Fan Fiction ❯ Midsumer Adventures ❯ Party Preparations ( Chapter 1 )

 

Chapter 1 - Party preparations

 

The summer still winds on in Highland city, as the sun sets on another day. At the Fischer residence, 15 Honeydew Lane, Nicolai was at his desk in his room. As he began writing a letter, he would occasionally look out the window as the light pink sunset sky slowly turned to the dark starry night.

 

Dear Katie

 

I hope you're doing ok on the farm, your family as well. I know this is the time of year when your berries are the sweetest and juiciest, I hope you'll send me some and some jams too.

 

It's been ages since you're last letter, but I understand. After all there's a lot to do on a farm, more than I could probably do. I miss you a lot, and I'm glad you and you're family are coming to my birthday party.

 

Until next time

You friend

Nicolai Fischer

 

P.S: If you see my cousin Levi, tell him to bring the CD I let him borrow before we moved when he comes to my party.

 

As he folded the letter and placed it in an envelope, Edgar came in, treading his paws on the wood floors. “Your Mother said dinner will be ready soon.”

 

“Ok, I'll be right there. Just have to seal the last letter.” Nicolai replied as he started to lick the seal of the envelope.

 

“So you finished, that's great.”

 

“I'll say. It takes me awhile to know what to say in letters, especially since I don't want to right the same letter over and over to different friends,” Nicolai then seals Katie's letter, wrote out her address, and placed it on a stack of the other letters he'd written earlier. “I want each of my friends a letter that's special to them and no one else.”

 

“That's very considerate of you, and it's only right that your friends get letters that apply especially to them.” Edgar said warmly.

 

“Though there is one thing I wrote that's the same in all the letters, and that's to thank everyone for coming to my birthday party next week.”

 

”I can't believe you're turning eleven.” Edgar said who went to the patchwork rug to lie down.

 

“I know,” said Nicolai with a smile.

 

“It also marks the seventh year of when we first met and I adopted you. That sure was a special day.” Nicolai said

 

“Indeed it was, except I'm not as limber as I once was.”

 

“Don't sweat it. You're still the best gift I ever received.” Edgar blushed lightly, feeling embarrassed by his master's compliment.

 

In his cage, Leon the little mouse felt a bit off put after what his master just said. “What about I master, I'm special too aren't I?” Leon asked. Nicolai quickly got up from his desk to Leon's cage.

 

“Of course you're special to me Leon. I couldn't forget how much you mean to me.” Nicolai opened the cage and took his friend in his hands.

 

“Really master, you mean it?”

 

“Of course I do. Maybe I haven't given you as much attention since before we moved. But that's going to change,” Nicolai opened the drawer on the table Leon's cage rests on, takes out a sunflower seed and gives it to Leon and he gobbled it up.

 

“Would you like to come with me to mail my letters?”

 

“Oh yes please!” Leon said clapping his paws together in delight. So Nicolai placed Leon atop his head, grabbed the letters from his desk and left for the mailbox. Once he walked onto his front porch he saw Trey zooming down the sidewalk on a sparkly red skateboard.

 

“Good evening Nicolai!” Trey said and zoomed right by before Nicolai could reply back

 

“Where's he going in such I hurry?” he asked himself. After a few minutes of walking, Nicolai came around the corner from Honeydew Lane and onto St. Maureen where the mailbox was located.

 

“I can't wait till they get here, this will be my best birthday party yet.”

 

Nicolai placed the letters in the mailbox and turned the corner again for home.

 

“What makes you say that master?” asked Leon

 

“Well this year Mom and Dad are letting mean plan everything.” “So what are you going to do?” Leon asked,

 

“Well all my parties up till now have had a theme, so this year I want it to be casual.” Once Nicolai returned home, he set Leon down and he scampered back up to Nicolai's room and Nicolai joined his family at the table. Heather brought in a platter of spaghetti

 

“You're just in time, dinner's ready.” Heather said

 

“I see you just mailed your letters to your friends in Birchwood.” Rob said as he served himself some spaghetti

 

“Yeah, almost everyone's invited and tomorrow I'll get started on planning the menu and decide what the cake will be like.” Nicolai replied getting his serving of spaghetti and sauce.

