Vernon’s July 4th Party

Vernon was feeling low again. He was sitting on a bench in Green Hills Park, moping, while his pet spider Spencer was trying hard to cheer him up, unfortunately without any success. His friends sat down next to him, patted his shoulder, told funny stories, but he didn’t even say a word to them. Finally, Rosie the rabbit arrived. She was not one to be discouraged by Vernon’s moods and always managed to bring life back to him with her optimism.

‘Hey, Vernon! What’s with the sad face? You of all people should be running around excitedly,’ she said when she sat down at the vampire’s side. Vernon looked at her, but still didn’t say anything.

‘You forgot, right?’ she looked at him questioningly.

‘You know that I never forget anything,’ Vernon replied grumpily.

‘Well, then what’s your explanation to sitting here and not planning the next best party of the year? The 4th of July is coming!’ she exclaimed.

‘The weather,’ Vernon whispered.

‘What do you mean? It’s perfect…,’ she wanted to say, but then she realized what the problem was. ‘Oh, it’s perfect for us, but not for you. It’s too sunny.’

Vernon nodded sadly.

‘Don’t worry! We’ll talk to the others and I’m sure we’ll come up with something. You must have a party on the 4th of July, Vernon. That’s THE party day! And you need to cheer up.’ She started calling their friends and soon everyone gathered around Vernon and they enthusiastically interrupted each other with their ideas.

‘You could wear my baseball cap,’ Blake the bulldog offered.

‘How about some palm trees?’ Tyler the tiger asked.

‘I can lend you my sunglasses,’ Dylan the dachshund said.

‘Guys, that is very kind of you, but Vernon needs more shade on the beach. We must think of something bigger,’ Rosie said.

‘A tent! We need a tent!’ Blake exclaimed.

‘Great idea! But where are we going to get one?’ Rosie asked. Everyone fell silent, thinking hard. Finally, Ollie the octopus suppressed a yawn, stretched his eight arms and said ‘I know where. A few weeks ago I was the DJ at a birthday party and it was raining, so they put up a tent in the garden. We could borrow that.’

Everyone cheered and Harper the horse quickly galloped away to get the tent. Even Vernon smiled a little when he saw how happy his friends became from the idea of the party. He gathered all his positive energy and started arranging the details.

The day of the party arrived surprisingly fast. The tent was set up, there were lots of red snacks on the tables and absolutely no garlic. Vernon made sure that there was a special fruits section for Charley the chameleon, so that he could stick to his healthy diet.

The guests enjoyed Ollie’s music. Vernon looked at his friends and felt almost happy, but definitely satisfied that the party turned out so well. He was about to grab a rare steak when he heard a whoosh sound and the tent started shaking. The wind became so strong that its roar made the music seem quiet. Everyone stopped dancing and looked at the tent in shock. The tarpaulin swayed and slapped, then the wind won and tore the tent away. Surprisingly, the bad weather ended as soon as it started, so a few minutes later Vernon and the guests were standing on the beach in full sunshine.

‘I can’t believe this! I’m going home!’ Vernon cried.

‘Wait, don’t leave yet,’ the others begged him. ‘We’ll figure something out.’

‘We can’t set the tent up again, it has flown miles away,’ Vernon said.

‘I’ll go and check what we could use as shade,’ Harper said and ran away. She returned seconds later. ‘I’ve found seven sun umbrellas next to the sun beds over there,’ she panted. ‘Each of us could hold one above Vernon’s head, so he would definitely be protected from the sun.’

‘No, I can’t expect you to do that,’ Vernon said, ‘then you can’t have fun at the party.’

‘I have an idea,’ Ollie said quietly. ‘Give me those umbrellas,’ he said and held one of them in each of his seven arms above Vernon’s head. ‘I still have one for the turntable,’ he said smiling.

‘Ollie, you’re the best!’ Rosie said.

‘Thank you so much! You are a really good friend,’ Vernon smiled at him.

‘Yeah, yeah,’ Ollie sighed.

The party continued and after sunset Ollie put the umbrellas down. The vampire was so happy that he actually talked to all the guests and even made some jokes. The friends watched the fireworks in awe, then sat around the campfire and sang together. Vernon’s 4th of July party turned out to be the party of the year again. Until the next one…