Chapter Twenty-Two - Double Babysitters

Kianna sat me on a stool on the counter, the two stools seemed to indicate this is where Laurie and Zach had breakfast every morning. My hand was being held by Kianna and her’s was so soft. I hadn’t really had a girl hold my hand before, besides my Mom of course. My feet swayed back and forth as my cheeks flushed. A white metal box with a red cross on it sat between us as she dug through it. She pulled out a bottle and a box of bandages, then she took what looked like the longest and sharpest pair of tweezers I’d ever seen.

“You said there was a pebble in there somewhere?” Kianna asked, giving the tweezers a clack.

“Uh huh.” I whimpered, worried she was about to dig into my flesh with the pointy tool.

Kianna picked up the spray bottle and gave the tip of the tweezers a spritz, cleaning it. She used her thumb to rub mine. “Coopy.” She said kindly, giving the bottle a little shake. “This will sting a little.”. I pouted. I wanted to put on a brave face but this kind of thing always made me a little anxious.

“Okay…” I said, feeling my heart beating faster. I felt her tighten her grip on my hand as she brought the bottle closer.

She spritzed the bottle again and the cold burning alcohol felt like it was burrowing into my cuts. Visibly wincing, I looked away from her and tugged my hand. She kept it firmly in place. “Good job Coopy.” She told me and rubbed my thumb again. “You really are a brave boy, the bravest beaver in the lodge.”

I nodded, but could feel my face flushing deeper. The sting only lasted a second, and it felt silly to get so worked up about it. Kianna was treating me just like a little kid who had an ouchie. I suppose that's what I was to her. “Really?” I mumbled trying to regain my composure.

“Yeah. You know Zach wasn’t this brave when he was a beaver.” She told me as she let my hand rest on the table and pulled out the tweezers.

“Really?” I repeated, a little surprised. Zach always seemed so grumpy I never really thought of him as a scared kid.

“Zach would whine and cry at the littlest things, always tattling and running away.” Kianna reminisced whimsically. My attention diverted, she took the tweezers and with precision lifted up a small pebble from out of the cut. She held it up so I could see. She had taken the pebble out so quickly I barely noticed. Was she telling me about Zach just to distract me?

She took the box of bandages and pulled out a pink one with Piglet from Winnie the Pooh on it. I let out a deep breath, relieved that the painful part was over. Kianna secured the pink bandage to my hand and smiled. Then, she leaned forward and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Feel better now?” She asked and let go of my hand.

My face was deep red and blushy. Kianna had just kissed me! Only my Mom and Dad gave me kisses! She must have thought it would make me feel better, which it did of course, but it wasn’t how I thought my first kiss with a girl would go. “Yes!” I managed to squeak and looked away, trying to stop blushing.

Kianna giggled at me and patted my head. “Why don’t you go play with Laurie then?” She asked me. “I think he’s a little excited. He’s in the boys room.”

I nodded groggily, rubbing at my eyes as I turned on my heels and began to shamble my way over to the stairs. I was still very tired, the whole emotional ordeal with Nate, and my Mom, and now Kianna draining me even further. I glanced over my shoulder, noticing that the older girl was still following close behind me - chaperoning me. I blushed, my mind still on the kiss. Did that count? It had only been on the cheek, and I hadn’t kissed her back. Still, it had made me all fluttery inside - and not just in an embarrassed way. It was a new feeling altogether. I didn’t know what to make of it. Did Kianna like like me?

I shook my head, putting the silly thought out of mind. Of course Kianna didn’t like like me! At least not like that. She was what? Thirteen? Fourteen? I was only eleven. Worse, she must have thought I was only five or six! That’s what everyone else at school thought. She had just been trying to console me - treating me no different than she might an adorable injured puppy or a blubbering baby with a booboo.

“Cooper!” Laurie greeted enthusiastically as I reached the door to his room, bounding up excitedly as if we hadn’t been together just five minutes ago. The room was split into two halves. On one side awas a typical little boy’s room - complete with clumsy crayon drawings pinned haphazardly around the walls; a desk, chair, dresser, mirror and toy chest each painted in different garish single block primary colors; and a stripey rainbow pattern playmat in the center of the floor strewn with toys. On the other side was a more mature scene, newer furniture and a twin bed that Zach was sitting cross-legged atop the X-Men print bedspreads. He was scanning his eyes over a comic book with minimal enthusiasm, keeping one attentive eye fixed on his little brother.

