A/N - So this was inspired by the fact that a lot of people call the brilliant CP Coulter "Mama CP". I was sitting around reading Dalton and this popped into my head. I'm having a bunch of fun writing this, even if you all don't care.
Reading 26.1
Imagine, for a moment, a really really big mansion near a lake. Each of the front doors has a looking-glass on it, and above those large double doors are the words "Welcome to Warblerland" in curly, kooky, blue letters. Docked next to the mansion is a cruise ship-sized 'gondola' – if it can even still be called that when you consider the number of people who call the gondola home. Parked in front of the main entrance was an odd collection of vehicles – including a magic carpet, an Impala, a rainbow, a tank, a carriage, a limo and others – and there was a train sitting in its station on the opposite side of the mansion from the lake. The mansion is occupied by hundreds – thousands – of people. The most important residents are "Mama" CP Coulter and her Dalton boys, without whom no one else would be there to begin with.
Every once in a while, when we've been very good, Mama tells us a story. We all gather in the great hall – the biggest room in this very large building – with sleeping bags and pillows and teddy bears, and Mama shares a new chapter of Dalton with us. We comfort each other when our favourite characters are hurt and get into giant Nerf gun fights whenever Mama stops to breathe. When she finishes telling us that night's installment of the story, everyone gets one of Kurt's magic cookies. But as soon as we're done eating our cookie, we have to brush our teeth and go to sleep. Those nights, we get to sleep in the great hall (it's rather Prisoner of Azkaban-like) and we usually stay up late talking about the new chapter and working on our own stories based on it.
Between those days, Mama CP and the boys walk around and give answers, hugs and advice to anyone who asks for them. I've often thought that Mama CP has the patience of a preschool teacher (otherwise I don't know how she'd be able to deal with all of us and the boys). Micah usually spends his time in the library – which, in addition to multiple well-loved copies of each Harry Potter book and the Alice books, is home to an ever-growing collection of stories written by us. Reed can often be found wandering around the gallery (which recently has grown to include a whole lot of pictures of Dwight). Other people's characters can often be found wandering around as well, often followed by their creators as their interactions with the Dalton boys are documented (and those writings are later added to the library).
A few days ago, Mama CP called us all into the great hall in the middle of the afternoon. "You've all waited a long time," she said. "And some of you have been asking for weeks when you'd get to know what happens next. I've finally finished the next chapter of Dalton!" Everyone cheered. She continued, "This chapter is quite long, though, so I'm splitting it up into three parts and you'll get to hear it over the next three nights."
We all cheered again. As soon as Mama CP was done talking, everyone went back to whatever they'd been doing before – but now no one was able to concentrate on anything. Gracey (my best friend) and I ran to the library. "I'm going to try to reread Dalton before Story Time," Gracey told me as she pulled a large binder off of the shelf.
"Gracey, are you kidding? We only have like five hours until Story Time!" I replied. "That's longer than Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix!"
"I'll try to get as far as I can, then," Gracey said.
I shrugged and grabbed an identical binder off of the shelf. We walked over to a pair of big squishy chairs and started reading.
An hour or two later, a voice asked, "What are you two reading?"
I looked up to see Merril Portman standing in front of us. "Oh, Hi Merril! We're rereading the first 25 chapters of Dalton," Gracey said.
"Trying to reread the first 25 chapters of Dalton," I corrected. "I highly doubt that we'll be anywhere near finished when it's time to gather for Story Time."
"Oh, well in that case I won't keep you from reading," Merril replied. "I was just curious; you both seem so focused – like Stuarts reading a textbook."
Gracey and I both chuckled. Merril waved and said, "I'll see you later!" before walking away.
I looked over at Gracey. "I love how that's not weird at all anymore."
"What?" asked Gracey.
"Running into and interacting with the people from this," I answered, holding up the heavy binder.
Gracey and I kept reading until dinnertime, when we each found a bookmark to mark our page and left the library to eat. After dinner we returned to the library and picked up the copies of Dalton we were reading.
As I had predicted, neither of us was anywhere near finished when it was time for us to go back downstairs to the great hall. We tucked our bookmarks between the pages and put the binders back on the shelf. Then we left the library. Before we went downstairs, we stopped in our shared room and grabbed a few things. Gracey found her dolphin PillowPet, Blaine, and I picked up my teddy bear, Jerry. Then we ran down to the great hall and claimed a pair of squishy purple sleeping bags that were next to each other. Mama CP started talking not long after we arrived.
"I'm really sorry that this chapter took so long," she said.
"Stop apologizing, Mama CP!" someone close to the front interrupted.
Someone else added, "If anyone should be sorry, it's us – we're impatient."
"Yeah," agreed a third person, "you're amazing, Mama CP. Don't apologize. Please don't."
"Thank you, all of you," Mama CP said. "Quiet down, it's Story Time!" and with that, she began to tell us the first part of Dalton Chapter 26.
One thing you should know about Story Time – when Mama CP tells us the story, it isn't as if she's reading us a book. We watch it all happen (like I said, the Dalton characters live here, too) on a big screen and she's the narrator. She tells us the things that we can't see or hear from the boys.
After 26.1 was finished (while we were comforting each other – some people were quite emotional about the events of the chapter so far), Mama CP made an announcement. "Until we've finished with this chapter – that's only two or three more days – all of the Dalton characters will be staying in their wing of the mansion. You're all free to write about them, but you can't go talk to them. That part of the building is temporarily off limits, alright?" We all groaned – everyone loves hanging out with the Dalton boys. "Alright, we're going to pass around the cookies now and I'll walk around among you and give hugs to anyone who needs one. After cookies you all have to brush your teeth and lights out will be in an hour or so."
"Yes, Mama CP," chorused the crowd. Some people grumble about being told what to do by Miss CP (because they're adults or whatever), but mostly we just do what we're told – it's not like she bosses us around all the time, she just tells us to do things we need to do [like sleep].
I was practically squishing the stuffing out of Jerry, my teddy bear, and eating my cookie when Mama CP reached Gracey and I. "Don't hurt the bear," she said to me when she walked over to us.
"Mama CP, the chapter so far was brilliant, but Adam scares me," I said. Gracey nodded.
Mama CP patted me on the head comfortingly. "He scares a lot of people, it's okay."
She walked away not long after that, after all there were hundreds of people waiting semi-patiently to talk to her. Once we finished our cookies, we ran to the bathroom to brush our teeth (and even though we were there before most other people had left the great hall, we still had to wait in line) and then returned to our sleeping bags in the great hall. We talked for a while, and when someone finally called Lights Out I fell asleep immediately, hugging Jerry the teddy bear tightly. I'm pretty sure Gracey stayed up talking to people much later, though – I think she's nocturnal. Actually, I think a lot of these people are, but I can't be sure. I'm usually asleep at night.
A/N - HEY! INSTEAD OF MY SEMI-FREQUENT PLEAS FOR REVIEWS, THIS TIME I HAVE SOMETHING ELSE TO SAY IN MY CLOSING AUTHOR'S NOTE. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE A PART OF THIS STORY (and really, who wouldn't? this imagined world is pretty awesome) REVIEW, OR SEND ME A MESSAGE EITHER HERE OR ON TUMBLR WITH YOUR NAME (AND IF YOU WANT TO INTERACT WITH A DALTON CHARACTER, THAT PERSON'S NAME AND A REQUEST TO BE AT LEAST MENTIONED AS HAVING A CONVERSATION WITH THEM).
Hopefully you've enjoyed this story so far and will read the next few chapters!