Day 31: Falling For The Festival

	Autumn was coming into full swing. Temeka was into the swing of things by swinging herself into a pile of leaves that she had been raking up. Oh, she made it look as if she was trying to do work around the house. But she disguised that work as new ways to play!
Since this was a day of rest, the family had made plans to go to the Fall Festival together at Central Park.
	Even Baby Dillon was brought along. He wasn't exactly thrilled to see one of his colored, floating people from his nightmares floating around the festival. Was he the only one that saw it?
Temeka watched her parents and other grown-ups make a fool out of themselves as they splashed their faces into ice cold water to grab apples with their teeth. Seriously? Temeka just chuckled to herself and watched.
	The contest that Temeka entered was definitely more fun. Pie eating! Not only did she get to feed her face with sugary pie, but she also got to make a complete mess of herself. Now THAT'S fun! If she was lucky, she wouldn't have to go to school tomorrow. She was so good at the contest that she even won! Bobbing for apples, bah!
Temeka mustered up her courage and decided to face the demons that hid under her bed at night. She knew they had to hang out somewhere, and the haunted house looked like the place. She figured the demons wouldn't recognize her with pie smeared all over her face. She was going to be brave! "I laugh at thee, demons," Temeka convinced herself.
	Marlon and Meggan wanted to pick some pumpkins from the patch to take home and carve up later for Spooky Day. Temeka thought that sounded fun, but she was going to let the adults do all the hard work of picking.
The evening was coming to a close, and the Tempest family headed to their brand new van that they had purchased the other day. It was certainly nice to not have to use the taxi anymore!
	From our family to yours, have a great autumn! The Tempest Family Marlon, Meggan, Temeka, and Dillon

Day 30: Recipe For A Rainy Day

So, what does one do on a rainy Saturday?
	Your family might be different, but our family likes to start the morning by banging appliances with hammers thinking that it will somehow upgrade them.
We also like to dress up as pink dragons and other creatures, sneak, and growl around the house.
	When that isn't enough, we decide to call a friend over to join us in our insanity.
From having an imaginary, Indy 500 race on our Living Room couch...
	...to dressing up our male friends in pink dragon outfits and watching them make a fool out of themselves. Nevermind what we look like.
And adults? Hey, let's not leave them out! They invite their friends over too.
	Not everyone is invited to come over on a rainy day. Especially, if they haven't bathed in a long while.
They do come in handy when a friend overstays their welcome. "Nice hat. MINE!!!"
	And you know those friends have issues when they leave their kid outside in the rain with zombies. A scarred child for life. And you wonder why people in this town have issues?

Day 29: The Lights of the Boogeyman

	I was dreaming. I think I was. It is so hard to tell sometimes between the dream world and the waking world.
I saw Daddy. He was very tired, but was drawn outside beyond his will at sparkling lights in the sky. No, Daddy! The lights are evil! It's the boogeyman! Please come back!
	NO, DADDY, NO!!! I screamed as loud as I could for him.
I must have woken him up. Daddy came over to check on me. I'm so glad the boogeyman didn't get you Daddy. Or did it?
	Temeka didn't care much for boogeymen. Actually, she thought the principal WAS the boogeyman. With the way she was feeling, she kinda felt like she was touched by the boogeyman or at least someone with cooties. She pretended to feel fine, however.
Temeka was a caring, sharing type of person. And she intended to share her cooties with the field trip group today as well as those in the medical center. It was boring the last time she was here, but Temeka found a way to make this trip rather exciting. She was going to be friendly, smile, and shake everyone's hand. I better sneeze, cough, and wipe my nose in my hand first before we get in there!
	In the evening after her mission was accomplished, Temeka had some other dastardly plans. She hadn't seen her friend Felicity in awhile, and well... she couldn't leave her out of all the "cootie fun". She called and invited her over to play.
She thought it might be cute to even share those cooties with her little brat of a brother, Dillon. Oh, he cried so much! Is he going to grow up like that? "Mom, can I hold Dillon?" Mom smiled, but her eyes said something else. I can fool her too, can't I? "I know you are sick, Temeka. We don't want Dillon catching it, because his little body would struggle trying to fight against it." Perhaps not. But he will get older, Temaka chuckled to herself.

Day 28: Cleaning Up The Town

Mayor Tempest! That had a nice ring to it, Meggan thought as she entered into the kitchen to get some breakfast before heading in to City Hall. First order of business: clean out this awful refrigerator!
	Fire Chief Tempest was doing his own clean up at the fire station. His clean up involved the use of a hammer, though.
The new mayor left City Hall with a grin on her face. Yes sir, she certainly did clean the place up today! Drip. What was that? Drip, drip. No way. Drip, drip, drip, drip... Meggan sighed. She really needed a new umbrella. Why do these break so often? Perhaps I need to clean them up too!
	At home, Meggan was watching a "creature of the night" movie in which vampires were cleaning up the town in their own way. Meggan respected power. She had her own as it was, but the vampires... now they were slick! She had met vampires in City Hall, but they didn't have sharp fangs. They looked like everyone else, and Meggan called them politicians.
Poor Temeka had to be cleaned up after during school. She was sick and had thrown up. Although she was quite miserable, she didn't waste any opportunity of taking advantage of the situation and staying in the nurses office the rest of the school day. She had another one of those boring field trips tomorrow. It was at the medical center again too. The wheels were spinning in Temeka's head. She knew she wouldn't be completely over this flu tomorrow, but she could fake she was feeling better. Then she could carry her contagion into the medical center tomorrow! Oh, she was a clever little devil!
	In the evening, Meggan had the goal of cleaning up at the Nix's house party in the form of campaign funds. Her host, Michael, had no problem donating to her political cause.
Not everyone was charmed by her charisma, though. Meggan thought about the vampire she saw on television. "Hmmm...", she contemplated to herself.

