Babysitting Duty

"Yeah, I'm fine!" Summer didn't realize it, but all her siblings did: she was a very clumsy person. "Oh...fantasy books...movies... You know, I should tell Isabel about it." She paused to think for a moment. "What does your name have to do with Harry Potter?"

Sirius: one of the character's name is Sirius.

"Oh." Summer thought for a moment. "Is he serious then?"

"uhh, I guess. But only sometimes, he used to play pranks a lot."

(( off topic: Sorrryy! I've been having a pretty busy few weeks! ))

Ringo was glad that his new friend had made it away safely from the bigger boy. Although he had to admit it was better now that not only had the bigger boy completely forgotten about them, but he was also distracting their older siblings! From the tree he was hiding behind he could see Dainei eyeing him, like he was gonna get a good talking to later.
"Phew! That was a close one!" Ringo said, wide-eyed but with a smile.

Pattie chimed into the current conversation, being temporarily distracted by the kids running by. "Oh! I've read those books. The first 4 were good, it was all downhill from there, though." She offered. "In fact, one of my nicknames is Luna after one of the characters!" Pattie laughed, forgetting about the two young boys that were just having fun. "Have you ever read them Dainei?" Dainei shook his head. He mainly stook to the classics, like The Odyssey or the Illiad when he wasn't reading biographies and more imformative books.

(That's okay. Welcome back, I've missed you! )

Transdrent nodded in agreement. "Yeah. But I was able to kick him and get free." He moved behind the tree completely so that Dainei wouldn't see him and flopped down onto the grass.

"I haven't read them either," Summer piped up. She looked at Dainei. "Then what do you read? You look like a reader because you have glasses."

"Cool, I think you've already met my sis, but her real name is Luna." sirius said to pattie "I though the last book was good."

(( group hug! lol))

Ringo smiled. "That's good then. Do you think your sister would have yelled at you bad if you were caught?" he asked, climbing the tree a little, getting his hands all sappy. He couldn't get very high due to his short limbs. "I think Dainei will yell at me, he won't tell my mom though." He smiled again.

Pattie looked at Sirius. "Oh yeah, I was gonna say something! That's so cool." She smiled. "It was ... not up my alley I guess." She laughed. "THe author opened alot of loose ends and never tied up some of them. I thought she catered too much to the movies, too." She shrugged.

Dainei turned his attention to Summer and smiled at the glasses comment. "I've got a whole library started at home. I like the classics, biographies about historical figures and philanthropists, some philospphy..." he said, and shrugged as well. "I do read some fiction too, like the Lord of the Rings but mainly historical fiction." He shrugged again. Pattie laughed, to say that Dainei read alot was an understatement. Books were his passion.

"I always thought the loose ends made it more interesting, they give you more to think about after you're finished reading"

"Or brood about." Said Pattie with a smile. "I just mean, and this is totally made up, but she'd be like 'And Harry saw a masked figure in the corner' and she'd never go back to that. It's like, why mention it? I felt like she forgot about things like that. Not to mention with each book Harry became more and more whiney, which is positively annoying." She smiled again and laughed a little. "But that's just how I feel." Even Dainei had to laugh at that - that she had gone on this huge rant and ended it with the idea that everyone can decide from themselves.

"But anyway, Sirius was my favorite character, so good job. I thought it was horrific that she would give us such an amazing character and take him away like that." Pattie looked around for Ringo. She was, after all, babysitting. She saw his red hair bouncing and poking out from a nearby tree. She was glad he had made a little friend.

"It depends which sister. Summer, definitely not. She is too happy to yell. Isabel, not that much, maybe a little. Mary Christine, definitely!" Transdrent didn't wish to provide any more details on his second sister. "And Lottie, no. She is too gentle."

Transdrent felt a little nervous seeing Ringo climbing the tree. He remembered the time he had climbed a tree with two girls. That had been his first time, and he had a sudden heatstroke while he was off the ground. Fortunately, he got back to the ground before he fell off.