 

“Who haven't you invited yet?” Heather asked,

 

“Trey, I've tried calling his house but the line's always busy, and when I came out to mail my letter he zoomed by on his skateboard before I could reply back.”

 

“Why don't you just go by his house and invite him?” asked Vinola

 

Nicolai quietly slurped a bit of spaghetti. “Because I don't know where he lives, I forgot to bring it up when he phoned me last week.”

 

“Well I'm sure you'll reach him in time.” said Rob and took another bite of spaghetti. After dinner Nicolai went into the den to read a book, Vinola was at the coffee table practicing her alphabet, saying each letter as she wrote it.

 

“Vinola, would you mind speaking a littler quieter please?” Nicolai asked. “How come Nicolai?” Vinola asks.

 

“Because I'm trying to read my book,” said Nicolai

 

“Well I'm practicing my letters so I'll know them when I get to first grade.” Vinola said

 

“But school's not for another two months.” “I know, but Mom says it's good to practice. You should practice with me,” said Vinola

 

“I already know the alphabet by heart.” Nicolai said

 

“So you could help me get it right,” Vinola said

 

While Nicolai would rather read his book, he decided to help. He put his book aside on the couch and went to join Vinola at the coffee table.

 

“So what do you need help with?”

 

“I can't get lower the case `r' right. Every time I try it ends up looking like a little capital `r'.

 

“Here let me show you,” Nicolai took a pencil from Vinola's pencil box and showed her a little trick. “Try this, as your write lower case `r' think about writing a lower case `n' and stopping halfway.” So Vinola started to write a lower case `n' but stopped halfway.

 

“I did it! Thanks Nicolai.” said Vinola

 

“Not a problem, do you need help with another letter?” asked Nicolai

 

“No, I'm done for today. Do you think you could read that book to me?” Vinola asked

 

”What book?” asked Nicolai

 

“The reddish book you were just reading.” Vinola pointed out

 

“Well Vina, I'm already five chapters into it, and besides it's a big kid book, you wouldn't understand it.”

 

“All right,” Vinola said sadly.

 

“Maybe Mom could read you a story.” Nicolai suggested

 

“Oh yeah, maybe mommy will read to me.” Vinola quickly raced off to find her while Nicolai went back to his book. As she zoomed upstairs, Vinola stopped to notice her Mom in the bathroom mopping the floor. “Mommy, can you read me a story?” she asked.

 

“I'm sorry honey, not right now. I've got to get this bathroom cleaned,” said Heather

 

Vinola was getting a bit frustrated, first Nicolai's book was for big kids, and now her Mother was too busy to read to her.

 

“Maybe Dad can read with you, he's out in the backyard.” Heather said. So Vinola raced back down the stairs and headed for the backyard where Rob had just finished planting a new orange tree.

 

“Daddy, will you read to me?” she asked now much more bubbly.

 

“Sure Vina, what story would you like to hear?” But before Vinola could answer, Rob's cell phone rang, and he quickly answers it. “Hello? Oh Mr. Baines hello, I wasn't expecting you to call.” Vinola knew this would take awhile so she left for the other side of the backyard.

 

She sat on a bench, feeling sad and ignored. At that moment Edgar had come outside and saw Vinola looking down and quickly went over to her. “What's the matter Vinola?” he asked “Well after I practiced writing my alphabet I wanted someone to read to me,” Vinola started.

 

“But Nicola's book is for big kids, Mom's cleaning the bathroom, and Dad was going to do it but now he has to talk to Mr. Baines again.” Vinola said in frustration.

 

“Who's Mr. Baines?” Edgar asks,

 

“He's my Dad's boss at work. It feels like he calls Daddy everyday.”

 

“I'm sorry to hear that, maybe I can help.”

 

“You could read to me?” Vinola asked

 

“I could, but I know a good story I could tell you if you'd like to hear it.”

 

“Ok.” Vinola replied. So Edgar told Vinola a story about a little dog's first day with a human family. It got scary in the beginning, then funny in the middle, and heartwarming at the end. When Edgar had finished, Vinola was quiet for a moment.

 

“Is something wrong Vinola?” Edgar asked

 

“Oh nothing, it's just that as I heard your story I imagined what the little dog looked like.”

