They decided to invite the deer family next door, along with several other neighbors: a tiger family who had a pair of twin cubs, a baboon father who had a daughter, and they invited Clawhauster, who happily accepted the invitation and volunteered to stop by the bakery and bring the birthday cake.
The decorations were meager, but they did the best with what they had; yellow streamers taped to the ceiling, blue streamers in the doorways, and a green plastic table cloth laid out on the kitchen table.
Judy dressed Elliot in blue shorts and a nice white t-shirt. This process took several long minutes, as Elliot kicked and swiped at her with his claw.
Meanwhile, Nick was cooking tofu burgers and not-dogs on the grill, whistling while he worked. It was a beautiful day outside; warm and sunny, clouds stretching themselves out across the sky.
The first to arrive (thirty minutes early) was Clawhauster with a cake box under his arm. He was still wearing his police uniform, and explained that he got there as soon as he could.
"Come on in," Judy said, holding Elliot on her hip.
"Awww, is this your baby?" Clawhauster reached a paw out, saying, "Can I hold him?"
Elliot leaned forward and reached for him.
"No!" Judy snapped, jerking her son away. "He... He might bite you."
"Oh." The pudgy cheetah frowned, then smiled. "I'll go put the cake in the kitchen!"
Judy closed the front door then quickly sat Elliot down. The toddler stood up and walked away from her, not looking back.
Judy went into the kitchen with Clawhauster and inspected the cake. It was a simple vanilla cake with white icing. Very plain. But Judy was grateful that she didn't have to bake.
Together, the rabbit and cheetah worked on making party trays; one plate full of sliced and diced vegetables, another plate stacked with crackers and cheese.
Nicholas came back inside with the food just as the rest of the guests were arriving.
Elliot stood up on the couch, peering at the different animals coming into his territory. The two tiger cubs ran straight to the living room and fought over the tv remote while the baboon and deer stood wide-eyed with their parents.
Elliot jumped from the couch and onto the floor, watching the tigers.
"Gimme!" Yelled the tiger.
"No, mine!" Whined the other tiger.
Elliot pounced off the couch and snatched the remote with his teeth, also biting into one of the cub's paws.
The cub shrieked and fell backwards, the second cub standing there in shock.
Elliot spat the remote out and ran into the kitchen.
The tiger family and Nick entered the living room to see one cub sucking on his paw while the other one picked the remote off the floor.
"Stop fighting, you two." Said the tiger dad.
Nicholas smiled with relief. "I can put it on cartoons if they'd like to watch something."
"Oh no, it's fine, they'll survive a couple of hours without it." Answered the female tiger with a wave of her paw.
"Hey there little troublemaker!" The cheetah gushed over Elliot, who stood licking the blood off his lips.
Judy turned quickly. "Don't get too close to him," she warned, cringing at the very sight of her son.
"But he's so huggable! How can you resist that face?"
Elliot slowly turned his head and glared at his mother.
Judy swallowed hard. "F-face of an angel..." She muttered.
"I know, right?" The cheetah grabbed the tray of cheese and crackers and left the room, saying, "I'll start passing out snacks to the kiddies."
Judy sighed, turning her back to Elliot. This was a bad idea; Judy grabbed the vegetable tray and took a step forward, tripping over Elliot who had laid down behind her feet.
Judy fell forward and dropped the tray of food in order to catch herself. Panting, she turned and looked at Elliot.
He crawled towards Judy, then picked up stalk of broccoli and threw it at her face.
Judy started to get to her feet when Elliot aimed his head at the ceiling and screamed.
Nick came into the kitchen at once and saw Judy standing beside their crying son, the vegetables spewed all over the floor.
"What happened?" Nick demanded, picking up Elliot from the floor. Cradled in his father's arms, Elliot leaned against Nick's chest and breathed calmly.
Judy noticed this and snapped, getting to her feet and pointing a paw at their son. "He's doing this to me on purpose! He's a rotten, spoiled, mean little boy!"
"Judy...!" Nick put a paw over Elliot's ears, but the damage had already been done; sniffing, the little birthday boy began to cry.
Casting quick glances at one another, the guests moved themselves to the living room to watch Finding Nemo, which was playing on the television.
Left alone in private, Mr and Mrs Wilde only became uglier towards one another...
