Gen 8- Chapter 15: Waterlily Whip

Children are one life’s greatest gifts. Me of all people understood, just how much so. I was lucky to still be around to be with mine. Three beautiful children, all so different and unique in their own way. Amazingly the twins were more different than I would have ever imagined. Twins certainly did not mean the same.

Surprisingly, Affair and Wisteria, were much more alike, than Wisteria and Seance ever were. Personality wise and interests, little Wisty wanted nothing more than to be just like her big brother. When Affair joined the scouts, it wasn’t even a day later, that she wanted to join too. It almost broke her heart when I had to explain that scouts were for boys, not girls.

Once the tears had settled down, I mentioned the cupcakes (girl scouts) and she almost jumped right out of her skin with excitement. It wasn’t exactly what she wanted, but they had the same uniform, so it was close enough for her liking.

We had tried to sign all three up for scouting, but Seance was not the least bit interested. Not enough hands on he would say. Which pretty much meant, there was nothing for him to explore or discover, other than being out in the woods. Not really his cup of tea. Seance was a mini biologist in the making. We ended up using his scouting dues, that we had allotted, to buy him a chemistry set, and since we didn’t have a lab, we had to set it up in the guest kitchen. We never used it anyways, so it worked out just fine.

One of Fern’s relatives liked to splurge on all of the family members, this included our family for some odd reason. I’m not even sure how cousin Mars knew about us, but he sent gifts all the way from Shang Stir Fry for the kids.

The boys received these really authentic looking space suits, equipped boots, helmets and working micro phone walkie talkies. Those two played for hours, pretending the tall weeds out back were some strange alien planet. Most of the time, I had to literally drag them in for dinner. Even then they wouldn’t break character.

“This is A unit to S. do you read. Over?”

“I read you loud and clear A unit. Over.”

“Seems we have to break from our daily exploration. Our meal supplements must be consumed before they expire. Over.”

“Roger that!”

Once dinner was over, they were right back at it. Flying back into orbit, before the began their next round of space excavation.

“Last one back to the ship, has cleaning duties for a week!!”

“Preparing for shuttle dispersion.”

The first time uncle Prelude, caught a glimpse of them playing on his old trampoline, I thought his face was going to split from all the smiles. I could remember him and Beaux doing something similar back in their day.

“But we didn’t have the fancy gear. why didn’t they have cool stuff when we were kids?”

The boys were not the only one to receive a special gift from uncle Mars. In the same box with the space suits were 3 nice sized teddy bears. One purple one, one white and one blue. Those bears were her life. She didn’t go anywhere without at least one of them. All three if possible, but that was not always the case. We went through a huge amount of juice, because every time I turned around, Wisty was dragging them upstairs to “feed her guests”. Which would have been fine, but she liked to open them, so most went to waste.

Kiwi and Laurel were also fond of Wisty’s bears. They had gotten similar gifts, but theirs were little princess dresses, which I imagine were purchased at the same place as the space suits. The girls were a bit older than Wisty, since they were closer to Affair’s age, but since she was the only other girl, they got a long surprisingly well for their age difference.

Wisty was quite grown up for her age. She was incredibly smart, and just the sweetest thing that had ever walked the face of the planet. She had compassion well past her years, and a kindness. A kindness that was almost to a fault…

Kindness to a fault? Well, let me explain.

The girls had slumber parties almost every other weekend. Sometimes they would all go to Prelude and Fern’s, but most of the time they would shack up in Wisty’s room. Not saying that we spoiled the girl… okay well, perhaps we did, but she had a nice queen size bed, so all three fit just fine together. Wisteria always made sure to request a special reading from Disco, for the three of them. The twins always conked out early, but Wisty held on to the very end.

Favorite part of Disco’s day…

“Goodnight Angel.”

Ah, but let us get back to the kindness to a fault thing shall we.

It all started after one of the girls slumber parties. It had been a few weeks since everyone had received their presents. The girls had spent the entire evening playing happily with Wisty’s bears. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but Kiwi had mentioned, just how much she loved them. Seemed harmless enough. That was until the next morning when the girls headed out to leave. They both had one bear tucked under their arms as they waved one last goodbye, before hopping into Fern’s car.

I could scarcely believe what I was seeing. She loved those bears. She couldn’t have possibly given them away. Did they take them? I knew they were little brats, but I never imagined them stealing something from their very own cousin. Well there was only one way I was going to find out. I had to ask the source.

“Sweat heart? The girls just left, and I couldn’t help but notice that they both had one of your bears.”

“Yup!”

“You gave them your bears? Honey I thought you loved those guys.”

“I do.”

“So why would you give them away?”

“Because they asked if they could have them.”

“Wisty love, just because somebody asks you for something, doesn’t mean you have to give it to them.”

“But they asked nicely. I couldn’t say no.”

“Sure you can. All you have to say is, No I’m sorry. These were a gift, and I would like to hang on to them.”

“But that’s just mean.”

“It’s not mean.”

“Yes it is. They would have been upset, if I had said no. I didn’t want them to get mad at me.”

“Oh i see.”

I soon realized this was going to take a little more discussion, that just a little pep talk.

“How about you and I go out for a little while, so we can talk a little more about this. Sound fun?”

“Okay.”

