All That for a Relaxing Afternoon

by Mark

The sun streaming in Trixie's window woke her that summer morning in early August. She lazily turned over and let her mind wander. "I love waking up in the summer," she thought to herself. "All the time in the world to relax."

Suddenly, there was a banging on the door. "Hey sleepyhead!" Mart called. "Are you getting up or what?"

Trixie groaned and looked at the time. "Ten O'Clock?!" she exclaimed. "Why didn't you wake me sooner?" And with a bounce she was out of bed and hurriedly putting on some clothes. Any clothes. Anything she could find.

Thirty seconds later, she was racing down into the kitchen. "Sorry I overslept, Moms," she said. "But I'll make it up. Really I will."

Moms smiled. "Slow down, Trixie. You've been working hard the last few days. I knew you needed to sleep in."

"But Moms," Trixie wailed, "I have to finish my chores if I'm going to make it to the lake for the Bob-White BBQ at noon. Remember, you said I could have the afternoon off to hang out and relax."

Moms looked a little worried herself at the reminder. "I had forgotten that was today. I'm sorry. I'd offer to help you, but I am just swamped with this canning."

But Trixie was hardly paying attention as she raced out to the chicken coop. The chickens were so startled by Trixie's speed as she tried to gather the eggs and spread out their feed that she might have scared them out of several days' egg production. But she wasn't paying any attention. She raced into the kitchen, puts the eggs in the refrigerator, and set out for the living room.

She quickly grabbed her dust rag and, starting on the nearest surface, set out in the circular fashion. She was just thinking she was setting a speed record for dusting when disaster struck.

There was an unexpected item on an end table. Trixie didn't notice it until she had brushed it off into the fire place. With horror, she realized it was her mother's diamond ring!

Trixie let out a groan as she got down on her hands and knees and set about sifting through the ashes left behind. It just had to be there somewhere. "If I can't find it, I know Moms and Dad will kill me!" she thought to herself.

Ten minutes later, she was no closer to finding it. In fact, she was thinking about getting her magnifying glass and a flashlight when the light coming in the window shifted slightly, reflecting off something that sparkled. Trixie quickly grabbed it with relief and went into the kitchen.

"Hey Moms, did you know your wedding ring was in the living room?"

Moms turned to her confused. "What do you mean? I'm wearing it." And she showed Trixie her hand to prove her point.

Trixie was even more confused. "Then what is this?"

Moms suddenly started laughing. "Mrs. Wheeler was wearing that last night when they stopped by for a visit. It's just costume jewelry. She must have forgotten it when they left."

Trixie stood there in stunned silence for a moment. "Someday, I am going to learn the difference between the two. It might save me from having a heart attack."

With her mother's laughter ringing in her ears, she went upstairs to wash off the soot. "At least Mart didn't see or hear any of that," she thought to herself. "It would set him off on another round of Miss Nonsense America."

After cleaning up, Trixie set out for the garden. Picking ripe tomatoes in the heat wasn't exactly her idea of fun, but it had to be done. 40 minutes later, she picked up the full basket and headed into the house. "I think that's all of them," she announced.

"Thanks, dear," Moms said. "Now, if you could just straighten up Bobby's room, I think that's all I'll need from you today."

Trixie's first thought was frustration. Shouldn't Bobby be able to clean his own room by now? But now wasn't the time to get into an argument on how the youngest Belden was treated. Instead, she looked at the time. "Gleeps! I've got 15 minutes until I'm supposed to be at the boathouse. I'd better get moving." And she ran up the stairs.

At first glance, Bobby's room was a disaster. But on closer inspection, things didn't look so bad. True, there was the open umbrella in the middle of the room, but the only thing under it was the new carriage coin bank he'd won as part of the scavenger hunt hosted by the Lynches last week. And, of course, there were several balls scattered throughout the room and the stuffed animals on the floor when they should have been on the bed.

It only took Trixie five minutes to set the room to rights. Thanking her lucky stars, she changed and flew out the door, barely stopping to give her mother a kiss.

Trixie made good time climbing the path to Manor House. Of course, she was almost running as she went. Still, she arrived just as Dan did. Jim and Brian were already grilling the burgers while Mart, Honey, and Di splashed in the lake. Mart had grabbed an oar and was trying to use it as a weapon in the water fight, but Honey and Di were hiding behind The Water Witch. All three of them were laughing and giggling.

"Dan, give me a hand," Mart cried when he spotted his friend. "I need some help evening up the odds."

"As if I won't join the other side," Trixie called. She quickly dove into the lake and swam out to join her friends.

Dan turned back to Jim and Brian, but Jim cut him off at the pass. "We've got thing under control. Lunch will be ready in a few minutes." So Dan did a cannon ball and joined Mart.

It was only a few minutes later when Jim and Brian showed up in the water. A startled Trixie asked, "What are you two doing here?"

Brian just laughed as he splashed his sister. "We've been trying to get your attention to tell you that the food is ready. But you were having too much fun to hear us yelling."

Jim took up the story. "We were hot from slaving over the grill anyway, so we decided to come in to tell you."

At the mention of food, Mart quickly stashed the oar in the boat and struck out for shore. But the other six weren't far behind.

Trixie bit into her burger and grinned. Yes, her morning had been hectic and stressful. But this afternoon would completely make up for it.

**

Author's Notes:

This is an entry for the Virtual Trixie Camp Circle Writing Challenge. Thanks to Dana and Wendy to organizing it.

I've got some bad errors, but since I didn't have time to get it edited, any errors left behind are all Kaye's fault.