The Ferris wheel compartment in which Penny and Gumball were sitting in, slowly descended back down to ground level.
"That was absolutely wonderful! The view was breathtaking and spectacular as well!"
Penny exclaimed, as her and Gumball reunited with the rest of the family on the ground.
Gumball checked his watch.
"9:00PM"
"Well, I guess we better make our way to dinner, eh guys?!"
The Watterson family collectively nodded their heads, as they moved towards the music stage platform; where tables were strewn across the floor to provide a beautiful venue for the patrons of the festival. Vibrant, vivid, and blue Chinese lanterns covered the massive tent that was being set up around them, in case of bad weather. To say the least, the décor was welcoming and soothing for a community of such a small proportionate size.
"Wow, this is absolutely stunning Richard! Goodness, we haven't had a night out like this since we went to Italy 10 years ago!"
Gumball raised an eyebrow.
"You guys went to Italy too?! When did you guys become Mr. and Mrs. worldwide?!"
Nicole chuckled, as the family were making their way towards the receptionist desk of the tent.
"It was shortly after you kids departed for college, turns out the star your father purchased had a return policy should it die out, and the interest accumulated from the purchase gave us a massive payout! So we decided to take an early retirement and went traveling!"
Gumball was flabbergasted.
"So...I guess that explains why there was a loss of communication between us in that time...and the extra charges for long distance on my phone. Are you sure there wasn't enough left over to help out on my student loan?"
Nicole chuckled nervously.
"Oh Gummypuss, air fare and travel have jumped dramatically in price since even when you guys were kids, we had to save enough for a retirement fund too; right? I hope you understand that..."
As Nicole made a pitiful expression towards her son, Richard perked his ears.
"Didn't we get a return of $25 million doll-"
Richard was interrupted by a slight elbow to his stomach from Nicole, as she opened her mouth slightly to speak, almost in the manner a ventriloquist would controlling a puppet.
"RICHARD! SHHHHHH!"
Gumball chuckled.
"It's okay Mom! You and Dad deserve that money for the duty you guys performed as parents... thanks."
Gumball gave a hug each to Nicole and Richard.
Soon the receptionist desk was a few steps away from the family, with Gumball once again stepping forward.
"Could we have a table that accommodates a large family, please and thank you?"
The receptionist checked her list to ensure there was enough seating capacity for the Watterson's. The duck placed her wing on the vacant box for a large table and checked it off.
"You're in luck sir! You just got the last table for our large family guests package at the venue! Please, if you would follow me, I'll escort you and yours to your designated table!"
The duck receptionist waved her wing towards the dining room of the tent, where the tables were decorated in beautiful white cloth, along with a bouquet of flowers at the center, and a lamp with fireflies inside; to spruce up the summer vibe the venue provided. The stage and equipment were in the finishing stages of preparation, as more guests piled into the dining room and stage area of the festival.
"Here you are sir, please enjoy your evening!"
"Thank you so much ma'am!"
The Watterson family individually took their seats at the table, as waiters placed glasses of water on the table cloth.
Some chatter ensued for a few minutes, before Gumball saw the opportunity to propose a toast.
"Excuse me! Attention Watterson's, please! I want to take a moment to thank you all for the wonderful Vacation you have provided for not just me, but for everyone in this family. None of the memories that we had during it could have been possible without your being here, give yourselves a pat on the back for that! We've had some close calls too, no doubt about that...but through it all, one major element remained true; we stuck together as a family! And with that family bond, we were able to live, laugh, and love through the good and the bad! We never lost sight of that spirit this family has possession of. We're a weird and wacky bunch of folks, but personally, I believe that's where we shine! So here's to an already awesome vacation, cheers everyone!"
Everyone at the table cheered and raised their glasses.
The Watterson's finished their family dinner, sharing a good banter amongst each other and plentiful laughs to accompany it. Tristan sat next to his father Gumball, turning towards him to ask him a question.
"Hey Dad, are you and mom gonna dance together?"
Gumball smiled.
"Absolutely little man, we're going to try to relive some of the memories of our high school prom and hopefully have a better outcome than what that event turned out to be..."
Tristan chuckled.
"Why? What happened at your high school prom?"
Gumball scratched the back of his neck.
"Well...your old man leaned his paw against the fire alarm...and drenched everyone inside..."
Penny, who was eavesdropping on the conversation next to her husband, stepped in.
"The cake still maintained its flavor and consistency though! It was just a little soggy, that's all!"
Gumball smiled, as Penny tried to salvage and repair the blue feline's guilt from the incident.
"Honey...the icing on the cake washed off..."
Penny chuckled.
"I guess, but it was fun trying to avoid slipping on the dance floor with all of that water!"
