The Chocolaterie's Grand Opening!

One sunny morning, Mr Frasier Chocolate took his wife Teri on a stroll around town. It was obvious to her that he was taking her somewhere specific, but he wouldn't tell her where, and that made her very curious.

"Frasier, where are we going?" She asked. "I have so much to do...".
"Just relax and come with me, my darling. I promise you will like what you see. Here, take my hand and close your eyes. Don't open them until I tell you!".

A short while later, after turning a couple of corners, Teri was getting really impatient. Luckily, she didn't have to wait for long.

"You can now open your eyes" Frasier said warmly. a smile on his voice. 
When Teri did, she was amazed by what she saw. A Chocolaterie!
Her husband had been out all day for quite some time looking for the perfect building to rebuild the Chocolaterie they had lost on the natural disaster that had made them leave their old home, and now it was here, right before her eyes!

"But... Frasier, my love, you have built it already!" She said, very surprised, a big smile slowly appearing in her face.
 "Well, it wasn't just me" her husband smiled. "Everyone in the village helped me wallpaper, set everything up and clean. We're still missing the furniture, but I couldn't wait any longer to show you".

Slowly, Teri entered the small shop. The wallpaper was modern, just like the one in the old shop had been, and a menu was already mounted on the wall. It described all the delicious Chocolate cakes and sweets that she and her husband used to make. Her eyes welled up with tears. She couldn't believe this was really happening! The McFarlane family had been kind enough to let Teri and her family live on their home while they got back in their feet, but it was just now that she began to realise that it was truly going to happen, that things were going to go back to normal for them.

"Do you like it?" Frasier asked from the outside. "I'm sorry, maybe I should have told you before so that you could have had more of a say on things, but I wanted it to be a surprise... I know it's smaller than the shop we used to have, but..."

Teri went back to her husband's side and embraced him.

"It's perfect" she said, choking with tears of happiness. "It's just... I love you. Thank you, my love".
"Anything for you, for our family, my darling". Frasier, his eyes bright with happiness and relief that Teri wasn't angry in the least, kissed his wife. There was still a lot of work to be done, but their life was finally looking up again.

Some time and a lot of effort later, the furniture had arrived and it was finally time for the Grand Opening! Teri and Frasier had stayed up late making the delicious swets they would serve in their store: carefully crafted chocolates and macarons in many flavours, as well as Teri's very special and exclusive chocolate sponge cake! They were also prepared to serve hot drinks and coffee to their customers if they asked for them.

"I'm so nervous, Frasier! I can't believe we're doing this again!".
"But of course, my love. Just relax, everything will be fine!".

 Even Freya and Coco were there, ready to help their parents! They carefully set the table and chairs that had been specially ordered for the Chocolaterie.

With the shop open at last, the Chocolate rabbits welcomed their first customers; the Robinson red pandas! Wilbur Robinson immediately made his way to the counter to greet Frasier. He wore a huge smile on his face; Wilbur always seemed to be in a good mood and loved joking around. He was the owner of the village's bar, so he was very popular, and everyone loved his special blackcurrant liquor!

 "The place is looking great, Frasier! And everything looks just delicious. It's great to see you all here at last. Your wife sure looks happy!"
"Thank you, Wilbur. I can't thank you enough for all your help setting everything up in here. Would you like something to eat?"
"Ah, there's no need to give thanks, not at all!" said Wilbur, with a hearty laugh. "But I'd appreciate a cup of coffee, if you would!"
"But of course!"

 Meanwhile, outside, Fliss Robinson was greeting Teri.

"Oh, Teri, I'm so happy for you!  Wilbur told me about what happened to you and your family, and I'm so sorry. But your new Chocolaterie looks wonderful, so quaint and cosy, yet modern!" she said, smiling. Fliss was a very warm, honest and reliable woman; Teri liked her and felt at ease in her company. She smiled back at her.
"Thank you so much, Fliss. But please, do have a seat!"
"Oh, thank you! I will. But where are my daughters...?"

Behind Teri and Fliss, Freya had already seen Frances Robinson and her little sister Cali and was happily saying hello to them.

