1 Awooga!

PARTY ANIMALS by NADIA SHIREEN

CHAPTER ONE Awooga! Frank the owl was sitting in a tree, combing his large eyebrows and frowning. 'Ahoy there, Frank!' called up Titus the stag. 'Ready for the big day? It's super-duper party day!' Frank grunted and shook his big owlish head in that weird owlish way. 'Not really,' sighed Frank, swooping down to join Titus, who was putting a pot of tea on the wooden table outside his caravan. 'I don't like parties at the best of times. But having three of them in one day feels a bit much, if you ask me.'

Three parties in one day? RIDICULOUS. Also- sniff- I don't seem to have been invited to any of them. An outrage, I tell you! 'Well, I can't lie, Frank,' said Titus. 'I've got the wibbles and I've got them bad.' And with a shaking hoof he pushed a large chocolate eclair into his snout, followed by another, and another, and another, and then a fifth for luck.

'You do seem a little stressed,' observed Frank. 'I just hope that Sharon the Party Crow is up to the job,' said Titus. 'Can she bring her jocular energy to three parties in a row? It would kill a weaker bird.' 'Since when has Sharon ever stopped partying?' said Frank. 'It's all she ever does. Sounds like my worst nightmare, quite frankly.' Titus scratched his snout thoughtfully. 'Yes, you never hear about party owls, do you? They don't seem to be a thing.' 'Owls don't party,' said Frank, spitting out the last word and frowning. 'We prefer playing chess, quietly thinking about

things, bobbing our heads around, making balloon animals…' 'You make balloon animals?' said Titus. 'Why yes,' said Frank, holding up an inflatable dinosaur. 'See? I made this in the time it took you to say, "balloon animals".' Titus clopped his hooves together in wonder. 'Extraordinary!' he gasped. 'Ooh, you are a dark horse, Frank. Well, owl. Owl-horse. Now, do you have your present for Wiggy?' Frank looked a little shifty. 'Um… yes! I am going to give him a… balloon dinosaur,' he said. 'Wonderful, wonderful. Oooofeuuurgh!' said Titus, standing up and stretching his hooves up to the sky. He was quite an old stag, so he made lots of 'phew!' and 'oooof!' noises every time he stood up or sat down. He clambered up a

couple of rickety steps into his caravan, opened the door of his oven and took some deep sniffs with his massive hairy nostrils. 'Smells like the cake is ready,' he muttered to himself. 'DID YOU SAY THE CAKE IS READY?' shouted Willow, hopping up and down in the way that bunnies do. 'Where did you come from, young Willow?' said Titus, because he was sure she hadn't been there one second ago. 'I was at home in bed,' panted Willow. 'But I'm sure I just heard you say "the cake is ready", so I dashed over as fast as I could.' 'Yes, well, it needs to cool down before we can decorate it, so don't get too excited,' cautioned Titus. 'What shape are you going to make it into?' asked Willow, excitedly. 'A big car? A badger? A letter W for Wiggy?' Titus grinned. 'I'm going to make a cake that is the shape of… A CAKE!' he said, triumphantly. 'That's rubbish and boring,' said Willow. 'Call me when it's time to lick the icing bowl.' And with that, Willow bounced out of the caravan and headed towards the fox den.