It's A Wonderful Kingdom

The Edelweiss patch had returned, Paddy was in his paws and he was all muddy again. His bad dream was over. Stanley sat on the bench and told his best friend everything that had happened since he ran away. 

Paddy laughed and checked his pal’s head for bruises. “You must have had a boing on the bonce when you fell over by the barn,” he laughed, “let’s get you checked over in the Comforter Wing. Franc and Centime are on shift oh, with Otto too!” 

Stanley smiled at the mention of Franc on duty. 

“Maybe,” he replied, “but it seemed so real when King Wolfgang, Angel King Wolfgang I mean, hugged me. His fur was soft and warm just like when he lived with us and his wings were, well, sparkly and magnificent.” 

Paddy nodded. If that’s what his best friend believed, he would go with it. But he explained to his friend, maybe they should just keep it to themselves, a special secret to share and Stanley agreed. Maybe it was just a dream and something that he needed to figure out. Paddy had agreed though, there was certainly truth in what Wolfgang had said about believing in yourself. 

“I wonder what Tzu Kingdom would be like if you hadn’t discovered it Pads,” Stanley mused. 

“There’d be many more doughnuts to eat Stan!” They laughed, just like they had earlier when Paddy did his big breakfast burp. 

The boys stood up and held each other tight. Paddy poked him in the ribs and made him giggle. 

“Come on, me muddy fluffy chops bestie, let me show you what’s happened whilst you’ve been hanging around in the clouds…” 

“Look who I found…” Paddy announced, proudly, as he led Stanley through the patio doors to the Royal Chamber. 

“Oh thank dog,” exhaled Coffee as she collapsed in to her beanbag and started sniffing, “I have been worried sick, I haven’t stopped wringing my paws.” 

“Stanley, Stanley, where have you been?” King Bailey cried as he saw his little friend come in to the room. He went to hug him, but saw him covered in mud, thought better of it, and held out his paw to shake. 

“He’s alright now KB, QC. He got a little overwhelmed when he saw the barn and he thought everything was ruined and it was all his fault. He even thought we wouldn’t love him or want him in Tzu Kingdom any more…” 

“Why...why would he even think that let alone say it?” Queen Coffee gasped, blowing her nose with her embroidered handkerchief, tearfully taking a sip of water and dropping her hanky in to a small laundry bin as she paced around the office. She checked Stanley over herself and rubbed a sore spot on his head, telling him just to be alert in case he felt at all dizzy or started to hallucinate. 

Paddy chuckled in to a cushion, thinking of Stanley’s angel dream. 

Bailey had something to tell him but he had to get him tidied up for the evening.  

“Well, I think there’s something you need to see but first a shower, I think! Stanley, why don’t you use my bathroom here and make yourself handsome for tonight. I’ll ask Mac to bring your suit down and I think we should be able to get your lovely new coat and boots clean before you go home,” he winked at his wife. 

Paddy raised his eyebrows. Wow, Stanley must be highly thought of if Bailey was going to let him use his own royal bathroom and shampoos but, he supposed, he could see he had been through a terrible ordeal and, as always, the King knew just what to do. 

Stanley smelt divine and felt amazing in his suit. Coffee had tied one of her patterned scarves around his eyes and they had walked him through to the Party Room. 

As he got closer, smiling from ear to ear, he could smell soap suds but didn’t know if it was his fur as it hit the corridor air or something else. Maybe it was just his coat being washed. 

“He’s here, he’s back!” Phoebe shouted as he arrived and she whipped off his blindfold. 

“TA DA!” yelled Maisie, atop a table in the middle of the room. “Welcome to the Christmas Eve Eve laundry!!!!” 

She jumped off the table and ran to Stan, “hello my gorgeous boyfriend, let me show you around.” 

Maisie explained what had occurred whilst Stan was running away.  

The scouts saw what happened just after and ran down to the barn, they called Bailey and Coffee and they went to assess the situation with Mac, Kiki and Lola. They picked up the teddy bears, squeezed and prodded them and realised that if they moved quickly they could have them washed, hung out to dry, brushed and as good as new by the time 'Team Christmas' arrived. It was the same with the blankets and cushions. 