"Hi Frances! Hi Cali!"
"Hi Freya, how are you?" said Frances in a quiet voice, smiling shyly. Frances was Annabelle McFarlane's best friend, so she knew Freya already, but truth be told, she was a bit intimidated by her. They were practically polar opposites: Frances was soft-spoken and shy, while Freya was loud and boisterous. She had been quite glum when she had just arrived in town, but not anymore.
Still, as they both were Annabelle's friends, they tried hard to get along.

"Sis! I want cake! Chocolate cake!" exclaimed little Cali, quite loudly. She and her sister were quite different as well!
"Sssh, quiet down Cali, we'll have cake in a minute". Frances took her little sister's hand and Cali calmed down immediately. Freya was amazed. She could never calm down her own little sister, Crème, like that!

And so, the Chocolaterie's first customers were finally installed at the table.
Teri went to the counter and came back with an assortment of sweets and macarons, hot chocolate, tea, coffee, and of course, chocolate cake!

"Since it's opening day, please have a sample of several of our sweets! And chocolate cake for the little lady, who I heard was asking for it!"

All three Robinson women ooh-ed and aah-ed at the beautiful and delicious-looking chocolates, and Cali was ectsatic at the big piece of cake in front of her!
In the meantime, Frasier and Wilbur could be heard chatting and laughing at the back while Wilbur had his special coffee, that contained just a bit of chocolate!

It wasn't long before they had eaten everything! Fliss and Frances got up and started getting ready to leave, and Wilbur also went out of the shop.

"That was delicious, Miss Chocolate! I had never had hot chocolate and sweets this good!" said Frances, smiling.
"And I agree, Teri dear! If I didn't know for certain that it's a trade secret, I'd ask you for the recipe of that wonderful cake!" Fliss smiled at Teri and winked at her.
"Cake! Yummy cake! I want more!" screamed Cali excitedly.
"You've had more than enough for today, honey pie!" said her mother, ignoring the little one's protests.
"I'm very happy that you enjoyed our chocolate, please come back soon!" said Teri, smiling warmly and feeling quite contented.
"Here's what you ordered to take home, Wilbur" said Frasier, giving a neatly-packed box to the other man. "Please enjoy it!".
"Thank you, my friend" said Wilbur. "We'll come back for sure. And please, don't be strangers and come visit and join us for lunch sometime!"

The Chocolates promised they would, and the Robinsons left.

Together and in quite high spirits, the family cleaned the table. They were expecting many customers for the Grand Opening, and everything had to be perfect for their next visitors!

... Said visitors, however and for some odd reason, never came. The Chocolate family waited and waited, but no one else came by the shop. They couldn't understand why.




"Did you do as we asked, children? Coco, did you make the flyers?" Frasier asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I did, dad, they and I left them in our bedroom shelf!"
"And you Freya, did you deliver then?" Teri asked her daughter, looking worried.
"But of course mom, of course I did!"

 When evening came, the McFarlanes came by the shop to pick up their friends in order to go home together. They brought Teri's youngest children, who Elizabeth had been caring for during the day, with them.

The ambiance was quite glum, however, as the Chocolates couldn't understand why only the Robinsons had come to their Grand Opening. As Teri went to the shop to finish tidying things up, her baby daughter Crème and her friend Elizabeth both came after her.

 "Mommy!" cried Crème. She had missed her mother very much that morning.
"Don't be so down, Teri" Elizabeth said comfortingly. "I'm not sure what could have happened, but I'll make sure word gets around, and by tomorrow the whole village will come and visit. Maybe it just happened that everyone was busy today".
"Yes, that could be it, I guess... Thank you, Liz. I just... I don't understand. Could it be that the people in Arcfield don't like us after all?" Teri said, sounding quite distressed, fighting back tears. Elizabeth approached her and caressed her arm warmly.
"I promise that everyone in this village already care for you and your family, Teri. If they didn't, why would they have helped Frasier set everything up for you? Do not worry so much".
"Well, yes, that's true, but... Whatever will we do with all this chocolate? It'll go bad by tomorrow, we couldn't possibly serve it".
"Well, I don't think that will be a problem" Elizabeth said, laughing.

 

And so, they all went home and enjoyed the leftover sweets from the Chocolaterie together! The children were quite pleased, they had never had the opportunity to have chocolate cake and sweets for dinner before!
Both families had quite the good time, and this curious dinner helped the Chocolates cheer up a little.

