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"Cartwheelin Catfish!" Treasure exclaimed, her tail swishing excitedly as she dragged the deflated inflatable pool across Ms. Featherbon's garden. "This is going to be amazing!"
Pumpkin, who'd been practicing her pirouettes nearby, paused mid-twirl.
"Treasure, what... what is that?"
"It's a pool! I found it in the storage shed!" Treasure's eyes sparkled with adventure. "Help me blow it up?"
Berry hopped over from where she'd been sampling the blueberry bushes (for quality control purposes, obviously).
"A pool? Like the big fountain in the square?"
"Better! It's portable!" Treasure was already trying to find the air valve, her paws fumbling with the plastic. "Come on, it'll be fun! It's so hot today!"
Pumpkin looked uncertain.
"I'm not sure... I just groomed my fur for tomorrow's ballet recital..."
"That's exactly why you need to cool off!" Treasure insisted. "You're gonna melt before you even get to dance!"
Berry's blue ears perked up.
"Are there snacks involved?"
"There can be!"
"I'm in."
It took twenty minutes, one near-disaster where Berry accidentally sat on the air pump, but they finally got the pool inflated. It sat in the middle of Ms. Featherbon's garden, decorated with cheerful cartoon starfish and looking significantly smaller than any of them had anticipated.
"Um," Pumpkin said, circling it slowly. "Treasure... I don't think we're all going to fit."
"Sure we will! We're not that big!"
Berry measured the pool with her eyes and then looked at the three of them.
"We're absolutely that big."
"Well, we won't know until we try!" Treasure was already filling it with the garden hose, which was taking forever.
"This is the boring part. Tell me about your ballet thing, Pumpkin!"
Pumpkin immediately brightened, launching into an elaborate explanation of her upcoming performance that involved tutus, at least seventeen different spins, and something called a "grand jeté" that Berry didn't fully understand but nodded along to anyway.
Twenty more minutes later, the pool was full. Sort of. It had maybe six inches of water in it.
"Perfect!" Treasure announced.
"That's barely enough to cover my paws," Berry pointed out.
"It's enough!" Treasure took a running start—
"Treasure, wait, don't—!"
Too late. The red kitten launched herself into the pool with all the grace of a falling rock. Water went everywhere. Pumpkin shrieked and jumped back, trying to protect her carefully groomed fur. Berry just stood there, now soaking wet, water dripping from her ears.
"...you're lucky we're friends," Berry said flatly.
Treasure surfaced, grinning from ear to ear despite the fact that there was now approximately two inches of water left in the pool.
"See? Refreshing!"
"You just splashed out half the water!"
"Details!"
Pumpkin, resigned to her fate now that she was already wet, carefully stepped into the pool. Then immediately stepped out.
"It's too shallow to sit in."
"Then we'll stand in it!"
"That's not how pools work," Berry said, but she hopped in anyway. Her fur immediately started dripping. The three of them stood there, crowded into a pool meant for pets maybe a quarter their size, in water that barely covered their paws.
There was a long pause.
"This is ridiculous," Pumpkin said.
"Completely ridiculous," Berry agreed.
"Best idea I've ever had," Treasure declared proudly.
And then Berry started laughing. Within seconds, all three of them were giggling, pressed together in their absurdly tiny pool.
"Okay, new plan," Berry said once she caught her breath. "We take turns. One pet gets to actually sit in it while the other two... I don't know, pour water on them?"
"Like a spa!" Pumpkin's eyes lit up. "I saw Cinderella do that once! She said it was very relaxing!"
They tried that for approximately three minutes before Treasure got bored and started using the hose to spray Berry, which led to Berry retaliating by splashing with her paws, which led to Pumpkin shrieking and trying to escape but getting tangled in the hose, which led to all three of them ending up in a soaking wet pile next to the pool.
"We're terrible at relaxing," Berry observed from her position on the bottom of the pile.
"The worst," Pumpkin agreed from somewhere in the middle.
"But we're great at fun!" Treasure said from the top, her tail swishing happily.
They eventually sorted themselves out and managed to actually sit in the pool by taking turns—sort of. It was more like they took turns being the one mostly in the pool while the other two hung their paws over the edge. Treasure went first and told them stories about sailing with Prince Eric. Then Pumpkin, who demonstrated ballet positions that absolutely should not be attempted while sitting in six inches of water but were impressive nonetheless. Then Berry, who mostly just enjoyed the silence for thirty seconds before the other two got bored.
"I'm getting snacks," Berry announced, hopping out. "And don't you dare drain this pool while I'm gone."
"Would we do that?" Treasure asked innocently.
"Yes."
"...Fair."
Berry returned five minutes later with an impressive haul: berries (obviously), some cookies from Ms. Featherbon's kitchen, and a pitcher of lemonade. She'd balanced it all on a tray that she now set carefully on the grass beside the pool.
"Berry, you're a genius," Pumpkin breathed.
"I know." Berry selected the biggest blueberry and popped it in her mouth with satisfaction.
They spent the next hour doing absolutely nothing productive. They ate. They splashed occasionally (gently, after Treasure's earlier enthusiasm). They talked about the upcoming Whisker Haven Derby. Pumpkin demonstrated more ballet moves, Berry judged them with commentary, and Treasure provided enthusiastic applause for everything. At some point, Dreamy wandered by, took one look at their setup, and curled up under a nearby tree for a nap. Sultan passed through, shook his head at them, and muttered something about "kitten games" before continuing on his way. Even Ms. Featherbon flew by, paused, seemed like she was going to say something about pool safety or proper water management, then just smiled and kept going.
The sun moved across the sky. The water got warmer. They rotated positions about seventeen more times.
"You know what?" Pumpkin said eventually, performing a very careful arabesque with one leg despite being wedged in an inflatable pool.
"This is actually really nice."
"Told you," Treasure said smugly from her position hanging over the edge.
Berry, who'd claimed the middle spot and was blissfully soaking, just hummed in agreement. She had a berry balanced on her nose.
"We should do this every week," Treasure suggested.
"If we can convince Ms. Featherbon to let us keep the pool," Pumpkin pointed out.
"Why wouldn't she?"
"Because you splashed water all over her prize roses?"
"...I'll apologize. With my cuteness. It always works."
More splashing ensued. The water level dropped even further. None of them cared.
By the time the sun started to set, they were all exhausted in the best possible way. The pool was now more puddle than pool. They'd eaten all the snacks. Pumpkin's fur was a disaster that would take hours to fix. Berry had berry juice stains on her paws. Treasure's fur was sticking up in seventeen different directions.
They lay sprawled around the empty pool, too tired to move, watching the sky turn pink and orange.
"Same time next week?" Treasure asked.
"Only if we get a bigger pool," Berry said.
"And more snacks," Pumpkin added.
"Deal."
They shaked paws on it and stayed there until the fireflies started to come out. Eventually, they'd have to clean up. Put the pool away. Go back to their respective princesses.
But right now? Right now they were just three friends who'd spent a perfect afternoon in a pool far too small for them, doing absolutely nothing important, and they wouldn't have changed a single thing about it.
Well, except maybe the pool size.
And the amount of snacks.
But other than that? Perfect.