Another Rainy Day

Hey Kid races out of the laundry room and into the lobby of the Bed & Breakfast, a manic grin on their face. Gertrude follows in the devilish child's wake. Sal is behind the front desk, while Amelie busies themselves tidying up. Parish is doing his best to relax following the breakfast rush, sitting on a plush chair near where Mr. Boggs works on a crossword puzzle.

"Hey, everybody!" Hey Kid shouts enthusiastically. "We're going to play some games! You'll all play with me, right? Right! It's going to be sooo much fun after being stuck inside for so long! Let's go! I'm ready! I'm ready! I'm ready!" They bounce about the room, buzzing with energy.

Amelie had been tidying up the ground floor first. They had intended to work their way up floor by floor, that seemed the most logical method of doing things. Efficiency now meant more time to experiment with their day later, if they finished cleaning up early. They never did though, they always found more work to do. They had just stepped into the lobby when Hey Kid burst in.

"No running in the main lobby." They chide Hey Kid, hands on their hips. "And no games either."

They point at the sign on the door. Admittedly it's something they made, a simple chalk board with very square handwriting on it, and it specifically says 'No ball games in the lobby' but that's still something. Yazeba hadn't complained when they'd decided to put the sign up, and so it'd stayed there. Since it stayed there it was a rule, and rules were made to be followed.

They stared at Hey Kid, not sternly because they couldn't really change their expression, but in such a way that might have been considered rude were it not a robot who didn't know the conventions, and a child.

Hey Kid looks from Amelie to the sign, and then back to Amelie. The child frowns. "Aw, come on! Don't be such a stick-in-the-mud, Amelie! I'm soooo bored! I gotta do something soon..." They look to Gertrude for help.

Mr. Boggs continues to consider his crossword. It is an oddity within an oddity that his raincloud keeps him damp but never affects any paperwork he is doing.

As he fills in an answer, he remarks to Parrish, "While I concede that you are both green and a knight, I rather think the answer is Gawain."

Looking up, he takes in the scene before him. "Much as I appreciate a well followed regulation, only Yazeba has the authority to impose new rules." He points out.

Boggs smiles slightly. "You know, I haven't played a ball game since we won that bowling party for beating our third quarter market projections in 09." He reaches up and loosens his tie. "I think we could set up an alley in the hallway. What do you think?"

Hey Kid cheers. "Yeah! Way to go, Mr. Boggs! I knew you secretly knew how to have fun!" The devil child rushes to the utility closet and then to the hallway, back and forth, back and forth, each time returning with a bowling pin and dropping it in the hall.

"There! That’s ten, right? Now we take turns throwing a ball at them? And how do we keep score? What’s a spare? What’s a strike? What’s a turkey? I mean, besides a big fat bird!

"Hey, Mr. Boggs? With that rain cloud around you all the time... When you go to sleep, do you wet the bed?"

Amelie produces a remarkably electronic sigh, and crosses their arms at their waist. They already know they won't win in this situation, not with a guest being encouraging and Hey Kid not taking no for an answer, but they know it's not right. They watch Hey Kid's enthusiasm and wonder what it must be like to have that kind of energy and wanton disregard for order. The thought makes them uncomfortable so they stop, and file it away for further study later.

"I don't condone this course of action." They turn to Mr Boggs. "Though the question does make me curious, I must agree. More for the sake of laundry, then anything else."

Their eyes are large on their optic display. Bright green blips of pure innocence, not understanding the extra issues their supporting the question might add.

If Mr. Boggs is upset by the questions, it does not show on his impassive face. "The bed used to become wet, but I did not wet the bed if you understand the distinction. He answers. "But now I have a special system of tarps and drainage buckets that I set up at night. Here, I've got a diagram for it. He fishes out a neatly folded piece of paper from an interior pocket of his suit jacket and displays it to those assembled. "The hard part was finding an attachment method that would remain waterproof without coming loose but these clever fellows in Switzerland designed a new kind of grommet for me. The game forgotten, it is clear that Mr. Boggs has warmed to this subject and looks prepared to go on at length.

Gertrude just knew this was going to be trouble but, at the same time, it had been boring around here lately. Sure, maybe a teenage girl shouldn’t be playing bowling in the hallway, but she could help and maybe keep things mostly under control.

She helps Hey Kid set up the lane and goes through what she knows about bowling, "Well, if you miss the pins that’s a zero. You get two rolls to try and knock them all down. If you knock them down on the first roll that’s a strike, on the second that’s a spare. I think a turkey has to do with getting a number of strikes in a row."

