Winnie The Pooh Cake

Onesies - Chapter 1: Love From Aunt Marleen

The moment after my birthday party was when I found that flamingo onesie. I was saying goodbye to the party guests and handing out party bags. Each contained pencils, mini notebooks, little smiley-faced chocolate buttons and colouring pens - my favourite scented ones. I had to choose them because I thought the guests might share them too. As each party guest left in their best dresses and frocks, I waved goodbye, ran into the house and out into the garden. The pink bouncy castle set up for me was my favourite part of my party, and I just couldn’t wait to try it out before it deflated.

I began bouncing on the castle, having such a lot of fun that I didn’t want to leave. I bounced so high, I almost reached for the sky as its afternoon hugh of blue stretched far and wide. The bouncy castle was still filled with balloons coloured pink, green, yellow and orange, so I was very careful not to bounce on one - POP! Oops! I almost did! I fell back in shock, but suddenly I almost sat on something cardboardy. A bit too cardboardy for my liking. It was small, rectangular and coloured pink with lots of palm trees on it. I was curious about the parcel. I looked hard at it. There was something pink and foamy inside.

At that moment, my dad and mum came running outside. “What’s going on?” asked Dad. “We heard screaming!” said Mum, but then they both noticed the little box I was sitting beside. “Ah, is this the new present Aunt Marleen got you?” Aunt Marleen was always my favourite member of the family. She’s always travelling places, like Hawaii and Australia. This time, she was visiting New Zealand, and that was at the appropriate time of my birthday too, because the label on the box said: “Made in New Zealand”. “All the way from New Zealand? Cool!” I cried. “Aunt Marleen was meant to give you this present, but she was away on her travels, so she sent it via air mail instead. We thought we could wait until after your birthday party to give you this.” said Mum. “Then what is it?” I asked. “Well, open it and see.” said Dad.

I opened it alright. It was indeed a foamy pink thing with orange and black bits. “What is it?” I asked for the second time that afternoon. “It’s a flamingo onesie,” said Dad, “Aunt Marleen saw it in the shops and hoped you’d like it for a change from scruffy old pyjamas.” “There’s also a letter with the onesie. Read it, Grace.” I read the letter. It said:

“Dear Grace,

Happy birthday! Just to let you know I found this flamingo onesie in the shops on my travels in New Zealand, and I thought it would be a good idea to give it to you as a birthday present. With this onesie, there’s a hint of magic and mystery in the air whenever someone puts it on. Within seconds, you will find the onesie’s purpose in life. I hope you enjoy your new present!

Love,

Aunt Marleen.”

“I’m going to put on the onesie right now!” I cried, and raced inside and upstairs to my bedroom to get dressed. I looked very swanky in my new flamingo onesie. My mum and dad clapped as I turned around for them to admire my new fashion statement. “Bravo!” cried Dad. “Well, Grace, I think your flamingo onesie looks brilliant!” said Mum, then she added, “But you have to take it off and put on your pyjamas, because you can’t eat with your hands invisible under those wings.” I looked. My hands were not visible under those wings. They were foam and barely made of feathers at all.

I took off my flamingo onesie and put on my purple pyjamas, then went downstairs to have dinner with my mum and dad. As I ate, I thought about all the possibilities my onesie would do. What would its purpose be? Maybe it’s to bring me some magic like the letter explained? Maybe it could fly me to a place I’ve always dreamed of going…like Africa? “I want the onesie to take me to Africa!” I blurted out. “Africa? Why do you think that?” asked Dad. “Because Africa is a cool place, filled with giraffes and ostriches and lions and stuff!” “It’s impossible for a onesie to take you places you dream of going,” said Mum, “And besides, it’s not like you to imagine a onesie being able to fly you all the way to Africa so you can get malaria.” “Malaria?!” I cried. “Yes, it’s a serious disease you find in Africa, tiny mosquitoes cause it. Glad we don’t have any in this country.” “I’m being serious, there is no disease in Africa!” I said. “We’ll talk about this later. Now, eat up your dinner like a good girl.”

