really exciting stuff for their whole life. That sounded fun but when Hebichi said they were glad it wasn't the kind of magic king who DIES after one year, the fairies said the king gets to live their whole life but they looked even SKETCHIER. If you get killed, everything before that was your whole life! We said we didn't want any of that and tried to go, but Dandyclock started CRYING and said if they didn't get a king there wouldn't be any new fairies and they were really sorry and then they tried to GRAB us!
We ran every which way but there were TOO MANY fairies and I couldn't sing and run at the same time. I jumped on Candlewick and we flew away, but the fairies were letting us win before and they caught up right away. It didn't help them, because when I was riding on Candlewick I could do magic singing and break the spell that made us tiny. For 1 second I was scared I was going to crush Candlewick, but the spell broke like CRASH and I was regular-size all at once and I think Candlewick was flying under my tummy but I couldn't pay attention. I had to run as fast as I could to the river in case VV-gram was still there.
A whole bunch of grownup cats were having a grownup party by the river with toasted fish and crispy bread, and VV-gram was there and so was FAIRY-MOM. They all got really surprised but when I said fairies were trying to trick us and make us be kings and they caught Hebichi and Spin, the cats all got really MAD because they were all mom cats. VV-gram said she and Fairy-mom would take care of it and the others should stay and eat, but Sparkling Cavern came too. We ran back to the fairy castle tree, and the fairies had Spin and Hebichi who were still tiny and the fairy QUEEN was there. She was like a whirlwind made out of fancy windows made out of shiny bug shells and she was really pretty but I don't think even ZORA would want to kiss her. VV-gram sang so Spin and Hebichi got big again and we all hid behind VV and Sparkling Cavern and got sniffed a lot to make sure we're OK. Fairy-mom walked really fierce to the fairies and said, "Just what do you think you were doing to these kittens?!" The fairies were in TROUBLE!
The fairies were really sorry, but they didn't find a king for 3 years and they were afraid they were going to go EXTINCT. We felt sorry for them, but Fairy-mom said it wasn't a good reason to KIDNAP people. She scolded and scolded them so much I woke up. I thought about going to see if I could sleep in the parent room, but I didn't want to wake up Fairy-mom so I went in the kitten room and curled up between Sahara and Dmitri and didn't have any more dreams.
When I woke up, Fairy-mom was on top of me and Sahara and she gave me lots of kisses and said the fairies wouldn't bother me any more. I'm sad because I liked playing with them, even though I know it was a trick to get me to be their king, because I wish they were real friends. I hope Candlewick and the other dragonflies are OK. It's not their fault the fairies tried to trick us.
Everybody woke up and Fairy-mom told us all about staying away from fairies because having a whole lifetime of adventures in one year sounds good, but you can't come back to see anybody until you're DEAD. I don't want to miss my family and my friends and everybody for my whole life. None of us do. Fairy-mom said Dragon-mayor will help the fairies find somebody who does want that but won't be mean. I hope it works out.
Hebichi was really sad too, but they hugged me a lot because I got Fairy-mom to come help. They thought it was really funny Fairy-mom was the one to scold the fairies. After school we found Spin and hugged him a lot too.
I want to have adventures that don't make people sad.
I was sitting in the treehouse after lunch THINKING, and Max jumped up and sniffed me. "Samuel-brother sad? Little bug monsters pretend friend?" She was right. I was still feeling bad because I wanted to be friends with the fairies, but they just wanted to steal me to be their king. "Samuel blue inside? Max EAT?" I said, "You can't eat up all my sadness. It would give you a TUMMY ACHE." She said her tummy was big and strong, so I had to tickle it a whole bunch and then Sahara and Annabelle and Simoun jumped up and I had 4 SISTER SNUGGLE. It was really cozy and nice and I know they won't stop loving me. Then Dmitri and Humbold came to see what was going on and I had 6 SIBLING SNUGGLE, but after them Hebichi came, and I had 1 FRIEND RUNNING because we were almost late to fiddling class.
I like writing how Max says things because she's funny like Number-dad. She's my weirdest sibling.