Summer beamed at Dainei. "My two oldest sisters loves historical fiction too! You guys should definitely meet. Both of them were named after historical figures too, at least their English names. Oh! And Mom! She is obsessed with historical fiction!"

"I agree, the harry character did get more annoying. I was sorta mad that the author killed off some of them, but whatever, it makes it more interesting. My sis cried all the way through the fight part." rolls his eyes "so what else do you like to read?"

Lucky for Transdrent Ringo could only get about a foot off the ground to this little niche in the tree. He turned around to look at him from his new perspective. "Oh, which one's here?" he asked, and jumped forcefully to the ground, wiping his little hands on his pants, something his mother would yell at him for. He looked around the little grassy patch they were standing in, then around the park. "What should we do now?" He asked, his bright eyes lit with excitement. He often got excited simply by thinking about the possibilities of the world around him.

Speaking of eyes lighting up, Dainei was positively delighted to be talking about books. Pattie could almost sense his excitement. "Oh really?!" he practically cried, then got a hold of his emotions a little more. "Do you know some of their favorites?" he asked, which is I suppose a different way of saying 'I could talk about books all day with any one who brings up the topic!'

Pattie was a bit distracted by Dainei and Summer's conversation. She hadn't seen Dainei say more than one sentance to some one who had been a stranger a few minutes ago for a long time. "Oh! Other books, well, let's see. I like to read some things that Dainei passes down to me, but I like classics in the sense of Jane Austen or Virginia Woolf. Real romance stories, not like the cheap love novels you find in Walmart..." she laughed " ... I don't know really, I read some poetry every once in a while or biographies on musicians." She thought about it. She had an ecclectic sense of reading. "How about you?"

"hmm, well I'm not one for romance novels, I tend to like fantasy novels (the whole magic thing interests me) and science fiction ( I know, nerdy. But hey, they're cool if they're well written)" he begins looking over his shoulder and around the others to see where Luna went, unable to finder he mumbles "where'd she walk off to now?"

"Summer. I thought you'd guess. She's wearing all green, you see." Transdrent felt relieved when Ringo jumped back to the ground, glad that he didn't have to follow him up. He extended his legs and stretched. "Another prank?" he suggested. Pouring ice had been fun.

Summer looked at Dainei nervously. "Actually, no..." Summer didn't like reading at all, which was the same case with Transdrent. That had always been to the chagrin of Isabel.

Summer stood awkwardly, hoping that the older kids would move on, away from the topic of books.

Pattie just nodded at Sirius with a smile, fantasy novels were good too, just not her forte. She looked around for Luna. "Babysitting can be such a pain. I wish my little sublings were as well behaved as Summer here." she said, looking at Summer with a wink. It was just then that she had to nudge Dainei.

Dainei's face fell only a little, although he was still excited to be speaking of books. "Oh, that's OK maybe I could give you a lis... ow!" He had gotten nudged. He scratched his head and with a smile amended "Or maybe I'll run into your sisters and yourself later." He smiled apologetically, having gotten carried away. Maybe this is why I shouldn't speak in public, he thought in retrospect.

Ringo peeped from behind the tree and looked at Summer. "Oh, she is wearing green, huh? Everyone has a color in my family, ya'know. Do you guys do that too? Mine's brown... probably cause I'm always rollin' around in mud, as my mom says." he laughed. "Oh! Yeah! More pranking! Let's see..." he looked around. "Got any ideas?"

"well, I should get going and find Luna, so see ya."

Summer beamed. "Yeah, you should definitely meet my sisters! They would love talking to you! Hmm...perhaps you can come to my house?"

~

"Of course. Let's see. Carter is black and gray. Isabel is white. Mary Christine is blue. Lottie is pink and red. Summer is green. Joe is...I'm not sure what that color is called. I'm yellow and orange, and Romy is brown too," Transdrent declared. "But Romy doesn't like mud that much." He pulled on the zipper of his vest in thought. "I'm out of ideas. You should think of them, since you're so good at it," he said with a laugh.