“Hey.” I acknowledged them neutrally, too fatigued and fretful to offer anything more.

Laurie seemed unperturbed by my attitude, being careful to take me by my uninjured hand and pulling me into the center of the room. “I wanna show you my stuff!” he enthused, starting to lead me around. “Those are my dinosaurs, and my trucks, and my stuffies.” He pointed vaguely to the various toys already cluttered across the floor. He seemed to grow more excited as he reached the toy chest, flinging it open and clumsily sorting through the various hunks of molded plastic hidden inside. “Oooh! And my nerf guns!” he practically shouted, producing an impressive pair of orange plastic pistols. He turned pleadingly to his brother. “Can we play nerf guns Zach? Can we?”

The older boy shrugged, rolling his eyes and adopting his usual aloof, grumpy attitude. “Mom said you couldn’t play that inside.” he informed his brother in a low growling voice. “And I’m not going out there again just to watch you.”

The brown-tail momentarily deflated, but the presence of Kianna seemed to refresh his optimistic attitude. “Can you come outside with us?” he begged the older girl, jumping up and down looking as desperate as a toddler who had to go potty. “Please please please pleeeeease?”

Kianna gave a sympathetic chuckle, looking past the younger boy towards me. “Is that what Cooper wants to do?” she asked skeptically, just a hint of chiding in her voice as she placed a calming hand atop his curly golden mop. “He’s the guest after all.”

Laurie stopped bouncing, turning his pleading puppy dogs on me.

Although I still felt completely worn out, I didn’t want to disappoint my fellow beaver. I nodded my head agreeably. “I don’t mi-” I went to insist, but was interrupted by yet another massive involuntary yawn. I blinked and went silent, my cheeks blushing hot in embarrassment again.

“I think Cooper’s too tired for outside games.” Kianna decreed. “Why don’t you think of something a little more calm?”

Laurie looked very disappointed, but didn’t argue. “Oh-kaay.” he agreed, putting the nerf guns away again. He leaned down and stuck his head in the toybox, his excitable voice muffled as he searched diligently for another game to play. “We can do nerf guns tomorrow!”

“Uh-huh.” I agreed, feeling rather relieved that I wouldn’t have to run around after the energetic little boy after all. Waiting for Laurie to pick something, I looked curiously around the room - soon spotting a collection of small bunny rabbit dolls arranged carefully on a high shelf above the desk. Narrowing my eyes, I could see that there were a few more dolls around the room, including one family of bright white lambs and another made up of brown poodles. They were all dressed in miniature pastel-coloured slightly old-fashioned outfits, including floral dresses, peter-pan shirts, and silly suspenders. Compared to the dark blue and green boyish totems which otherwise adorned the room, they looked decidedly out of place. “What are those?” I asked, pointing up curiously.

Laurie emerged from his toy chest, clutching a bright red fire-mans hat in his small pudgy hands. He followed my finger, his nose wrinkling a little in disdain. “Oh.” he remarked, sounding a little bit embarrassed. “We don’t have to play with those.”

“But what are they?”

“Sylvanian families.” Kianna answered, giving me a sweet smile. “They’re Zach’s.”

Zach pulled down his comic, showing the two of us a scolding expression. “Don’t touch them!” he instructed sternly. “You’ll mess them up.”

“We weren’t gonna!” Laurie countered, his lips curling slightly up in a mischievous smile as he gave me a knowing look. “They’re for girls.”

"They’re collectibles.” Zach corrected forcefully. “They’re gonna be worth a lot of money one day, so I don’t want you messing them up.” he went back to his comic, hiding his face from view. “And they’re not for girls.” he added, almost an afterthought.

Laurie cocked his head. “If they’re for boys too, why can’t me and Cooper play with them, then?” he asked, seemingly innocently.

Zach just growled from behind his comic, twisting over on his bed.

