Easter 2026 by Alfred N. Muggins (Part 1)

5 April 2026
   Alfred woke up once again, He had had a couple of hours of further deep, dreaming, sleep since his last obligatory visit to the toilet for a pee. This time it was a quarter to nine, on the Risen Again Morning. He gingerly tried to get back into their overcrowded bed without waking anybody. The grandkids were staying this Easter Night, as their parents had gone away to a hotel (somewhere in Lancashire?!), and grandparents, the Mugginses, were looking after them. 
   The night before Mrs Muggins could not be bothered to take them back to their own house. Either she or their older brother Teenage Grandson (who was now 18 and officially adult, would have had to stay with them at their house. Even poor Alfred might have had to stay with them at their house with his wife Mrs Muggins (possibly in dirty bedsheets? - not too appealing) at Mrs Muggins' son and daughter in law's house!
   Mrs Muggins' firstborn son might well have kept Teenage Grandson (still just inside the Teenage category!)company with the kids, but he didn't want to spend a night away from his own bed, in his own brother's house. It was an impasse! And no one was going to give in. Anyway, as always Mrs Muggins would be the arbiter. She would make the final decision. So she decided the two cats at second son and daughter in law's house would be okay on their own for the night, and one of the family would go over to feed them again the next (Easter Sunday) morning. (They surely had sufficient food for overnight.)
   That family's dog, named after their Labrador of earlier years was with them, having been out with them all in their visit to Mrs Muggins' daughter's house on the Saturday evening. So it would be a full house at the Muggins' House, as they awaited the rising sun of Easter Sunday and the Resurrection. (It reminded Alfred of the Christmas Stable!) Mr and Mrs Muggins would have to allow one of the young grandsons to share their new bed, while the other slept alongside  Teenage Grandson in the newly completed attic/spare bedroom/upper lounge/storage space. Their own resident dog spent his usual night in the dog bed next to their bed, the visitng dog (Milo) slept downstairs, while their two newish resident cats (new citizens of the welcoming Muggins household!)spent the night at their leisure, racing on the staircse, inhabiting the computer chairs, while Alfred was unable to do his 'work', of literary and historico-political commentary, or hiding behind or around Mr and Mrs Muggins' bed. It was a packed house, and there was not as much space as usual on Alfred's bed. Luckily he was sleepy enough to actually sleep very well, despite having to occasionally push for sleep room, and risking his position on the bed frequently, to visit the toilet for a pee during the night.