Olivia Nibblesqueak’s Messy Mischief

Chapter Two Splat!

A family of golden-brown hamsters was handing out cakes to the other animals, who were sitting at the tables outside the bakery. They waved and came over to greet the girls.

“Lily and Jess, meet Mr. and Mrs. Nibblesqueak,” Goldie said, “and their children, Penny, Jenny, and Olivia.” Each little hamster wore a garland of flowers on her head. Olivia’s was made of roses, and, as the girls bent down to say hello, she slipped her tiny paw into Jess’s hand.

“It’s really nice to meet you,” the little hamster said in a sweet voice.

More of the girls’ friends crowded around. “Hello!” cried Molly Twinkletail, the tiny mouse.

“Hello, Jess and Lily!” Bella Tabbypaw, a striped silver cat with a pink backpack, called out.

“Hooray, you’re back!” said Emily Prickleback the hedgehog.

“It’s lovely to see you all!” Lily replied, hugging them. The girls had helped Molly, Bella, and Emily when they’d been in trouble, and they had been good friends ever since.

Emily took Jess and Lily to watch the young animals decorating cakes at a long table. They were squeezing colored icing from little bags with nozzles on them.

“I love those swirly patterns you’re making,” said Lily.

“And the tiny flowers,” added Jess.

“Thank you, thank you!” all the little animals squeaked.

Lily looked at the cottage. “Isn’t it pretty, Jess?” she said.

The bakery roof was thatched with reeds. The ground floor was a shop, and the girls kneeled down to peer through the tiny windows. Dozens of tiny cakes were laid out on a counter, all decorated with pretty icing. “It’s so sweet,” said Jess. “And everything looks yummy!”

As Lily was looking through the upstairs windows, where there were little beds with frilly covers, she felt someone tapping her foot. She looked down and saw Olivia carrying a large bowl and smiling happily.

“Do you want to try some icing?” asked the hamster, showing them the creamy white mixture. “Only we Nibblesqueaks know the secret of making our famous Nectar Icing. It’s delicious! Come and see!”

She took the girls to a table and picked up a bag with a nozzle. “Mr. Cleverfeather the owl invented this,” she said. “It’s an Eezy-Skweezy Icing Bag.”

Olivia twiddled a dial beside the nozzle. “You turn this for different colors,” she explained, and squeezed rose-pink icing onto a cake.

A little vole wearing blue sneakers came over. “Olivia, I ran out again,” he said, sheepishly.

The hamster smiled. “Percy Littlepaw!” she said. “That was your third bag! Never mind, you can share mine.” She turned to the girls and whispered, “Percy’s my best friend. He loves icing so much, I think he must be eating it all!”

Percy started scampering off with the icing, then gave a shout. “Look out!”

Splat!

The new sign above the door was smeared with splattered cake!

“Who did that?” wondered Olivia, turning around.

“Heeheehee!”

Jess looked around, but couldn’t see where the giggling came from, then...

Splat!

“Hey!” cried Percy as a cake hit him right in the face.

Percy wiped pink icing from his cheek and giggled as he licked his paw clean. But then the animals shrieked and scattered as more cakes zoomed over. Splat, splat, splat!

The flying cakes covered everything with bits of sponge and icing.

Jess and Lily glanced at each other in amazement. Someone was throwing cakes! But who?