Hebichi said that keeping the fairies a secret was bad because no one could tell us how sketchy they were, so maybe we shouldn't keep the bugs fiddling a secret either. They were RIGHT. We thought about telling Pion-sensei, but she only knows about fiddling, not about magic dreaming. Dragon-mom knows about magic and music, so we decided to tell her.
After kid cooking class, I took my butterscotch chip cookies and traded them to Hebichi's dads and Toka so I could BORROW Hebichi to come to my house. They said that was a really good trade and I could keep them as long as I wanted. I think I made good cookies.
Dragon-mom's eyebrows were really surprised when we told her about the bugs fiddling on themselves because she didn't know they could do that. She thought about it a bunch and decided that we didn't need to worry because it's regular for spirits to do things that don't mean anything to anybody else, but if they do it more we should tell her. She said it was really good of us to tell her about it, and ate a bunch of my cookies. I gave her lots of butterscotch kisses.
I want to go back to the fairy tree to make sure Candlewick is OK, but I won't, because the fairies might try to trick me again.
I was worried I might dream about visiting the fairy tree, so I cuddled up with everybody in the kitten room. I dreamed about Dragon-mayor's city. I was at the tall building where the mayor and all his helpers work, but they were busy so I didn't go in to bother them. I went to the park behind City Tall where the concrete swoops are and sat on the highest one. Usually I can't because another cat's already there, but I was first this time. There was a nice breeze and I smelled all kinds of city stuff and thought about how bad it is to pretend to be somebody's friend just so you can kidnap them. I got really grouchy so when I saw Dmitri and Jeanne at the bottom of the swoops I thought they were on a ROLLERSKATING DATE like in PAZZY'S MIXED-UP DAY. But I was wrong. They were playing rollerskate tag with a bunch of different kids and they all yelled for me to come down and play.
All the kids were really nice. One kid pushed me really hard to knock me down when I skated in front of her, but it didn't work because I have LOTS OF PAWS and she was sorry when I said that was mean, so it was OK. Nobody tried to kidnap me or make me a king, and rollerskating is almost as fun as riding a dragonfly. I'm pretty good at rollerskating.
When I was awake, I wished I could rollerskate more, so after classes I got Hebichi and Faun and Pixie and Sahara and Simoun and we went to our rollerskating park. The first thing that happened when we got there even before I put on skates was Cara FLEW THROUGH THE AIR at me. She yelled to look out, so I stood up tall and caught her but then we fell over and my head went BONK on the concrete. It really hurt. Cara was OK because she's an ultra-modern person and didn't need me to help her so I felt dumb and my head hurt. She carried me to a resting spot with grass and made sure I was OK and kissed my head all over and said I'm a BIG SWEETIE for trying to help her. Hebichi and Simoun and everybody said the same thing. Then I felt embarrassed but happy. Rei was there too. They were practicing tricks on SKATEBOARDS. Rei did one where they really fast up the swoop so they went STRAIGHT UP and then turned around in the air and came back straight down on the same swoop. It was really cool. When my head felt better I tried it on rollerskates because I have too many paws for a skateboard. The first time I tried, my body did the twirl for landing on my paws, but that's not right for this and I went THUMP on my side and rolled down. It was harder than it looked! I sat down again and thought about how every part of my body should go. That's called INTERNAL TRAINING. Then I tried doing the trick again and I did a lot better. I still had to practice, but I learned to do it before Sahara and Simoun and Pixie even though they're all older than me. I was really proud.
All the falling down made me sore, so when Clover came to get us for dinner I asked her to carry me and she did because she's really nice. I ate a bunch of beef stew with barley and chewy bread and now I'm going to go to sleep because I'm tried from so much rollerskating.
I tried to read my book, but Number-dad's foot wiggled and then it stopped wiggling and then wiggled AGAIN. I tried really hard not to look at it, but it kept wiggling so I had to POUNCE on it and wash it! Number-dad squacked and tried to kick me but then he laughed. "I wiggled before kittens, I got what I deserve!" He washed my head really nice. But I wasn't the only kitten there, and my tail was wiggling, so I got what I deserved too. I squacked and grabbed Annabelle and washed her nose and she laughed and laughed. Then I snuggled up by Number-dad's tummy and Annabelle snuggled up by my tummy and we all read together and it was really cozy and nice.
