„Lazlo?"

„Yes Raj?"

„How much longer will we have to stay like this?", the elephant asked red-faced while he was desperate to keep his balance.

"For a little while.", he replied relaxed, standing there in an almost graceful pose.

It was a warm, sunny Friday noon and the six youths spent it at the park. While Mina, Joana, Raj, Clam and Lazlo were practicing yoga, Philip stood next to them and had to suppress his laughter.

"Aaaaand….stop.", Lazlo said.

"Ooouw…", Raj groaned.

"Now for the next exercise.", he continued, bended one of his legs, stretched the other one and stooped over it with his arms extended, so that he could touch his foot. Raj heaved a weary sigh.

"I thought we wanted to picnic!", the elephant bewailed stressed.

"But that's good for the soul, Raj. It gives you inner peace.", he contradicted his friend emboldening.

Inner peace… Mina could have really used that, too. As always, her head was brimming with Patsy's scheming and refused any kind of relaxation. Needless to say, she was sure that the sudden kindness of the mongoose was just one of her usual foul plays, not to mention the fact that Patsy bombarded Lazlo with chat messages since her last visit, which he luckily had ignored till now.

Mina didn't even know that her eyes were open. She gazed into space absent-minded.

Lazlo opened one of his eyes briefly to catch sight of his abstracted girlfriend, who performed the exercise only halfhearted. He pulled a worried face but closed his eye without saying anything.

"Can we have at least a short rest?! ", a certain giraffe grouched with a pained expression, "We walked through the park third times now!"

"Exactly!", the mongoose replied and kept the pace. Gretchen was already two meters away and occupied with kicking stones away.

"He is not here, Patsy!", Nina talked insistently to the pigheaded girl.

"I cannot believe how quickly you're giving up Nina! Hard to believe that you were part of the squirrel scouts!", Patsy countered.

Mina's thoughts were interrupted by a clicking noise. The raccoon turned around. A little stone flew awards the girl and landed next to her tail. She heard somebody walking along the track. Mina turned abruptly away when she saw who it was, in the absurd hope that the girl would miss them.

"Lazlo?! Is that you?", she shouted relieved and feigned surprised and directly approached the group.

Since the monkey had entered a trance, he had to rally himself to answer.

"P-Patsy?! What are you doing here?!", he asked bewildered.

"Oh, just walking around.", she answered innocently.

"You are all alone?!", Lazlo asked even more confused.

"Nah, but Nina and Gretchen hit the wall because of the terrible, terrible long way.", the mongoose jeered, "But oh well, some people don't know what a real walk is.", Patsy added haughtily. Lazlo made no comments. Everybody looked at her.

"By the way, what are you playing at there?", she questioned buoyantly.

"Yoga.", Philip answered the question with a sneer without looking away.

"It frees spirit and soul.", Lazlo added, shooting a unsympathetic glance at his unspiritual friend.

"Cool! May I join you?!", the mongoose asked zestfully.

"Uh..sure..", the monkey halted. He was still a bit surprised about her popping up in the park. Patsy sat down to copy their poses.

"Patsy..?! Patsy!", Nina shouted till discovering her among the circle. She had to grin.

"Oh hey… what are you doing?", she asked amused.

"Yoga!", the mongoose said dead serious. The giraffe chuckled. Just arrived at the place where the group sat, Gretchen burst into laughter.

"It frees the spirit from soul!", Patsy told them vigorously, to make her friends even more laugh. Mina shook her head mentally.

"I bet! HAHAHAHAHAHA!", the alligator bawled.

"It frees spirit and soul…", Lazlo corrected the girl. A few seconds elapsed.

"Lazlo?"

"Yes Patsy?"

"Tell me, is there any exercise against… aggressions?", the mongoose asked reedy. Gretchen stopped laughing.

Lazlo pondered for a moment and sat up. The rest of the posse sighed with relief and did the same.

"Well…", he started, "there are plenty. For example the tree pose."

"Neat! Isn't that perfect Gretchen? Since you like trees so much…", Patsy said wily with a sarcastic smile on her face. A deep growl could be heard.

"But if you feel so awful about it that you're afraid..", she continued the talk.

"Oh tree, oh tree…", Nina giggled. Gretchen's growling became even louder. She could barely believe that her friends could remember an incident like this at all.

"Very well…", she said through clenched teeth. Her voice sounded constrained. Lazlo positioned himself.

"Stand straight, feet together.", he said placidly. The alligator followed Lazlo's instructions grimly.

