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The Family Reunion - Early Saturday Morning

Mater & Alphonse are sitting around relaxing and waiting for the family members to arrive. They have everything set for the reunion. All are expected this morning. I think Mater is a good influence on Al.

The first to arrive are Ginny, their aunt, and her son Ron. Ron is their cousin. Ginny & Ron reside in Mexico and just happened to be in the states for a while.

A little later

Sandy showed up after a while. He is getting older and it shows. He is the guy's uncle. Sandy lives in North Arkansas, and he came down just for the reunion. He may be getting old, but he is still pretty spunky.

A little more later.

The last of the family to arrive is Valentines and Little D. Valentines is the guy's sister, and she lives in Tennessee. Little D is a cousin and he lives in England. He came all the way to Arkansas for the reunion. (I think he is rich). Mater asked, how did you guys managed to arrive at the same time? Well, said Little D, we arranged to meet in Memphis and travel the rest of the way together.

So, all the family that could come are here - Let the party begin! The first day is for business, and the next for play.

This is the first round table gathering of the clan since they all arrived. They took over the dinning room table for their meeting place. The two items on the today's agenda were Food and plans for the neighborhood cat. After a lively discussion, they broke for a snack.

Seems that with them meeting on the table they needed " Table Service". Laura was the first one to serve additional snacks. Didn't take them long to devour the the snacks. "HONK" - What was that, Ginny asked? That sounds like Golly, but he is in Canada, said Al. Someone check the back porch.

Why there's Af & Golly, said Mater. Golly, why aren't you in Canada, asked Al. Well, said Golly, I was headed that way but I ran into more bad storms. I decided rather that getting lost in another storm I would wait them out. Then, said Golly, I ran into Af trying to get to Canada and he told me about the Alphonse & Mater family reunion. We decided to come and meet your relatives and wait out the storm here. That's great, said Mater, you need to meet the rest of the gang.

Gather around gang, I want you to meet some friends that are going to join our reunion. First, introduce yourselves: "I'm Mater", "I'm Alphonse", "I'm Little D", "I'm Ginny", "I'm Ron", "I'm Valentines", &, "I'm Sandy". OK, said Mater, on my far right is "Golly", Say hello, Golly. Hi folks, it sure is nice to be here and get to met Al & Mater's family, said Golly. And next to me is "Af". Say hello to the gang, Af. "AFLAC", "AFLAC", "AAAAAAAFLAC". I say old man, said Little D, what language is that chap speaking? That's English, said Al. Why then, didn't he just say hello, asked Little D? I don't know said Al, but that's mostly all he says. Someone said that's how he sells insurance, but I'm not sure about that, said Mater.

After all the introductions, it was time for another snack. Alicia did the honors this time. I think this gang is going to eat me out of house & home!

After the break, there was more discussion about food - naturally. Then they got to the subject of the neighborhood cat. Al & Mater told them about their run-in with the cat. He was too much for the two of them, but they thought that the gang could beat him easily. So, a vote was taken, and the whole family & Af & Golly voted to teach the cat a lesson.

They discussed various ways to get the cat, but none sounded too satisfactory. Then Golly came up with an idea - he said he would be the bait to lure the cat to where the gang could get him. He explained that he could feign injury and make a lot of squeaky noises and flop around on the ground. He didn't think the cat could resist coming to him. That sounded like a winning idea, since all the rest would be real close. So, the gang started to design the layout for their "Get the Cat" project.

They finally agreed on a plan to get the cat. They would need three boxes of various sizes. I said I could supply those. Then, they showed how the boxes would be placed. The big box would hide 3 dogs and a duck. The upper smaller box would hide 2 dogs, and the lower would also hide 2 dogs. Now that the plan was set, they put the boxes in place.

After the boxes were in place, and everyone had rehearsed their roles, they were ready to execute the plan. With everyone in place behind the boxes, Golly flew around until he spotted the cat. Then he would feign injury and drop down to the ground. As the cat approached he would fly just enough to stay ahead of the cat. Finally the cat was about to enter the trap.

The cat was a bit wary and kept looking around. It was obvious the boxes bothered him. However, the lure of a goose was too much. He then moved down into the area of the boxes.

At this point, it appeared that golly wasn't watching him too closely and he began to ease down toward golly

The cat took a long time to get close to Golly. Then all of the sudden he jumped on Golly. As soon as he got there. Golly let out a real loud "HONK".

In an instant. there were 7 dogs and a duck all over the cat. Someone had each leg, and Golly had the cat by the nose. The was a lot of "GRRRRRRS", "SNAPS", "BARKS", "MEOWS" & "HONKS". The cat, after a pretty good fight said, I give up!!

Mater said, ease up, but don't let him get away. The cat said, "Pease ads de goode to let doe my node!". Mater said, Golly you can let go of his nose now. Then Mater asked Af what he thought we should do next, as the plan hadn't been worked out that far. Af said, "AFLAC", "AFLAC", "AAAAAAAAFLAC". I say old chap, Little D said, I don't believe that duck is playing with a full deck. Back in England we would put him away somewhere.

Since the plan had not been worked out beyond capturing the cat, another quick conference was necessary. They decided to offer him their hand in friendship if he wanted to be friends. They didn't comment on the other options.

The cat immediately accepted the offer of frienship. Also informed them he was a she!! She said she didn't have any friends in the area and it would be nice to have someone to pal around with. So, the gang headed for the house to welcome the cat to the party and eat some more of my food!

Everyone gathered on the table to welcome the cat into the gang and enjoy the rest of the reunion. The cat said her name was "Angel Kitty". The guys said for someone with a name like that she was pretty tough. They were all glad she wasn't any larger!

The party continued into the evening until it was time for bed. The gang took over the guest room and all of them slept on the bed. They may have to get a Boy Scout to untangle them in the morning. Tomorrow is another day-

A few days later

Golly & Af decided it was time to try for Canada again. They had North figured out again so they said goodbye to all of their new friends and flew off on their journey home. We waved goodbye to them as they passed over the shop and on into the sky. We all hope they will return someday.

This is the cast of characters, and I mean "Characters". Front Row:Af, Little D, Ron, Valentines, & Golly Middle Row: Alphonse, Mater, Ginny, Sandy, & Angel Kitty Back Row: Alicia & Laura Lets hear it for the cast -- YEAH

The remainder of the Family Reunion will be reported on at a later date. Good night all-

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