by Jake Ziesche
Once the matter of whether or not Daria could stay or not was in order, Alfredo asked her, “Are you one of those sirens that are mermaids? If so, where’s your tail?”
“As a matter of fact, I am,” Daria confirmed. “As for the whereabouts of my tail, it’s because of this.” Daria pointed to the jewel on her necklace. “This gem allows me to alternate between having a tail in the water and legs on land.”
After Alfredo thanked her for clearing that up, everyone grabbed plates and napkins and helped themselves to refreshments. Daria was the first one to make a move on a basket of hush puppies. “I do declare your hush puppies were always sublime Peanut,” she praised.
“Thanks,” Peanut replied. “By the way, you heard that I won a contest. Did you know it was because I aced a musical quiz?”
“I heard two snippets of it,” Daria confirmed. “I heard you knew the fourth musical Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers made together was Top Hat. I also heard you knew Jane Lynch was the actress who played Sue Sylvester on Glee. However, I didn’t catch the other questions.”
“Allow me to fill you in,” said Peanut. “One question was on how many songs were in the season 3 finale of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.” “There were seven songs,” Valentine, chimed in, as he got some beef taquitos. “I also remembered what year Jem first aired,” Peanut continued. “Miss Truly Outrageous made her debut in 1985,” Nikki said, as she went for some chicken tikka samosas and Melody got some clam strips.
“Finally, I knew the musical guest in The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show episode ‘Black Hole’,” Peanut finished. “It was Jukebox the Ghost,” Alfredo answered reaching toward the pizza box, but stopped. “Peanut, what kind of toppings are on a Swamp Special?”
“It’s half-escargot, and half-pepperoni & sausage,” Peanut clarified. “I’m happy to share it with you guys.” “Thank you very much.” Alfredo replied taking a slice from each half, while Peanut took a slice with escargot and got some sweet-potato fries, too.
Once everyone got sodas and waters, they settled in to watch movies that Peanut’s invited guests brought and get seconds on the grub when the need arose. Melody brought The Lion King (1994). Nikki brought Hairspray. Alfredo brought Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, and Valentine brought Barbie: The Princess & the Popstar.
Afterwards, everyone got ready for bed. Due to arriving unannounced, Daria was unprepared. Luckily, Peanut had an extra sleeping bag and pillow she could use, and Nikki loaned Daria some pajamas. Soon the sextet was ready to turn in for the night. Melody wore Hello Kitty pajamas. The pajamas Daria wore were Maya blue with red lotuses. Nikki wore pajamas that were violet with marigold hedgehogs.
The boys all wore footy pajamas. Valentine’s pj’s were neon green with purple pandas. Peanut’s jim-jams were razzle-dazzle rose with a pattern of snowy owls and parrotfish. And Alfredo’s jammies were black with red-and-white-striped stovepipe hats.
As everyone rolled out the sleeping bags and were about to get some shut-eye, Nikki had a confession to make. “Guys, I’m a little nervous about being in this swamp. That thing with Zelda left me a tad unnerved. I’m not sure I can sleep knowing she’s out there with a bunyip and a skunk ape.”
“I know something that might help,” Valentine suggested. “I made up a little rhyme. Fear is just a feeling in your head. Think of happy dreams to have instead.” Melody turned to her boyfriend. “Sugarplum, do you ever ‘Dream a Little Dream of Me?’”
“You’re always on my mind Mew Mew,” Valentine responded. Melody purred with delight. “You’re not the only who thinks about his lady, mate,” Alfredo interjected. “I dream of Nikki with the light brown hair.” This earned a groan from the real Nikki.
“Quick question: Do trolls dream of rainbow sheep?” Daria inquired. “My third cousin once removed does and he’s a glitter troll,” said Peanut. “And I have something that might help Nikki.” The troll quickly went upstairs. When Peanut came down, he was holding a stuffed animal that was part bear, elephant, rhino, ox and tiger. “Everyone this is my stuffed baku. They say it eats bad dreams. He always helps me sleep and I think he could help Nikki, too.”
“That’s very kind of you Peanut, but that’s your lovey. You need it more than me,” Nikki responded.
“You want to borrow this?” Alfredo asked. The griffin held a Barbie pink teddy bear with bright lime button eyes out to Nikki. Everyone gave him is that yours? looks and Alfredo quickly said, “I found it with Valentine’s belongings.”
“That isn’t mine,” Valentine said. The fairy went over to his stuff and came back with a Pokémon plushie. In this case, it was a Luvdisc. “I have Maria to keep me company and Mew Mew has her own Pokémon.” Melody went over to her possessions and came back with a stuffed Igglybuff.
Alfredo looked embarrassed. “Did I say this was Valentine’s teddy bear? It actually belongs to my niece. She left it behind during her last visit and I’m going to return it the first chance I get.”
“Well, whoever it belongs to, I’m sure the owner wouldn’t mind if I borrowed it,” Nikki said happily accepting the teddy bear. “But now you don’t have a little friend to help you sleep.”
“I can fix that,” Valentine threw in. The fairy went back to his belongings and came back with another Pokémon plushie. This time it was a Swinub. “This is Jake. I brought him in case of emergency.” Valentine handed it to Alfredo who was happy to accept.
“I have a Pokémon plushie, too,” Daria added. The siren went over to her purse and returned with a plushie of Espeon. “Peanut won this for me on our first date at a carnival. That was where got his baku, too. It was so much fun.”
“Good times,” Peanut concurred. “Well, we should hit the hay. We have a big day coming up.”
On that note, everyone settled into their sleeping bags with their stuffies and drifted off to dreamland.