Once there was a young wombat named Benson, who lived in a nice wombat hole in the ground with his mother and his two aunts, Lillibet and Moss.
When it was Aunt Moss’s birthday, she wanted to have a party with all her friends, so they did.
The turtles were fine because Moss put them in the bath with lots of chopped up lettuce and they were perfectly happy. But the ducks were awful. One of them kept trying to eat the mice so Aunt Moss had to put them in her pocket, and the other one kept jumping up and down on the lounge and quacking extremely loudly, and then he tried to eat a cushion.
Aunt Moss suggested Benson should play ‘Happy Birthday to You’ on the piano, but that was much worse. The ducks quacked louder than ever, louder than the piano and everyone singing put together. The octopus put his tentacles in his ears and the baby mice hid under the carpet.
Benson’s mother said they should have the rest of the party outside. Benson said, “But it’s raining.”
Benson’s mother said, “I know. Put your gumboots on and bring your umbrella.”
It was definitely raining. They sat under their umbrellas in the back yard and everyone was much happier. The eel wriggled away and disappeared, the mice nibbled happily, and the ducks stopped quacking and stamped in the puddles, burbling to each other.
The cake was a bit damp, and the candles wouldn’t stay alight, but Aunt Moss didn’t mind. “Lillibet’s cakes are always too dry,” she said. They ate cake and sang “Happy Birthday”and the baby mice stuffed themselves full of cake crumbs so their mothers had to carry them home and Aunt Moss had a wonderful time. Benson had a good time too.
Everyone forgot about the turtles until Benson went to have his bath. They had eaten all the lettuce and gone to sleep. It was pretty smelly in the bathroom. Benson would have liked to have his bath with the turtles, but his mother wouldn’t let him get in until Aunt Moss had taken the turtles out and she had given it a good scrub.
“Thank you for a wonderful party, everyone,” Aunt Moss said.
A Wombat Named Benson 