Players:
Eric - the responsible one
Amira - his lovely wife
Andrea - her inseparable twin
Grace - her cute innocent niece, daughter of Eric and Amira
Apostrophes:
Erin, Finn, and Marcy Cashmere - the Joneses
"So, let me get this straight." Eric pinched the bridge of his nose and took a big breath. “The van was parked."
The twins nodded. After Amira’s husband saw the van they decided to huddle together on the couch.
"You were coming out of the store with Amira," He pointed to his wife with an accusatory finger. "carrying the bags and Andy carrying the keys getting them ready." His finger adjusted itself towards Andrea.
The two looked at each other and nodded.
"Erin Cashmere came out of the store-"
"Stalked out of the store." Andrea corrected.
"No, no, Slid over the ground..." Amira corrected.
"Like a banshee." They came into agreement.
"Bias aside. She came out of store. Her cart was full-"
"Of all our presents; twice as big." Amira nodded with a disapproving look on her face.
Eric restrained himself. "Her cart swayed, she sped up, all while snubbing you."
"It was the fiercest snub. There were icicles hanging off the snowflakes on her coat, Eric. Hardcore ice on ice action." Andrea's eyes were wide as she explained. "The cart swerved toward you two." He said ignoring her; mapping out the scene using his hands to simulate the action. "Andy jumped out of the way and pulled Amira away." The scene was coming together and he crossed his arms. "The cart just - completely and utterly - carved a chunk of paint from the van."
Amira began to speak, but Eric held up his hand.
"Now explain to me, how both her sedan and the van got keyed, and we will know just about everything." He said it sarcastically with a smile on his face and 'aha' tone to his voice, but in reality he was not amused.
"Complete blur." They said together.
He laughed bitingly and tucked his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "Oh, but I am sure that you two thoroughly remember taping a piece of her car paint to a letter and leaving it on her doorstep, a couple doors down mind you. A letter that read-"
"’We found a strip of your car and figured you might want it back.' Yes." Amira recounted, exasperated, but amused.
His hands flew up from his pocket. "AND you don't even see how crazy that is! You two are laughing!"
"You have to admit, it's kind of-" One of them started.
"No, I don't. They only thing that I have to admit is that the Cashmeres are good people, and our kids go to school together. Why can't you get along with Erin? I get along with Finn."
Andrea sighed. "Men have it easy. You only need to have two things in common to get along. And did you forget what she did to Gracie's costume during for the play last year? All the fairies all seemed to dim in comparison to the presence of the great MARCY CASHMERE." She swept her arms dramatically. "And Gracie was the head fairy."
"I did not say she wasn't a complete b***h, I am just saying you two need to get along." He finished. "I think Finn is a complete tool."
The two scratched the back of their heads. Amira looked at Andrea and then slowly walked over to Eric and tried to burrow her arms in-between his.
"No! I will not hug and forgive until you two go apologize!" He tried to back pedal and smashed his arms into the sides of his body to prevent the hug from taking place.
Andrea started to coach Amira from the side lines. "Aim for the ticklish spots, it always works on Mikey."
"No!" Eric shouted defiantly turning and twisting to escape, falling on the couch instead.
A rumble began on the staircase. Andrea turned away from the awkward fight on the couch, which was devolving into 'how long can Eric hold out under tickle pressure' match, and smiled.
"Look Gracie," The brunette picked the six-year-old up, watching her little brown pigtails sway. "It's time to hop on daddy! Amira! Roll out of the way!" She plopped the giddy child on top of the unprepared father.
"Child warfare, Andrea? The dirtiest kind." Amira punctuated the sentence with a fist bump.
"Hey, Grace." Eric said turning the tables; tickling her stomach. The child relented easily. "Guess what mommy and auntie Andy got you for Christmas. Right over there in those bags by the door." Eric pointed.
"No, wait. Grace those are for wrapping." Her eyes were following the six-year-old across skip across the white rug. Andrea played linebacker and cut her off.
Eric got up from the couch and swept up the child, holding her a loft in both arms. "I think mommy should go apologize to Mrs. Cashmere, because she was being nasty, but mommy said no and tried to tickle daddy instead. Now is that a nice thing to do, Grace?" He feigned looking confused.
Grace brought her eyebrows together and down over her eyes looking at Amira.
"Wait now, Gracie baby. Mrs. Cashmere was being nasty too."
"But you and daddy tell me and Danny to always be nice even when people are being nasty." Grace reminded her. Eric pursed his lips and smiled at the little dash of salt Grace was adding to the wound.
Amira's face deadpanned.
“Impeccable parenting, dear.” Eric shifted Grace to one hip and squatted down to pick up a tin of cookies that had been decorated with a large red velvet bow and placed under the tree for the family of four to eat Christmas morning. "Well, I guess both of you- and Gracie -should go apologize to Mrs. Cashmere. So, Grace can see how grown-ups act, and play with Marcy while you three are there." He smiled and put Grace down. "Bye mommy, bye auntie, bye Gracie." He pinched Grace's cheeks and sent her along.
The twins gagged and headed out the door.
((I don't usually write home scenes or short pieces, but I tried my hand at it. I always have slice of life on tap, but it is always comedy and doesn't write well.)
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