Raining Cats, Dogs and Maple Syrup

The Reader's Retreat

Prudence packed her bags and loaded them into her pink car. Pickle in her yellow purse along with the three books, knowing there will be plenty more at the retreat. They drove off, stopping to pick up Willow who has been reading horror romance novels, mostly books about vampires and humans falling in love, Evelyn and her granddaughter Olivia who loves classical romance and Jane Austen novels respectively. They bonded over books like Pride and Prejudice and decided Eveyln to join Sliver Ages, Silver Pages Book Club in Sakura Bay and Olivia is a loyal member of Portalini's Classic Lovers Book Club. Prudence and Willow talked about how great the character dynamics of The Cottage were and basically thought up an alternate universe in which Chuck ended up with Nevada instead of Utah. ''Nevada is the way prettier sister of the two, Chuck should have gone with her, then they can bond over shell bracelets!'' ''I always got a lesbian who is way out of your league vibe from Nevada, Utah's got that sunny girl-next-door personality. Hospitable and naive but not completely clueless about the love triangle of romantic tension. Oh my god, what happened there!'' The car's occupants saw a red car with its fender bashed into a tree and its windshield shattered. ''Looks like a car accident, there was a pretty bad storm on Thursday.''

It was a huge meet-up of all the book clubs around the Flipverse. The large wooden log cabin past the silver gates was the Snowy Pines Resort. A few miles up from the midpoint of the mountain, it had a slightly smaller wooden log cabin, the ski lodge. All the book clubs just sat in the lobby and mingled, then Mary found the resort's library and everyone lost their collective minds! Kayla lost her mind when Prudence's group arrived. ''Oh my gosh! Are you Evelyn, the silver screen actress and my idol!'' ''Indeed I am, you must be a fan. I've seen your darling face on Heartbright Hospital, an award-winning role if I remember.'' ''And you've won more Daytime Windies that I have, plus an Academy Award.'' ''Fancy seeing a fellow actress here!'' ''My girlfriend Elle insisted I'd join the Sakura Bay Romance Book Club.'' Elle elbowed Kayla ''Also the Queer and Ally Novels book club, though that's more of an international club than anything else. Meeting over Zeem calls, I think Mary is a member of that club.'' ''Oh, a dual club member on our hands. Well it was very nice to meet you Kayla and your little girlfriend too.'' She shook Kayla's hand and went over to the complimentary coffee and cookie table while Kayla stared at her hand in awe. 

''To all of those in attendance of the Reader's Retreat, it is time to meet the leader of the International Flipverse Allegiance of Book Clubs! Quinn and her apprentice Amy.'' ''She totally struck me as the strict librarian type.'' ''Welcome everyone to the annual Reader's Retreat! You will now be assigned rooms and roommates, if you don't like your roommate, I don't want to hear it. Here we go!'' Willow and Prudence, Mary and Sue, Evelyn and Olivia, Taylor and Perri, Kayla and Elle, Koilee and Hope -One long list later- and then Tohru and Moe. ''Hold up why is Moe here? Since when does the novel adaptation of Cactus Mccoy 2nd movie, The Ruins of Calavera count as real literature. I get manga but why novel adaptations?'' ''Since when does your smut you call romance novels count as real literature, PRUDENCE!'' ''Protest withdrawn.'' The duos went to their rooms and Willow took a liking to Pickle ''Aww! They're so cute! I love dogs.'' Penelope laid down a light pink blanket from her luggage for Pickle to sleep on and left out some dog food for them. Then Willow and Prudence go to sleep, ''Penelope, can we leave the window open a crack, it's a little stuffy in here.'' ''Fine.'' But at 5 AM Prudence is woken but by Pickle yipping as they jump out the window, into some shrubbery thankfully and running down the mountain roads following a mysterious and delicious scent. Prudence packs her purse with books and follows.