"Shift your weight on the heels. Then take a deep breath in and out.", the monkey continued while he was doing the same. Gretchen felt uneasy and squinched her eyes shot. Her face looked tensed.

"Bend your right knee and press your foot into the left thigh. Now press your palms together in front of your chest." The girl could hear the titter of her friends. Wobbling she did her best to keep standing on one feet to rein her fury as effectively as possible.

"Focus your vision on a certain point.", he said relaxed. When Gretchen opened her eyes she caught sight of a broadly grinning rhinoceros. She felt the rage growing, her face darkened.

"Now you only have to raise your hands slowly above your head… and smile." Patsy and Nina were close to burst with laughter, while Gretchen was also close to burst – nevertheless not with laughter.

The alligator looked Clam, who grinned even bigger now, sharply into the eyes. She slowly raised her hands, keeping her anger sparkling eyes on him steadily. The corners of her mouth started to twitch.

"C'mon Gretchen…it's just a smile..", Lazlo tried to encourage the strained girl.

"Yeah, C'mon Gretchen.", Patsy teased. Nina chuckled. Clam pointed to his grin. His lips started to jitter.

Lazlo watched the scenario nervously. A little voice in his head spoke the same mantra again and again.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!", the rhinoceros blurted out cracking up. Gretchen ultimately fell down and landed on her butt. She emitted something that was reminiscent of a battle cry.

"THAT'S IT!", she hollered. Before she could attack him, he had got up and started running. The alligator chased after the boy.

"I think the yoga didn't help that much…", Joana interposed. Lazlo slumped to the ground.

"Stay there you crummy, little piece of….ARRRGHHAAR!", Gretchen bellowed after Clam. However, he set his sights on a tree and climbed it very quickly.

"HAHAHA! You really think that will protect you?!", she shouted and climbed after him. He was still not willing to take off his grin.

"End of the line, MUTANT.", Gretchen said with a merciless expression on her face and crawled on all fours on the limp on which he was sitting. His grin disappeared.

"Uh-oh…", he said.

"Well spotted!", she snarled threatening. Suddenly the wood started cracking underneath them. CRACK!

"Ohh…", Gretchen moaned. She heard somebody laughing behind her.

"Maybe we should leave them alone …", Philip said saucy. Nina and Patsy couldn't suppress a chuckle.

The alligator awoke in a bush with a splitting headache, lying partly on Clam. The girl leaped to her feet immediately.

"Eeewwaaargh!", she shouted disgusted and shuddered. The rhinoceros sat up slowly. He was confused-looking.

"Are you…alright?", the giraffe asked laughingly.

"Save it - OUCH! - Neckerly!", Gretchen snapped and held her head, while Clam was trying to stand up.

The alligator noticed him out of the corner of the eye and growled. But even that was so aching, that she had to postpone her revenge to later.

Back at picnic area:

"Would you like some? There's more than enough.", the monkey said and looked at Nina, Gretchen and Patsy. Gretchen grabbed a one of the sandwiches while Nina was helping herself, too.

"What do you have here?", the mongoose asked hesitantly.

"Well, we got cheese-"

"No cheese!", she blurted out hastily, "d-do you have peanut butter?", she asked awkwardly.

"Of course…", Lazlo said slightly startled and handed the sandwich over to her. She was the object of surprised looks.

"I'm allergic to cheese…", Patsy said cautiously, shirking from their gazes.

"Yeah, she bloats, breaks out in spots and stuff.", Gretchen added.

"Thanks, GRETCHEN.", the mongoose commented ironical.

"Oops, I'm sorry…", Lazlo said a little embarrassed, "it slipped my mind…"

Mina caught herself hoping that the mongoose would grab a cheese sandwich by accident. She overruled it scandalized.

"You mean like a… balloon?", Joana asked amazed. Patsy made no reply.

"Your whole body bloats?", Philip asked amused.

"Only the face.", Gretchen answered the question regardless of any consequences. The mongoose mean mugged her.

"Woah…", he said.

"Enough already!", Patsy broke in, "Could we please change the topic?", she asked more gentle.

'But why? Let's keep on talking about your pain points.' It crossed Mina's mind. Annoyed she tried to get rid of the thought.

"Maybe there's a yoga exercise against this, too. HAHAHA – ouch...", the alligator, who was still racked by pain, interposed mockingly. Before Patsy had time to get even angrier, her thoughts were interrupted by a vibration, closely followed by a ringing, which came out of her handbag. She rummaged through it to get her mobile phone out and looked at the display. Her jaw dropped.

