"I can't believe Cleo is a year old already." Mi Sun commented as the family relaxed on the couch before they all had to leave for work and daycare, or in Min Jun's case Tommy and Dil's house.
"We should have a birthday party for her." Min Jun said looking over at Cleo, who was sleeping in her bed.
"She's a dog, not a person." Min Hee laughed at Min Jun's ridiculous suggestion.
"Yeah only people celebrate birthdays." Min Ho added.
Min Jun didn't understand why his family didn't want to celebrate Cleo's first brithday. First birthday's are a big deal so why wouldn't Cleo get a party. MIn Jun glared at his older siblings and walked off to his room to pack his bag for his sleepover at Tommy's house.
As MIn Jun was finishing packing a loud boom was heard that shook the whole house. He ran out into the hallway and headed toward the living room. On the way he heard Ji Yeon crying from her room.
"Ji Yeon is awake." Min Jun panted as he stood in the doorway leading to the hallway. He was a little shaken from the loud thunder.
"The thunder probably scared her." Jin commented getting up from the couch and walking past Min Jun.
"It scared Cleo too." Min Jun noted seeing the dog in his mother's lap.
"And it's supposed to storm like this all night." Mi Sun said looking out the window to see the rain start pouring down.
"We can't leave Cleo alone on her birthday." Min Jun insisted as his whole family would be gone for the night. He was glad his brother and sister were staying at friends houses.
"We might have to. She'll be fine in her crate." Mi Sun told him as she moved Cleo and wnt to her room to get ready for work.
"Can't we ask Tommy's mom if Cleo can stay with me just for this time?" Min Jun pleaded following his mother down the hall.
"They already have two dogs. I don't think they want a third." Mi Sun told him.
"I'll take care of her." Min Jun begged."Can't we just ask?"
When Mi Sun was finished getting ready for work she called Didi, who agreed to let Cleo stay since she was afraid of storms. Thirty minutes later everyone was packed and dropped off at their destinations.
"Give Cleo this." Ji Yeon said holding out her pink bunny that she had gotten for Christmas."It helps me when I'm scared."
Min Jun had filled her in on what happend when she gad asked why Cleo was coming with them. Min Jun then explained that Cleo was scared of storms and he didn't want to leave her all all alone at night during one. So Tommy's mommy was letting them both stay over. Min Jun shoved the bunny into his backpack as he ran up to the front door with Cleo and was soon let in.
"It's Cleo's first brithday today and my famiily doesn't want to celebate it with her." Min Jun told Tommy, Chuckie, Kimi, and Dil since they were the only ones there that day.
"Why not?" Tommy asked."Doggies can have a birthday party too."
"My sister, the olderer one then me says only people get parties." Min Jun explained.
"Well she's not here so we can throw Cleo a party." Kimi cried.
"Really?" Min Jun asked hopefully.
"Yep." Tommy assured him."You and Kimi can find presents and me and Chuckie can make a cake."
"But Tommy we don't how to make a cake." Chuckie protested.
"Oh yeah." Tommy frowned.
"You could make a dog food cake and make it extra special and add some people food to it." Dil suggested.
"Good idea Dil." Tommy cried."You can help us with the cake, but uh what kind of people food should we put on it?"
Min Jun thought carefully about what to answer. He didn't want to make Cleo sick."Peanut butter and pickles and aminal crackers."
"Ok. Let's plan the bestest doggie birthday ever." Tommy said as the toddlers seperated and got to work.
Tommy, Chuckie, and Dil went to the kitchen to make Cleo's cake.
"We should use this." Dil said reaching in the lower cabinet and pulling out a can of dog food that looked like vegetable beef stew.
"Good idea." Tommy opened the can, which had an easy open lid with a tab on top with his screwdriver and poured it into Cleo's pink bowl.
"What's next?" Chuckie asked throwing the can away.
"Min Jun said peanut butter, pickles, and aminal crackers." Tommy reminded him.
Chuckie opened the fridge and grabbed the jar of pickles. He attempted to open them, but the jar slipped out of his grasp ad shattered on the floor. Luckily thunder muffled the sound so the adults didn't hear. Chuckie carefully reached around the shards of glass and picked up two pickles and dropped them in the bowl.
"I don't see any peanut butter." Dil called from the counter where Tommy had lifted him to search the cabinets for the jar of peanut butter.
"I guess we're out." Tommy sighed as he helped Dil down.
"We have another problem." Tommy announced pulling out a bag of chocolate animal crackers.
"Min Jun said Cleo likes aminal crackers." Dil reminded him.
"We can't use these." Tommy told him."Dogs can't eat chocolate."
"Well we got the pickles at least." Chuckie said trying to look at the bright side.
"That's not good enough." Tommy insisted."First birthdays are special and we're the only ones that can help Cleo have a good first birthday."
While the boys tried to come up with a solution for the cake Min Jun and Kimi were searching for presents.
"What does Cleo like?" Kimi asked as they looked around the living room.
"She likes dog treats and toys." Min Jun answered."Oh and warm laundry."