The following morning, Elizabeth made a few phone calls, and thanks to her and the word of mouth passed by Wilbur Robinson in his bar, the Chocolaterie had quite a number of visitors the following days! In just a few days, the whole village had tried Frasier and Teri's delicious confectionery and sweets, and the place became quite popular, despite the rocky start!

The shop is now doing quite well, and it even seems like the Chocolates might be able to get their own house soon!  

But, even though we have reached a happy conclusion, this isn't the end of the story...

Just a short time after the opening day, Teri entered the room Freya and Coco shared in the McFarlane's house while cleaning.
Freya was inside, moving books and papers around in the shelf.

 

"Hi darling" she said to her daughter, smiling. "What are you doing?"
"Oh, hi mom! Just looking for some nice scrapbook paper to send a letter to my friend Sabrina!"
"Ah, that's great. I'm sure she misses you as well". Teri smiled. She really enjoyed the quiet moments she and her Freya sometimes had, just the two of them, when she didn't have to scold her or nag at her.
As Teri was getting ready to vacuum the room, something fell from the shelf Freya was standing next to. A bunch of small paper sheets. Teri immediately thought she recognized the colour and the writing, and even though Freya darted to grab them, Teri was faster.

"...Freya Chocolate". Teri said after looking at the papers, her voice slowly and dangerously rising "Are this the leaflets for the Grand Opening of the Chocolaterie...? The ones YOU were SUPPOSED to deliver...?"
"Ehh... Seems like I forgot... Oops...?"
"Don't "oops" me, young lady!" Teri screamed. "And you lied! You said you had delivered them!".

Freya turned around to try and escape her mother's wrath by running down the stairs, but Teri was, once again, quicker!

"Noooo! Don't vacuum me!"

---

And with this, we reach the end of this story! :D I hope you enjoyed it. I made the Chocolaterie myself out of cardboard, inspired by Cutata's cardboard structures and it was quite the accomplishment for me as I'm not very crafty! I didn't have many figures when I took the pictures, so I had to improvise and think of something for the story. :) I'm sorry, I couldn't resist using the vacuum joke again! It's actually from a show called "Polar Bears' Café" or "Shirokuma Café". It's a relaxing, slice-of-life show about a polar bear who owns a café and the patrons who go there, all with their own stories. It's has quite the Sylvanian feel too, I recommend it!

Here's a link to the video where this joke first appears:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga0Mh_vtobM

Thank you for reading!

What's happening near the Christmas tree?

Hello everyone!

It's already December, so today I decided to set up our Christmas tree. It's a small one, since we live in a tiny apartment!
A while after I finished setting everything up, I heard a commotion near the tree! What could be happening?

When I went to check, I saw that the Chocolate Rabbit family had gathered around the tree!

Frasier was saying hello to Father Christmas, who is holding a sign that says "Merry Christmas" in Spanish.

Coco, Crème and Kabe had found the train cart carrying all the presents, and were trying to get their hands on them! Cheeky children, it's not yet time for presents!

Teri was making the most noise, screaming madly while panicking and looking up!

"FREYA CHOCOLATE! Get down here this instant!"

Tsum Tsum Santa Jack seemed mildly amused by the situation. Oh, no, what has Freya gotten herself into this time?

There she is, on top of the tree! How did she ever climb that high? No wonder Teri's so scared!

Not sure if Freya just wanted to climb the tree for fun or if she's trying to tell me I need to get a star for the top! :D

Or maybe she wants to be the star herself, hehe!

I think Freya might need help getting down, so I'm leaving you here. :)

I hope you all have a great December. 

Happy Holidays!

Two new families!

Hi everyone!

Yesterday was my birthday and I got two new families! :D

My boyfriend Marcos got me the Alpaca family from Japan! I have loved them ever since they were first announced and I'm really happy to have them! They are incredibly cute, Epoch sure went for a kawaii style with then! I adore them! They will probably live in the Bluebell Cottage/Riverside Lodge I recently got in eBay. :)

My cousin got me the Hedgehog family. They're so charismatic, I love them as well! Everyone in the family liked them when I unwrapped them! I love how they always seem to be smiling. And those little combs they come with are adorable!