She looks over and adds "Mr. Boggs, can you tell us how many strikes in a row is a turkey. Also, I think there’s a special way to keep score but I don’t remember it. Do you think you can show us?"

Parish had fallen asleep, the aged frog knight had played hard racking his brain for an answer to the crossword puzzle. A long silence, a comfortable chair, a heavy breakfast. And a gently snoring frog was serenely enjoying the sound of rain. Until Hey Kid's rambunctious energy and peal of maniacal cacophony disturbed his slumber. "Thou art a scallywag!" Parish croaked groggily. "Alas, twas a fine dream. Gawain and our battle to defeat the magus. Ah but yon memory, shall I tell the tale?"

Sal looks at Hey Kid and says "How about we play musical chairs little dude? I can grab my electric guitar and some chairs from the lobby and we can play. Rainy days are a great day to play indoors,brah!"

Hey Kid's eyes glaze over as Mr. Boggs begins to drone on about grommets, but fortunately Gertrude is there to explain the rules. "Alright, I guess we don't need to know about turkeys to play. Let's play!"

The kid happily hurls the heavy ball down the hall, laughing as they knock over pins. They zip down to retrieve it and impatiently wait their turn until the other go, then they hurl it again! This continues for several minutes until eventually Gertrude declares a winner.

"Yay! That was fun! What's next?"

From behind the desk, Sal calls out offering to play musical chairs. Hey Kid shakes their head. "Nah, I want something more active! More fun! I have sooo much ENERGY still!"

Mr. Boggs looks up from finishing a perfect bowling score sheet to find that the game was already over.

At Sal's.suggestion, Mr. Boggs looks wistful. "You know Sal, I really admire your courage in trying to strike out on your own and follow your music. Wish I had that kind of confidence at your age."

Mister Boggs attempts to snap his fingers but it doesn't really work with wet hands. "Why.don't you play that song about the crabs you were working on? You know the one with the dance? He looks over at Hey Kid to see if that catches his attention.

Amelie had been standing on the side-lines during the bowling game. They hadn't played, since it went against their directives, but they'd been curious about it. The idea of games had been programmed into them, way back when, but it lived somewhere deep inside their memory cores as a distant thought. Imagination, after all, was a key part of play and hard for someone who's work came before their imagination. Or did it? They had been thinking about more experimenting earlier...

They snapped out of their temporary power down loop at the squelch of Mr Boggs attempted snapping of his fingers. They'd moved on from the bowling, and left the pins and ball in place in the corridor. Amelie tutted at the mess, their arms crossed, and added some irritated eyebrows to their optic display.

"And I suppose while you're dancing Amelie will be cleaning up?" They sigh. "Go on, have fun. I enjoy picking up after you anyway."

They paused. Where had that come from? Something they'd felt before, but never knew where it started. I felt like a bug, or a glitch, but somehow no one ever found the fault in their code. Yazeba said it was good, when it happened once before, as long as they didn't take it too far. Still, embarrassment coloured the edges of her optic display with a ripple.

---

Gertrude announces the winner of the game it was actually sort of fun you know except when Hey Kid nearly destroyed something when they went. She went over to Amelie and said, "I'll help you clean up Amelie. You do so much around here you deserve some help."

Gertrude picked up a pin, then another pin, another and one more. She had nearly six pins in her hands and there was one more right in reach if she just stretched out a little bit, she could pick it up. *Crash* The pins go flying out of her hands and despite her own embarrassment Hey Kid seems really into this new game and well Amelie did say they would do it themself. She whispers very quietly to them, "Sorry Amelie, I guess I'm not that useful around here."

With that she went on to play the Crab walk game. If she played poorly well, what could you expect? She clearly wasn't good for anything around here.

"Yay! Crab dance!" Hey Kid bends over backwards and begins scuttling around the lobby just as quickly as they can walk normally. "Who else is gonna play? We can't have a dance contest with just one participant! Gertie? Amelie? Parish? Mr. Boggs? C'mon, get down here and join me!"

Somehow, Hey Kid manages to hop up onto the front desk while still crab walking. They look at Sal while upside down. "Okay, Sal, play your crab song and let the contest begin!"

"Oh. Oh dear." Mr. Boggs murmurs as he watches Hey Kid crouch over backward and move about. "Well, I guess it was my idea." Mr. Boggs carefully puts his briefcase and umbrella down and gingerly lowers himself down to the ground. "Ready." He announces. He does not look ready.

