Ready or Not (Aggie's Inheritance) (27 page)

Aggie barely stifled a giggle. Cari
’
s despondent face was comical. She wanted so badly to join them and knew the only chance she had was to do as she was told. She waited for one of the child
’
s characteristic outbursts, but Cari exhibited admirable self-control. Several minutes after she would have sent the child off to play, Iris came back into the room.
“
Cari, would you like to try to polish the other table? Lorna did a
great
job! I bet you can do it too!
”

Eagerly, Cari jumped off the couch and ran to catch the older woman
’
s hand and join her. Aggie barely heard Cari
’
s
“
I
’
m sowwy. I
’
ll be nice now.
”

Picking up Ian, she patted his hands together as she recited patty-cake. The baby
’
s hearty chuckles filled the room as she helped him
“
roooollll it up and throw it in the pan.
”
Once finished with another round, and a few tugs to his
“
piggies,
”
the little tyke dropped a sleepy head to Aggie
’
s chest and popped his thumb into his mouth. Seconds later, she saw his eyes growing droopy. Covering his ear with her hand, she called to Mrs. Landry for help in putting him down for his nap and hoped that Cari wouldn
’
t see the occupation of the playpen as license to return to her defiant behavior.

When the older children arrive home, Aggie lined them up
“
Sound of Music style
”
and introduced them.
“
This is Vannie… she
’
s twelve. Next is Laird who is ten
--
”

“
And a half, Aunt Aggie!
”

“
And a half,
”
she agreed before continuing. Elspeth and Tavish are eight, and little Miss Kenzie is five.
”

“
Well, it
’
s nice to meet everyone. I think I
’
ve got your names down… Vannie, Laird, Elspeth
--
”

“
You can call me Ellie. Everyone else does.
”

“
Ellie, Tavish, and Kenzie.
”

“
My real name is MacKenzie, but everyone just calls me Kenzie,
”
the little russet-haired girl explained.

A hot meal was in the oven, the downstairs shone, and the twins napped on the family room floor. The tired housekeeper/nanny pulled Vannie aside as she left and said,
“
I see the girls have been busy upstairs.
”

Vannie nodded slowly.
“
I didn
’
t tell Aunt Aggie. I didn
’
t know how. If I tell her, it
’
s like I
’
m tattling, and it
’
s not like she can stop them. I tried to clean it up but…
”

“
I know, sweetie. I
’
ll take care of it tomorrow, and I
’
ll tell your aunt. She won
’
t blame you, though. I want you to know that.
”
Mrs. Landry smiled at the young girl.

“
I
’
ve tried, but the children don
’
t mind me anymore.
”
Vannie was obviously trying to bear more of the burden of the family than Aggie intended.

“
Well, what I think your aunt needs right now is help getting the food on the table and the children washed up and in bed. I can handle the rest. Don
’
t worry about the girls. They
’
re just testing the waters.
”
Mrs. Landry turned to leave but came back.
“
And don
’
t let those little ones sleep too much longer. They need to sleep tonight too.
”

Friday, May 10
^th

Iris Landry surveyed the damage. Up and down the upstairs hallway were flowers, smiley faces, and many undistinguishable objects. It appeared that the twins had used wet toilet paper to decorate the hallway with pictures made of sodden balls of the stuff. Someone, Vannie most likely, had tried to pull them off of the walls in places, but the result was even worse. The wallpaper in the upstairs hallway was old. It appeared new, but it was definitely vintage paper. With each ball removed from the wall, huge portions of paper were torn away as well.

In between the pictures, sometimes almost in a dot-to-dot pattern, were drawings created with some kind of cosmetics. Cari and Lorna stood nearby, looking up at her as she surveyed the damage.
“
Well, girls, it appears that you were being awfully creative while your aunt was downstairs, weren
’
t you?
”

Cari grinned.
“
It was fun! We made pictures. Like wallpaper!
”

Mrs. Landry smiled.
“
I am kind of curious, girls; would you have made these pictures if your aunt could walk?
”

Lorna began sobbing.
“
I am sorry. I am sorry.
”

Cari looked at Lorna as if she were a traitor.
“
I am not sowwy. It
’
s pwetty!
”

Iris Landry looked at the two girls. They were a study in opposites. Lorna looked dejected and forlorn, while Cari was determined to be right. Mrs. Landry looked upward as she petitioned for help. The sight almost pushed her over the edge. The ceiling was completely covered in toilet paper wads. It looked like a seventies style cottage cheese ceiling gone wrong.

Aggie saw her
“
helper
”
dashing down the stairs like something was chasing her.
“
Aggie, do you have a camera, camcorder
--
anything? I have
got
to show you this. You will not believe it unless you see it. This is
too
funny.
”

Aggie
’
s reaction alternated between tears and giggles. She knew exactly when the girls had enjoyed their TP spree. The splats were quite audible, and the girls had giggled with glee for quite a long time. Soon, the utter destruction of the hallway was obvious to her, though.

“
My sister searched every online vintage wallpaper site she could find. She poured through page after page of paper on eBay. The woman was almost obsessed with matching the original wallpaper. Now look at it.
”
Aggie sighed.

“
Well, Aggie, she put a basketball hoop over the hamper right through the wallpaper. I doubt she
’
d be that upset about this. Ingenious idea too! I wish I had thought of that. My kids would have
loved
to make sock baskets!
”

Aggie blushed.
“
I did that. I was walking through the house one day after a rough early morning with Jr. Muffin and lost it. I had that basketball net up and the screwdriver put who-knows-where before I knew what hit me.
”

“
Well, it
’
s obvious that you have the mind of a mother! I am quite impressed. I will have to take all the paper off of the walls. With the lipstick and eyeliner pencils… it
’
s gone. I can
’
t even try to salvage any of it. Sorry.
”

“
Well, it
’
ll just be one more thing that Mrs. Stuart can be mad at me about. It
’
ll do her good.
”
Aggie
’
s grimace belied her words.

Aggie says:
Tina, you won
’
t believe THIS.

Tina says:
Well… so tell me.

Aggie says:
Well I forgot to call for help around here until Wed. Monday and Tuesday were ridiculous! The girls…

Tina says:
Cari and Ethel? Er… I mean Lorna?

Aggie says:
You know those old acoustic ceilings that look like they are leaking cottage cheese?

Tina says:
Dare I ask?

Aggie says:
Well, the girls decided to texture the ceiling in the upstairs hallway. Iris Landry video recorded the entire thing. It was amazing. LARGE CURD though. It was very LARGE curd…

Tina says:
And the medium used?

Aggie says:
Ummmmm how does wet, wadded…

Tina says:
SPILL IT GIRL!

Aggie says
: TOILET PAPER sound to you???

Tina says
: NO WAY!

Aggie says
: WAY! The wallpaper upstairs is ruined. Sigh.

Tina says:
So is this woman helping at all
--
besides discovering th
e
ruined hallway?

Aggie says
: And the decorated rats…

Tina says:
Ohhh, this I gotta hear!

Aggie says:
Well… it seems that Cari was a bit incensed to find that both rats were boys, so she put one of those plastic bendy kindergarten hair barrette things on their tails!