"H-hi Daddy!", she nearly panicked.

"Yeah I'm fine!" – "Great!" – "Uhhm no, I-I'm at home!" Blank looks had been bandied, while there was no response from Nina and Gretchen. All of a sudden Clam choked on his bread and begun to cough.

Alarmed Patsy stared at the rhinoceros and tried to block the noise off the phone by covering the speaker up.

The voice at the other end became louder.

"That-"

"DID I JUST HEAR A...BOY ?!", the voice yelled so loud that the whole group could hear it.

"N-no! It's Gretchen! She …has a very bad cold, you know?!", the mongoose explained away quickly. The alligator looked sharply at Patsy. She felt defensive by equating her voice with Clams.

"*hollering*"

"Yeah it's really, really bad!" The voice at the other end started to die down a bit.

"Well, gotta go now! I promised Ruby to feed the plants! Bye Daddy!" Patsy hung up. The others gazed at her wide-eyed.

"Fathers!", she said and laughed nervously, "they..", she was desperately trying to find a way out of this awkward situation, when suddenly a certain music sounded from the distance, that everyone knew. It was the Iceman.

"Now, who wants ice cream? It's on me!", she shouted cheerful and leaped to her feet while looking at the posse eagerly.

"Me!", Clam shouted and raised his hand.

"I want a water ice!", Joana said jauntily.

"I want five water Ices!", Philip added.

"I want an ice pack…", Gretchen said dry-witted.

"I'd like a vanilla ice cream.", Nina said.

In the meantime Patsy was trying to keep all the orders in mind. She had not expected so many wishes.

"I…don't feel like ice cream right now...", Lazlo replied when Patsy looked at him.

'To use or not to use, that is the question.' It flashed across Minas mind.

"I'll stick to my grapes.", The raccoon said.

"It won't hurt.", Patsy thought to herself.

"I'm so stuffed!", Raj moaned and crocked. Patsy began to move.

"Hey wait! Bring me a Slush!", the elephant shouted after her.

"You know what? I'll stretch my legs a bit…", Mina broke the silence.

"Me too!", the monkey blurted and jumped to his feet. The raccoon felt astonishment and joy.

For a few minutes they walked abreast each other silently. It was not a coincidence that Lazlo had accompanied her. He wanted to speak to the raccoon, but didn't know how to start. Mina wasn't the only one who was beset with worries lately. He was worried about the odd behavior of his girlfriend, too. The boy just opened his mouth to start, when a thought barred him from it.

'What if I just make it even worse?' Lazlo closed it again. He pondered desperately what to do.

"Mina…?" "Lazlo?", they said in unison.

"Yes?", they said in unison again and looked at each other.

"Yes Lazlo?", the raccoon said one more time.

"Well…uh..", he began, looking away. He still didn't know how to confront her, while Mina had not the foggiest idea of what was to come. She was in a sweat about it. Numerous scenarios flashed through her mind.

"Well.. I'm starting to worry...", the monkey said timidly and paused again.

"What?" It sounded more panicky than planned. She disliked the fact that one could discern the fear in her voice.

The tension became worse.

He considered how to continue, since he was unstrung, too, because he didn't know what her next reaction would look like.

"I'm scared for you!", he finally blurted shakily. On the one hand, it took a weight of the raccoons mind, but she was seized with his sudden ebullition on the other hand.

"How is that!?", she answered unexpected startled. Mina felt stupid.

"You…You…Every time I look at you you're totally absent-minded! We hardly ever do anything together lately! I…I'm not able to get through to you anymore! I have the feeling that you d-distance yourself from m-me! I don't know what to do!", before she could have said something, the boy continued the emotional outburst.

"What's wrong?! Tell me!" Lazlo looked the worse from wear. Mina was deeply shocked. She would have never guessed that it was THAT bad. The raccoon stared at him with wide eyes. For a moment she was tongue-tied.

"Patsy.", was the only thing she said. Mina had to talk about it, though it was repulsive to her to do it.

"What?! Where?", he shouted shrill voiced and started looking in all directions.

"N-no! I mean Patsy.", she felt like an idiot. Lazlo looked even more desperate than before. The girl heaved a weary sigh.

"You… may have noticed that we're not exactly best friends…", she said while looking away.

"…and never will be…", the raccoon added.

He gave her a confused look.

"I…We, well…she hates me, okay?", Mina said and faced the monkey with a feeling, as if she just had showed a disgusting rash to a doctor. For a moment Lazlo stared at her with disbelief and then seemed to consider.