I'm really happy with my presents and to have a bigger population in Arcfield! I was beginning to feel that I lacked neighbours for my stories, hehe.

They will be added to the "Families" page ASAP, and I'm also hoping to write a story featuring the grand opening of the Chocolate family's Chocolaterie soon!

Thank you for reading!

A special bond

One afternoon, after finishing (early, for once!) his mayoral duties, Nicholas McFarlane was quite happily looking at his planisphere and planning that night’s observation session. The day had been clear, so he hoped to be able to enjoy a night of astronomy, one of his greatest passions. The Sylvanian night sky is quite rich in asterisms and constellations!

As he was doing so, he heard a noise behind him, and when he turned round he saw young Coco Chocolate, son of his friends Frasier and Teri, who where temporarily residing in his home.
“Ah!” exclaimed Coco. “Please forgive me, Mr McFarlane. I had no idea you were… Oh! Are you using your telescope?”
“I was planning to use it tonight” smiled Nicholas. “Would you like to see how it works?”
“I’d love to!” said Coco, smiling enthusiastically. He had been curious about the telescope ever since the first time he saw it in the McFarlane’s balcony.
And so, the two spent an enjoyable afternoon together as Nicholas showed Coco how the device worked and explained what kind of space objects they would be able to see that night. No one in his family shared his interest in astronomy, so he was quite happy to be able to talk about it which such an enthusiastic young man.

When nightfall came at last, the pair enjoyed the observation session until poor Coco could no longer keep his eyes open. Luckily, there was no school the following morning!

Back at her room, Nicholas’ daughter, Annabelle, could hear them chattering away…

Some days after that, Elizabeth McFarlane, Nicholas' wife, was enjoying her garden while watching her youngest, Albie, who was happily playing in his swing. After happily watering and taking care of her plans, Elizabeth sat down on the garden bench, decided to enjoy the sun while she read “Wild Flowers & Trees from Sylvania”, the book her friends the Chocolates had given her as a present.

It was no long after that her husband Nicholas and young Coco Chocolate appeared, tripod and camera on hand. After greeting her they set everything up, ready to take some pictures of the garden under the sunlight, and Elizabeth smiled as her husband explained how each button and option worked to the young boy. The two had been spending quite a lot of time together lately, and she only hoped that Albie would have a similar relationship with his father when he grew up. Coco was full of curiosity, and marvelled at every one of the devices Nicholas had for his hobbies.

Their daughter Annabelle showed up just then, holding her doll. Nicholas smiled brightly at her.
“Honey, you are just in time! Coco and I have been setting up the camera. Would you pose for a picture?”
Instead of happily smiling and agreeing, as she would have usually done, Annabelle gritted her teeth, her features tensing, and quickly turned around and went back into the house without saying a word. Everyone was left speechless, as that was so unlike her.
“What… what happened, Mr McFarlane? Is she mad?” asked Coco, quite worriedly.
Elizabeth and Nicholas looked at each other, the latter with a slightly guilty expression. They both knew their daughter well, and could guess at what was in her mind. She was probably jealous of all the time Nicholas was spending with Coco lately.
“Ill go talk to her” said Nicholas quietly, but Elizabeth shook her head and stood up.
“I’ll go. You stay with Coco and keep at what you were doing. I’m sure she’ll be right as rain tomorrow”.
Nicholas sighed and agreed. It was probably better if Elizabeth went at that moment. Nevertheless, he still wanted to do something…
--

The following morning, when she came down to the living room, early as usual, Annabelle saw that the table was already set for two. She was a bit confused…

When she went into the kitchen, she saw her father, wooden spatula on hand, smiling brightly at her.
“Daddy…?”
“Good morning, sunshine!” said Nicholas. “I was thinking that it has been a while since we last made our special pancakes together. Would you like to help me?”
Annabelle’s eyes lit up, and she nodded enthusiastically, feeling quite happy. Her father’s pancakes were the best, and only she could help him prepare them! Not even her mother was allowed to do so, only Annabelle.

“Of course!” she said, running to the fridge and opening it. “Milk, eggs, butter…”
After getting all necessary ingredients, she took them to her father, who started preparing the pancake mix while happily whistling.

