The Blame Game And Secrets In The Woods

 It wasn't very far from Grandma B's mini farm to Marleewood, but it was enough time for Marlee to have a little visit with her sister, Whitlee Jo. She wanted to explain things to her. She wanted to tell her about her going to Preschool now that she was four years old. She also wanted to tell her about Grandma Lu. Grandma Lu wasn't her real grandma, but lots of kids called the Story Lady Grandma Lu.

Marlee was being watched from a tiny house that was deep in the timber. A tiny voice said, "Do you really think she is going to tell her today?" Another older voice said, "I won't let that happen. I have been in charge of these woods for hundreds of years. I sent a message to the old guy at the North Pole. He said he would keep an eye out to make sure it didn't happen." Another voice could be heard chuckling. "Oh this has happened before, but the magic can't be stopped; not even by a smart little four year old. I had runners send out messages to a few pets to invite themselves to Grandma Lu's party. Never fear. If Willow attends the party Marlee won't have time to let the cat out of the bag if you know what I mean." If you listened very carefully you could hear the tinkling of little people laughing at the joke the old fairy told. But there were ancient ears listening further in the woods that were not pleased. "It's time," said the head mistress's stern voice. "We need to get busy."

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Marlee had just started to tell her about Grandma Lu when she pulled into the Marleewood parking lot. "Wow, look at all of those cars," she said. Let's park in the back and see what's going on."

As soon as they went in the back door to the kitchen they saw a mess like you wouldn't believe. There was trash all over the place.

Marlee looked at Whitlee and said, "Oh this is not good. Grandma B is not going to be happy. Let's see if we can't get this mess cleaned up before she gets here." About that time Grandma Lu came running into the kitchen and took one look and said, "Oh girls, what have you done? We have people all over the place for the party. We don't have time for this." Before Marlee could say a word Grandma B came in the back door and said, "What in the world is going on here ladies? There are a hundred people outside and in the Community Room here for the party. We can't be having a dirty kitchen. You would think that there had been a bunch of dogs in here. Now hurry and get this cleaned up while I get the food on the tables. Please, please, please."

Marlee, Grandma Lu and Whitlee looked at each other and didn't say a word, but started to clean up the trash. Addie picked up a broom and said that she would help them too.

 There were three dogs in the Sitting Room being very quiet and looking very innocent as well. Loki, Duke, and Gus were in fact quietly playing with their toys because Willow had said that he would put toilet paper in their beds and toy boxes if they told on him. Linda was cleaning up the bathroom, but he had rolled out a roll into the Sitting Room because he was very bored with human parties and needed a little excitement.

Soon they could hear Grandma Lu's husband saying, "Food's done outside. Let's eat!"

The ladies and the big kids quickly put the food on the tables and the little ones squealed with delight when they saw the Octopus Hotdogs and other fun party food.

Hopefully Fran's great grandson, Orion, wouldn't bring a frog that he had found on the playground into Marleewood or there would surely be more squealing and not of the good kind if I know dogs, cats, little girls and grandmas.