The treats were ruined, but Mac had a plan for that. He ran to Tzu Bakery and spoke to Jiro, Acting Head Baker, who called in his top team to bake trays of wholesome treats. By tonight, they would be gift boxed with ribbons and ready to go. 

Together, as a team, they wheeled out the incident board and hatched a plan. 

The bears and blankets needed to be moved down to the main building and piled up outside the Party Room where the laundry would be based. Kiki and Lola called for help and a shih-tzu-chain was formed. They picked up a bear at a time and passed it along hundreds of pairs of paws through the Kingdom grounds and back in to the building. A relay of wheelbarrows moved the heavy blankets in the same direction. 

Back at the laundry dozens of buckets had been filled with soapy water, tarpaulin had been laid across the floor and clothes lines had been fixed from one side of the hall to the other. 

They divided in to four teams and they would rotate, taking an allocation of gifts to wash, dry, hang and brush. 

Alice & Pom Pom, Brickie & Hiro, Sammy & Percy and Louis & Colin would lead a team each with Phoebe and Maisie in overall charge. 

The dry blankets were being folded and the dry bears would be redressed with neat bows and ribbons from Coffee’s haberdashery cupboard. Everything was loaded into the boxes Santa Paws Land Palace Manager Embry had sent through a few days ago, now with the contents listed neatly on the outside. 

In the gift wrap department, paws were a flurry! Beth had drafted in her friends Bella and Millie to tie bows and brush teddy bear fur. 

Scout Winny had joined Bentz in the café and they were ferrying in drinks and refreshments to order.  

It was amazing to watch.  The last lot were just going in wash buckets now. 

Paddy hugged his pal. 

“We’re a team here in Tzu Kingdom Stan, never forget that! Believe in the Kingdom right?” 

“...and believe in yourself too Paddy,” he smiled.

That evening, King Bailey straightened his new tie that his wife had left on his desk. It was extremely smart – silver and mulberry stripes that coordinated beautifully with his anchor grey suit. He buttoned his waistcoat and admired himself in the mirror. Waistcoats had become very popular this year after the Football World Cup and he felt rather dashing and distinguished, as well as terribly trendy despite his advancing years. 

“Well, will I pass?” woofed a voice and he turned to see Queen Coffee - elegant in a long dress with batwing sleeves, mulberry to match his tie, with a silver crocheted shawl around her shoulders. 

“HUBBA!”  

“Silly Bailey,” she giggled as she approached him, feeling assured that she had her look just right. She straightened his tie up to her liking and unfastened his bottom waistcoat button. 

“Always leave the lowest one undone Bailey, there…King Handsome!” she smiled. 

Paw in paw, they walked to their patio doors for the imminent arrival of Santa Paws and to where a magical spectacle greeted them. 

In addition to the white lights that lit up the orchard and twinkled in the night sky, hundreds of tzus with colourful flashlights stood in line to light his path and welcome him to Tzu Kingdom. They eagerly anticipated his arrival and looked to the stars but, up in Scout Tower, Winny had the best view on the special ops telescope and, as soon as he was seen Mac, leaning out of the Scout Tower window with a megaphone, would alert them. 

Scout Tower was illuminated too and it was Stanley who saw both scouts jumping up and down. He laughed and prodded Maisie as Mac hollered to them. 

“SANTA PAWS IS IN TOWN! E.T.A. ONE MINUTE!” 

The shih tzus shuffled in to an orderly line and shone their torches on the ground to make a rainbow path. Santa Paws’ sleigh came in to view as a little red dot in the night sky, after a few seconds they could see the six dogs pulling the sleigh and finally it swept to a halt in front of them. They all cheered and waved but something was not quite as expected. It wasn’t Binky the elf sat next to him, but Pixie, his despatch manager. 

“Where could Binky be?” Maisie asked Stan, with a furrowed brow.