Both let out hearty laughs at the recollection of their memories.
"I remember stepping through the door that night and Mom being flabbergasted, asking if I had gone for an evening swim in the local pool before I went to prom!"
Nicole then smirked across the table.
"Not only that, but your longer fur was hanging down in knots! I advised you to get a hair cut before going to prom, but you were such a stubborn kid!"
Gumball smiled.
"Like trying to comb the skin of a kiwi fruit?"
Nicole chuckled and smiled.
"Like trying to comb the skin of a kiwi fruit, Gummypuss."
Tristan turned his attention back to his father with a confused expression.
"You also had longer fur, Dad?"
"It was...a rebellious teen phase more than anything, it was terrible to manage."
Tristan chuckled, but noticed something was not right.
"Hey, did anybody see my Polystation 5?!"
The family scanned their surroundings, but were unable to check as to where the gaming console was.
Suddenly screaming and a large commotion could be heard outside the tent dining room. Gumball rose from his seat to locate the source of the noise.
When he stepped outside the tent, he saw something that he truly did not anticipate at all.
The mother bear and cub had returned and strangely enough, the cub had placed in its jaws the Polystation 5.
"What the what is up with these bears?! It's like they have some sort of vendetta against us!"
Darwin stood next to his brother Gumball as he shouted this.
"How did the cub enter the tent without being noticed?"
"It doesn't matter, we have to get that Polystation 5 back for the kids, come on!"
Soon the family was on a wild goose chase for the gaming console, as the crowd was dispersing in the opposite direction to avoid being mauled by the large bear.
"Alright, we're going to have to split up here! Darwin, you take half of our group and retrieve the Polystation 5, everyone else with me! We're going to distract Momma bear!"
With that, both brothers were coordinating two parts of a retrieval operation.
"Carrie, honey! I'm going to try and block the cub with some of that ribbon over there, can Vlad conjure something to block the other exit with you?"
Carrie nodded.
"We'll certainly try to!"
With that, Darwin rushed to the opposite end of the venue and retrieved some long ribbon from a display tent, and placed it across an exit where the cub was headed towards.
Carrie and Vlad stood back at the opposite end, conjuring a blocking spell.
The cub was trapped, truly scared for its well being; as the orange fish approached.
He communicated to the bear that everything was going to be alright, and the cub released the gaming console from its jaws.
"Alright! We got to regroup with the others and reunite this cub back with its mother, come on!"
Darwin gestured with his head, as he carried the cub in his fins and half of the family followed behind him to find Gumball and his group somewhere in the venue.
Gumball and the other half of the family were being chased by the mother bear, as they were soon approaching the hall of mirrors attraction.
"Gumball! We can try to lose her in there!"
Nicole pointed to the mirror house.
"Good idea Mom! Alright everyone we're splitting up again, one group take the left route of mirrors, everyone else take the right!"
The group once again diverged into groups, as the house of mirrors was soon quiet, except for the low growls of the frustrated mother bear, who was slashing and smashing the glass; hoping she had successfully caught one of the Watterson's. Penny was comforting and shushing Penelope and Tristan, their sobbing was low and soft, but they could not afford to give away their positions inside the house.
As Gumball turned the corner, he was hit in the head by a piece of plywood.
"Ow!"
"Oops! Sorry dude, I thought you were the bear!"
Darwin and the rest of his group were putting on a shocked expression, as the blue feline rubbed the top of his head.
"I'm a little bit shorter than a full grown bear, don't you think so Darwin?"
Darwin blushed in embarrassment.
"Yeah...but look at what we found!"
In the back, Richard held the baby bear cub in his arms, providing a milk carton to its mouth.
"That's great! You got the console too! But...if we're here...then where's..."
Before Gumball could finish his sentence, he and the rest of the family heard a low growl behind them, as they slowly turned to face the bear.
"Should we run?"
Gumball asked, as Carrie turned with a confused expression.
"That's a rhetorical question, right?!"
The mother bear was furious to see the baby bear cub in their possession, with even more fueled rage than before.
The family were about to run, when they realized that the hallway they were in was a dead end.
"We're trapped!"
Penny shouted frantically, as the Watterson's were certain of their fate now.
"Heh, not how I imagined this vacation would end, right guys?!"
As Gumball looked to the rest of the family who were terrified, his nervous smile dropped, as they closed their eyes and had a group hug; bracing for the agonizing death they were about to endure.
Suddenly, the bear stopped moving and collapsed to the floor of the mirror house.
"Of all my years doing this job, I still don't get paid enough to get in these situations and shenanigans!"
It was the cockroach exterminator.
The Watterson family breathed a sigh of relief, as they laughed and chuckled.
