No sooner did the lock click behind me as I headed to the airport than the word was telegraphed: Mom is gone. And you know what that means – PARTY!

It wasn’t like they had been unsupervised. Leigh had stopped by daily to make sure they were eating (never a problem) and drinking. Ahh, but what??

But I got home just a hair too soon, and their over-eager welcome didn’t keep me in the kitchen quite long enough. The house was a disaster. The sewing basket was overturned. The lei still peeked from under the closet door. The bunny ears were lying for all the world to see in the middle of the living room floor. And the bed! The sheets were exposed where the spread was pulled down, and the quilt… it lay so shamelessly on the floor, I had to avert my eyes. The matted black hair on the carpet was so thick, there had to have been a cat fight. That’s what happens when two females (or were there more?) are left alone. Yet, there they sat, the picture of innocence.

Looking up with her wide green eyes, Sheba trailed after me as I set things right. Whenever I paused from dusting (and sneezing), scrubbing, sweeping and mopping, Penguin cozied up to me.

Two weeks vacation undone. It’s 2 a.m., and my alarm goes off in 3½  hours. As I stagger to bed, there they are, curled up at the foot of the bed.

I hope they had fun.