The Noise….A Birthday Mystery

Banana finished her 2^nd lunch of the day, and went padding down the hallway, to see what Cheese was doing. She found him hiding under the bed, waiting…for what?

“Hey!” yelled Banana. Cheese jumped. “What are you doing in here? It’s a nice day to bird-watch!”

Cheese was shaking so hard she could hear his teeth chatter. “Don’t….don’t…..you hear…that…that noise?”

Banana sat, cleaned her ears one at a time, and….listened. There was a tiny, faint “Whrrr” noise, far off—she couldn’t really tell what it was or where it was coming from. This noise did not scare Banana—it just made her curious. She could have laughed at Cheese, but he looked so sad and afraid that she felt sorry for him.

“C’mon,” she said in a loud, brave voice, “let’s go find out what’s making that sound!”

Cheese shook his head, and moved further under the bed. “I can’t,” he cried.

“Yes you can!” shouted Banana, and she bit his tail.

“YOW!!!” Cheese darted out from under the bed and skidded to a stop in the hallway.

“Now that you’re out here, we might as well….investigate,” Banana calmly purred. She pushed open the hall closet, and Cheese peeked under her legs into the dark space. “Well, it’s not the vacuum cleaner; it’s right here.” Banana pointed at the silent monster.

Banana listened again. “It’s not the ‘ARRRRRR’ growl of the outdoor vacuum [humans call this a lawnmower] either. The noise is softer than that. Hmmm….let’s go, Cheese,” and she pushed him down the hall.

Cheese slowly and quietly poked his head around the doorway, and looked into the bathroom. “It’s not the hair dryer either,“ he sighed, with some relief.

“I know what it is!” Banana yelled over her shoulder, as she ran to the door. “It’s a BZZZZZ bug!”

Their ears pricked, both cats looked into the tree and studied the branches. But they couldn’t hear that special late-summertime song. It wasn’t a BZZZZZ bug—a cicada—either. Now that the cats were outside, they could tell the “Whrr” noise was coming from inside the house. The cats were so curious by now that Cheese even forgot to be scared. What was that “Whrrr” noise, and where was it coming from?

They hurried inside, rounded the corner into the kitchen, and ran right into Karen’s legs.

“Whoa! You two scared me!” Karen reached over, unplugged something, and the “Whrr”ing noise stopped. “I’m just mixing the batter for Gale’s birthday cake. Want to see?” She pushed the bowl to the edge of the counter, and the cats looked up. They saw a bowl with some white, creamy liquid inside. “Now I’ll pour this into 2 pans, and after it bakes, I’ll frost it. Later, we’ll put candles in it, and sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to Gale. She will be so happy to eat this yummy 2-layer cake.”

As the cats thought about the fact that a liquid, poured into a pan and baked in an oven, could make a tasty treat, Karen licked the beaters of the mixer.

“I would share, but I don’t think you would like this batter, Cheese. And Banana—you just ate, didn’t you? I’m sure you’re too full, so won’t want to try it either.”

As the cats looked back at Karen, she wondered what they could be thinking…

Karen would never guess that Banana was thinking a 43 layer cake would be a much more sensible birthday cake. And Cheese? Well, Cheese was trying to figure out whether 2 or 3 BZZZZZ bugs should be added to that batter, to make that birthday cake just right!

If you want to learn more about cicadas:

http://www.cicadamania.com/cicadas/

If you want to see (and maybe bake) some great cakes:

http://www.cakes.com/