Day 27: The Toil of Temeka

	Borrrrring!! It was another school day for Temeka. Do I really need to go, she wondered. What do grown-ups know, anyway? For my own benefit? Pah!! It's not like I'll ever use this stuff. I'm going to learn it all in college, so why can't I just play?
Temeka exited the bus. She hurried inside to talk with her friends before class began.
	It was the only thing about school that Temeka looked forward to. Talking with friends and making new friends. Besides, it was very important in her mom's line of work. It made sense to Temeka to start making those friends now. You never really know when they'll come in handy.
Hours passed. Wow, that was completely boring. Who cares about medical stuff? Temeka didn't. It got her out of regular classes, though. These field trips, albeit boring at times, had their uses.
	Now it was time to head home and work on homework. Oh, how exciting. I need my friends, Temeka convinced herself.
After hearing that her dad put out a major fire at one of her friend's house, she definitely decided that she needed to give her friends a call. Especially the one.
	I'm glad the summer is over. It means Fall is here, and that means Spooky Day will be coming. "I can't wait to do tricks and steal some candy!", Temeka chuckled to herself as she raked the leaves up outside. She didn't need to hear her mom getting all pissy about housework not being done.

Day 26: Performances

Do I have to get up? Really? Temeka really wanted to sleep, but she knew her mother would be upset if she skipped school.
	Temeka rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she went to the kitchen to have some of her father's leftover mushroom omelet. Father. Why is he gone again? "I know you miss your father. He has a lot of responsibility now that he's the Fire Chief," Meggan said as she consoled her daughter. "We'll see him tonight." Meggan felt convinced that her husband would come home tonight, but convincing a thing didn't make a thing so.
Meggan had the day off. Thank goodness, she thought. I tire of all the political performances going on in City Hall. Even I have to put on a performance, she reminded herself. At least there are some entertaining performers I can watch today.
	The first performer was certainly energetic and daring as she twirled a baton with flames.
The baton had other ideas, though. It did not twirl where the performer wanted it to twirl, and the flames took a sharp bite out of her rear end. "Yowwww!" That was the end of that performance.
	But it wasn't the end of the show. Another performer by the name of Spider Girl was introduced. Her eyes certainly did glow like a spider. They do glow, right? Meggan wondered, but it wasn't as important as watching the performance.
This acrobat was rather talented, flexible, and very well balanced. Interesting how those same skills are needed in the house of politics, but used in a different way. It was a good performance. Better leave while the going is good, Meggan thought as she left the park.
	Marlon was working on his own performance. Performance with a basketball, that is. He was thankful for a chance to relax from the stress of fires today. It gave him the chance to improve and maintain the performance of the fire alarm and truck.
Temeka certainly had her own performances of fantasy now that she had a costume chest to play around with. "I am the Queen of Roses!" she declared. "You will bow to my rule... after I smile and wave to you."
	Marlon did come home, and he was excited to cook something tasty up in the kitchen. His cell phone rang and twittered. Marlon felt like throwing it across the room and into the wall, but he controlled himself and answered. "Hi Marlon! It's Annalove. I have a great idea to help you reduce all that stress you've been feeling. It'll really rejuvenate you. Want to meet me at the Pool?"
It was just a pool, right? It was in public, so nothing wrong could happen there. And she was a friend who cared. It was nice to have someone who worked under you to also care about you too. "Sure, I'll be there in just a bit."
	The Queen of Roses sat down at her Royal Table to enjoy tonight's feast. She made it a point to explain that Queens do not eat or consume. They ENJOY the food.
Annalove was certainly enjoying the fact that Marlon showed up. She wrapped her soft hands around his neck and shoulders, giving them a good massage. "So what's this idea that you had?" Marlon was curious. Annalove smiled. "The pool is heated tonight. It will help your body relax. But in order to fully relax, you will need to remove all of your clothing." Marlon felt his heart jump. "Don't worry, Chief. I need to relax too, so you won't be alone. It'll be okay. You can trust me. You really need to relax, and this will help you. Don't worry, no one else will see you. We have this pool all to ourselves." Marlon pondered on this. Really, pondered. Annalove picked up on it. "Don't be so modest, Chief. I've been to medical school before, so you don't have anything that I've already seen. It'll be fine." Marlon nodded and began to undress. He could trust her. She was his friend.
	"C'mon in," Annalove said with a smile. "The water is wonderful."
It was wonderful. Just the right temperature. Annalove did know what she was talking about. The warm water across his whole body with no suit acting as a barrier was a wonderful sensation. He really did feel relaxed. Annalove came closer and leaned her warm, naked body behind his. She whispered softly into his ear, "Let's do something about all that stress worked up in your back."