The next day, they dropped Angus off at about 2:00 A.M. with a new gong in hand, telling him to walk to the door and try to open it. If it was locked, just beat the gong until they came and got him, so he wouldn't be outside alone. They barely tore out the driveway before the gong went off and the whole family was pouring out like a swarm of angry bees bent on murder. About 5:00am there was a knock on the door. Tatiana was hiding in the bed, under the covers. "They found us. How do we get out of here?" "Maybe the window?" "Thank you honey. It would be a great idea, but I bet they have the building surrounded." Hayni opened the door, excited. "IVY!!!! YAY!!!! DID YOU BRING ANGUS?" "No, he needs some sleep after being brought home at two in the morning. I just wanted to ask you and your parents if you wanted to come to my school play today? It’s a public enough place the family shouldn't kill anyone, and it would mean a lot if you came. Everyone else has full rows of family, but nobody but Grandma wants to come for me. Everyone else says they have too much to clean up today. They’ve been up since Aangus got home and he’s the only one allowed to sleep." "SURE! WELL COME. WE'D LOVE TO!" "Ok that’s great" Ivy handed her three invitations, with seat numbers. Hayni quickly ran up to her parent's room. "GUESS WHAT MOMMY? WERE INVITED TO IVY'S PLAY!" Her mom groaned and rolled over. "Great. Somewhere they can find us. It's not safe." Her husband was, as usual, more sensible. "Now you know Hayni already accepted the invitations for us. It would be rude not to go. Besides, if you weren't listening, everyone else is going to be too busy cleaning up. At least it is a good excuse for why we weren't there to help." Ivy crept in a little further. “Also, can I stay with you guys today? I’d rather not have to go back there and help clean. Everyone is just yelling at each other and trying to make everybody else do the work for them.” Tatiana groaned again. “Sounds about right.” “And….one more thing….” Ivy pulled the bent, twisted remains of the battered and partially melted gong from her pocket. “Aunt Keera said you can have this back, and not to come back if you don’t want it to happen to you.”
It wasn't long after that, Jon suggested rather than standing around all day they go out and explore the Curnoleum's day festivities. Hayni quickly ran upstairs at the idea of a day of rides, foods, and contests. The Third day of Curnoleum's day was made for children, unlike the first to where children were expected to play quietly in a relative’s house and out from under foot, the third day is when children were cast outside to enjoy themselves in the multitude of fair activities for them. The best part for the parents is that most of it is FREE! Hayni pulled a shirt over her head, slipping off her pajamas in one big swoop and threw on a comfortable pair of pants to run downstairs and onto the porch long before her parents were even out of bed. She saw all the streamers and balloons covering the lamp posts, the decorated houses, the blues and greens of Curnoleum’s day colors. The shells, and gems, and the smells off all the different foods. She closed her eyes trying to picture what those smells might actually look like. Pictures of squiggly things on sticks, and colorful blobs on plates, confetti and glitter covered dishes. Sparkles and shineys all over. Her parents walked out just in time to see her Hanging over the banister eyes shut breathing in all the festivities. Jon laughed, “Excited?" Hayni nodded vigorously. He picked her up and through her around his neck so she could see everything as they walked into the busy streets.
Tatiana's eyes were as big as her little girl's, " So Hayni what do you want to do first?" Hayni looked around, a bit intimidated by all the new and exciting stuff. Tateana looked at her, “Well I know what I want to do. I'm going to attack the water with my board and show those surfers how it’s done, and then bring home a nice trophy. After that I'm gonna beat on down to the clam eating competition and show those overeaters how to suck clams, and after that’s over I’m going to spend the rest of the evening calmly judging the young mermaid competitions while I let my stomach rest. I was the winner three years running when I was a little girl you know. Once that’s all that's over I'm going to go on the scariest ride in the entire town before collapsing in my nice warm bed for the night…..Okay, maybe I’ll go a few times. Or maybe I just won’t get off until they make me." Jon laughed. “okay, But what do you say we take a small walk down the stands first and find things our daughter might be interested in too" "I'd enjoy the things with Mommy" Jon grabbed tightly to Hayni's kicking feet so she wouldn't fall, " I bet you would, but I’m afraid you’re a bit too young for most of that, but..." He looked around at the stands, " how about a Pixie Peach Brittle on a stick?" He walked over and handed her a stick with brown and peach colored sticky globs covering it. “Just don't get my hair all sticky. Why don’t we check out the floats before anything else? That's always interesting. The training schools always have something to catch people off guard.” “Remember last year's? It actually caught fire!" Jon nodded at his wife. "Only this time Hayni will remain on my neck and not end up in any of the floats. I'm still not sure if that one was supposed to catch fire or not….. The school didn't mind since the crowd seemed to like it, but I have my suspicions.”
