After last night's doorbell fiasco Liza was exhausted. Her husband left early for his golf tournament. Thankfully he'd dropped Oskar off at a pre-game practice and Liza got to sleep in. She didn't know it but she would need her rest.

Peep woke up and felt Hello snuggling at the nape of his neck. Locket warned him to only to feed her fairy-kibble. He felt something under his pillow, a silvery pouch full of tiny pellets and a dropper. It came with a note attached. It read:

Dear Peep,

Feed your kitten ONE pellet in the morning and ONE pellet before bed. Add just three drops off water! Remember if you forget--even one day--she will turn into a regular cat.

Affectionately yours,

Locket

After he read the note it disappeared into a puff of pink smoke.

Peep got busy. He put a tiny pellet in the pink kitten bowl marked: Food. Using the dropper he carefully gave the pellet 3 drops of water. It expanded filling the entire bowl. Hello climbed down the Power Ranger comforter and scurried over to her food bowl and gobbled up the fairy-food!

Peep petted her petal soft white fur. Hello began purring and rubbing against his leg. He lifted her up with one hand and looked at her nose to nose. "Good girl. Is that yummy?" He really wanted to try the kibble himself but thought he might not grow any bigger too. Then he saw it. His room was buttercup yellow and his bedroom door a delightful periwinkle blue. "Uh oh! Locket!!!"

Peep rushed into the hallway. Yep also buttercup yellow! The bathroom too? Bingo! He ran down the stairs and was bombarded with more yellow! All of the rooms were cheery yellow and every door--including the cabinet doors, were periwinkle blue. "Mom is gonna kill me!" Then he ran outside and saw how pretty their newly painted house looked. The happy yellow exterior shined with it's welcoming blue front door and matching shutters.

As Peep came inside his mother walked down the steps. She greeted him, "Good morning Peep! Whatca doing outside?"

Peep stammered, "Uh... nothing... It's a beautiful morning! Can you smell those crunchy leaves?Autumn is the most magical time of year!"

Liza looked suspicious. "Are you up to something?"

Peep answered honestly. "Nope, just checking stuff out. You don't have your contacts in yet, do ya ma?"

Liza answered, "Nope, not yet and I can't find my glasses anywhere. You're a big blur!"

Peep counted his lucky stars.

She tousled his hair before heading into the kitchen. "I'm gonna grab a cup of coffee. You want me to make you some pancakes?"

When she sees the blue cabinets she's gonna freak!

He blocked her entrance into the kitchen. "Nope! No pancakes for me! Not hungry." Peep took Liza by the arm and led her away from the kitchen. "Mama, why don't you sit in the living room and relax? How about I make you some coffee?" Thankfully the living room already happened to be lemon-yellow. Peep needed to stall.

Liza smiled. "Well, well... I'm getting the star treatment this morning. I set the coffeemaker up last night. Just press the red button."

As Peep prepared his mother's coffee he muttered to himself. "Locket when I see you, you're gonna get it!"

Liza called from the living room, "What's that Peep?"

"Uh... I'm gonna get it! I'm getting your coffee. Light and sweet right ma?"

"Yes honey, just like you! Light and sweet..."

Peeps hands were shaking as he brought his mother her coffee. He had filled it to the brim. Some had sloshed out and dripped down the sides of the World's Best Mom coffee mug.

"Thank you Peep. This is so sweet of you. Oskar's game's in an hour. You coming?"

"Is it okay if I stay home ma? I wanna play with Hello."

Sipping her, way too sweet coffee, Liza remembered the surprize kitten. "Oh how is she doing? Is she eating? Did she use her litter box?"

Peep stammered, "She is... fine and dandy... sure is! Gobbled up her breakfast!" He didn't know how to tell her Hello peed and pooped rainbow glitter!

Liza scrunched her brow. "Peep are you okay? You're acting kinda funny."

"I'm cool ma... Hello woke me up a bunch of times. She slept on top of my head most of the night."

"Oh she's just lonely. She misses her mama. You want me to keep her tonight bud?" Liza stood up.

"Where you going ma?"

"To get a napkin... You sure you're ok Peep?"

"Yeah I'm great... It's just... that... " Peep didn't know what to do. Hiding a fairy was one thing, hiding a house was another. Sooner or later she's gonna notice.

Knock, knock, knock...

"I'm coming!" Hold on!" Liza walked toward the front door.

"I've got this mom. Just relax. You do so much for us." Peep blocked her from the front door.

Now Liza was suspicious. "Move aside Peep." Liza opened the door and saw Mrs. Kravitz, the busybody who lived directly across the street. "Good morning Shirley. What can I do for you?"

Shirley had the craziest grin on her face. "You're house... it looks marvelous. When did you have it done? It had to be after midnight. I watched Jay Leno last night."

Liza stepped outside. She walked to the sidewalk and even without contacts she couldn't miss the bright yellow house. "Yes, it does look marvelous doesn't it?" Without missing a beat, she continued, "Of course we didn't have it painted at night silly! Who gets their house painted in the dark? You must have missed the 8 painters who came over one afternoon. They painted it lickity split. That's their slogan, lickity split..." Liza walked back to her front door and slammed it in Mrs. Kravitz' face. She crossed to the sofa and collapsed. "What on earth? Then she felt her glasses in the couch cushion behind her. She put them on.

"It's over now," Peep thought. Then he smiled painfully and said, "Happy Birthday!" Peep grinned his goofy grin. Surprise!"

-End of Chapter 13-

Author's note: I love writing seasonally. It's autumn in the story and in my real life too! Thanks for voting and commenting! It truly means a lot! 💛💛💛