"I'll tell her not to come around here anymore!", he promised positively.

There it was. The chance to get out of this. The whole worrying, watching, nasty looks…everything. A door which leaded into freedom. And the key was a simple yes.

"N-no!" But Mina had thrown it away.

"Huh?!"

"No way! It's just that-", she sighed again, "I'm thinking about this at the time, I'm just-"

"Jealous?", he interrupted.

"What?! That's-", Mina said slightly scandalized, but cut herself since she couldn't contradict her boyfriend. In fact she didn't know whether he was dead right.

"But YOU are my girlfriend!", Lazlo said powerfully.

"Why, yes!", Mina replied as powerful as him, "but-", she paused again, "how should I know what kind of…relationship you have!?" The raccoon did not intend to say this. It just burst out – and to crown it all pretty harsh.

"We're friends…", he answered as calmly as possible.

"Of course, but what does she think?! Maybe she's not after friendship! Have you ever thought of that?!", it really hurt to say that. She had a big, fat lump in her throat. Lazlo recollected some of Patsy's behaviors of yore.

"Well…yes.", he finally said with a pensive face. For a short moment Mina felt the urge to slap him.

"But that doesn't change anything between US!", he countered definitely, but still caring.

Mina wanted to answer back promptly but then she had a lucid moment. The girl felt much better all of a sudden. It was almost as if the load on her shoulders just disappeared. She looked stonily.

"Mina? Speak to me Mina!", he talked insistently to his girlfriend. The raccoon came around again.

"Right.", she just said and stared at him with an unreadable expression on her face. He was finally completely baffled. Once again blank despair was large writ in his face.

"Yeah! You're dead right!", the raccoon shouted zestfully and beamed at the monkey, "Damn! I was worried the whole time,", she paused, "just to find out that it was all for nothing!"

Normally Lazlo would have been chuffed to bits to hear that, but he had doubts whether she was completely serious at this point.

"Are you feeling alright…?", he asked warily.

"Trust me, I'm feeling alright AGAIN AT LAST!", Mina shouted buoyantly and planted him a kiss, "I'm so sorry. I wasn't myself lately. But that's definitively over now!", she said strong-willed. Lazlo just faced her stunned for a few seconds. Then his facial expression changed.

"Really?", he asked eagerly.

"Yep!"

"HOORAY!", the monkey exclaimed and hugged and squeezed his girlfriend.

"Hey!", Patsy shouted while trying to keep the friendly tone up. She had jumped to her feet immediately when she had decried them. "Your ice is completely melted! Where have you been so long?", she asked slightly testy and looked at Lazlo reproachfully.

"Strolling." Mina answered perky, shooting a short glance to the mongoose.

"It's getting to cold for ice cream anyway. I think it's time to make a move, isn't it?", she said, looking at the others.

"Finally! I'm freezin' my ass off!", Philip said.

"Make a move? Why? It's not that cold!", Patsy protested to try to argue Lazlo to stay.

"Sorry Patsy, but I don't want anyone to freeze.", the monkey replied sympathetic and continued packing. The rest of the posse got up, with exception of Gretchen, who had fallen asleep.

"Hey! Gretchen!", Nina shouted.

"What the-?", she woke with a start.

"Come on!", the giraffe answered.

"At last…", Gretchen muttered grumpy, rubbing her head.

"Watch it!", Mina shouted and shook the picnic blanket, so that the cloud of dust hit Patsy like a strike in the face.

She started to cough and scowled at the girl.

"But...! What am I going to do with this now?!", she said helplessly and hold the flabby packaging, in which the melted water ice was, up.

"You can eat it.", Philip teased and gave her an encouraging nod. There was no gainsaying the fact that Mina found his comment quite amusing.

"Well, bye then!", Lazlo said as friendly as always, turning his head to the three girls, two of whom were already on the way back.

"Bye!", the raccoon shouted without turning around.

The mongoose was still standing there as glued to the spot, starring dumbfounded after them.

"Are you coming or what?!", Gretchen called out to her with an annoyed look on her face. Patsy narrowed her eyes to slits. A scornful hissing escaped her lips. Then she turned round on the spot and tramped after her friends.

Mina on the other hand was contented. She had finally grasped that Patsy had stood between her and Lazlo just because SHE herself had permitted it. From now on she would stop staying in the background to watch Patsy pinching her boyfriend. Lazlo belonged to HER and it was about time to show it to the mongoose.