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As always, the first floats were the never as exciting as the rest. Elementary school floats were always first, and since there were only two elementary schools in town those were right up front; flowery and bright. However it did take then a bit off guard running into Aangus. He was a bit too excited to show them a spring with a giant bobbling bee that was the main part of the float itself. Tateana didn't say a word about the stand being decorated as if it were spring in the beginning of January, but refused to be falsely impressed either so she just nodded and shoved the bouncing bee to the side to made it wiggle for Hayni, smiled and walked passed to the middle school floats which were slightly more interesting, with older children actually ice skating on a frozen pond they made on the float decorated with a bench with a pair of ice skates hanging off, snowy hills with an empty sled on one, and a snowman made from white foam. Again, there off on the side sitting half hidden behind the table with the contribution box on it sat yet another family member. Young Ivy smiled and walked over upon seeing them. They nodded pleasantries and Hayni and Aangus caught up. Tateana, not wanting to babysit and barely wanting to deal with her own child, suggested they ran off to the bumper boats so she could start off her own list of activities for the day. Jon just rolled his eyes as the kids ran off and he followed his wife to the water. She squealed as she dove headfirst for a freezing dip in the ocean. He was very glad he had signed up as a judge this year. He had preferential seating and didn't have to let Tateana down when he explained he would not be jumping into icy water today with her. Instead she was delighted at having the upper hand with her husband being a judge.
The children followed the bumper boats with a ride on the scary squid, which hoisted them about six feet in the air before spinning and bouncing them to a rough stop, followed by another ride called twister. This one had them pinned to a wall as the floor dropped below them sending them flying down a hug slide into a padded ball pit. They then spent much of the time playing with other children in the ball pit throwing balls at each other and swimming around in it. When they returned they were unable to find the adults for lunch. Not having any money to buy something to eat, they were all getting very hungry. Fortunately, plenty of food was available to any kids willing to learn how to make it. Ivy suggested they sign up for a sushi workshop to learn to make sushi. As it turned out though, Hayni and Aangus preferred just eating sashimi to trying to roll the fish into sushi.
The children were having such a great time that Ivy almost forgot about the seaweed competition she had signed up for, and, not wanting to be late, she dragged Hayni and Aangus with her. She allowed them to join her team as she quickly got to work rolling seaweed into beautiful flowers and having Hayni and Aangus scanning the shore side for more and returning to her with handfuls. They didn’t win, but they did get their picture in the newspaper for being the group with the greatest age diversity. After that all that was left was grabbing a bit to eat with Hayni's folks for dinner and heading to the intermediate school for Ivy's big Curnoleum's day play. Jon had even stopped off for some flowers before meeting them all there.
They walked inside and took their seats as the lights went out and the curtains opened to reveal the island of Silvea and a boat full of pioneers heading toward it, screaming "Look! An island! We made it!" There was one thirty minute intermission were everyone got up to buy snacks from the sports team concession stands and to use the restroom before the second half began. Ivy was finally seen, playing the part of the judge to free the hero, the beautiful Lady Emma Genouski, and sentence the evil Christopher Wright to life in prison after a long, hilariously drawn out court battle. They even had the children sparing with one another with fake swords to exciting blood pumping music. Then it was time to go, as the curtains fell and all the children took their bows. By the time the play finished, it was dark, and everyone was ready for bed, since none of them had more than a couple of hours of sleep the night before.
