A Crime in the Land of the Flowered Bed

Time: 8:08 a.m. January 17, 2007

Location: The Land of the Flowered Bed, on the bed


It was a horrible scene. The seals had buried themselves in the pillows to avoid looking at it, and Pumble was so upset he made a beeline for the ice cream. Cookies and Hairy were left standing at the disaster.

"Well," Hairy said. "I suppose one of us should check it's tags."

"The horror!" Cookies clutched his chest. "Oh the humanity! Who could have done this? Only a monster!"

Hearing the shrieks, the seals trembled more and dove only deeper under the pillows.

"You're scaring them," Hairy scolded, as he grimly surveyed the scene.

"They should be scared," Cookies said ominously. "I'm scared. And nothing scares me." The seals' tails completely disappeared. Hairy made a face at him.

"I'm back," Pumble announced, strolling back in with a ring of chocolate syrup around his mouth. He saw the sight and grimaced. "Haven't you cleaned that up yet? It's making me nauseous just looking at it."

Hairy stepped forward and carefully reached under the victim and checked his tags. After carefully reading them, he carefully relaxed.

"It's a false alarm!" he cried happily.

"What do you mean it's a false alarm?" Cookies said in shock. "Could it be? No one has been murdered? We are safe in our beds at night? We can relax in the knowlege that--"

"YES!" Hairy cried happily. "We're safe! There's not a killer on the loose!"

Barking excitedly, the seals emerged from the pillows.

"Well, then whatever is it?" Pumble demanded.

"Yes, what is it?" Cookies asked anxiously.

Hairy looked at each of them dramatically, then grinned. "It's wool and cashmere!"

"Wool and cashmere!" they all cried excitedly.

"So they didn't skin stuffed animals!" Pumble cried. "It's just a boring ordinary sweater! It's not worthy of investigation!"

"We're safe!" Cookies cried. "They're shearing sheep instead! How glorious! I always knew there had to be another explanation. I was never convinced that a stuffed animal killer was on the loose. Besides, why would he skin the animals and turn their hides into sweaters? That's utterly ridiculous."

"That's why you woke us up with the blood curdling shriek, 'Murder, Murder!" Pumble mimicked.

"Ok, ok," Hairy said, rolling his eyes. "The important thing is that it is a sweater, and that it is made from wool, not from skins. It was just a product of our over-active imaginations."

After they sat around and congratulated each other, they sat still, rather bored.

"Well, there went all the excitement," Pumble muttered. "I'm going to go see what's in the kitchen!"

As the seals played quietly on the floor, Hairy read a magazine on the bed while Cookies perfected his soliloquy. Suddenly, Pumble came racing in the room.

"Guys, you'll never believe it!" he cried dramatically. "Someone stole all the crackers! They're gone! My precious wheat crackers--they're GONE!" Hairy grabbed his magnifying glass and Cookies hurried behind him with his special detective hat. The seals followed, barking excitedly. The next adventure had begun.