Amelie pauses in the process of putting the pins back, and watches what's going on. They stare in curiosity. Dancing hadn't even been something they quite understood how to do. Yazeba had told them it involved moving your body to rhythm, with very little conviction on her face, Sal had said it came from letting your soul vibe with the sound. Amelie couldn't vibrate, besides what anyone could do, so that didn't sound right either.

This now didn't even look like dancing to them. They had to stick around and watch to figure it out.

Hey Kid laughs as Mr. Boggs joins in the crab dance. As Sal sings his crab song, the devil child shimmies and skitters around the lobby, moving in circles around Mr. Boggs. They dart in between the businessman's legs, avoiding being sprinkled upon by his permanent rain cloud. At the end of the dance, Hey Kid gets back to their feet and cheers.

"Yay! You were so good, Mr. Boggs! Can we play like this all the time?!?" The child grins excitedly.

"What's the next game?"

At the end of the crab dance Gertrude finishes by doing a cartwheel across the living room floor! She grins as she shows off the skill then she jumps onto a couch. From on top of the couch she looks to Hey Kid, "Oh no! The floor is Lava! We have to get around the living room without touching the floor."

She jumps from the couch to a chair showing Hey Kid how the game is played. She’s actually having fun now, it’s been a long time since she’s just played around and had fun like this.

Mr. Boggs lays on the floor, flat on his back, panting heavily. To Hey Kid's question, Mr. Boggs manages to raise his hand with a thumbs up gesture. He is quite unclear why he has done this as he fully plans to do nothing more strenuous than Sudoku for the rest of his life. The mist from his rain cloud is pleasantly cool on his face. Then Gertrude announces that the floor is lava. Unlike Gertrude, Mr. Boggs does not so much leap as laboriously struggle into a chair for the next phase of game playing.

Rain usually kept the rabbits who lived in the garden who wear little outfits out of Yazeba's house proper--unfortunately, they had been there when the rain began, and very quickly it had become too muddy for them to venture back to their warren.

"I believe if we can get some ziplock bags from Parish, we may be able to fashion umbrellas out of them," Colonel said, his furry jowls wobbling as he spoke. He was decked out in a lovely floral shirt, but held none of the cheer of those sunflowers on this rainy day.

"That won't help with all the mud, though, Colonel," said Poppet. She looked down at her own paws and the patches of white that would be absolutely ruined by trudging through the grass in this weather, not to mention her lovely white pleated skirt. "I concur," said Vespa. She was scratching her ear with her back paw and hardly paying any attention, but an agreement was an agreement, so Poppet would take it.

"Right then, what do you suggest we do, if my suggestion is no good?" Colonel said. "If you are to shout down my suggestions, I'd like to hear some alternatives!"

"Now, now, Col, there's no need to lose your wick," Shiela said sweetly. She placed a paw on Colonel's shoulder. "Why don't we--"

But whatever Shiela was about to suggest, they were never to find out, because of the absolute ruckus coming from the lobby.

"What the devil was that?" Colonel asked. Poppet and Shiela could only shrug, and finally Vespa looked up from her scratching.

Shiela hopped a few steps down the hall. "I think--why, I think they are pretending the floor is lava!"

"Oooh, I want to play!" Vespa cried, and took off towards the lobby. "I do admit, that sounds rather fun," said Colonel, following her. Poppet and Shiela looked about themselves and, with a good-natured shrug, followed behind, their plans for travelling back to the warren forgotten.

"The floor is most certainly not lava." Amelie says, crossing their arms.

They are staring at the floor and are certain it's composition hasn't changed. There, in the lobby, the floor is hard wood. They would know, considering they sweep it every day. It both looks like it usually does, and has the same consistency. Still, however, everyone seems to be avoiding it which only confuses them further. They look between the people clambering over objects and the still normal floor.

"I would appreciate it if you didn't break anything." They said, at a loss for anything else to say. "And that includes yourselves."

The more they looked, the more they felt left out. The feeling wasn't a usual one for them, in these circumstances, yet everyone made it so much harder for them to do them to do their job and clean the lobby. Without anything else to do, they contemplated powering down, but something stopped them. They couldn't join in, either, so they had to stand there and watch, confused.

If the floor had become lava, surely the furniture would melt too. They thought.

"Wow! Awesome cartwheel, Gertie!" Hey Kid cries, surprised by the teenager's acrobatic display. Ignoring Amelie's droning commentary, the devilish child laughs and hops around on the furniture, because The Floor is Lava and you shouldn't touch it!

