A Birthday for Gertrude

In the kitchen, Parish begins to muster the troops! The tiny frog paces back and forth on the counter, arms behind his back, as he surveys his forces. A fine party-planning force, to be sure!

"Alright, listen up!" Parish croaks, puffing up his chest. "First, thank you all for volunteering to help plan Gertrude’s surprise birthday party. Of course, the most important part of a surprise party is the element of...well, of surprise. So, nobody mention anything to Gertrude about this!

"We must act swiftly and resolutely to get everything prepared. Once we have chosen a party venue, we will decorate it and make space for plenty of snacks and refreshments. While I work on the cake, you’ll want to go about acquiring and wrapping your gifts for her. And when everything is prepared, the party shall commence! Good luck. Gertrude is counting on us. Let’s not let her down!"

Gertrude keeps reading her book. Parish and Sal just left her alone, but it is alright. They might have important things to do. She will finish this chapter and then... perhaps read another?
It is a beautiful day.

Yola is sitting in a rocking chair near Parish when he explains what the plan is. She sips her cup of tea and smiles when Yazeba asks for another pack of cigarettes. "Oh I do love a good party." She lets everyone know.

"I remember once when the duke of Earl had a party in the royal gardens. My it was a sight to behold! Such fancy decorations and the women all looked so beautiful in their summer dresses. Not to mention the handsome bachelors that were around." She winks at Yazeba. "I heard that Lady Sheridan had an eventful night that day. If you catch my drift." She giggles. "But you didn't hear this from me!"

"Anyway, I'm going to get Gertrude the most wonderful gift." She adds. "I just need to figure out what that would be. Anyone know if she likes tea?"

"I'm sure she likes tea, Yola. Who doesn't?" Parish says with a smile.

"Alright, why don't you and Yazeba start working on your gifts. I'll get the cake going and tell the other guests to start gathering in the party room. Oh, this is going to be a grand celebration!"

The frog hops over to the pantry and begins gathering the ingredients he will need to make the cake.

"Come now, Yazeba" Yola adds to the conversation. "It won't kill you to get someone a gift for once." She says in a friendly yet somewhat disapproving tone. "I'm positive you can conjure up something." She ends with a jolly giggle.

"While I think about my gift, I'm going to grab some lovely wrapping paper from my room." She says as she gets up from the rocking chair and heads up stairs.

On her way there, she spots Gertrude reading a book in the living room. From the hallway she asks her "Are you enjoying that book, Gertrude? Which series are you reading?" With some luck, she could figure out what kind of books Gertrude likes to read. It's not suspicious to ask about a book someone is reading, right?

After a few moments of calling out, Amelie appears at the end of the hallway. The robotic maid's LED eyes take in Yazeba with a neutral expression. "I am here. Please state the nature of the custodial emergency."

Gertrude can listen a lot of noise coming from the kitchen. She looks at the clock. It is a little earlier for preparing dinner but... perhaps Parish has a long recipe on mind?
Somehow the thought of Parish preparing a long recipe made her remember of Percy's cookies. He should prepare cookies more often!

She is lost in 'cookies' thoughts when Yola appears and asks her
"Oh... hi Yola! Oh! This one? bah... it is rubbish it is called Heartsword... fantasy, you know? about a princess... too childish
Do you have a book recommendation? the Bed & Breakfast has a quite large library... "Gertrude waits for Yola's answer when she hears Yazeba's calling from Amelie.
Apparently the B&B is bustling with activity in this beautiful calm 15th of September morning... did she forgot about something important today? Perhaps she could do a tour later... after finishing this chapter... and perhaps the next one...

"Ah I don't know that one." Yola answered her. "Young people these days read the darnedest things." She said mostly to herself and added a cackle at the end. "Oh, I can recommend many many books, dear! I believe I may have a list of my reading history somewhere in my room. I keep track of these things, you know." She takes a few steps up the stairs. "I'll be sure to let you know. For now you can keep reading that book about rubbish." She told her, trying to 'play dumb'.

Luckily Yola has a lot of book-reading experience and knew exactly which book to get Gertrude to keep her away from that fantasy nonsense.

Once in her room, she gathered up some of her arts and crafts do-dads to wrap a book with and headed off to the library.

Amelie stares at Yazeba for a few moments after her tirade. Their LED eyes blink slowly before they reply, "Yes, of course. I'll get on it right away." Was that a bit of sarcasm in their mechanical voice?

Parish finishes mixing the cake and puts it in the oven. He sets the timer, then taps his chin with a webbed finger. "Alright. I've got some time now. Better start rustling up a gift for Gertrude," he says to himself. "Now, what would the dear girl like the most?"

After a bit of thought, his eyes widen. "Aha! Yes, that's just the thing! I'd better go find Lady Niviana to seek her assistance!" He hops off to do just that!

---

Gertrude is surprised by Yola's answer... She loves her book! She is somehow used to call it rubbish but hearing it from someone else... hurts a bit.

"Ok! I'll wait for your recommendation Yola" she says as Yola leaves.

This conversation broke somehow her concentration in reading. She closes her book, and taking it with her, she goes to the corridor where she crosses paths with Amelie
"Oh hi Amelie! I heard Yazeba screaming, is everything all right? What are you doing?"

"Everything is alright," Amelie says flatly as they sweep the floors. "I am following Yazeba’s orders. She has instructed me to sort out the mess in several different rooms. Apparently some of the guests are planning a party."

The implications of the statement escape the maid.

"Oh... a party?" says Gertrude as she thinks why she didnt know anything about a party... Perhaps they told her but she forgot? Or... perhaps they didnt tell her anything as she is not a fun person to have in a party...
No... it must be the first!
"Oh... yes!! I forgot that there was a party! that explains everything... And... what was the party about? I forgot!"

After getting the needed tidbits to wrap a present with, Yola heads to the library to find one of her favorite novels. "It should be around here somewhere..." She says as she looks through the different shelves. "A... B... ☼... C... §... D..." She read as she went over the index of the library. "Aha! I should be somewhere in the ▼-section."She picks up one book after another. "The life and love of Gruns Brinwick .. Nope" She throws the book over her shoulder. "Fiddles and Fiddlesticks Rubbish." She says, dumping that one on the floor too. "Yazeba's Book of Useless Spell-casting What's that doing here?" With a shrug, that one falls to the floor as well.

"Aha!" She says after finding what she was looking for. In her hands is her all time favorite book. "How I fell in love with a flower"