"I hope we can find all those things." Kimi said looking under the couch. She dug around until she came out with an old bone shaped dog treat."It's a little dusty but do you think Cleo will like it?"
Min Jun didn't have time to answer as Cleo came and snatched the old treat from Kimi's hand.
"That was sposed to be a birthday present." Min Jun told the dog sternly.
"At least she likes it." Kimi giggled.
"We're almost done with the cake." Tommy called from the kitchen."Take Cleo upstairs so she doesn't see the cake."
They decided to have the small party upstairs in Tommy's room. Cleo followed Kimi and MIn Jun upstairs as Tommy carefully carried the dog bowl.
"We didn't have everyrhing Cleo likes so we added some of Spiffie and Spike's favoritest dog treats. They won't mind sharing." Dil said as Tommy presented Cleo with the bowl.
"Happy birthday Cleo." All the kids cheered as Cleo began to eat the dog food cake.
"I think she likes it." Min Jun told them. They left Cleo to eat as Didi called them for dinner a few minutes later. Luckily for the kids the boys had hid their pickle mess under a towel under the table that nobody seemed to notice, it helped that soon after they started eating the lights went out and the storm intensified.
"Uh oh." MIn Jun cried."We gotta go check on Cleo. She's probably really scared now that the lights are gone."
"How can we get to her?" Chuckie asked in a frightened tone."We can't see nothing."
"We can use this." Dil told them pulling a small flashlight out of his daiper. He was still working on being potty trained.
"Use what?" Kimi asked.
"Oh. This." Dil answered turning the flashlight on and shining it in Tommy's face.
The kids got out of their chairs since Stu and Didi went in search of flashlights and candles and went upstairs. Dil lead the way back to Tommy's room.
"Aahh." Chuckie screamed as he stepped in something wet."What is that?"
"It's the rest of Cleo's cake." Dil told him shining the light onto the spilled mess of dog food and pickles.
"Ok guys let's split up and look for Cleo." Tommy told everyone.
"How? We still can't see nothing." Kimi said.
"Member that day we spent with Zack and he showed us what it's like to not see?" Tommy asked. Everyone except Dil and Min Jun nodded, but then remebered that Tommy couldn't see them so they answered yes."Just feel around."
The kids did as Tommy instructed and felt around the room.
"What's that noise?" Chuckie asked in a shaky voice. Everyone stopped looking as Dil pointed the flashlight toward the noise.
"It's just Spike and Spiffi." Tommy sighed with relief."They found Cleo's cake."
"We found your dogs so now can we get back to finding mine please?' Min Jun asked.
"I need the light." Kimi called from under the bed."I feel something warm."
Dil shined the light under the bed moving aside some toys and socks and shoes.
"It's Cleo." Min Jun called from the other side of the bed. Cleo came toward Min Jun and crawled into his lap shaking as the storm produced another round of thunder and lightning.
Seeing how scared Cleo was made Min Jun think of something."Dil find my bag. I need to give Cleo her present so maybe she won't be scared anymore."
Dil found Min Jun's backpack in the corner of Tommy's room and brought it over to him. He reached around Cleo the best he could and soon found the pink bunny at the top.
"Ji Yeon says this helps her not to be scared so maybe it will help Cleo." Min Jun said placing the bunny next to Cleo. She began to calm down and wasn't shaking as much but she was still scared.
"She can use my blankie." Chuckie offered digging through his backpack and bringing over his Dummi Bears blanket."It's even still a little warm from the clothes dryer."
"Thanks Chuckie. She loves warm blankies." Min Jun said wrapping the slightly warm blanket around Cleo.
"She can barrow superthing too." Kimi offered placing her favorite toy next to Cleo.
"And my flashlight." Dil added placing the flashlight on the floor.
"What are you going to give her Tommy?" Kimi asked.
Tommy put his finger to his lips in thought."Well you get to make a wish on your birthday and since cleo can't talk I can make a wish that the storm would go away and the lights would come back on." Tommy picked up the flashlight and closed his eyes and made the wish turning the light off and then back on. Soon after he made the wish the storm stopped and the lights came back on.
"Wow. your wish worked." MIn Jun smiled happily.
They spent the rest of the night in Tommy's room just in case the storm came back.
"Thanks for making Cleo's first birthday good guys." Min Jun told them as Cleo slept in his lap.
"No problem." Tommy said as he sat next to Spike.
A light rain began to fall lulling all of the kids and dogs to sleep.
Stu and Didi never did find any flashlights thanks to Stu taking them apart for his inventions. They went back to the kitchen to check on the kids to find them gone. They found them all asleep in Tommy's room a few minutes later much to Didi's releif.
"The bunny helped Cleo last night." Min Jun told his sister when his mother came to pick him up the next morning.
"Good." Ji Yeon smiled and turned her head toward the window and fell asleep. she had had a long night at the hospital.
The End.
A/N I was going to do a side plot that would take place in the hospital but didn't thing it fit in with the story, so I might just turn it into it's own story if you guys want that.
