The Friends Spend the Day Together

The three friends entered Midge's house through her little door in the back door. They quickly crossed the kitchen floor to the living room where they found Snappy in the big tank and Gabby was sitting on the edge of the tank.

“Hi guys,” said Midge as she crossed the room.

“Hi Midge,” said Gabby. “Hi Booker-T and Jake. How are you this morning?”

“We are good,” said Jake. “How are you doing?”

“You look like you are enjoying it here,” said Booker-T.

“Oh yes,” said Gabby. “It is really nice in here and Midge's owner is very nice to us. I think Snappy wants to stay here all the time.”

“That would be nice,” said Snappy. “She feeds me nice food. Better than I find at the pond.”

“The house is nice and warm,” said Jake. “I like it.”

“Me too,” agreed Booker-T.

“How is Susie?” asked Gabby. “Didn't she come with you?”

“No,” said Booker-T. “She was cold and decided to stay in the warm house.”

“That's good,” said Snappy. “I wouldn't want to go out either if it was cold and I had a choice.”

“Me too,” said Gabby. “This winter it is terrible outside. It has been long time since it has been this cold.”

“I know,” said Jake. “I heard the weatherman on the TV this morning saying that this is the coldest it has been in 10 years.”

“Did he say when the warm would come back?” asked Midge.

“He was saying something about the warmer weather maybe will be back in a couple of weeks,” said Jake. “But for now he told people to stay warm and not be out too much if they don't have to be outside”

“Susie don't like the cold,” said Booker-T. “I am used to it some because I lived outside in it for so long but this is colder than it was back then.”

“I am really glad you aren't in that old cardboard box anymore in the alley,” said Midge.

“Me too Midge,” said Booker-T. “And I owe it all to you to be living in a nice warm home.”

“I'm happy to do what I could,” said Midge. “I am glad I could come up with a good idea to get Snappy and Gabby into the warm house.”

“We are too,” agreed Gabby. “I am happy your owner likes animals as much as she does or she might not care if we were in the cold.”

“She is a good person,” said Midge. “I am lucky to have her take care of me.”

“How did you get your owner?” asked Gabby.

“She picked me out of a litter of puppies at her friend's house,” said Midge. “She came to check out the puppies she had and picked me. I was so happy to get a new home.”

“I am glad she picked you Midge," said Booker-T.

"Me too," said Gabby.

"What time does your owner come home, Midge?" asked Jake. "I don't think she would like it if she came home and found us all in here."

"We have plenty of time," said Midge. "She comes home late afternoons and when she comes into the driveway we can see her through the window. She always comes in through the front door so when she drives into the driveway, you can all hurry out my little door to the back yard."

"Okay," said Booker-T. "We will just have to watch for her to come and not forget to watch."

"See that big brown clock on the wall near the stairs?" asked Midge.

"Yes," said Jake.

"Well, that is what she calls a cuckoo clock," said Midge. "When that little bird that is in it comes out and makes a noise 5 times, it is a short time after that when she drives into the driveway."

"Okay," said Booker-T. "That will help. When we hear it make noise 5 times in a row, we will know it is time to go home."

"I heard the noise in the night," said Gabby. "But I didn't know what it was. I never heard anything like that before. I didn't know it was a bird."

"It is a wooden bird Gabby," said Midge.

"A wooden bird?" asked Snappy. "Wow, how does it fly if it is wood?"

"It don't fly," said Midge. "It just lives in the clock and every hour it comes out the little door at the top and makes a funny noise... it says 'cuckoo, cuckoo'."

"Oh that is funny," said Booker-T. "We don't have a clock like that in our house. We do have a big one that makes a big noise clanging at each hour."

"We have a big round clock with pictures of birds on it and every hour a different bird whistles but no little wooden bird comes out of it," said Jake. "It is a neat looking clock. My owner has it in the den of the house."

"You have a den?" asked Midge. "What is a den?"

"Well, it is a little like your living room here," said Jake. "She watches TV in the den and there is a fireplace in it too. She don't watch TV in the living room like you do. She only uses it to sit and talk with people when they come to the house."

"Oh, that is neat," said Booker-T. "My house don't have a den either. It does have a room where my owner has her computer and files and all in it. She calls it her office. When she has work to do at home, she works in there. She does have a TV in it because she likes to watch TV when she works."

"My house here has an office for my owner too," said Midge. "She does a lot of work here sometimes. When the weather is really bad or she is working late hours, she works in there till time to go to bed sometimes."

"You have an upstairs in your house too," said Jake. "Our house is only one floor. How many bedrooms does your house have?"

"We have three bedrooms in our house," said Midge. "One is my owner's bedroom, one is for guests that come and I think the other one is also for guests."

"Our house has three bedrooms too," said Booker-T. "My owner's relatives and friends stay in them when they come to visit and the other one is for her and I."

"My owner's bedroom is really big," said Jake. "It is the biggest one in the house and there is a bathroom in the bedroom that she uses too. In the other part of the house, we have another bathroom and people who come to the house use it."

"This has has the same thing," said Midge. "The bathroom in the big bedroom is for my owner only. Everyone else uses the bathroom that is down here on the first floor." The only rooms upstairs are the big bedroom with bathroom and my owner's office. The other two bedrooms are down here with the bathroom between them."

"I like your house," said Gabby. "Maybe some day I can see your house Jake and your house Booker-T."

"Sure Gabby," said Jake. "You can come see my house anytime you want to. You have already seen the outside of it."

"Mine too," said Booker-T. "My house also has upstairs on it and all the bedrooms are upstairs. The big bedroom that my owner and I sleep in also has a bathroom in it and the other bathroom is at the other end of the hall up there where the other two bedrooms are."

"Does your house have a den downstairs too?" asked Midge.

"No," said Booker-T. "Did you forget that I said it didn't have one?"

"Whoops," said Midge. "I guess I did forget. We have talked about so many rooms now I forgot who has what. I remember that we all have three bedrooms and two bathrooms. ha ha ha."

"You got that right Midge," laughed Jake. "Do you have anything to eat Midge?"

"Oh I don't know if my bag of food is in the kitchen or not," said Midge.

"Let's go look," said Booker-T. "I'm hungry too."

The three ran to the kitchen with Gabby following behind them to look for something to eat.