Chapter 6: Lights and Ornaments
Rocky smiled after he looked over his big, green parachute for any damage.
"Phew! Thank goodness I don't need to repair anything. Then again, the pup's safety is more important than my gift. Okay, what's next?" Rocky told himself after inspecting his parachute. Upon looking at his notes again, the next step was seeing if the fabric could handle ornaments and lights. If the parachute couldn't stand any weight, then the tree design would act like just a regular parachute.
"I need to test weight on the fabric. Luckily I have just the tools!" Rocky told himself happily. Rocky left the room, and closed the door before going to his pup house outside. After going through some items, Rocky found what he needed. He carefully took each item to the room, and put them on the ground. Rocky then took a piece of paper and tape before putting a sign on the outside of the door. The sign read 'Rocky's Working Room: Busy, Don't Enter'.
"Perfect, hopefully that will help make sure there's no accidentally interruptions ... Or ghosts, hehehe!" Rocky said with a giggle. Upon closing the door, Rocky looked at the items he had gotten; a set of lights and ornaments, plus a mini vacuum made of recycled wood, a hose, a small engine, and wheels. Rocky positioned the hose under the fabric, then set the vacuum to reverse. The mixed breed turned it on, waiting for the big, green parachute to fill up with air, but not completely.
"Great! Now to test the weight," Rocky exclaimed happily seeing the shape of the parachute hold still as it was semi-inflated. The mixed breed gathered the lights, and carefully tossed them up and around the parachute. After seeing the lights on the fabric, Rocky tightened them by pulling on the cord. The lights stayed on, but also slid down a little. Rocky hummed before thinking of an idea. He shook the cord to see if the lights would get intertwined in the branches. Luckily, it worked, but not completely. Satisfied, Rocky plugged the lights in, which filled the room with merry lights of different colors.
"Success! Note, the tighter the fabric, the easier to hang lights. Okay, now the ornaments!" Rocky observed before writing down the new detail. With the green parachute tree flowing in the air as if trying to grow, Rocky got some ball ornaments, and jumped to put them on. Sadly, Rocky was only able to get a few on, giving the fabric tree was taller than him. Rocky thought to himself before running around, then trying again with the jump. This time his jump was higher and it worked. The branches dipped down a bit, but maintained their shape. Rocky looked closer at the branches before realizing something; he might have to put little loops in the branches. Would the branches even hold hooked ornaments?
"It might but the more rips there are, the more repairs the tree will need. Plus the ordaments could slide off. Hmmm. Any loops will add weight, but there must be a way to hang the hooks with making lots of holes ... Unless ... Could there be holes with something secure under it?" Rocky wondered. It was possible, but tricky. Carefully taking the lights off and unplugging them, Rocky put the lights away to the side before turning the vacuum off. The tree parachute slowly floated down to the ground. Rocky looked under the branches to see what improvements he needed.
"Okay, more branches, and fabric under them for air flow. If any holes are made, they should be able to hold ordaments. Hopefully," Rocky said as he looked under the parachute. The gray pup then got some spare green fabric, along with needle and thread before he sewed more fabric under the branches, and added more branches too to be safe. It took longer than he thought, but it worked as planned. Rocky smiled before putting the needle and thread on the table, then got some scissors.
"Now, if my guess is right..." Rocky said before pulling on a branch. He then carefully cute two half moon shapes in a branch so a line of green ran down in the middle. Rocky had secured the branch under the fabric with more fabric both on the branch and under it. Rocky put the scissors on the table before walking to the ordaments, and grabbing a snowman with a hook before hanging it on the branch he had worked on.
"Alright, now to see if it holds..." Rocky hoped before turning he vacuum on. Air blowed into the parachute, lifting the fabric tree into the air. Watching the snowman, it seemed to be holding, and not ripping the fabric. Rocky smiled before turning the vacuum off. Once the parachute floated down, Rocky got the ornament snowman and hook, before returning them to the other ornaments on the side of the room.
"It worked! Now to do the same with the other branches!" Rocky exclaimed happily. The mixed breed carefully went under the other branches, before he added more fabric under the branches, and slightly under the branches too. Upon appearing out from under the fabric branches, Rocky inspected the parachute again. It needed more branches, and the extra parachutes too. Rocky spread the parachute out before adding more triangular fabric branches to the parachute. The branches took a while to add, but Rocky was happy. He then went out the door, and went to his pup house to get more fabric. He returned shortly to the room, and closed the door again.
"Alright, now to add the other parachutes to form the rest of the tree!" Rocky said to himself. The pup put the two smaller fabric pieces in the center of the big parachute, before measuring and cutting the small fabrics into parachute shapes. Rocky measured some more, before he carefully sewed the smaller parachutes to the bigger one. Rocky looked again before being satisfied with his work.
"Yes! Now to add the branches to the smaller parachutes, and trim the fabric so it can hold ornaments -" Rocky said before, there was a knock on the door.
"Rocky, it's Ryder! Time for bed!" Ryder told his pup from the other side of the door.
"Okay Ryder, be right out!" Rocky replied back casually. The mixed breed turned the light off before opening the door, and closing it. Rocky yawned before running outside to his pup house, and falling asleep.