We only got to read a few pages, though, because then it was time for MAGIC SINGING class. Annabelle didn't go, because she goes with Max and Secret and some other kids for a younger class, but Number-dad did. He's going to teach us when VV-gram is busy with the new kitten, Morgan didn't like that because they want to learn VV-gram's magic singing style, but Number-dad looked at them like he wasn't mad and said, "You think I not first student of VV-sensei?" Then they had to be quiet because he is. He's a really good magic singer. We practiced songs for breaking out of enchantments, like I did with the fairies. Sahara is really good at that.
Hebichi and Spin and I sat in the petting zoo cuddling bunnies and talked about the fairies. Hebichi and Spin are still mad at them, but I might be done with being mad and just want to stay away from them. Cuddling bunnies makes everybody feel better. Some of the sheepies from Tansy's place came over and put their noses in Spin's pockets because they hoped he had candy, but he gave his last candy to Jean and the only yummy stuff in his pockets was the smell. Sequeira, the hungriest sheepie, tried to eat his markers and rubber bands and magnifying glass and pocketknife, but none of that is yummy, so she was really sad. We took her to the food court to get french fries. None of the animals in my zoo should have to be hungry.
I got over 100 in bowling! Bowling goes up to 300, but it's the highest score I ever got, so I was really proud. Hank-teacher gave me a HIGH-5.
We had make-your-own tacos for dinner at the Gram House. I helped Flower-gram make taco meat and grate cheese because it's fun, but I did too good of a job because the tacos were so yummy I ate a MASQUILLION of them and then I couldn't move. Lots of people couldn't move. Flower-gram brushed our fur all beautiful while we watched some fun shows and I fell asleep.
I dreamed I was with Blond Dmitry and some sheepies from Tansy's place. There were a bunch of sheepies, but only Elliot and Kay and Monster Sheep came with us on the boat across Crocodile Marsh. We had to push the boat with poles, but the duckies showed us the way. Blond Dmitry poled really strong so we got to the other side fast, before the Exploration Club left. They were surprised to see us, but they said we could go with them. They were exploring that new valley again but this time they were going up the other side. Blond Dmitry thought Maa-uu was really cool, because she is and because he never got to make friends with a big dino before. Sahara and Simoun came too, so we had lots of songkittens, but lots of ultra-modern people and a robot and a tricer and some sheepies too. It was a big group so we weren't worried about wild animals.
The valley is really nice. It has lots of evergreen trees, and some grass that's getting wintery but still green and a creek down the middle and lots of birds. It's really wide by the marsh buts skinnier the more you go up until there's a point. My Dmitri drew a map that showed how it was a TRIANGLE and had streams coming from the sides to join the creek and a tall rock by one hill. Some of us climbed up the rock and we could see the whole valley right up to the top and down to the marsh. It was really nice. My Dmitri drew a better map and Rei and I watched him so we could draw maps too, and Blond Dmitry hugged all the sheepies a bunch because they're so soft and laughed when Monster Sheep pretended to eat him. When Dmitri was done, we kept going up to the top of the valley but the sheepies got worried. They said they smelled DINOS and then we found what looked like CLOBBER-BIRD poop. They're really brave, though, and wanted to keep going, so we put them in the middle of everybody by Maa-uu, where no clobber-birds or dinos could get them. Then we saw a really big bird like a giant TURKEY! It was in the trees looking at us, so we looked right back because there was a lot of us. But then more giant turkeys came and looked. We yelled at them to see if they could talk, but they only went OBLOBLOBLOB and went back into the trees. They know they can't fight us, because we have Cara who got rid of a SKY SHARK.