My mum and dad continued eating. I continued eating too, but it wasn’t long until something caught my eye. Lying on the sofa was the flamingo onesie. How did it get there? I wondered. I stared at the onesie with awe and disbelief, but it wasn’t long until it started to glow a deep pink. The sound of a doorbell ringing came from the suit. I dropped my knife and fork and ran towards the onesie. It was glowing bright as the sun, right into my eyes. It then made another noise, much like…tinkly music. “Mum! Dad!” I called, “The onesie glowed! And it’s playing music!” But Mum and Dad were finishing their dinner. Crossly, I stormed back to the table and finished eating my dinner in a grumpy mood.

Once I’ve finished eating, Mum said, “You good girl. You ate all your dinner! Perhaps you wouldn’t mind if we gave you a nice slice of chocolate fudge cake, hmm?” “Yes.” I said, with my arms folded. “What’s the magic word?” asked Mum. “Please.” I continued. Mum cut a slice of creamy chocolate fudge cake from the kitchen and placed it in front of me. But with the slice was a fortune cookie. We didn’t have fortune cookies in our house, we only had regular chocolate chip cookies. How did it get there? I wondered for the second time that day. Gratefully, I ate my cake in big bites, then examined the fortune cookie. It looked like a regular old fortune cookie, except it had a purple jewel embedded in it. No fortune cookie was ever made like this - except when jewellery was thrown into the fortune cookie batter. I broke open the cookie and found a message inside, like every fortune cookie would. I read the message carefully.

“Tonight, you will go on a magical adventure.”

My eyes lit up! I’ve never been on a magical adventure before. But I’ve yet to keep it hidden from Mum and Dad, so I whispered to myself, “A magical adventure! A magical adventure! I’m having an adventure!” “Why are you whispering like that, sweetie?” asked Mum. I just said, “Nothing, Mum, I’m just telling myself what a great cake I had.” “I’m sure you were whispering something,” said Dad. “I was whispering something. Something about the cake.” “Make sure you save us slices next time, and don’t shove a whole slice into your mouth. It’s bad manners. Make sure you show some real manners this time.” “Real manners? Like what?” I asked. “Well, saying please and thank you and eating in small bites.” said Mum.

After dinner, I tried on my flamingo onesie again. It was ultra comfortable, and fitted me perfectly. I played and danced about in my flamingo onesie all afternoon, until Mum called “Time for bed!” “Can I wear my flamingo onesie?” I asked. “Of course you can,” said Mum. I brushed my teeth and washed my face, then climbed into bed as Mum read me a story. The story was Alice In Wonderland. As she read, my pink flamingo onesie glowed, and I have to admit, it tickled quite a bit. I roared with laughter! “What’s so funny?” asked Mum. “Oh, er…I just thought the bit with the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party was funny.” I said. “Okay then, well settle down now. We all need to get some sleep.” Mum switched off the light and exited the room, so I snuggle down to get some sleep at last.

A few minutes into midnight, as the stars twinkled in the sky, my onesie started to glow again. I couldn’t help giggling quietly, but then I heard a strange tapping noise on my door. I ignored it and went back to sleep. The tapping got louder. I shot right out of bed, and looked out the window. It was a sparkling ball of light, all purplish-blue, floating in the sky. I opened the window, and it shot in, knocking books off the shelf and toys off my cabinet. “Get out of here, you’re making a mess!” I cried, but the sparkle didn’t listen. It began to twinkle and fly around me, playing a tune similar to ‘Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy’. The tune at once enchanted me. I was tired, but I was wide awake enough to listen to the most beautiful music my ears have ever heard. It flittered around the room, putting books back onto the shelf and toys back onto the cabinet. “Thanks,” I said, “For a mischievous sphere of light, you could do a lot of chores.”

It then approached my wall. Was it going to smash through it? No, it wasn’t. It morphed into a little door shape, and then it became a little door. It was coloured light blue and its doorknob was purple, like blackberries in an Autumn bramble bush. I got down on my hands and knees and crawled towards the door. I knocked three times, and it opened, revealing pure darkness. Curious, I crawled inside. I was intrigued outside, but inside, I was excited. It was going to be a new adventure for me…