Pattie waved bye to Sirius and said that she hoped he found his sister.

Dainei beamed again. "Oh! Sure!" he said excitedly. Pattie laughed. "Dainei may have just found the book club he's always dreamed of." she remarked with a smile. Dainei didn't even try to deny it. He couldn't really talk about books with his family and definitely not Kenpo!

Ringo smiled with glee. "I thought we were the only ones that did that! I'm brown! Pattie's orange, Dainei's white. Lets see... Oli's green, James is red, George is blue, Ruthie is purple, Emma is yellow and Thomas Dawson is teal!" he said, delighted that he remembered all of them. Ringo laughed when Transdrent did, and pretended to stroke an invisible beard, something he picked up from James. "We could ... hmmmmm..." he said, drawing a blank for the moment.

"That will be great! I'm sure Isabel and Mary Christine will be more than happy to talk about books with you!" Summer exclaimed happily. "Here's our address: https://makeababy.forumotion.com/house-f5/the-zhang-mansion-t446.htm#6110"

Transdrent laughed harder when Ringo pretended to stroke a beard. "You remind me of an old man!" he howled. "Like the ones in this TV series!" He soon calmed himself down and looked at Ringo for his commands.

Dainei memorized their address. He had a really good memory, something his mother said must come along with an analytical mind. "Oh, that's not too far from us!" Pattie exclaimed happily. True, the Harrisons lived on top of a big hill, but there were alot of people that weren't a long bike-ride away.

Ringo laughed along with Trandrent. He looked around and picked up the empty cup. This thing seemed to be his inspiration today. "Hey." he said, getting an idea. "Do you think that we could go to the fountain and fill this up with dirty old water and sell it to some kid for a buck? Then we could go buy something good like one of those big twizzlers!"

Summer beamed, happy that Dainei and Pattie didn't live far away. "You guys can come over today!" she exclaimed, looking at the two hopefully with her large blue eyes.

"That's a great idea!" Transdrent couldn't help admiring Ringo. He was very imaginative. "But then, won't the kid realize that the water is dirty?" After a moment, Transdrent had an idea. "We should get a cover for the cup."

(( sorry again XD went on a slight vacation and had limited MAB time, lol))

Pattie smiled and nodded. "Sure!" Dainei smiled too. Summer was a very nice girl and he was at ease with her. He didn't see a problem going over to another person's house so long as she was their guide, and Pattie and maybe Ringo could come ... and there were books! Can't forget the books! Pattie thought for a second. "Well, we'll have to be home by dinner of course, but that's still plenty of time." She smiles. "And besides, I'm sure there'll be plenty more times!" Pattie giggled and looked aorund to make sure Ringo was still in sight.

Ringo was already dipping the cup into the dirty water. He walked back to Transdrent and looked in the cup. It was a slight green color and even had a little piece of a twig floating in it. "You're right! Where are we going to find one?"

(That's fine. Welcome back again! I missed you again! XD)

"Yay!" Summer cried with a jump. She loved having people over and basically, talking. She wasn't too excited about the books part. But her older sisters can talk with Dainei. "Maybe you'll see Lottie too!" she told Pattie excitedly.

Summer turned around with Pattie. She spotted her brother's bright orange vest and bounded over to him. "Transdrent!" Then she stared at the cup in Ringo's hands. "Don't be naughty boys," she admonished Ringo and Transdrent with a shake of her head. "Come on, Pattie and Dainei are coming over to our house. Now." Summer took Transdrent hand. She took a step, dragging Transdrent with her, then turned around and took the cup out of Ringo's hands. "Come along. You guys can play at our house." Smiling, Summer took Ringo's hand with her other hand and walked back towards Pattie and Dainei. Transdrent rolled his eyes and made a face.