We got to the top of the valley where there's a big cliff and a little lake, but it's 2 cliffs because there's a place to go between them and it's not really a valley it's a PASS. The Exploration club only just go to the edge of the lake on the other side and it was TOO COLD to swim and then they woke up, so they didn't know. Everybody was really excited, but worried because if we went in and Maa-uu got stuck and giant turkeys attacked it might be dangerous. We're all really brave explorers, so we went even though we were worried. It was really narrow, but we kept our eyes open for giant turkeys jumping down on us and Maa-uu had to take off her vest but she never got stuck.
On the other side was a HUGE VALLEY. My Dmitri said maybe it was 30 KILOMETERS to the other side! The mountains were all green with evergreens, but the bottom was full of trees that were all doing autumn leaves and it was a little bit foggy and there was a shiny river down the middle and it was REALLY BEAUTIFUL. We didn't even try to go down the mountain because we were too busy looking at how beautiful it was until we woke up.
Humboldt and Dmitri and Sahara and Simoun and I all tried to draw pictures of the valley, but it was hard. I made mine really fuzzy because of the mist so it was just colors, and I think that was OK. Sahara did the same thing but like chalk instead of watercolors, and I think that worked better. It seems like Sahara only practices biting, but she's good at art too.
I went to find Spin after school to tell him about the valley and ask if he had any good dreams, but he was already hearing about it from Blond Dmitry. I snuck up behind him and Blond Dmitry didn't give me away so I was able to kiss him right on the EAR. Then I had to jump really quick because he almost clobbered me at the same time he squacked. He said, "Dmitry, you let me get ambushed!" Dmitry said, "I let you get KISSED!" "It was an AMBUSH kiss!" "I don't think Samuel would ambush anybody except with kisses." I said, "Sometimes I ambush people with tickles SQUACK!" and Spin and Blond Dmitry both tickled me until I fell over. All the people in their school who were going home laughed at us and said we were cute, and I got embarrassed but happy too. Then we went to get really quick sandwiches before going to classes and we both told Spin about the valley and he told us about his imaginary dream that was mostly chasing doggies and getting mud all over his feet and waking up with Sonny sleeping on TOP of him. He said the exploring dream was better, but I don't know if he meant it. He really loves Sunny. That's OK.
I wonder if sleeping on top of Humboldt will help us go back to the beautiful valley. I think I better try it.
I dreamed about the beautiful valley, but it was an imaginary dream. Then I dreamed about trying to draw pictures of it, but that's really hard in an imaginary dream because the pictures change when you don't look. Everybody else had imaginary dreams too, except Sahara and Simoun who dreamed about working on their flying boat.
Purpleberry Ice Cream Kids played volleyball against Raptor Dance Party Kids, and we won! Spin and Blond Dmitry aren't on the volleyball team, but Jean is, so I felt a little bit bad about swatting the ball right into his NOSE, but he's an ultra-modern kid so it didn't bother him at all. Then we bought them warm choco and cinnamon rolls, because that's what you do when it's cold out and you WIN. I jumped higher than anybody, and got the ball when everybody thought it was going to be out and Jean's team wasn't ready. Everybody said I did really good, and I was really proud.
After dinner, VV-gram went to the swing on her porch to take a nap, because even though she didn't play any sports today, growing a kitten is hard work. I curled up by her tummy and purred and sang the New Kitten Song. Maybe the new kitten doesn't have ears to hear the song, but purring is good for CELLS. I read about making maps and it was really cozy and then Sahara and Simoun came and snuggled with us and it was even nicer and VV-gram washed my arm in her sleep. I think she was dreaming about washing the new kitten. It made me really happy.
It's almost Halloween and we still don't have any ideas that everybody likes for costumes. I'm really worried that we won't have good costumes and everybody at the party will think we aren't cool. After classes, I need to get Faun and Hebichi and we need to turn our brains on FULL POWER.
We decided to all be OCEAN CREATURES. Being an ocean together sounds cool, and we could do a piracy and hide all the sweets in our costume, but we couldn't dance and Hebichi really wants to dance. Faun and I like dancing too, so that's OK. I'm going to be an octo with BLUE CIRCLES, so if anybody is mean to me I can bite them with venom. Faun is going to be a Wrong Whale, which is like a right whale only weird and scary. Hebichi can't decide if they want to be a sea dragon or a salt-water crocodile but those are both good.
