A Weekend With Orko: Teatime

When Orko and Furaha got home that afternoon, it was already three o’clock. And that meant it was time for tea and cake. Orko would put on a record and wait for Furaha to head back into the living room with a plate of cupcakes and cucumber sandwiches. The record at the moment was playing Nat King Cole, mostly starting from Furaha’s favourite song by that artist, ‘Deed I Do’.

Furaha sang and danced about the kitchen like a bear in the jungle whilst getting tea ready. She made the sandwiches with white bread and fresh cucumbers and cheese and cut them into rectangular slices. Then she got out four of her favourite chocolate cupcakes with pink icing and placed them on the tray beside the sandwiches. She next got out her favourite yellow teapot and teacups and poured some nice delicious hot chocolate - a good exchange for tea if it tastes sour to taste buds - and added small pink and white marshmallows to it.

Back in the living room, Rocky, their dog, was lazily looking out the window at all the cars and buses and lorries passing by. He was the sort of dog who liked to watch everything that went on. I guess you could call him a ‘watchdog’! Ha, I can hear Orko already laughing from that joke. “I know, Rocky, I know, you’ll get your tea soon.” Rocky quickly turned round with a wild houndy smile on his face. His favourite - a nice juicy dog bowl full of sausages! Drool dripped from his tongue, and he barked happily.

“Orko! Teatime!” called Furaha from the kitchen as she grooved in carrying the whole tray of sandwiches, cakes and hot chocolate. “Oh boy! Our favourite tea!” cheered Orko. Furaha was not just an excellent jazz musician and piano player, but also a good cook, and when she presented the tea for Orko to admire, he was already licking his shadowed chops with a visible tongue, which you saw during the horrible time he was forced to perform at Prince Adam’s birthday party. We can’t talk about THAT now, can we?

As Furaha and Orko enjoyed their tea, Furaha busily said, “Ah, weekends are good, aren’t they? Free time to play the piano any time and nobody to force us into those strict English boarding schools.” “Furaha…we don’t go to school.” said Orko. “Oh.” munched Furaha. “By the way, did you hear about the Penguin Summer Competition they’re hosting?” “Oh, a competition where they host a penguin that’s best dressed for the Summer?” asked Orko. Furaha almost choked on her sandwich, giggling at the thought. “No, I meant a competition hosted by those little chocolate bars with penguins on the wrappers. We have some in the fridge. They’re hosting it at the funfair today.” “Chocolate bars can’t just stand on two legs and give away prizes with their arms and hands.” joked Orko. “No, they can’t,” laughed Furaha, “But what they can do is wait to get eaten.” “Like those sandwiches you make, they’re great!” chomped Orko, taking another sandwich from the tray, “Mmmm, you should make some of these more often.” “I already have,” said Furaha, “And I feel plenty with all those sandwiches on my pallet.” “But you’re not full up yet!” “I know. Tell you what - after tea, we should dance to piano music playing on the gramophone. How does that sound?” “Would I ever!” said Orko, “It’s the best weekend ever!”

So after tea, Furaha put on some groovy swing piano music and she and Orko got up and danced away to work off their sandwiches and cakes. Rocky danced with them, bouncing around them like a hyena on too much sugar. They waltzed, tangoed, and even danced crazily around the living room, as the jazzy overtones of Wynton Marsarlis bounced off the walls of the living room. Orko was clumsy for a few moments and knocked some vinyl records over, but Furaha cleaned it all up using her tail.

As the sun was setting, to wind down, Furaha got to her piano and played some chilled out, sometimes emotional music. Orko sat next to her, quite content, hearing this soulful, tearful music fill up the room. Rocky lounged on the sofa, his paw hanging off the edge as he fell asleep. “This is the best music I’ve ever heard,” smiled Orko under his shadowed face. “Hey, while we’re on the subject, can we go to Cupcakes 2 Love next weekend? It’s just down the road. I hear they make lovely afternoon teas. And then, once we’ve done that, we could go swimming with Claudia and Ginger again. Got that?” “Mmmm,” agreed Furaha, and her music played longingly until 9PM, when it was time for both of them to go to bed.