Hi everyone!
Better late than never, this is my contribution for the fourth and fifth prompts of 2026 in Sylvanian Creations, "April Showers" and "May Flowers".
Hope you like it!
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Despite the calming and repetitive sound of the rain outside, author Eliza Puddleton couldn't focus on her manuscript. She was weighed down by a strange feeling of melancholy. April was being a tough month, and not only because of the persistent gloomy skies. George, her husband, who managed guest services at a big hotel at the city, had been overloaded with work and mostly absent for a good part of the month. Many days he even had to help manning the front desk himself or stay the night at the hotel. As a result, Eliza was left alone at their home in Arcfield, and she missed him dearly.
Sudden sounds coming from outside made Eliza quickly get up from her chair. She sighed slowly before heading out the room. It seemed like she wouldn't be making a lot of progress on her new book this day either.
It didn't take long for her to find her young triplets, Joseph, Harriet and Beatrice, happily giggling and enjoying the rain outside. Ducks do love water, after all! But Eliza wasn't looking forward to cleaning all the mud from the clothes, and she also worried about them getting sick or injured. The triplets were full of energy and joy, but they were also a handful, and it was difficult for her to take care of them all alone. That was another reason why her writing wasn't progressing as she'd liked.
Another day in April, Eliza went to the supermarket to buy some groceries. There, she ran into Diane Lowell and her youngest son, Tyler. Although Eliza and Diane are very different personality-wise, they can bond over the fact that both their husbands work at the same hotel in the city. Harvey Lowell is the hotel manager, and he has also been working very long hours this month.
Talking to Diane, who is perhaps the only one who can truly understand her situation, helps distract Eliza. But she's startled suddenly when she hears her children's excited laughing from the other side of the supermarket, away from where she's currently standing.
She's horrified to find out that Harriet has completely destroyed the bakery display and is already nibbling at one of the breads, while Joseph and Beatrice have decided to play ball with the fruit and vegetables from the stands!
As she nervously scolds her children, who don't seem fazed by it in the least, Vera Roth, one of the supermarket's owners, tries to calm her with her soft voice. "It's okay, Eliza. These things happen".
For Eliza, however, everything is very much not okay.
When May rolls around, Eliza is relieved when George calls from the hotel one morning to tell her that he's coming home that day. He sounds exhausted, but happy. They both can't help but smile when they see each other after some days apart.
"Liz, I know I haven't been around much, and that it's been lonely and hard for you. But I bring very good news".
"Good news, my love? What could they be?"
"Our boss is very impressed with our hard work lately, and thankful, too. I'm getting a raise, and with new position I will be able to spend more time with you and the children. All evenings and week-ends included!".
And in more ways than one, because when Eliza, George and their children go out for a walk in Arcfield's plaza to celebrate, they see that the flowers are in full bloom all around. A perfect celebration for this new chapter in their lives.
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The End! I hope you enjoyed this story. I was looking forward to featuring my duck family, and these prompts gave me an opportunity to do so. I was also able to show my supermarket, which I've had for a while, and my Renard foxes, which took so long to get! I hope to also write a story about them at some point as well.
Have a great rest of the month, everyone!
