Carin, Taryn, and Corky were hanging the decorations when Carlisle came in with a new croc.
“Hi Carlisle!” the girls called. “Who’s your friend?”

“This is Chesterfield Croc,” said Carlisle. “He’s from England.”
“Chesterfield Buckingham Croc at your service,” said Chesterfield. “My friends call me Chet or CB.”
“Nice to meet you,” said Carin. “If you are from England, maybe you know Cavendish.”
“Old Cavendish Croc?” chuckled Chesterfield. “Oh, yes, we served together during the war you know, very hush-hush, need to know stuff. Is he over here? What a boring old blighter he is. Always quoting Winston Churchill and waffling on about his war service.”
“WE like Cavendish,” Taryn said disapprovingly.
“Oh, well, yes, of course, he has a heart of gold, and is a genuine war hero too” said Chesterfield quickly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”
“If he thinks Cavendish is boring, wait till he meets Clinton,” whispered Corky to Carin, who just smiled.
“As long as we’re here, let us help you with those hearts,” offered Carlisle. “They’re really pretty.”
“Yes, the girls did a great job. Are you coming to the party, Carlisle?”
“Yes, they asked me to pick the name of the queen. Also, I heard there will be chocolates. I wouldn’t miss it!”
Rory and Paris were putting out the refreshments. “I see you made a croc cookie,” Paris remarked. “That is sort of a tradition now, isn’t it?”
Sarah Willow and Noreen came in just then. “Girls, we were just down at Goodwill and look what was on sale - silver plates!” Sarah pulled them out of her bag.

“Great, they’ll be perfect for the candy,” said Paris. “How in the world did you get to Goodwill on such an icy day?”
“It’s downhill all the way so we just put on our boots and kind of slid down,” laughed Sarah. “The hard part was climbing back up again. But things are starting to thaw out a bit.”
“Thank goodness,” said Paris. “Well, grab yourself a dress and get ready for the party.”
“I am not sure I want to wear a red dress with my red hair,” observed Noreen, who had started putting some of the smaller cookies on one of the silver plates. “Red and pink aren’t the best colors for redheads, no offense, Rory,” she added quickly, noticing that Rory was wearing a shirt with red and pink stripes.
“That’s OK,” said Rory. “These are still my baking clothes. I am planning to change to something else for the party.”
“You don’t have to dress up,” said Paris. “The Emmas are coming in their slacks.”
“Well that may be OK if you’re an Emma, but when you are the Continuum’s only Michelle you have higher standards to uphold!” Noreen pointed out, tossing her head.
Everybody laughed. “Don’t worry, Noreen, I also got some St. Patrick’s Day dresses. They are mostly green. You can wear one of those,” said Paris.
“You thought of everything,” said Sarah admiringly. “Thanks, Paris.”
Randy ran into the room and screeched to a stop. “Hey, Sarah, we match!” he pointed out, standing next to her.

“I think I will accept one of those St. Patrick’s Day dresses,” laughed Sarah. “Go away, Randy, unless you want a matching St Patrick's Day dress too .”
“I’d go faster if somebody gave me a cookie,” Randy suggested.
“Later,” said Rory firmly. “If we start giving out cookies now there won’t be any left for the party.”
“Well, OK,” said Randy. “I think I will go talk to our new Croc. But I shall return!”
“Is that a threat or a promise?” asked Rory with a smile. “Either way, we’ll look forward to it. Looks as if we are set here for now, girls. Thanks again for the plates. I’ll go help Cathy with the punch.”
“Come on, Sarah and Noreen, let’s go get the dresses,” said Paris, and the three headed off.

Pat, meanwhile, was helping some of the girls with their hair. “I heard there is a new croc here,” she said to Penny as they dressed in the bedroom.
“Oh, really? I hope I get to meet him,” Penny replied.
“Did you know Tedi’s girls got kittens for Valentine’s Day?” Pat asked as she worked to fasten one of Penny’s braids. “I would like a kitten.”
“We have lots of cats at the Continuum,” Penny pointed out.
“I know,” said Pat, “But I would like one of my own. I’d like a tabby like Timmy.”
“I miss him, too” said Penny, thinking of their friend who had gone to Kitty Heaven. “Maybe someday you will get one, Pat.” She made a mental note to bring it up to the Noble Order of Emmas to see if they might be able to get a kitten for Pat. “Thanks for helping with my hair. Now go get your dress on and I will do yours.”
Pat dressed quickly while Penny got some hair ornaments. “Let’s try this one,” Penny held up a concoction of curly colored ribbons and started to put it in Pat’s hair.

“Uh, Penny, I don’t want to hurt your feelings but it’s just not my style,” said Pat. “Maybe Claire or Ann Marie would wear this but it’s way too fancy for me.”
“Pat,” said Paris, coming into the bedroom, “have you seen our tiaras anywhere? I can’t seem to find them. I know we put them in a safe place when we moved into the playhouse, but no one seems to remember where.”
“Oh, no, I don’t,” said Pat. “But Paris, we have this lovely hair ornament and I think it will be just the thing for the queen to wear! I will go out and find the tiaras after the weather warms up a bit.” Penny handed the ornament to Paris.
“It’s just perfect. Thanks!” said Paris. “See you at the party.” She dashed off again.
“I think Paris should be the queen after she got us all these dresses,” Penny told Pat after Paris had left the room.
“That’s a great idea. Let’s talk to the other girls,” Pat replied.
Suddenly there was an iridescent flash of glitter in the room and Yrene from Yrbittia appeared.