When the Rabbits in the Garden Who Wear Little Outfits appear, Hey Kid shouts to them, "Watch out, Rabbits! The Floor is Lava!" They continue to bounce from chair to sofa to table, laughing all the while. They don't notice as their body begins to glow red with the excitement of the game.

Suddenly, Hey Kid's body bursts into flames! The overstuffed upholstery of the chair they are standing on ignites, going up into flames. "Oops! Hehe, sorry about that! Now The Floor is Lava, and The Chair is On Fire!!! Hehe!" They giggle as the furniture burns.

Mr. Boggs finallycatches his breath and settles in to watch the leaping about when the chair suddenly goes up in flames. All traces of lethargy gone, Boggs scoops up his umbrella from the floor and snaps it open. "Don't worry. I've trained for this." He announces to the room. He flips a switch on his umbrella and little flaps of cloth stick up from the surface. Twirling the umbrella, he catches the water from his rain cloud and it spirals off in a stream directed at the base of the fire. He knew those specialty drills at work would pay off someday and this was his moment! Next step in the drill is to clear the area preferably to somewhere non-flammable. Ah, the basement! "Hey Kid, while I'm taking care of this, why don't you show everyone your new trick for sliding down the stairs?" Somehow, in the middle of all this chaos, Mr. Boggs is smiling.

"Wow, you're full of fun ideas, Mr. Boggs!" Hey Kid exclaims. "Come on, Gertie! Come on, Rabbits! Let's slide!" They dart about the bed and breakfast, grabbing blankets for everybody, before leading the way up the stairs.

"Here we gooooo!" Hey Kid shouts as they slide down the stairs, headfirst! They crash into and end table, knocking over a lamp, laughing all the while!

Gertrude has really gotten into the swing of things now. She slides down the stairs and collides with Poppet on the bottom. "Oh no! Poppet are you okay?" She couldn't help herself and tried to pick Poppet up and care for the cute fuzzy rabbit. She was just the most adorable thing ever!

While she was attempting to hold Poppet and care for her she added, "Don't forget to behave inside too rabbits. We don't want a repeat of last time when Colonel got sick after raiding the crisper in the refrigerator."

Percy the lava elemental is in the kitchens decorating a cake when the commotion begins, his bulky body pressed between the fridge and prep table as he carefully squeezes a bag of icing onto an undecorated cake. It's not his job or anything - in fact, Yazeba explicitly doesn't trust him near the food since the time he accidentally lit an entire rack of cakes on fire. Still, he wants to give baking a go and he won't let his clumsy body stop him! Probably. Unless it's inconvenient for the people who actually belong here.

The crash of Hey Kid knocking over a lamp startles Percy. The temperature of his body flares and his icing bag, cake, and a small bit of the fridge light on fire. "Just as I thought," he says to himself sadly before going to check out the commotion.

"Oh, hello Hey Kid. Gertrude. Poppet. What are you doing?"

"Percy! Hello!" Hey Kid shouts, waving up at the much larger lava elemental. "It's raining too hard to have fun playing outside, but we're having lots of fun playing INSIDE! Gertrude and Mr. Boggs have shown me lots of awesome games to play indoors. Do you want to join us? What game would you like to play?!?"

Amalie watched the entirety of the dance and the floor is lava situation after. They notice Mr Boggs put out the flames, and politely thank them before setting about cleaning up the aftermath. Along with all the various knocked over things. They don't notice when Hey Kid rushes off to slide down the stairs, though they hear the table being knocked over. If a robot could wince, that was what they did. They practically shivered, and sighed with static.

"More work for Amalie." They shrugged, and made an apologetic gesture to Mr Boggs while she searched for something to mop up his rain. "I'm sorry you had to go through all this."

They were about to mention that Hey Kid wouldn't have been so bad if they hadn't been cooped up all day, but then something occurred to them. To no one at all, they mused the thought out loud. "At least they're not tracking mud everywhere, I should cut them some slack."

Percy carefully hangs up his singed apron and puffy chef's hat, then squeezes his bulky body through the doorframe as carefully as possible. "Games? Oh, I'm not sure I know any." He shifts his weight nervously. "I'm a little... big for indoor games. Sorry," he apologizes while gesturing at himself: at 7 feet tall, Percy has to stoop to go through doorways (except the door leading to his room. That door is inexplicably exactly the right size and fireproof to boot). A single one of his hands dwarfs the average human's head.