Sahara and Simoun are going to be Sabertooth Tiger Seals, which are like leopard seals but bigger and with bigger teeth. Humboldt and Dmitri are still keeping their costumes secret, but I know Max is going to be a blue star and Annabelle is going to be a comet that zooms around. I think Dragon-mom is going to be a SONG, so maybe Number-dad is going to be a picture and Fairy-mom is going to be a checklist.
I talked to Spin and they're being PIRATES so that goes with our costumes really good and we can be together at the party. I think this will be a good Halloween.
I wanted to dream about going to the beautiful valley again, but instead I dreamed about sitting with the Exploration Club and Spin and Faun and Hebichi trying to explain about Halloween to a TRICER while Aimée got some gunk out of Explorobot's knee. It was a nice dream and we had warm juice and pastries full of fruit and I got snuggles from Rei and Cara, but I was still disappointed.
I looked through lots of octo costumes to find the best one. Lots of them didn't work for cats, but I found some for centauriform people that could work and another pattern for colors that turn on and off so I could make the blue rings show when I wanted to WARN people. It was embarrassing that I had to ask MAX for help, but she wears clothes every day and likes different clothes so much she had to have a LIMIT for new dresses every week, so she knows a lot about designing clothes. Then I had to stand in LINE because everybody wants to use the clothes machine to make costumes and party clothes and hats and warm socks. Ultra-modern people don't get cold just from winter, but they like cozy feet anyway. I talked to lots of people about their costumes and some people had really good ideas! Some people had ideas for FLIRTING costumes, though, and I didn't like those. I think maybe Rei is going to be a TREE and they're going to have a long dress even though they don't usually wear dresses. I wonder what Cara is going to be!
We dreamed about flying kites in the biggest park in Dragon-mayor's city because it was REALLY WINDY, and Bobtail Dragon was there flying a kite too, and he called Hebichi Little Dragon more, so Hebichi is sure they want to be an ocean dragon for Halloween. I think they'll be a really cool dragon, because they're a really cool PERSON.
We helped Faun with his Wrong Whale costume. He drew a picture of how it's supposed to look and it's REALLY SCARY! Instead of baleens in its mouth it has SAW BLADES and it has weird fins and TOO MANY EYES. I hope he doesn't scare the younger kids and make them CRY.
I tried sneaking up on Clover-auncle when she was doing homework, but even though I was really quiet, she squished me with 1 hand and didn't even stop READING. I got really frustrated because I can't ever sneak up on grownups even when my feet are REALLY SOFT, and when Clover tried to cuddle me I ran away and hid in my closet all by MYSELF. After a while I felt bad because Clover shouldn't have to let me win, and I went back and sat on the shelf with her, and she's a good auncle so she wasn't grouchy at me. We talked about costumes. Her friend Rafe, who has cool hair, is going to be a cool hair boy from a long time ago, and her friend Oona who likes wearing gloves is going to be a great spirit with SILVER HANDS. Clover's costume is still a secret, but she says it's going to be AMAZING. I hope my costume is cool enough.
I had to stand in line again because I want to make a costume where the blue circle GLOW. That's even cooler and spookier. I talked to a lot of nice people in line. In front of me was a kid younger than Max, who's going to be a fish for Halloween because fish are wiggly and neat, but she knows sometimes people try to eat fishes so she's going to have a FISH STICK to clobber them. I don't think that's what fish stick means, but we're all proud of her. Her dad is going to be the AURORA AUSTRALIS, which is when the sky in ANTARCTICA lights up all different colors because of sun radiation. He'll be really pretty. Behind me was a teenager who's going to be MONSTER SALAD with spinch and toadstools and candied skulls and leeches. She showed me pictures and it's a flirting costume but it's really funny so maybe it's OK. Everybody liked my costume that I brought to recycle, but they all said I'm right that it would be better if it glows, so I'm glad I'm changing it even if standing in line takes a long time. I saved some people's places for them, and then I helped Lilja-auncle bring everybody warm cocoa and cider.
I tried on my new costume in the dark and it's REALLY COOL.
