Hansel hung his apron on the coat hanger, put the bow tie in the pocket, and then took off his shoes. He walked into the main room and looked around, Marion still wasn’t back yet. He looked at the watch and decided he’ll put on dinner. He checked the fridge and pantry for food to cook with, it was a lot of vegetables and fruits from the garden and some slabs of meat. He thought he might make some corn beef stew with some mashed potatoes but couldn’t find any corn. He groaned in defeat, he really liked corn. He was wondering what was in the ice chest when the phone rang.
“Hello, Walter residence, Hansel speaking.”
“Hey honey, I’m still at Porsche’s place. It’s pouring here, I don’t think I can get home tonight, honey. I’m sorry.”
“Nah it’s fine, just stay safe, baby, I’ve got it tonight.”
“Okay, call me if you need anything.”
“Oh don’t worry we’ll be fine.”
“Do you need help with cooking? Make sure that the kids clean up, and uh-“
“Marion we’ll be fine, relax, we’re going to be having a good time. Don’t fret it, I love you.”
“Oh, I love you, too, Hansel! Good night!”
“Goodnight, baby.” He hung up and turned on the range to heat some water. As he’s chopping up the vegetables for the stew Hannah comes out.
“Dad, is mom still gone?”
“Yes, Hannah, mom’s still out. She won’t be home until tomorrow.”
“Why? Where did she go?” She asked emotionally, Marion was never gone for this long, Hannah was scared.
“Mom is at Aunt Porsche’s house. She just wanted to spend some time with her sister, that’s all. Don’t you ever want to spend time with your brother?”
“No!” She said sternly, “He takes my dolls! He doesn’t share my dolls! And he’s mean to them! Next time can mommy take him, too?” Hansel laughed.
“No, no, come on? He’s not that bad, they’re just toys to him, little action figures!”
“Barbie’s not an action figure! He has his own action figures!”
“He just wants to play with his sister is all.”
“He doesn’t play right. He’s bad at playing.”
“Hannah you can’t be bad at playing, that’s nonsense.”
“He is bad! Barbie likes dresses, and to do her hair, and to go out to town with her friends, and to be a princess, all Tyler does is smash them together in a fight! That’s not how you play Barbie.”
“Hannah he isn’t playing Barbie, he likes wrestling, and fighting!”
“That’s dumb.”
“Hannah it’s not dumb.”
“I think it’s dumb.”
“Hannah it’s not that different from playing army, you like playing army.” She searched for something to say.
“Army’s different.”
“Sure Hannah, whatever you say.” Hannah looked over the counter to see a bowl Hansel was using to mix his ingredients and got excited.
“Oooh! Can I crack open eggs? Mom lets me crack open eggs! Pllllleeeeeeaaaaaase can I crack open some eggs, daddy?”
“Sorry, sweetie, but I don’t need eggs to make dinner.” Hannah was saddened by that, visibly distraught. “Tell you what, after dinner, we can make some cookies.”
“Cookies!” Her face lit up and she bounced with excitement. “How long until dinner time? I want to make some cookies!”
“Maybe half an hour, then we can eat. What’s your brother doing?”
“Cookies!” She screamed and bolted off to her room. Tyler came out because he heard someone scream out ‘cookies’ and that grabbed his interest.
“Cookies?”
“Not yet, Tyler. After dinner, we’ll make cookies.”
“Okay.” He plopped down in the doorway to his room. The kids’ bedrooms were side by side, and in the corner of the house was the master bedroom. Exiting the master room the two kids rooms were on the right side, First was Hannah’s room, then Tyler’s room, then the main space and across from the bedrooms were the dining space and kitchen space. Next to the kitchen space and the main space was the human house built into the old hanger. It didn’t see much use other than storage and Hansel’s entrance. Hansel was the only one that regularly needed a bathroom, Hannah and Tyler didn’t inherit a digestive track, but did inherit their mother’s fuel lines and digestive system. So like their mother any fuel or food was broken down and burned up to grow or heal or energize them, the waste was expelled as their breath or exhaust if their engines were on. How their bodies used and produced energy was still not understood, all Hansel and Marion needed to know is that their kids needed to eat to grow. And eat they did.
Hansel wrapped up cooking and had the kids help him set the table, while they ate Hansel talked to them about what they were doing for the night, after they made cookies, of course. They didn’t have anything to do, it was pouring outside and their chores were done so they were just going to play with toys in their rooms. Hansel suggested something different.