He pauses awkwardly, torn between his desire to be included and his urge to make an excuse to leave so as not to be a bother. In the end, curiosity wins: "But maybe if the next game you play isn't too complicated... or fast... and doesn't require much in the way of manual dexterity... then I can figure out how to join." He peers hopefully at Gertrude and the rabbits in the garden who wear little outfits. A panicked expression flashes red-hot across his face. "Unless that's too much to ask!"

Mr. Boggs lowers his umbrella now that the fire was out and Amalie was on hand. "No need to apologize. I find it good to be found useful." He looks over towards the sound of breaking furniture. "Besides, I sympathize with those that have been stuck inside with the same old routines." His gaze shifts back to Amalie. "Sometimes you just have to try something new."

"Of course, Percy! Join us!" Hey Kid says with a grin. They turn towards everybody else. "I've still got some more energy to burn off. Somebody think of a game before I start bouncing off the walls again!"

After Colonel had gotten over his mild embarrassment of having his crisper drawer raids publicised, the rabbits turned to watch Percy coming through the door.

Collectively, all the rabbits twitched their little noses, thinking about a game that they, small as they were, could play along with Percy, who towered over them--even Vespa, who was the tallest of them. Vespa, especially, did not want to leave Percy out of the games. Everyone deserved to have some fun!

But, oblivious to all that, Colonel said, "You know, when I was a young bun, I was quite fond of jumping over a stick! You start with it on the ground, and then you gradually raise it, seeing who can jump the highest!"

"Oh, that game is quite splendid," Shiela said, happily. "Though...I'm not sure that'll be much good to someone as tall as Percy when we're stuck inside!"

Poppet sprang up, hopping a few times in excitement. "Wait! I've got it! We'll play Grandmother's Footsteps. Percy, you close you eyes and turn around. We have to try and sneak up on you. When you think you hear someone moving, you turn around and open your eyes, and we have to try and freeze! If you catch any of us moving, then we're out! If we use the hallway, we'll have plenty of space to try and reach you!

"Hooray! That sounds like a GREAT game!" Hey Kid cheers. "I'm gonna be so super-duper sneaky!"

Gertrude was very happy to see tha Poppet was okay. The little bunny was just so adorable and Gertrude sort of wanted to keep petting her but, it seemed that the bunny was just not the sort. Instead Poppet thought up another fun game they could all play! She smiles happily and says aloud, "That’s a great idea. You are the sweetest, smartest, and most adorable bunnies ever.

Gertrude blushes brightly after the sweet compliment and decides to try and keep her mouth shut for the game. Looking over at Hey Kid she says, I don’t know, maybe I am sneakier than you. Let’s find out!

A slow smile splits Percy's face. "That sounds like a good game," he says. "And I know how to make it even more interesting!" Percy's eyes glow with concentration as he places his palms together and presses. The temperature in the hallway ratchets up a few degrees until he opens his palms, revealing a freshly made green greenstone. "The winner gets this!" he proclaims. "It's just a little gem, but I hope you like it."

Percy gently places the gem on the ground, then turns away from the group. "Please go to the far side of the hallway," he requests. He gives everyone a few moments to rush over, their eager footsteps not yet soft and careful. "Ready? Go!"

"It's beautiful!" Hey Kid declares, eyes sparkling.

When the game begins, they do their best to creep quietly forward while Percy's back is turned, then freeze whenever he turns around. They really do try to be patient, but the thought of claiming the glittering prize erodes at their patience.

After only a minute or so, when Percy turns his back once more, Hey Kid breaks into a run! They zip forward at blazing speed, nearly colliding with the hulking lava elemental! "Yay! I'm first! Did I win? Did I? Did I?"

Shiela, one of the oldest of the rabbits, had gotten a little caught up in the excitement. At first, she tried to pace herself. But, with Vespa, Poppet (still grinning from the compliment) and Hey Kid rushing ahead, she was determined not to be shown up! She took off at a hop, weaving between legs to keep up, and almost crashing into people a few times when she needed to skid to a halt as Percy turned.

It was quite a relief when Hey Kid had a burst of energy and ended the game for them. Sheila sat back on her haunches, her breath heaving. That had been something of a mistake, she realised, head dizzy and legs sore.

"You won!" Vespa was shouting back at Hey Kid. "I thought for sure I could catch up, but no way!" But Sheila was distracted from the celebration by the rumble in her stomach, now she had expended so much energy.