It was not long before the first pancake was almost ready in the pan! Everyone in Arcfield loved Nicholas’ pancakes, and some neighbours sometimes joked saying that instead of electing him mayor, they should have told him to open a pancake restaurant!

 While her father prepared his delicious pancakes, Annabelle began preparing the toppings with fresh whipped cream and delicious fruit and berries.
Everything was soon ready, and the two sat down to have a wonderful breakfast together. Annabelle had been all smiles the whole time, but as Nicholas was getting ready to eat, she suddenly went a little quiet.

“Daddy… I know why you did this. I am sorry that I behaved as I did yesterday. You and Coco didn’t do anything wrong”.
She seemed sad and apologetic, and Nicholas smiled softly and warmly at her.
“I’m sorry if I made you feel bad, honey. It is true that it had been a while since we had done anything together. But you are my only daughter, and most special to me. You know that, right?”
“Of course I do! And I understand… I get that you would be happy to spend time with someone who likes the same things you do. And I do like Coco as well…”
“So, are we good?” smiled Nicholas.
“Sure!” Annabelle beamed back at him.
And just like that, all was well between them once again.

Then, they heard footsteps coming down the stairs. It was Coco and Freya, surely lured out of bed by the wonderful smell coming out from the kitchen.
“Pancakes!” exclaimed Coco, and Mr McFarlane smiled and invited them to sit down.

The four of them were finally able to enjoy a joyful and delicious breakfast! No salt in the coffee this time, luckily! :D
—

Some time later, as Annabelle was out in the garden, she felt a presence behind her…

And when she turned around, she saw Coco, holding a flower and blushing slightly.
“Umm… Annabelle, I am not sure if I did anything wrong, but you seemed upset yesterday, so… This is for you”.

He held the flower for her to take, which Annabelle did, smiling a little, and deciding not to comment on the fact that he seemed to have taken it from her mother’s flowerbed just behind him.
“Oh, please don’t worry Coco, you did nothing wrong” she said, and then smiled shyly at him. “And… thank you!”

It is the thought that counts after all. :)

 

A series of inexplicable events

 

It was Friday night. The annoying, high-pitched sound of the alarm clock made Teri Chocolate wake up with a startle. As she looked through the window, she saw that it was still night-time. It couldn’t have been past four in the morning. Why was the alarm sounding?

Sleepily, she sat on the bed of the guest room she shared with her husband, Frasier. They were still guests in their friends the McFarlanes’ house. Her childhood friend Elizabeth, her husband Nicholas, the mayor of Arcfield, and their children Annabelle and Albie were out for the weekend, on an official friendly visit to a neighbouring village. She quickly turned the alarm off.

“Frasier, did you set up the alarm at this hour?”
“Hmmm… of course not, darling…”
Her husband was still half-asleep. At least he hadn’t woke up with a scare, as she had. Her heart was still pounding, and she was thinking of going down to the kitchen to get a glass of milk when she heard the cries of someone else the alarm had woken up. She quickly went to her baby daughter Crème’s cot.

“Mommy!” cried the little one, visibly scared by the sudden and loud sound. Teri hugged her and whispered soft words in her ear, trying to calm her.
At that time, her oldest daughter Freya appeared in the room, rubbing her eyes.
“Mom…? Is everything alright…? What was that sound?”
“Oh, just the alarm clock, it must be broken, I don’t know why it went off. Please, tell me the twins are still asleep”.
“Oh, yes, don’t worry, they are, and Coco as well. He always sleeps like a log. Do you want me to calm Crème so that you can go back to bed?”.
Teri felt grateful that her youngest children, twins Kabe and Breeze, were sleeping in little Albie’s room, that was farther away from her room, and that they hadn’t woken up. She wasn’t sure she could handle three crying babies at this late hour. She thanked Freya and left her little sister to her, knowing that she would get Crème to relax again shortly. Her daughter was great with her little siblings, and she felt proud at how quickly she was maturing.
With that happy thought, she went back to bed, but it took her a long time to fall asleep again, and she could feel that her husband Frasier was also tossing and turning.

The next morning, which seemed to have arrived a second after she had finally managed to drift off to sleep, Teri was positively exhausted. She had made some well-deserved coffee and tea for her husband and herself, since the children didn’t usually join them for breakfast on Saturday mornings. She watched the toaster absentmindedly as it prepared the bread, afraid of falling asleep on top of it.