Faun didn't tell me he needed parts for his costume, but I didn't tell him I was going to the clothes machine, so it's both our fault he had to stand in line. I stood with him and shared my cider and we talked to more people. Our Halloween party is going to have a cyborg and 2 different wizards from a fun show about magic school and a bunch of ninjas and a sheepie with a fancy hat like in old times and a POEM. It's a really good poem about spring and autumn and birds and the costume has pictures around the edges of the words and it's really pretty. I found out Ribbon-gram is going to be the sun and VV-gram is going to be the moon and Lilja-auncle is going to be a STORMCLOUD. If anyone is mean to her, she'll rain on them and zap them with lightning. Maybe that's even better than a fish stick.
VV-gram says she's going to be the moon because she's going to get rounder and rounder from now on. That's because she's growing a kitten INSIDE HER BODY. Sometimes I forget because she's not doing very much different, but it's really amazing.
I dreamed about Dragon-mayor's city where people were getting ready for a HUGE Halloween party for everybody in the city. It was a lot of work! I said nihao to lots of people, but I didn't help very much because I had to go to my zoo and make sure everything was going OK there. Lots of people on the train had costumes, so it was really fun. I didn't have my octo costume, but I had a pointy hat and a wand that glowed, like a wizard, so I pretended to cast spells on people to make them let me ride the train without paying and come to the zoo and share their seats.
Animals don't know about Halloween, so they didn't have costumes except a few who regularly have collars had fancier ones and some had their fur dyed with really safe dyes. White Bunny had pink stripes to be Christmas Candy Bunny. It was really cute. All the animals had pumpkins, even the ones who don't eat vegetables, because they're fun to play with. Giving the animals toys is called ENRICHMENT and it's really important for keeping them happy. The people at the zoo had costumes. Lots of them were different animals, like the new lady who takes care of the ellyphants was a mousie, and Zsuzsy was a parrot birdie. They all thought it was fun except when the animals tried to eat their costumes. Black Bunny tried to steal Zsuzsy's feathers because they were green like spinch, but she distracted him with real spinch. The sheepies thought that was really funny.
I got really worried that my costume isn't good enough and people will think I'm not cool and won't play with me at the party but Humboldt pounced on me and said I'm being a WORRYING WART. Then he washed my face until I felt better. He's a really good big brother.
I helped Nessie-auncle and Zora bake a masquillion cookies for the party. They were regular sugar cookies so it was easy to mix up a whole bunch of dough, but we made them spooky for Halloween. Some got shaped like skulls and some got shaped like pumpkins, because we cooked them in MOLDS, but some were just round and got pictures sprayed on them with food coloring, like moons and scary monster faces, and some we painted funny pictures on with icing. It was really fun. I did a piracy on the dough and it was really yummy, so I think everybody will like the cookies.
Nessie-auncle and Big Sam are going to be people from a show a long time ago, where there was a martial artist and a wizard, and everybody thought the big one did punching and the little one did magic but it was the OTHER WAY AROUND. They have regular suits, but if they wear the right sunglasses and hair, all the grownups will know who they are.
I'm writing this TOMORROW, because I didn't have any time to write on Halloween. It was really busy!
Halloween isn't a BIG holiday even though people like it, so I still had to go to school and do lessons and go to classes. We learned lots of spooky songs about ghosts in fiddling class, and made some CANDY in kid cooking class. Choco isn't good for cats, so I made peanut brittle instead. I had to be really careful pouring the hot stuff, so I didn't get burned and have my fur turned into candy, but it worked and it's really yummy.
After class I went to help set up the neighborhood center. We got tables out and put up decorations everywhere and chairs at the sides for people to sit down when they got tired from dancing and mats in the side rooms for kids to sleep on. I was in charge of SKELETONS so I put them like they were doing scary things. 1 went on a rafter like it was going to jump down on somebody, 1 went curled up behind the cookie table like it was going to jump out at somebody, 1 went behind a big speaker like it wanted to push it over on somebody, and 1 went at the front of the stage like it wanted to grab the feet of anybody who went up there. But the last 2 went on each side of the rooms with mats and they had signs that said SLEEPING KIDS. I thought it was because some skeletons should be helpful but then Mitta said it was because the skeletons were greedy and wanted the kids all for themselves, so maybe I was WRONG.
