Chapter 32: The Birthday Present

Brrr! A massive winter storm is sweeping through parts of the central and eastern United States, and you know what that means? It's the perfect time for another story about a hot summer day at the beach. In this chapter, Stone accidentally gives his girlfriend an awkward birthday gift.

This chapter's featured song is the upbeat tune "Endless Summer" by a pop punk band from Austria called Sebi!

The petite sand cat stood on the sidewalk in front of a grand, ornate building. The palatial structure, adorned with vibrant colors and intricate geometric tile designs, appeared wonderfully exotic and dramatic. Above the horseshoe arch entrance, the name "The Mystic Springs Oasis" was engraved in elegant, swirling letters.

"Wow, Karen, this place looks really fancy!" exclaimed a much taller white-tailed deer doe. "I can't believe that Stone bought you two spa day tickets to this swanky joint for your birthday. He must have shelled out quite a few bucks!"

"Mandy, sometimes Stoney surprises even me," the cat answered.

Pushing open one of the elaborately carved cedar doors, the two friends entered a large, open room featuring double arches made of contrasting dark and light stone. The walls were adorned with stunning mosaics, azulejo tiles, and panels made of fragrant woods. The intricate metal latticework on the large brass chandeliers was both elaborate and delicate. Ferns and exotic flowers overflowed from massive pots, and the sound of splashing water filled the air from a triple-tiered, tile-adorned fountain. Behind a huge teak desk sat a rather disheveled yak. His eyes were closed, and he was chanting softly, as if in meditation.

"Hey, that guy looks familiar," the doe whispered. "Where have I seen him before?"

The cat just shrugged and smiled as she stepped forward. "Excuse me," she called out, but the yak just continued chanting. "Excuse me!" Karen called louder.

The shaggy-furred yak looked surprised when he heard her and shook his head, causing a swarm of flies to buzz around. He leaned forward, gave her a friendly smile, and greeted her, "Sorry, dudette, I didn't hear you come in. Welcome to the Mystic Springs Oasis!"

"Hey, Karen…" Mandy interrupted.

"We have a pair of tickets for a spa day," the sand cat said, ignoring her friend as she responded to the yak while holding up the two green and blue tickets.

"Oh, you must be that little surfer dude's…" the yak began to say.

"Ah, Karen!" Mandy urgently interrupted again.

"Mandy, I'm talking..." she began to protest in an annoyed tone, but when she turned to see what her friend was staring at, her mouth dropped open and her ears perked up in surprise. "Oh my goodness!"

"Hello, Phil! Hello, Chuck!" the yak called out to the two rather strapping deer bucks, who were carelessly striding through the room.

"They are naked!" Karen exclaimed in shock.

"I like this place!" said Mandy.

"For sure, this is a naturalist club," the yak explained. "Our patrons come here because they can be, as mother nature intended, dressed only in their fur."

"Naturalist club? This is a nudist resort!" the embarrassed sand cat protested in surprise. "Just what was Stoney thinking?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but this will be fun!" the doe said with a grin as she watched the two bucks walk through a nearby door and into a garden.

"Mandy!"

While this was going on, across town and on the beach, a lean fennec fox wearing blue and green board shorts was kneeling in the sand while he carefully began to strip a layer of dirty wax from his surfboard. Next to him sat a thin meerkat, also dressed only in swim shorts. "So, Stoney, what did you get Karen for her birthday?" the meerkat asked.

"Reggie, I was lucky. You know that wise guru who sometimes comes to the beach to commune with nature?"

"Are you referring to that unkempt yak whom the police keep reminding that he must at least wear a swimsuit on the beach?"

"Yeah, he gave me a couple of free tickets for a day at a spa. I regifted those to Karen so she and her friend, Mandy, can have a girls-day out.

"You gave her tickets that you got for free? Isn't that a rather tacky gift."

"Why not? She will never know they were free. Besides, it was for a place called Magic…or was it Mystic? Anyway, it sounded really nice."

"Don't tell me that you gave her two tickets to the Mystic Springs Oasis!" the meerkat exclaimed.

"That's the place!" the fennec fox happly answered.

"Ah, dude, you should have checked that place out first before giving your girlfriend those tickets."

"Why?"

Later that morning, aboard a nearly empty bus rumbling its way down the busy city streets toward the coast, Mandy grinned as she teased her friend, "Karen, I can't believe you chose to leave instead of using the tickets."

"Everyone was naked!" the sand cat exclaimed.

"Yeah, I know," the doe giggled.

The cat threw her exasperated look.

"You could have at least accepted that guy's offer for a tour."

"I wasn't going to get naked in public."

"Don't be such a prude."

"I'm not being a prude! Besides, I still can't figure out why Stoney gave me tickets to that place."

"He's a fox, everyone knows that foxes are mysterious in their thinking," the doe laughed.

"Stereotyping my boyfriend much?" Karen scoffed.

"Okay, he's a surfer, everyone knows that surfers are mysterious in their thinking."

"That isn't much better."

"Yeah, surfers typically have only three things on their minds: surfing, surfing, and more surfing—not necessarily in that order."

Karen sighed and stared out the bus window for a few moments. Finally, she asked, "Hey, did that taller buck really have fourteen points on his antlers?"

"I don't know, it wasn't his antlers I was looking at."

"Mandy!"

Stone first met Yax in Chapter 12: Beach Wisdom.