The Land of the Flowered Bed makes a stunning discovery

Lying on the Flowered Bed, the animals were watching television. The seals were knitting seaweed with seashell knitting needles, Pumble was eating popcorn and Cookies was reading.

Hairy watched a commercial for Mother's Day play across the screen. Suddenly, he sat up.

"Guys, did you hear that?" he asked.

"What?" Pumble asked through a mouthful of popcorn.

"Mothers day is coming up," Hairy said, his bristles prickling with excitement.

"So?" Pumble said, shoving another handful of popcorn in his mouth.

"I don't have a mother!" Hairy cried, clapping his hands of his face. "I don't have a mother!" He howled mournfully and fell over into the comforter.

"Don't be silly," Cookies said, peering down his beak. "Everyone has a mother. How else do you exist?"

"I don't have a mother," Pumble said, spewing flecks of popcorn at Cookies.

The seals looked at each other and burst into tears. They didn't have a mother either.

"We don't have a mother!" the first duck from the Spa yelled. He had been eavesdropping.

"We don't even have family vacations!" the second duck from the Spa yelled.

"This is really quite distressing," sobbed the third duck.

"Come to think of it, I guess I don't have a mother either," Cookies said thoughtfully. "How can we celebrate Mother's day without a mother?"

"We could bake a cake," Pumble said, licking his lips with anticipation.

The seals barked and held up their seaweed sweater, shaking their tails.

"If we don't have a mother, how do we know she'd like a sweater?" Cookies said, patting the seals heads. "But it's kind of you to offer."

Hairy bit his lip and tapped his head. Suddenly, he sat up straight and beamed. "I know!" He exclaimed. "We'll find a mother!"

"Find a mother?" Pumble repeated. "Where?"

"I don't think you can just find a mother," Cookies said.

"Sure we can!" Hairy said with enthusiasm. "If you can find friends, why couldn't you find a mother?"

The animals couldn't argue with his sound logic.

"But how do we find a mother?" Pumble asked, shaking the remaining popcorn from the bowl into his mouth.

"I guess we could look around," Hairy said slowly. He wasn't entirely sure how to catch a mother. "And while we're searching, we'll set up a mother trap."

"I'll get the carrots, a box and some string," Pumble said, ecstatic for any chance to return to the kitchen.

"Mothers don't like carrots," Cookies argued.

"Sure they do," Pumble said. "Why do they always want you to eat them if they don't like them?"

Cookies sputtered, unable to answer. Hairy shook his head.

"We'll have to put some different things in our Mother Trap," he said, tapping his chin. "Follow me...."

The animals hopped off the bed and scuttled all over the Land of the Flowered Bed. First they propped up a shoebox with a broken clothes hanger. Next, the seals found an old candle and a make up bag in the Blonde Duck's closet. They drug that into the box and placed a Q-tip on the edge.

"What's the Q-tip for?" Cookies asked.

"I don't know," Hairy admitted. "But it seems like something mothers would like. Tonight, we'll see if we trap a mother. If we don't trap one, we'll have to go look for her."

The animals propped themselves up on the bed, hidden by a group of pillows so they could watch the box from above. Unfortunately, they were so comfortable they fell asleep. Hairy woke up to the seals' barking.

"Hey guys, look!" he exclaimed. "Something is in the box!"

To be continued....