48 The Cute Quarter

48 The Cute Quarter The colours were amazing. Duck-egg blues, lime greens, fuchsia pinks and lemon yellows. This section of the Strip felt like a very happy place. Fun, too. For a start, the shops looked exactly like the items they sold. Next to the Cute Fruit stall was a small baker's in the shape of a cupcake, complete with a towering swirl of glittery, rainbow-coloured frosting. Opposite that stood an elegant teapot cafe, painted white and pink and topped with a jolly red bow. Next to that, a honey pot with mechanical bees buzzing around its chimney, and then a giant, sleepy: looking teddy bear's head, whose yawning mouth doubled up as the door. Further down the street were giant Ice creams, sunflowers, hot dogs, cacti, milk bottles and unicorns.

Don't tell me you can actually buy a unicorn here,' scoffed Rockwell. The characters filling the streets of this area were, again, of a very different nature to those that they'd encountered further up the road. For a start, they were nearly all either animals or walking, talking items of food. They were very simply drawn, with bold outlines and flat colours, but incredibly beautiful at the same time. They all had huge, shiny eyes, button noses and sweet smiles. There were no speech bubbles anywhere. Excuse me,' said Peanut to a passing frog who was wearing a rather fetching kimono. 'Can you tell me where we are? We're a little bit lost. Why, of course!' he said with a heart-melting smile. 'This is the Cute

Quarter. And you are all very welcome here.' Of course it's the Cute Quarter,' whispered Rockwell. 'I think I might stay here forever, said Little-Bit. ' Ooh, look at her...' Across the street, in front of a two-storey pizza slice, stood the most adorable panda that the children had ever seen. She was wearing a long grass skirt, a garland around her neck comprising of pink, red and orange flowers, and a headband to match. She looked over at them with her enormous eyes and batted her ridiculously long lashes. She smiled and sashayed over. 'Why, hello there.' Her voice was smooth and sweet. 'My name is Lulu Kawaii. Do y'all need some help?'