The front yard was filled with nearly all of the forty members of the Maguanac Corps, and every one of them were looking in the direction of the street. Melody made her way through Quatre's 'fan club' and had to steady herself because she suddenly felt faint when she saw that Quatre was perched on a baby elephant. "Remember to breathe," she told herself.

"Melody--look what the Mog-a-nocks got me for Cwissmiss!" Quatre exclaimed happily. "It's a baby circus effelant!"

Melody's mouth opened and closed several times before she could make any words come out. "How...why...what...Where is he supposed to live?" she stammered.

Duo tugged on her sleeve, cupping his hand to his mouth to whisper something. Melody bent down to hear him. "She's a 'her'," he informed her confidentially. "I checked t' make sure."

"Her name's Queen of the Desert but I'm just gonna call her Queenie for short," Quatre said with a smile that would light a darkened room.

Rashid walked over to Melody and stood next to her; Melody didn't normally feel short, but she felt very short when she was with Rashid, even if they were both sitting down.

"It is quite satisfying to see him so happy, isn't it, Webmommie of Quatre-sama?" he remarked in his very deep voice; his eyes never leaving the joyful face of the beloved little boy. "We'd do anything for him."

"Obviously," Melody thought, but she only squeaked, "Where did you get it?"

"When we took the chibis to the circus last month Quatre-sama was delighted with this baby elephant. He said that he wished that he had one for his very own, so we bought her from the circus," Rashid explained as if buying a baby elephant were an everyday occurrence. "We kept her hidden in the underground base in the back yard so that she would be a surprise on Christmas Day."

Well, she sure was!

"Don't you need permission from the city to keep an elephant?" Melody couldn't believe she was actually having this conversation. The day had taken on a surreal quality and she was half-hoping that she would wake up soon.

"That was not a problem to obtain," Rashid assured her, to her amazement. "We went to the City Hall and stayed there all day and waited until they drew up the appropriate documents. Apparently they had never issued an elephant permit before."

Melody could imagine just how intimidated the city officials must have been when they had the entire Maguanac Corps--and especially Rashid's imposing figure--in City Hall. It was no wonder that they had granted them an elephant permit!

"What about feeding her and...um...cleaning up after her?" Melody asked cautiously.

"We have those necessities under control," Rashid assured her, nodding his head in the direction of the animal's backside where two of the Maguanac were stationed; one was holding a shovel at the ready and the other held a black plastic trash bag. "You will have no need to worry, Webmommie of Quatre-sama."

"I wish he'd just call me Melody," she thought for the umpteenth time, "but he insists that using a title is more respectful."

"Look, Melody!" Quatre called excitedly, pointing to Queenie's trunk. "She's not just fun--she's USEFUL too!" Queenie was holding a large orange plastic shovel, enthusiastically tossing snow left and right.

Just then, John and the oldest children returned rosy-cheeked and breathless from skating. Tegan's mouth fell open at the sight of Quatre and Queenie, but Treize and Milliardo showed no surprise whatsoever. They had come to accept that nothing that happened in this family was too bizarre for them to believe.

Unfortunately for John, though, he had not.

"How...what...how did he get here?" John stammered, echoing Melody's reaction.

Duo tugged on his sleeve. "She's a 'her'," he whispered into his Webdaddy's ear. "I checked."