In the living room, a similarly tired Frasier was getting everything ready for breakfast. Even though it was the weekend, he had a busy day ahead; ever since moving into the McFarlane’s house, he had been scouring the town of Arcfield in search of a suitable place to re-open their Chocolaterie. They would have to start small, but he couldn’t wait to start making money again and possibly being able to afford a new house, even if it was small, for their family. He didn’t want to overstay their welcome at their friends’ home.

It didn’t take long for Teri to come back with the rest of things they needed for their morning meal, and, unexpectedly, their daughter Freya also made an appearance in the room.
“Good morning!” she said, brightly.
“You sure are up early today, sweetheart” said Frasier, surprised.
“Poor thing” Teri said “The alarm woke her up as well last night. Didn’t you manage to sleep well afterwards?”
“Oh no, I slept quite well! I just woke up early and thought I’d come and have breakfast with you”.
Teri was quite pleased. Her Freya was growing up indeed. She was sure that Elizabeth’s daughter, Annabelle, who was very well-behaved, was being a good influence on her.
“Come sit down with us honey, you can have my toast and some milk. Would you be a darling and bring a cup for you and a knife for the jam from the kitchen?”
“Sure!”

And thus, the three rabbits sat down to have a cosy breakfast together. Frasier even turned on the TV and put on some cartoons for Freya. She was delighted! They hadn’t had a TV on their old house and it was quite the novelty for her.
Unfortunately, the peaceful and cosy moment was disrupted when Frasier, after taking a single sip of his coffee, coughed violently and almost spit it.

“What in the world is this?!” he exclaimed, the face red and an expression of disgust in his face.
“What’s the matter, Frasier?” Teri asked, quite startled. “Are you alright?”
“Teri, you put salt in my coffee! It tastes awful!”
“What?!”

Frasier got up quickly and went to the kitchen, desperate to remove the foul taste from his mouth. He opened the kitchen sink and started drinking water directly from it. Teri went after him, panicking.
“Oh, darling, I’m so sorry, I don’t know how this could have happened! Maybe I got the wrong container, as this isn’t our home and I slept so little…”
“That’s… OK…” said Frasier, between gulps of tap water.

A while later, an exhausted-looking Frasier went out of the door to resume his looking for suitable buildings for their business. Teri went to see him off.
“Are you sure you don’t want anything else to eat, my love? You basically didn’t have breakfast today”.
“No, that’s quite fine my dear, don’t worry. I couldn’t bear to have another bite”.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, I know that awful coffee spoiled your appetite, please forgive me. I don’t know how that happened!”.
“Don’t worry about it, it was just a mistake, I know you are also tired”. Frasier embraced his wife and gave her a goodbye kiss. “I hope to come back with good news today!”.
“Have a great day and good luck, my love”.

After her husband left, Teri busied herself with the cleaning of the house. Given that her family was living there for free, the least she could do was help Elizabeth keep the place clean.

So, she cleared the table and washed the dishes…

Looked for cobwebs…

Made the bed…

And, as she was getting started on the bathroom, she heard giggling and screaming from the next room over. She went quickly there…

And found Crème and Kabe happily playing and jumped on the bed! The bed she had just made! She panicked when she saw that Kabe was about to fall off from it and shrieked as she quickly went to pick him up. 

Afterwards she went to check on little Breeze, who was still happily asleep, same as her son Coco. Her youngest daughter was an angel and slept most of the day, but she was worried about Kabe who was already quite the troublemaker. Crème was also very lively. Teri sighed, she probably should be thankful that her children were all energetic and healthy, but it did get exhausting sometimes to keep up with all five of them. Freya was nowhere to be seen; she was probably playing out in the garden. Elizabeth, being quite the green thumb, had a gorgeous and well kept-garden.