“Don’t fight.” Kianna interrupted, looking sweetly over at Zach. “I think the dolls are very cute.”

“I guess I like the poodles.” Laurie shrugged. “But Zach said we can’t touch ‘em. Anyway, I wanna show you something cool!” Laurie went to the closet and opened the door revealing a Beaver uniform hanging off the back of it. It wasn’t Laurie’s though, the vest was complete with all sixteen badges and the hat dangling off it had a white tail with a silver line in it.

“Is that Zach’s?” I asked, jumping to conclusions.

“Yeah!” Laurie shouted. “He got every single badge!”

“Why are you showing him that?” Zach scolded his brother with rosy cheeks. He audibly clucked his tongue and finally sat up observing his brother, who was still holding the fireman hat. “He wants to play fireman, Cooper.” He told me with his own grin. “He never gets to be the fireman.”

Laurie glared at his brother and looked at the hat still clutched in his hand. “That’s because you’re always the fireman.” Laurie rebutted but snapped back toward me. “But we can play that! Do you know the rules?”

I honestly had no idea what they were talking about, but it seemed easy enough. I shrugged. “Umm, okay.” I agreed quickly.

Kianna smiled and nodded. “That actually sounds perfect.” She agreed as well.. “Laurie will be the fireman then.” She said, talking about the game as if it was a common place activity, perhaps the three of them were just used to playing it?

Laurie giggled in excitement and plopped the red fire hat on his head. He went back to the toy box and pulled out a DUPLO fire station set, preoccupying himself by digging further into the box.

“I’ll help Cooper get ready.” Kianna told us, reaching into the now open closet and pulling out a white and black onesie.

“What’s that for?” I asked her as she started to pull my beaver vest off of me. I let her do it without a fuss.

“The fireman has a dalmatian.” Zach said from his bed, now having returned to his comic book. “At least that’s how Laurie and I play.”

I nodded. It made sense. All the firemen I had seen had dalmatians. In cartoons, at least. “So I’m the dalmatian?” I asked, looking skeptically at the fluffy onesie. It even had a stuffed dalmatian in its front pocket.

“It doesn’t fit Zach.” Laurie added as he set the fire station on the rainbow rug.

Kianna started to pull off my shirt and folded it neatly on Laurie’s bed. I covered my bare tummy, feeling a little pang of shame at being shirtless in front of her. She pointed at my pants, oblivious to my embarrassment. “Do you need help with those?” She asked.

“No!” I told her. The idea of her taking off my pants made me very blushy. “I can do it.” I told her proudly and pulled down the pants to reveal my boxer briefs with apple trees all over them. I had gotten Mom to buy them for me - since it was ‘Apple Day’.

Kianna held open the onesie and I stepped into the fluffy fleece material. The outfit was impossibly soft, reminding me of the kind of pajamas I used to wear in the winter when I was younger. She took my hands and carefully reached through the sleeves to pull it through. She took the zipper and tugged it up to my chin and flipped over the hood. I caught myself in the mirror, the fluffy onesie had black spots all over it and a tail reached down between my legs. The hood was adorned with long dog ears and the whole thing was very comfortable. “There.” She said satisfied. “We have our fireman, Laurie, and our dalmatian, Cooper.” She announced and patted my bum motioning me toward the now set up toy scene.

I sat down beside Laurie who seemed really excited. He gave me a toy dog that went with the blocks while he pushed the fire truck around the carpet. “Wee woo, wee woo.” Laurie sang as the truck headed toward a fire at another toy building. “You're supposed to bark.” He whispered to me.

My cheeks flared up as I tried to get into Laurie’s childhood game he used to play with his brother. “Woof.” I said, though I was a little unenthusiastic. He smiled however, and the two of us crawled around his carpet for what felt like hours. There seemed to be all kinds of little rules about when to bark and what to do. Everyone else seemed like an expert, but soon the four of us were all giggling.

A little while later, Laurie was going on about how we had saved the day and he seemed to be getting an award from a toy mayor. I on the other hand was lying on my tummy waiting for a good moment to give another bark. I had rested my head on my fluffy costume-clad sleeves and closed my eyes. It was getting pretty hard to keep them open.