“Yo ho ho,” said Yrene, “Merry Christmas!”
Both Pat and Penny couldn’t help laughing.
“Hi Yrene,” said Pat with a big smile. “Good to see you again. Penny, this is my friend Yrene. She is from outer space.”
“Nice to meet you,” said Penny politely, shaking Yrene’s hand. She and Pat brushed some of the glitter off Yrene.
“Yrene,” said Pat, “I know the time in outer space is different than it is here, but I guess I’d better tell you that Christmas here was over some time ago.”
“Oh, darn,” said Yrene. “My transmogrifyer must be acting up again. Just when I thought I’d finally mastered the old one, they gave me a new portable model but it uses the Roman numeral style date, you know MCMLXCIV. No wonder I keep on getting things wrong.”
“But it doesn’t matter because we are having a Valentine party and we’d love to have you come,” added Penny. “I’m sure we have another dress someplace.”
“Thanks, Penny,” said Yrene. “I’d love to come. Meanwhile, I have a Christmas present for you, Pat,” she added. “That is, I did,” she corrected, looking all around. “I don’t see it here.”
“Well, I didn’t get anything for you so it is OK,” said Pat. “It’s just nice to have you here. You must get tired of moving from place to place.”
“Oh, I don’t mind too much as long as it is the right place,” Yrene replied. She was pushing buttons and turning knobs on her transmogrifyer. “Three notches to the left, then back to the right, push the slide...” she mumbled.
“It sounds like a new kind of dance,” Pat observed. “Did you bring along the instruction booklet? I can take a look at it and see whether I can help you with the settings.”
“Thanks for the offer Pat, I thought I had memorized them,” said Yrene. “They don’t make any more sense when you memorize them, though.”
Suddenly there was a loud pop and from nowhere came a basket. “Yes!” said Yrene happily. “I brought you a kitten!” Pat looked, and in the basket were four lively kittens. “Uh, well, would you like more than one?”

“Oh, I would. Thank you!” Pat excitedly hugged Yrene and then pulled one of the tabbies out of the basket. “Look, Penny,” she called happily. “Yrene brought me a whole basket of kittens!”
“Wow,” said Penny, coming in with a St. Patrick’s Day dress for Yrene. “That’s great, Pat. Come on, Yrene, let’s get you dressed. The girls told me all the redheads are wearing St. Patrick’s Day dresses so that is what I got for you. The party is already getting started. Jeremy actually wore a tie and Randy left his power tools in the garage.”
“That I have to see,” said Pat. “And I will bring the kittens to the party, too.”
Everyone was enjoying the party. The decorations were a hit and the cookies were just right. The Twinns sat and chatted about this and that. Pat’s new kittens romped around with the Twinns and the bigger cats. The boys posed with their turkey cookies before gobbling them down, just as Cathy had predicted.

Meko and Carlisle were visiting the refreshment table. “And dark chocolate is actually supposed to be good for you,” Meko was telling Carlisle as he selected a chocolate heart, when January came up with Sarah’s bag from Goodwill.

“Carlisle,” said January, “It is time for you to pick the name of the Valentine queen. The names are in the bag.”
“OK,” said Carlisle. “Save this heart for me, would you, Meko?”
“No matter which name you pick, say it is Paris,” whispered January. “We all want her to be the queen.”
“Right,” whispered Carlisle. “Got it.”
The Twinns gathered around as Carlisle crawled into the bag. He rustled through the names.

“No fair looking at the names before you pick one,” said David.
“I’m not,” said Carlisle, coming out again with a slip of paper in his mouth. “I was just mixing them up a bit.” He looked at the slip of paper. “The winner is.................... Paris!”
Paris had been sitting with several of the girls who were playing with the new kittens. She jumped up. “Wow, I can’t believe it!”

“Well, it’s true!” Meko took the slip from Carlisle. It actually did have Paris’s name on it. “Look!”
“OK, now Carlisle has to pick four more names for the queen’s court,” said Paris, coming over to the table. “And we need a king.”
“I am going to be the king,” Jeremy announced. “Because I own the only tie.”
Everyone laughed. “That’s as good a recommendation as any,” said January.
Carlisle crawled into the bag again and brought out four slips. He handed them to Meko. “Candace, Amelia, Alice, and Cammie,” read Meko.
The official queenly hair ornament was clipped into Paris’s hair and she and Jeremy stood for their photo, first separately.

They were about to pose with their court when Katie ran up. “Paris,” she said, “You have to wear the silver shoes!” So Paris changed into them for the photo of the royal court. "I feel very honoured to be the Valentine queen." Paris said.
"Well, you deserve it Paris, and I am proud to be your king. If we were dancing tonight I surely have asked for the next dance" Jeremy said somewhat awkwardly.
"Such a gentleman. Surely I would have accepted Jeremy"

Everybody burst out laughing, "Next year we will have dancing and there is no way you boys are going to get out of it. Better start brushing up on your tango's boys." Paris said.