I had two reasons for going out that day. one being, Wisty and I needed to have a serious conversation about what it meant to be nice, and two, there was a new coffee/dessert shop in town, and I had yet to check it out, since the grand opening a couple of weeks prior. Bubble Buzz was literally all the buzz and I had not even seen the building yet! The rumor going around was they had this amazing mock ambrosia, that was so close to the real thing, it was actually hard to tell the difference… other than the price. Real Ambrosia was only available at the higher end restaurants, and you had better be prepared to throw down a couple hundred for one small dish. I had never tried the real thing, so I was sure that the mock was going to be out of this world.

When we walked inside, the place was almost deserted. Other than a couple sitting in the dining room and a lady behind the counter the place was empty. Gorgeous as it was, I held out little hope the place would stick around long with it’s lack of customers.

“Wow so quiet. Where is everyone?”

“Oh. Ummmm. Well, it’s the night crowd that keep this place going. Party doesn’t start until about 9 pm and then you can barely get in the door. The girl behind the countered stammered. She looked physically uneasy, and I think Wisty and my presence was only making it worse.

“Oh I see. Well we would like two of your mock ambrosia please.”

“Oh. alright.” The girl stared blankly at the cash register, as if she had never seen it before in her life. Leaning completely over the keys, she squinted her eyes looking for the right buttons. “Ummmmm. Okay. Right.” Her finger hovering over several keys before moving onto another. Finally in desperation, she looked up from what she was doing, her face frozen, eyes wide. “I’m sorry. I’m not supposed to be here. I was just here until Honey gets back.”

I could tell she was not only scared, but completely embarrassed.

“Well, maybe I can help.” I smiled leaning over the counter. I found the key almost immediately and pointed it out to her.

“Oh there it its!” She mashed the key twice and our total thankfully popped up. “10.75 please.”

I paid the girl, just as Honey was returning. From there, the sale went a long smoothly. Five short minutes later, we both had our plates. I wasn’t sure what actual Ambrosia smelled like, but our plates smelled divine.

I didn’t want to jump into business right way, so instead we dove right into our treat. It was amazing! I’m not sure if it is possible to eat pink, but I am pretty sure this is what it would taste like. Sweet, almost sparkly to the tongue. Half way through, I casually brought our discussion back to the topic at hand.

“Pretty good huh?”

“So good!”

“I thought so too. Speaking of good. You know you are a good girl right?”

“Ya.”

“Good. Something I want you to understand though. Just because you tell someone no, doesn’t mean you are not nice. Sometimes we have to say no. You don’t always have to do what someone else asks you.”

“But I don’t like to make people sad.”

“I know you don’t sweety, but, well when you gave your bears away today. Did that make you happy?”

“Yes. Well. Kind of. I liked seeing them smile, but I miss them momma.”

“This is exactly what I mean love. Sometimes you have to say no. Now your bears, which were a very kind gift by the way, are now living with someone else.”

“I’m sorry.” He voice was so sad and disappointed. She pushed the ambrosia around on her plate. Refusing to look at me. “Momma?”

“Yes, love?”

“I’m sad.”

“Aww, it’s okay. I’m sure if I talk to Fern we can get your bears back.”

“Not that.” She said, shaking her head. “That.” Wisteria pointed out the front window.

It took a second for my eyes to focus on, what she was seeing, but then I saw. A woman with a small child were on the corner asking for money. They were both dressed in terribly mismatched clothes, which had probably been dug out of old bins, or purchased at the second hand store.

“Oh.”

‘Why don’t they have money momma?”

“I don’t know sweet heart.”

I tried to think of an appropriate answer, but there was no way of knowing the real reason they were there. Wisteria’s eyes began to well up with the biggest tears I had ever seen. Her voice broken and hurt.

“It’s not fair. That poor little girl. She is probably so hungry. Can we give them money? We have money right?”

“Yes, but… it’s not always best to just hand out money. Remember the bears?”

‘What about food? Can we buy them some food? Please momma?”

I just sat their dumbfounded. I had hardly noticed the pair out on the corner, and here was my youngest child, completely devastated. My heart swelled with pride. “Yes of course dear.”

I just so happened to have an old basket rattling around in the trunk, so after our snack, Wisty and I headed over to the corner market to pick up a few items. A couple wrapped sandwiches and even a baby bottle, we tucked inside the old basket.

The second we arrived back at the Bubble Buzz, she jumped from the car and carried the basket over to the lady.

‘Hello. This is for you.”

“For me? I… I don’t know what to say. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

The lady kindly took the basket and immediately unwrapped one of the sandwiches. Wisty waited until she was settled and then reached into the basket for the bottle. “And this is for her. Can I give it to her?”

“Of course dear.” The lady smiled, tears sitting heavy at the brim of her eyes.

“This is for you.”

“Thank kooo!!!!”

We left that day with a new sense of fulfillment. Wisteria’s for helping others in need, and me knowing, that I had the most amazing daughter there ever was. I wasn’t sure if this is partly what my mystery letter was talking about, but I knew I had discovered my purpose in life. To bring this beautiful kind and caring soul into the world. My life felt complete.

“That was very kind of you love.”

“Thank you Momma.”

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Alright folks! This is our last chapter of Lil and next time Wisteria will be taking the reins. That’s the exciting part! The part you may not like it… Wisteria will not begin until I get back from Australia. I leave November first, and I really don’t want to get started on her gen, to just up and leave. And with pets coming out, little is going to be getting done. I will be around, but Splash will be on vacation. ❤ Love you guys!!!