 

“What did you imagine?” asked Edgar

 

“He was a little brown dog with a white spot on his back, and he's as nice as you.”

 

“Oh please young ma'am, you're embarrassing me.” Edgar said blushing.

 

“You know Edgar, now that I think of it. The story you told sounds like something grandpa would tell.” Vinola said

 

“Really, you mean it” Edgar said

 

“Of course, I hope he comes to Nicolai's party. The last time he was here was on my fourth birthday, since he lives in Japan it costs a lot of money to get here. You think he'll make it Edgar?”

 

“I'm sure he'll do his best.” Then from out of no where, Vinola came down from the bench and gave Edgar a big hug.

 

“Oh, what's this for?” he asked

 

“It's to thank you for the story you told.”

 

“You're very welcome.” Edgar said warmly. Vinola then looked out to see sky pink from the coming sunset.

 

“Oh it's gotten so late” Vinola exclaims. “I better get to bed!” she quickly rushed to her room. She then stopped and turned to Edgar. “Good night.” she said and raced off again. Deep in the evening, Nicolai, now in pajamas was in his room working on his party plans. Leon sat on the desk accompanying him gnawing a piece of cheddar cheese.

 

Edgar came in to see Nicolai hard at work at his desk over the just the desk lamp on. “You're still up Nicolai? It's 9:30 at night.”

 

“It is, talk about time flying. I didn't realize it was so late.” said Nicolai and gave a little yawn. “I'm ready for bed all right,” Nicolai then hopped into bed and got under the covers.

 

After turning off the desk lamp, Leon scampered back into his cage, closed it shut and settled down for the night. Finally Edgar went to the patchwork rug and laid down to rest.

“Good night Edgar, good night Leon.”

 

“Good night Nicolai.” Edgar replied. “See you in the morning master.” Leon said and everyone dozed off for the night.

 

The next morning after breakfast, Nicolai left with his Mother's shopping bag for the urban marketplace, east of the park. While going through the park he noticed Harold, the stern looking raccoon.

 

He was playing tennis with a brown bear, wearing a red rim straw hat. Change or re-arrange)

 

“Good morning Mr. Broadtail.” Nicolai said waving. Harold quickly noticed him waving.

 

“Why hello Mr. Nicolai,” He then remembers he playing tennis and lobbed back the brown bear's serve. “You're out early I see.”

 

“Yeah, I'm getting the food for my birthday party next week.” Nicolai said

 

“That's great! I hope it'll be a nice day for you,” Harold misjudged the bear's last shot and missed. “Oh drat!” Harold shouted in frustration “fudged that shot completely.”

 

“So that's match point for me,” said the brown bear coming over to Harold's side of the court. “You are getting better though.”

 

“I'm sorry for interrupting you game.” Nicolai bowing politely.

 

“It's quite all right, I'm glad to see you're doing well. I haven't seen or heard from you since around the time you moved in. I can't believe it's been a month already.”

 

“It's nice to meet you Nicolai, Harold's told me so much about you,” said the brown bear.

 

“Nicolai I'd like you to meet Mr. Grizz, he's a teacher at Highland elementary.”

 

“It's nice to meet you sir.” Nicolai said shaking his paw. Though Nicolai didn't say anything, secretly he felt a bit weird shaking a bear's paw.

 

“So your birthday's coming up, how old will you be?” asked Mr. Grizz

 

“Eleven.” replied Nicolai

 

“Eleven, then I guess you're my newest student come autumn, I hope you'll like it here as you did your old school.” he said

 

“Yeah, I'm sure I will. Well I don't want to impose on you any further so I better get my shopping done.” He was about to leave when he had an idea and turned back around.

 

“Say I was wondering, would you both like come to my party. I'm sure my parents would like to know my new teacher, and it'd be nice if you come as well Mr. Broadtail.”

 

“Well, I guess I could come.” Harold said in thought. “I wouldn't be imposing, would I?”

 

“Of course not, we have plenty of room.” Nicolai said in reassurance

 

“Well in that case, count me in.” said Mr. Grizz

 

“It's on the 21st at 4:40 this afternoon, I'll see you there.” Nicolai said and left straight away to continue his shopping. Mr. Grizz and Harold waved goodbye, as Nicolai got further away.