VV-gram said we had to go home and eat a good dinner before having party sweets all night. Simoun said we weren't growing kittens inside us so we didn't need to, but VV-gram said we were growing US. We had to eat a bunch of spaghetti with white clam sauce, but it's OK because kittens have an EXTRA STOMACH for sweets.
Everybody had really good costumes! Spin and Jean and Blond Dmitry were really good pirates with pirate hats and pirate shirts and swords and old-fashioned guns and Jean had a PEG LEG. They did a lot of piracies, but were really nice about letting younger kids pirate them. They had a big pirate battle with some other kids who were pirates and we helped them and it was really fun.
Humboldt and my Dmitri were EXPLORATION DINOS. They had long tails and floofy feathers and red Exploration Club vests and they explored everywhere for yummy things to eat and roared at people and ran away when a T REX came. Dragon-mom was an old song about dancing by moonlight so she was all silvery and had a long black wig and a sparkly dress like the lady in the song. She was really pretty! Number-dad was the tiger from that famous painting by Mo Ko Li so he had weird black stripes and a pretend deer in his mouth except really it was stuck to underneath his chin so it didn't get in the way of eating sweets. It was a really good costume. Fairy-mom wasn't a checklist, though. She was an old-time RACING CAR. She had fun zooming around and around and almost running people over and giving people rides. Rose-auncle was CRUITHNE. That's an asteroid that has almost the same orbit as Earth but goes in and out more so sometimes it's right by Earth and sometimes it goes way ahead. Rose-auncle was a moon like her sister VV-gram, but a moon that goes away and comes back. That's really cool. I'll have to tell Isaac Mewton about it.
Clover's amazing costume is STANDING UP. I didn't know she can do that in the Awake World but she learned how. She looks like she's as grown-up as Nico, and she's really pretty and has lots of squiggly orange hair that goes all over. She had a flirting shirt and flirting shorts so I think she was dressed like an ultra-modern teenager. Everybody thought she was really pretty and wanted to dance with her and kiss her. Cara had a flirting dress except it was the same color as her skin so it looked like she didn't have any clothes on and she had a scarf that went around with lots of leaves stuck on it so it looked that was all she was wearing. She was a pretty tree spirit who gets teenagers to go back to the MONSTER TREE to get eaten. Rei was the monster tree and they had a long dress like bark and branches and leaves and a scary face. I'm glad I'm not a teenager.
Lots of other people had good costumes too, but the teenagers had flirting costumes instead. Nico was a koi boy and Zora and Ai were the villains from SPACE BUBBLE ADVENTURE SHOW with plasma swords and spacesuits and crowns that lit up. I liked Secret's mom's costume even though it was like the fairies because she was a knight with armor like it was made out of bug monsters she defeated and she went around saving people from monsters.
Secret was OUTER SPACE, so Max and Annabelle and a bunch of other kids who were stars and moons and space stuff ran around with her going zoom and whoosh and sparkle and having lots of fun. Sahara and Simoun and Faun and Hebichi and me were underwater creatures and we found a bunch more kids who were underwater this year, like a giant squid and some sharks and a purple whale. Faun was really scary as the Wrong Whale, and he even tried to eat the kid who was a fish with a stick, but I jumped in front and made my blue rings LIGHT UP so people who didn't know about my costume feel down. Everybody thought my costume was great and had fun pretending like I was really scary. I pretended like other people were scary because blue-ring octos are really little, but I was really brave and we saved lots of underwater creatures and pirates and everybody from scary underwater monsters like the Wrong Whale until we got tired and our parents took us to the kid sleeping room. We had to take off our costumes so they didn't get crunched, but then we could be a big snuggle pile.
I think the grownups and teenagers played a lot of flirts after we went to sleep, but we were asleep so we didn't have to look.
| September, 2033<<< | All Entries | >>>November, 2033 |