After looking for the vacuum cleaner, Teri went back to the living room to start cleaning the floor and… saw that the table was full of cups, plates and other things they had used during breakfast. She was perplexed. Hadn’t she tidied and cleaned up all that already?
She began to feel nervous. First the coffee, and now this? How could she have forgotten to clear the table? And she was almost positive that she HAD, too! She let go of the vacuum and wringed her hands nervously. Could it be that she was going crazy? Oh, goodness, what would people say? Frasier would leave her, and he would probably take their children with him. She would never see them again…!
She took a deep breath, realising that she was getting anxious over nothing. She was probably just tired and confused. She thought of calling her mother, Patricia. Talking to her always calmed her down and put things on perspective.

Just as she was thinking this, the phone rang. Surprised, Teri ran to get it. She picked up the handle…
And the phone kept ringing! Teri panicked, unable to make the high-pitched sound stop. How was this possible? Was the phone broken? It was then that she saw the smallest piece of tape glued to the button that would have made it possible for her to answer the call when picking up the handle. Just then, she understood everything, or at least she had a strong suspicion of what was happening. The phone had already stopped ringing when she managed to get the tape off, so she hoped whoever it was would call again.
She breathed deeply once again, and with her sweetest voice, called out:
“Freya, darling, where are you?”
 “I’m… I’m in my room, mommy, doing my homework!”
Freya’s voice wasn’t coming from her bedroom though, and Teri quickly followed the sound…

… and caught Freya red-handed, standing on the kitchen cart, apparently trying to set a new trap in the front door!
“FREYA CHOCOLATE!” Screamed a furious Teri “You’re going to kill yourself! Get down here this instant!”
“Oops!” said Freya. As her mother quickly bent forward to catch her, she tried to avoid her and in doing so, lost her grip on the bucket full of water she had been trying to set up on the door…

Which fell directly on her mother, soaking her from top to bottom.
For a split second the two of them just looked at each other in silence, but when Teri started screaming again Freya quickly got off the cart and fled inside the house!
“It was you! The alarm clock, the salt, the dishes!”
Furious, maybe even more furious at the fact her Freya was laughing as she ran, Teri ran after her mischievous daughter, and in her way, without thinking, grabbed the only weapon she could find; the vacuum cleaner!

She did manage to grab the hem of Freya’s dress with it!
“Nooo!” Freya exclaimed. "Don't vacuum me!"

She did finally manage to free herself, and escaped once again, this time out the front door and into town! Teri, frustrated and very angry, thought briefly about going after her, but just then the phone rang again. It was her friend Elizabeth, who found the whole ordeal quite funny when Teri vented to her about it, wishing her children were as well-behaved as her friend’s.
Later that day, when both Frasier and Freya were back, Teri sat her daughter down to have a stern chat with her.

“Young lady, consider yourself grounded! What were you thinking?! Waking us up in the middle of the night, don’t you know your father has been out all day, every day, looking for a place to open our shop again? Why would you spoil his breakfast like that?! And you could have killed yourself climbing on that cart with wheels…!”
“It has brakes, mommy, I was using them…”
“That’s NOT the point! It’s enough that your baby siblings are such troublemakers, you must stop doing these things! I thought I had made it clear back in our old home that they were NOT FUNNY!”.
“Ah, mommy, but you have to admit that they WERE quite funny” Freya said, half-smiling. “Your face when…”.
“That’s enough”. Frasier said sternly, interrupting his daughter after seeing how angry Teri was getting again. “A joke’s a joke, but I think you’re old enough to know when something’s too much. Apologize to you mother”.
Freya stopped talking and lowered her eyes. Her father seldom scolded her, and she was beginning to realise that maybe she had gone a little too far with her pranks. She supposed they were right about some of the things they were saying. She sighed and looked at them again.
“I’m sorry, mommy. And I’m sorry about your coffee and waking you up, daddy”.
“That’s better. We forgive you, but please think things through a bit more next time. Now, go to bed”.
Freya obeyed and went upstairs. Frasier put a hand on his wife’s shoulder and then sat in one of the armchairs. Teri looked exhausted.

“I can’t believe she’s doing this again. I thought we were done with her pranks… And I had thought she was maturing!”
“Ah, but I think, despite everything, that this is a good thing” to Teri’s surprise, her husband was smiling. “Freya had been so down lately, since we left our old village… I believe that the fact that she’s pranking us again means that she’s feeling better, more like herself”.
Teri hadn’t thought of it that way. She looked at her husband tiredly, but with a smile.
“You know… I think you might be right”.