"Speaking of Colonel's crisper escapades," Sheila said, still out of breath. "I think it's about time we had some refreshments! Colonel, if you would do the honours?" Colonel responded that he might need assistance. Vespa agreed to go with him, and they both disappeared into the kitchen. They appeared a few minutes later armed with crudités and candy. Sheila beamed, eagerly reaching for some of the delicious celery on offer. "Right, eat up everyone! We must build our strength back up!"

Percy, much to his surprise, is good at the game! His body is shaped basically like a human's but certainly has none of the limitations of flesh and blood. Rather than turning his entire body, Percy twists at the waist to catch noisy players, sending them back to the starting line many times before Hey Kid's burst of energy wins the game.

"Yes, you win," Percy smiles. He picks up the gem and lightly presses it into Hey Kid's eager, outstretched hand. While the rabbits get a snack ready, Percy does his best to answer Hey Kid's many, many questions. Luckily, the eager child doesn't pause much between questions so Percy has to do little more than nod and say a few words when Hey Kid stops for breath. And if Hey Kid gets a little too excited and runs a little hot? Well, Percy can certainly handle it!

When the rabbits come back with the treats, Percy reaches for a bun: It's perfectly, mouthwateringly golden-brown. "Thank you, Colonel," he says before disaster strikes! His bulky arm falls heavy on the platter. Percy stutters "OH! N-no, I'm so sorry! Oh! Your snacks! I am so so sorry!"

"I win! I win! Yesss!" Hey Kid declares. They race around the lobby excitedly, heedless of the spilled platter of snacks. They cradle the gem that Percy created close to their chest.

"Another game! Another!"

Gertrude immediately jumps in to help out when Percy breaks the platter. "I got it Amelie!" she helps to clean up the mess and even gets out some new veggies for everyone to share.

While they take a brief break she thinks hard about the games and Hey Kid. She’s known them for awhile so she has an idea on just what they like and what they don’t. She finally comes up with an answer as she gets out some paper and colored pencils. "Let’s draw some comics. Maybe everyone can do a few panels and we can try a join it all up into one."

She begins drawing some comic panels of Nuetron Gal knowing that is Hey Kid’s favorite character.

Hey Kid bounces behind Gertrude, looking over her shoulder as she starts to draw. "Oh! Are you drawing Neutron Gal with her Neutrino Blasters? Those were only canon in the third and fifth movies, and also Neutron Gal XR but I didn’t like Proton Girl in that one so I don’t really watch it that much. I'm gonna draw her with the Carbon Smasher that she used to defeat the Laser-Beast in Neutron Gal II! You remember, the Laser-Beast, right, Gertrude? He was all like--"

For a moment, Hey Kid suddenly gets very large and scary! They loom over the other guests gathered in lobby, even Percy, snarling and slobbering! Their eyes glow red and a halo of black flames surround them!

"GRR! ARRGH!!!"

Then in a blink, Hey Kid is back to their normal size and appearance. "Yeah, so, I'm gonna draw now!" The devilish child plops down on the floor with crayons in hand. As they begin to doodle, it is clear that the child is finally beginning to calm down. They stifle a yawn, their seemingly boundless energy reserves finally nearing their limits.

Having helped Amalie right the living room, Mr. Boggs wanders over to see the house engaged in art. He watches from a sage distance so as not to soak the work in progress.

Percy is deeply embarrassed about ruining lunch and doesn't trust himself around paper. He politely excuses himself to his room upon seeing that things are winding down. "I had a lot of fun," he says as he's leaving. "You are all wonderful! I hope it's okay if we do this again sometime."

Gertrude smiles as she tries to keep up with Hey Kid, "Neutron Gal III, of course, remember you watched that one a few days ago. I thought it was pretty neat." She continues coloring showing Hey Kid her panels and joking back and forth with the younger person about Neutron Gal.

Slowly but surely Hey Kid begins to yawn and when they finally nap Gertrude puts a blanket over them to keep them warm. "Thanks everyone for playing with us and I have to agree with Hey Kid, maybe we can do it again sometime. I really liked watching that Crab Dance." She giggles a bit and then wanders down to her spot, on top of the dryer. She'd had a nice time and found out that she and Hey Kid had a lot in common actually. As time passed maybe she and Hey Kid would play more games together and become closer.

The rain continues to fall outside, but inside Yazeba's Bed & Breakfast, it is warm and cozy--the perfect atmosphere for everybody who played with Hey Kid to recover from the intense afternoon! And poor Amelie is left with the mess to clean up!

And that is the story of how Hey Kid and Gertrude became close friends on another rainy day!