Charley's Birthday Party

Winner of the "Most Unusual Use of Prompt" and "Most Dramatic and Funniest"


Charley’s Birthday Party

Chapter 1

It was a lovely summer day, and BabyCat sat in her garden sipping catnip tea and planning a party. It was a birthday party for her best friend, Charley Barley, who would be 11 years old, and it would be the party to end all parties. She had just finished addressing all of the invitations. She had invited every cat in the three kingdoms, as well as their brothers and sisters. She had even invited dogs! And gerbils, and birds and goldfish. Kindhearted BabyCat didn’t want to leave any being out.

She smiled to herself as she thought of the surprise she had planned. She knew how her friend Charley loved to fish, and she had bought him his very own little rowboat. Oh, how he would enjoy rowing about the lake and fishing.

Hmmm, now what else would she need? The invitations were done. Caterers? She had hired the best caterers in the Kingdom, and had ordered all of Charley’s favorite foods. There would be Salmon cakes, and tuna rolls, and divine catnip crème tarts. And everycat’s favorite, Sugared Mouse Tails. Entertainment? The entertainment would be fantastic! BabyCat had hired a small circus, complete with ferris wheel and merry-go-round. They would be setting it up in the field near the lake tomorrow.

Everything seemed to be under control so BabyCat spent the rest of the day relaxing and puttering about the garden.


Chapter 2

It was a week later, and the RSVP’s were pouring in. Of course Frisky Tat, and Rena, Jazzy and Bubba, and Max and Tissy would be there. And all of the Sneaky Pawses would be coming. She had received replies from Niklos, and Penny Pie, and Shadow and Spirit, Minuet, Milo and Leo. And where was Rajah and the others? She was sure they were here somewhere. The Poisson Cats would be attending with their sister, Poochie Pie, the dog, the Ebersold kitties, along with their dog, Shana, and Elvis and Maggie and their doggie brother, Newman, the lab.

“The LAB! Oh, NO!!!” BabyCat slapped her paw to her forehead. They couldn’t bring Newman. Charley was desperately afraid of Labs. He had had a terrible experience with one as a kitten. How could she have forgotten something so important? What could she do? She couldn’t un-invite them.

Suddenly BabyCat had an inspiration. She would dress Newman up as a clown. He could be part of the entertainment, and Charley would never know. Quickly BabyCat called the costume shop in San Kata and ordered a clown costume for Newman. Then she called Elvis and Maggie. She explained the problem and asked them to come early. They assured her they would, and they knew Newman wouldn’t mind dressing up as a clown.

BabyCat sighed with relief. She just knew everything would work out fine.


Chapter 3


Finally the day of the party arrived. All of the guests came early including Elvis, Maggie and their doggie brother Newman. They quickly helped Newman into his costume, and BabyCat herself painted on his clown face. She painted his doggie face white. Then she painted on big red smiling lips. Finally she painted black circles around his eyes. And they all impressed on him that he had to be a SILENT clown. Then BabyCat assigned her good friend Sassy to keep track of Newman, and keep him out of trouble.

At long last, Frisky Tat and Rena arrived with the unsuspecting Charley in tow. They had told him Rena wanted to show BabyCat her new hat, then the four of them would go to the new Stone City Cafe to celebrate Charley's Birthday. Well, Charley knew that when Rena and BabyCat got together and started talking about hats it could take forever. He was prepared to sit with Frisky Tat and sniff the catnip for a long time. But he didn't mind. He loved relaxing in BabyCat's garden. So you can imagine how surprised and delighted he was to find that his dear friend BabyCat had planned such a swell party just for him. He couldn’t quite believe that they had all managed to keep it a secret.

Before long all the guests were having a grand time. Cats wandered out to the field to ride the Ferris Wheel and Merry-Go-Round. Cats milled around the tables laden with food and stuffed themselves on a never ending supply of delights. Newman wandered around acting as silly and clownish as possible. BabyCat suspected a lot of it wasn’t an act. Newman was one of the silliest dogs she had ever met.

She was standing by the bowl of Catnip Champagne Punch with Charley when she heard squeals of delight coming from a group of kittens that Newman was entertaining. The crazier he acted, the more the kittens laughed. Then, just as BabyCat noticed Sassy wasn’t with him, Newman let out a huge, loud bark! Every animal froze, and Charley stared as his Champagne glass slipped through nerveless paws.

“Oh, my goodness,” BabyCat thought to herself. The worst possible thing has happened.

Chapter 4

Charley took one look at Newman and ran and hid under the glider. Not understanding what the problem was, Newman ran after him, and sniffed loudly at the base of the glider. Charley saw his chance to escape, and he bolted across the field and jumped from the landing into the first boat that he saw, untying the hitch and pushing off from the pier. As he drifted out onto the lake he looked frantically for the oars. Then he saw them. They were sitting on the shore tied up with a big red bow.

Meanwhile BabyCat and all the guests had also run down to the lake, only to find Charley slowly drifting away. BabyCat grabbed the oars, and jumped into another rowboat, and Frisky Tat quickly followed her. They rowed out to Charley and handed him the oars. Then BabyCat laughed and said, “Happy Birthday, Charley, dear. Only you could have found such a unique way to christen your birthday present.”

Charley looked at BabyCat, then he laughed too. Finally they all rowed back to shore where they were helped out of the boats by their many friends. Newman hung back. But BabyCat took him by the paw and led him over to Charley and introduced him. Newman apologized profusely for scaring him so badly, and Charley realized that he was really a very nice dog. Then he laughed at himself. He knew he no longer needed to be afraid of any dog, especially labs.

So the party ended happily after all.

The end.