Stan and Adele invited Uncle Stu and Amanda over for an end-of-summer barbeque. Uncle Stu had been spending most of his time at Amanda’s since he asked her to marry him.

Adele: How is the wedding planning going? Have you set a date?

Amanda: We wanted to do it this fall, but we’ve been having trouble finding a place to hold it.

Uncle Stu: Yeah, my son Vinny wanted us to hold it at the place he works. It’s some kind of fancy resort.

Amanda: It’s very sweet of him, but that place is full of humans. I don’t think the family would be comfortable there.

Suzy: I do not want to party with humans. I’m afraid of them. They make belts and shoes out of us.

Justine: That’s not all humans.

Suzy: You can’t tell good humans from killer humans. We might be feasting on boa burgers and have one of them grab us.

Justine: That’s just silly. But I think I’d rather avoid the resort anyway. It’s too crowded.

Amanda: That’s what we decided.

Uncle Stu: It’s too bad. Vinny could have gotten us a great discount. I was really hoping to have it in Nova Scotia. That’s where Amanda and I first fell in love. And she saved my life.

Amanda: It was really just your tail that needed saving.

Uncle Stu. Good thing too. I’m rather fond of my tail.

Adele: That seems like a long way away. And it gets pretty cold there in the fall.

Uncle Stu: That’s the problem.

Amanda: Stu’s doctors told him that if he gets his tail cold again, they probably couldn’t save it.

Justine: So Nova Scotia is out.

Uncle Stu: Unless I could get some of my bear friends to help.

Suzy: I’m afraid of bears too. Don’t they eat alligators?

Stan: I don’t think so, honey. We don’t really see many bears in gator country. And they are very civilized.

Amanda: I said that I didn’t want to take a chance on Stu’s tail. So Nova Scotia’s out.

Uncle Stu: There was a nice place not too far from where I live in Miami.

Amanda: It’s beautiful. On the beach, with a great view of the ocean.

Adele: That sounds lovely. Was it too expensive?

Amanda: Not really. The problem was actually the staff.

Adele: What do you mean? Were they not well trained?

Uncle Stu: Well, it’s a little embarrassing. The staff is mainly flamingos and other birds.

Stan: What does that have to do with anything?

Uncle Stu: Maybe you don’t remember, but there are a few members of the family who find poultry rather delicious. And since we will be having fermented fruit juice as part of the refreshments, we don’t want anything inappropriate happening.

Amanda: That would be a terrible stain on the memory.

Justine: And probably illegal. That would be awful.

Uncle Stu: We thought about going to Hawaii and having a luau with a pig roast.

Amanda: But it would be ridiculously expensive to get everyone there.

Uncle Stu: I like the idea of a pig roast. Maybe we could use one of those wild hogs that are causing so much trouble in Florida.

Suzy: Like the one we had at the family reunion a few years ago. It was delicious.

Amanda: That might be fine for the dinner, but we need to find someplace to get married.

Uncle Stu: I know, sweetheart. I got carried away thinking about the food.

Suzy: It would be really romantic to get married on the beach.

Justine: Ooh, that would be beautiful.

Amanda: I like that idea!

Uncle Stu: Okay, but how do we find a beach? Are we talking ocean or any sand next to some water?

Amanda: You’re so silly. Ocean, of course.

Stan: You should talk to Granny Gertie. She knows a lot of interesting animals. She probably has a friend somewhere who could help you.

Uncle Stu: You’re right. My sister seems to know everyone in southern Florida. I’ll call her when we get home.

Suzy: I can hardly wait!

Pictures created with Canva AI Picture Generator. (We will probably not be using it again until we are better at it.)