|
It seemed that the twins had had too much sugar.
The were bouncing off the walls, yelling, screaming,
singing-
"La la la LA LA LA!"
Tamara jumped on the sofa, totally out of control.
Tommy followed suit.
"Dee dee dee dee DEE DEE DEE!"
Tia had never seen them so hyper. She screeched
until she was hoarse, trying to get them to calm down, but Tommy and Tamara
just weren't listening. They were now singing (or rather, screaming) their ABCs.
Tia scrunched up her face and plugged her ears, forcing herself to think about
the dance-the dance that, hopefully, would be nothing as disastrous as this.
When finally the twins had calmed down enough
to at least stop singing, Tia marched sternly over to the couch and glared at
them.
Tommy whimpered, and within seconds they were
both seated, heads hanging, paws folded in their laps.
"We won't have another outburst like that,"
Tia ordered, unaware that she sounded remarkably like Mrs. Owens. "Understood?"
The twins bobbed their heads up and down sadly.
Tamara sniffled.
Tia felt her anger melt like a popsicle in July
in the Lost Desert. How could she be furious with them when they were so cute
like this?
She sat on the sofa in between them. "I'm sorry.
But you need to be good. All right? She checked her watch. "It's five o'clock.
For dinner I'll get you some GaGa Grub baby food, and then when we can play
for a little while before getting ready for the party."
"You is still bringing us to the par-tee?" Tamara
asked, her eyes wide and brimming with hope.
"Yes. If… you are good."
***
After eating, the strange group paraded up the stairs into Tia's room. Tia
prayed that they wouldn't disrupt anything here, especially her posters. Last
time the twins had been in here, Tommy had been very curious about the mysterious
Lupe plastered all over Tia's walls. He just didn't understand.
"Still lots of pitchers," Tommy said as they
entered. He gazed at all the Lupes, and they gazed back at him.
"Yes," Tia said, and her eyes became misty as
she looked at Nick, who looked back at her. "I do have lots of pictures. Now,
don't you dare touch them, like you did last time."
Tommy hung his head, and Tia immediately felt
guilty.
"But I forgive you for that. Now, what would
you like to play?"
"Uslukis," Tamara demanded right away, pointing
to the Usuki dolls neatly lined up in a row on top of Tia's Purple Wardrobe.
Tia swallowed. She never let anyone touch her
Usukis. Luckily, Tommy whined:
"No, no, NO! Don't WANNA pay Uslukis! I wanna
pay Babbledone with plushies!"
"No!" Tamara wailed, "Babbledone is NO FUN!
Uslukis! Uslukis! USLUKIS, NOW!"
Tia's like for them quickly diminished. Evidently,
they fought often. More than often.
"QUIET!" Tia bellowed to silence them. "One
idea at a time. Now, Tamara wants to play Usukis."
Tamara made a face at Tommy, who stuck out his
tongue at her.
"Tommy, what do you want to play?"
"Babbledone."
"Babbledone?"
"Babbledone. With plushies."
"What's Babbledone?"
"Where strong pets gets to fight each others."
Realization dawned on Tia, and she exclaimed,
"Oh, the Battledome! I see. Well…" She consulted her watch. "The party
begins in about an hour and a half, so… I need to get ready. Here." She sprinted
over to her violet shelf unit, retrieved a box of crayons and some paper, and
set it on the floor. You two can color while I get ready. All right? Stick to
the paper. Leave my posters alone. The best masterpiece gets a prize."
The idea of a contest again worked like a charm.
Tommy and Tamara were so competitive. They snatched a crayon each and started
to scribble on their sheets of paper. Tia was reminded of herself at that age.
As the took her new dress out of the bag and headed for the bathroom, she heard
Tamara bragging about her "masserpleece."
***
The navy blue dress looked gorgeous on Tia, but didn't quite fit her just
right. Unfortunately, there was no way she could return it now. If she took
some safety pins she could pin it up where it was too big. The little blue boots
she was wearing took some attention away from the dress, but that was good.
Maybe then no one would notice that it wasn't exactly her size.
Tia applied a tad of blush, eyeshadow, and lipstick
to her face. She smacked her lips together and smiled. She actually looked nice.
Maybe the dance wouldn't be such a fiasco as she'd thought.
After brushing her slightly damp fur a few more
times (she had showered and shampooed her fur), Tia put her tiny stash of make-up
away and started towards her room. Halfway there she stopped.
I wonder if I could call Holly, just
quickly…she wondered, then raced to her owner's bedroom and picked up the phone
there. She dialed Holly's number and waited.
Holly answered without delay. "Hello?" she said
breathlessly.
Tia could tell that she had expected the phone
call to be from Louis, the Kougra she was going with to the dance.
"Holly, it's me, Tia."
"Hi, Tia. How's it going? I just finished getting
ready. This red dress looks great! I've just put on my make-up, and I look okay.
I've got these really nice Wellington Boots and even the Tiara that I got for
Christmas last year. I hope you like my outfit. More importantly, I hope Louis
likes my outfit! Do you think he will? What will he say? Louis is so nice. He's
really great. And do you know what else, Tia? Louis is-"
She babbled on about Louis for some time until
Tia had the nerve to say, "Holly, stop rambling!"
Abruptly, Holly ceased. "Was I rambling?"
"Yes! You must be really excited."
"I am!"
"Well, I'm just checking in. I'm ready now,
too. I've got the navy blue dress, and it looks pretty good. But the twins are
coloring in my room so I'd better go. See you in about…" She checked her watch
again, then said, "a half hour. Bye!"
***
When she entered her room, Tia nearly fainted.
The twins, crayons clutched tightly in their
paws, where just putting the finishing touches on their idea of a "masserpleece"-Tia's
wall.
Colored squiggles zigzagged all over the left
wall. All of Tia's Nick posters over there were ruined, now decorated with a
hodgepodge of bright, clashing colors. Tia opened her mouth to scream, but only
squeaked.
"We gots it done!" Tamara cheered. She tugged
on Tommy's paw and they both bowed. "Isn't it pritty? It's our best masserpleece
ever!"
After Tia continued to stare, transfixed with
horror, Tommy persisted, "You gots to like it! You gots to! Don't you like our
masserpleece?"
Tia clenched and unclenched her paws. She inhaled
and exhaled deeply, struggling to keep her rage under control.
"Let's go," she managed to whisper, her voice
shaking with fury.
The Terrible Two did as told, skipping joyously
out the door and down the stairs.
To be continued…
| 