“How about we camp out in the main space?” The kids looked at him funny. “We lay out there under blankets and tell stories?” They seemed to be getting around to the idea. “We eat our cookies in our tent and tell old stories, come on! It’ll be fun!”
“Okay, can we make cookies now?” Hannah asked.
“Not yet, you still have to finish your potatoes.”
“They aren’t like mom’s.”
“I know I’m not as good as her, but you still have to eat them. No cookies until you finish your potatoes.” She groaned as she stuffed a big chunk of potatoes in her mouth.
“Here,” Hansel said as he reached over and poured some stew over the potatoes on her plate, “mix them in with this, yeah,” he took her spoon and mashed it all together, “just like that! There! Now it’s better, that’s how Tyler ate his, and it’s all gone!” She took another spoonful of the mix and reacted better to it. Tyler had made a mess as he always does, no matter what food it is he’s mixing it together and eating it as fast as he can. Hannah likes to take her time, like Marion, and eat things as they are, Hansel’s the middle ground, some things he eats alone, others he’s always mixing. Soon dinner was over and Hansel has them wrap up their chores by doing the dishes while he brought out all the stuff for cookies. Hannah was very excited and instantly got to it, she had memorized everything she and Marion would do to make them and started telling Tyler to fetch this bowl, that spoon, this tray, which he had no clue what she meant. Hansel has the book open for cookies and was helping Tyler find his way around the kitchen. Hansel did almost nothing, Hannah was very good with her hands, Tyler was, well, good at grabbing things. Hansel just had to turn the oven on and set the timer.
“How long do we have to wait for the cookies?” Tyler asked.
“Fifteen minutes, then they have to cool.”
“Wow Hannah, you’re really good at this, what else do you know?”
“Not much, mom and I always make the cookies together, it’s the only thing I know by heart.”
“Alright so while these are cooking you two go get the BIGGEST blankets you can find! Oh and pillows and lamps, too!” They raced off to their rooms and to various closets to fetch the things asked of them. Hansel checked on the cookies and used the spatula to get them off the tray and onto a plate. The kids returned to the main space with blankets and mounds of pillows on their decks and Tyler had his old nightlight lamp that put stars and moons up on the walls and ceiling. Hansel got them in the biggest open space, right in front of the hanger doors, and showed them how to tie all the blankets together, and helped them throw the cover over them. The two kids raised their guns high to create an open space in the middle, and Hansel day in front of them to form a triangle. He passed around the cookies, which were very tasty, and told them all the original fairy tales, the ones with dark and twisted endings. They were a stark contrast and a shock to the children, who’ve been read the kinder ones, with happy endings. When Hansel began the first fairy tale the kids were disinterested, but when the story wasn’t going where they thought it was their attention honed in, and Hansel has grabbed it for the rest of the night! Against howling wind and heavy rain that added a layer of depth and synergy with his storytelling, Hannah and Tyler were invested in these stories, and they hung on to every word until the very last, when Hansel has run through every fairy tale he knew, which was a lot, and to his kids requests he told them some stories from his childhood. He told them about stealing some trinkets, selling them off, sometimes to the very people he stole them from. He told them how he bartered for his first car and explained how he smuggled himself into a flight school to learn how to fly and make good money for his family, at the time his father was crippled and couldn’t work. He relived a lot of good memories with them, and when he looked at the time he realized it was Saturday, at about 2:30 in the morning and the kids were very tired. He fluffed their pillows and put them to sleep right there in the tent, put the cookies out for Marion when she gets back, and made himself a little bed right in front of his kids under the blankets.
The next morning when the roads had dried up Marion hurried home, expecting something to be broken, on fire, or the kids at each other’s turret rings. When she opened the main doors, however, she was pleasantly surprised and overcome with relief. The door opening was loud enough to get Hansel up and he greeted her with a big grin on his face, full of pride in himself.
“Good Morning, Baby, we made you some cookies!”
Happy 2019! It’s been a while since I’ve posted, mainly because I’m lazy. :/ Oh well, I hope you enjoy this little exert. I’ll probably do a few more of these little things, they aren’t really important to the main story, just little bits that go into the life of the family. I liked writing it, and I hope you enjoyed it, too.
So because of some memes I got attached to Bruno Mars’s Treasure’s instrumental, I like it more than the original song to be honest. It’s just a nice little jam I put on to chill out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOnqr8ifta0