Party all night long

When the morning sun peeked through the blinds, the chaos around the room seemed to multiply with each new strand of light. Clothes were strewn on the floor, shoes thrown with abandon near walls and empty glasses littering the nightstand and dresser. A blanket hung halfway to the floor, and pillows were sprinkled liberally about the carpet. Bras decorated door handles.

The seals were passed out on the floor, near the pillows. They hadn't had the energy to crawl over and lay their heads on the fluffy squares, and had collapsed where they had jumped. Cookies the Owl was snoring loudly, entangled in the middle of the hanging blanket. Hairy the Hedgehog was barely peeking over the swirl of covers, and only Pumble's legs emerged from the creases of a pillow.

The critters of the Land of the Flowered Bed had a party. The night had flown by as they danced around to old 90's rock songs and painted each other's faces. Pumble and Hairy had watched movies while Cookies baked (what else?) cookies and popped a bag of popcorn. The seals had a fencing lesson on top of The Blonde Duck as she slept, using her snores to count the rhythm.

"You have to move your hips!" Pumble shouted, as he munched on honey and crackers. He tapped a hanger along to the beat as the seals tried to mambo on their tails. "And one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four...."

"How do you suppose this works?" Hairy asked confused, as he punched the remote. "The buttons were working, but now we're stuck on this movie channel. I prefer not to watch Lifetime movies. Where did Animal Planet go?"

"Now listen, you ruffians, I've baked you some cookies and you better eat them!" Cookies the Owl glared. "I even made fish taco appetizers for you flopping mammals like you requested. That took a long time, so I want you to savor--" he broke off as the seals happily scooped the tacos in their mouths and swallowed them, barking enthusiastically. "Why do I even bother?" he sighed dramatically as he swooped off the the kitchen to make more.



There was a brief intermission as the Blonde Duck went to work and then Ben came home to slept. Then it roared into action again.

"This is the best party ever!" Pumble yelled over the roar of the white-noise machine and music. Hairy had burned a new mix CD.

"It's great!" Hairy yelled back.

"Who wants more cookies?" Cookies yelled, presenting the group with peanut butter and honey cookies. The seals barked in excitement and bounced toward the plate, sweeping the cookies off with their tails. "Share, you feisty mammals," Cookies scolded. The one thing that put Cookies in a good mood was baking, and it only made the party that much better.

Suddenly, an alarm sounded and Ben began to stir. The animals quickly scarfed down their cookies and returned to their proper places. Pumble was pounding his chest to stop the indigestion when the Blonde Duck walked through the door.

Ben sat up sleepily and surveyed the disaster around him.

"This room is a wreck!" he said, narrowing his eyes.

"Well, you must have trashed," clucked the Blonde Duck. "Did you have a party with the animals?"

"Oh yea," Ben said sarcastically. "We partied all night long."

When the door shut, Hairy poked up his head mischievously from the covers. "I know we did!"

The animals giggled and the seals flipped and clapped their fins. When Ben jerked the door open to see what the noise was, Pumble was laying in a pile of pillows and Hairy was entangled in the covers. Cookies was caught between the blanket and bed, and the seals were on the floor.

Ben shrugged and shut the door, barely hearing the faint sound of giggles behind him. After all, it was a lovely party.