"Thank you so much sir, I don't know if we would still be talking to you if you arrived a minute later!"
Nicole stated, as she shook the hand of the cockroach; as he held his tranquilizer rifle in one hand.
"Oh I'm just doing my job...say...are you that cat I accidentally shot all those years ago?"
Nicole blushed from embarrassment.
"Oh yeah...sorry about that whole ordeal...no hard feelings?"
The cockroach then scratched his antenna.
"Yeah I'm sorry too, I shouldn't have had such an itchy trigger finger...anyway, I'll collect the cub and mother, and try to relocate them back into the wild and far away from the populated areas of the park."
The Watterson's waved goodbye to the exterminator, as Darwin handed the console back to Tristan.
"I think this is yours little buddy!"
Tristan's eyes lit up as he hugged the orange fish.
"Thank you so much Uncle Darwin! Thank you everyone!"
The family gathered for a group hug around the blue kitten.
"Well with another near death experience in the books, let's try to have an enjoyable rest of the evening shall we?"
The family laughed spontaneously, then slowly made their way out of the house of mirrors and back towards the dining room tent at the center of the festival.
"Wow! That was a delicious cake for dessert!"
Vlad stated, as he wiped away a piece of chocolate cake from his mouth.
"Yeah dude! It really was!"
Tristan remarked.
"I never got to have my piece when I returned from the washroom, did anyone know what happened to it?"
Anais asked, as Richard burped loudly with chocolate all over his face.
The family broke out into laughter including Anais, as Nicole smiled and rolled her eyes.
Suddenly, someone stepped onto the stage, while Richard was frantically trying to wipe away the remnants of cake off of his face.
"Attention everyone! I'm mayor Thiddleston of Reedsville, and we hope you have enjoyed our little festival so far! We've had some pretty good acts this evening, and I hope you are going to enjoy our last act! But before I introduce him, I would like to extend an invitation to all of the couples in the crowd to please step onto the dance floor!"
The Watterson couples got up from their chairs, as did the rest of the dining hall couples, and moved to the dance floor.
The Watterson kids then grouped together.
"It's going to be a slow dance isn't it?!"
Vlad asked, with the hedgehog mayor moving off the stage, as an eagle with a cowboy hat moved on with a guitar and sat down in a chair.
(If You're my Best Friend by Don Williams is compatible with your device, please press play now)
"I knew it!"
Vlad stated, as the Watterson children giggled and gave him a playful nudge.
"This is our wedding song!"
Penny stated with excitement.
"Indeed it is my love."
Penny then rested her head on the blue feline's shoulder, as they gracefully slid across the floor in a slow waltz.
"This is going to be one memorable vacation isn't it?"
The fairy asked.
"Besides the near death experiences? Oh yeah, it's in Watterson lore now!"
Penny chuckled.
"You still haven't lost that sense of humor over the years..."
Gumball then looked down to her sparkling eyes, the light display and lanterns above the tent were illuminating the dance floor.
"Thank you so much for being there for me Penny, I couldn't have asked for anyone better to spend the rest of my life with."
Penny smiled.
"I love you with all of my heart, Gumball Watterson..."
"And I love you more than life itself, Penny Fitzgerald..."
The husband and wife soon pulled in for a passionate kiss, in the center of the dance floor.
Nicole and the Watterson kids were watching, with smiles extending from ear to ear, as the couples remained dancing into the night.
The tent soon opened up its roof to a display of fireworks to commemorate the fourth of July.
Audible sounds of amazement could be heard, as the kids of families rushed onto the dance floor to meet up with their parents.
"Happy fourth of July everyone!"
Gumball shouted as everyone cheered, the celebrations and festival continuing into the night.
"Alright, I think that's everything!"
Gumball stated, as the sun was high in the sky on the day of leaving the lake house. Slowly closing the trunk of the sedan, he looked back to the lake house reminiscing over the memories and experiences of the past few days.
Penny approached and placed her hand on his shoulder, as he turned back to wrap his arm around her.
"Maybe one day we'll come back here again honey. The summer is still not over yet, your mother and father are staying at our place! I got a few ideas in mind for activities and snacks, I might even prepare that special spaghetti recipe you love!"
Gumball smiled, and gave a kiss to the fairy.
"Thanks Penny...it was a good vacation, eh?!"
Penny then placed her hand on the feline's cheek.
"It wasn't a good vacation, it was a great vacation."
The fairy then proceeded to get in the passenger side seat of the car.
Gumball walked over to the driver side, giving a final salute to the house as he entered the vehicle.
As the convoy of cars pulled out, following the sedan, Gumball had one last thing to attend to when he got back to Elmore.
"I've got to return that letter..."
*END OF CHAPTER*