Chapter 6 - Watered Down Soup

(I don't know why the only time I seem to ever take a picture of my house is at night!  It's even worse with no lights in the home! Lol)

"Should we wake up Yoshi to eat?" Craig asked quietly.

"No, let her sleep.  She looks so peaceful," Zoe told him. "I wonder what she's dreaming about."

"Why didn't anyone wake me up for the Midnight Picnic?" Yoshi shrilled.

"I thought you said you were too old for that now," Zoe said reasonably.

Yoshi grumbled in response.  "Doesn't mean I don't want to eat," she answered sullenly. 

Yoshi happened to glance over as her Mom cleaned the kitchen.  "Mom, NO!" she shouted, but was too late.  The leftover sandwich went into the sink.

"Mom, don't get rid of the leftovers!" she said.  "That's all we can eat today, remember?"

Zoe winced.  "I'm sorry.  I don't know what I was thinking!"

Yoshi sighed and rolled her eyes, heading back to practice the fiddle.

There were so many things stirring around in her brain, it was hard to keep track sometimes.  Zoe thought that perhaps taking notes on daily activities would help her.  It was undeniable though.  She had all the early symptoms of Elder Noncognaizance.

At night after he returned home from work, Craig often went upstairs to the canning station.  They were through a lot of soup at the soup kitchen!

The biggest problem was the 2nd floor addition wasn't complete and the howling winter winds chilled him to the bone.

Exhausted, he slipped into bed.

"Oh! Your feet are freezing!" Zoe exclaimed when Craig snuggled up against her and happened to brush his feet against her.

Yoshi had talked her Mom into letting her paint her small window nook.

Dad had complained about wasting paint, but Mom had said that such a small area wouldn't hurt anything.

As usual, Mom had her way!

Craig called Zoe over to cuddle in their room, quietly talking while Yoshi slept in her alcove.  She'd been puttering in the kitchen and mumbling under his breath.  He was worried that she wasn't sleeping well.

He kissed her hand.  "We've had some wonderful years together, haven't we?" he asked proudly.

Zoe returned his smile and entwined her fingers with him.  "They've been the best years of my life," she told him, quite honestly.  "There's no one else in the world that I'd rather have by my side for an Apocalypse!"

With such a romantic, heart-felt declaration, passion flared.  Thankfully, they had the foresight to shoo their sleeping teenager from the room.

Wide awake now and annoyed to have been summarily kicked from her bed, Yoshi invited Orlando over. 

She waited on the front steps so that the doorbell wouldn't wake her parents.

"I have the day off, today.  I thought that the family could benefit from a trip to the Soup Kitchen!" Craig announced at breakfast.  "Everyone in?"

"Sounds great!" Yoshi agreed quickly.  She hoped Orlando was there!

"Dad, I was thinking," Yoshi followed him back to the pantry of the soup kitchen.  "I want to do my part to help the community.  Maybe I could help out at the soup kitchen."  She tried to gauge her Dad's reaction.  "Only when you're here, of course," she was quick to add.

She could tell Dad wanted to say no.  "Please?" she begged.

Craig relented.  "Alright," he said reluctantly. 

With a whoop of pleasure, Yoshi ran outside and put her name down on the volunteer board.

With that bit of parenting done, Craig turned to the canning station.

Yoshi told her Mom excitedly that she was going to start helping at the Soup Kitchen with Dad.

"Oh wonderful, dear!" Zoe told her.  She turned to Goopy, "My baby is growing up!"

"Mom! I'm not a baby!" Yoshi groaned with embarrassment.  "Ugh!"  She stamped her foot and turned to go to the kitchen.

Yoshi was in awe looking through the food that was available at the soup kitchen.  Some of this stuff she'd never even had in her life! A box toaster pastries caught her eye.  That looked simple enough to make!

Carefully following the directions, she placed the rectangular pieces on a baking sheet and slid it into the oven.   Now she just needed to wait 5 minutes!

She was so excited to be cooking!

Unfortunately, she didn't set a timer.

Thankfully lunch was saved by their good family friend, Brandon.  "Have a seat at the table," he told Zoe and Yoshi, I'll bring you a plate."  

The Legendeary Zombie shuffled his way towards the soup kitchen. 

(Shoot, I wanted Craig to finish this cooking point before the family left today! Can faster, Craig!)

Enter a SECOND Zombie.  Because one Zombie wasn't enough today!

The townsfolk watched nervously as Andres greeted Goopy, almost of though he recognized him.  Yoshi held her breath, sure that the Zombie would attack any moment.

Armando poked Goopy.  "You're part of the patrol, fight him!" he whispered.

Goopy turned towards his compatriot and then his shoulders slumped.  "I can't do it!" he said, turning and running from the room.

The Zombies crossed paths.  Andres followed Goopy as the red-coated Zombie lurched up the stairs.

Deciding his family's life was more important than canned soup, Craig snuck them out a window and they hurried home.

"I'll be back in a little bit!" Yoshi called as she hurried out for her very first car pool.

Zoe looked up from the couch, startled.  "Where are you going?"

"Remember? I told you, Mom," Yoshi said impatiently.  "I started working at the soup kitchen today!"

"Really?" Zoe asked, a strange look on her face.

Yoshi hopped down the stairs and excitedly got in the car. 

That meant the loving couple had the house to themselves all afternoon!

"Ew! You guys are so gross!" Zoe said when she walked in on her parents making out.

"Remember Mom, don't get rid of the leftovers," Yoshi said at their Midnight Picnic.

Zoe scoffed.  "I'm not completely brain dead," she snapped at her daughter.  Just because she had Elder Noncognaizance didn't mean she had no common sense anymore!

Zoe had a fleeting thought that there was something she was supposed to remember to do.

She heard Yoshi groan behind her. "Mooooom, you got rid of the leftovers!"

The house was quiet, although the air was thick with tension.  Yoshi practiced the seating arrangements like her Dad had taught her while he worked on a new recipe book.

Mom was in her room, just laying in bed.  She'd taken to spending a lot of time in there.

"Hey Mom, I'm headed to work.  Do you need anything?" Yoshi peeked in before leaving.

"No dear, I'm fine.  Have fun," Zoe told her dully.

Yoshi hesitated at the door.  "You sure? Want me to sneak you back a toaster pastry?"

Her mom smiled wanely.

"Dad, I'm worried about Mom," Yoshi said later that night.  "All she did today was lay in bed."

Craig nodded. "I know. I checked on her before I went to work."

"Maybe we could get a service pet! They could help her and keep her company when we're at work!"

Craig was shaking his head regretfully.  "How would we feed a pet right now?" he asked.  "We can hardly make ends meet as it is.

Yoshi's shoulders slumped.  "It was a good idea, though," she said sadly as her dad kissed the top of her head.

"It's good to see you up!" Craig said, pausing mid-recipe. 

Zoe smiled uneasily.  "Some days I remember things better than other days," she said sadly.

Craig reached out and squeezed her hand.  "It'll be okay. We'll be okay."

He'd done it. He'd finished his newest recipe book! 

This is no fun, Yoshi fumed as she swatted the wrench at the leaking showerhead.

"Everything okay in there?" Craig called when he heard loud clanging from the bathroom.

She huffed. "I'm fine. The stupid shower's broke, though!" she complained.

"Here, let me do that," Craig said, stepping into the bathroom.  "You go run and do something fun."

He took the wrench from his daughter before she left and started banging the showerhead and the knobs.  He liked it better when Zoe took care of this kind of stuff!

Yoshi was practically glowing from all the compliments on her chili sin carne today.  "It's my dad's recipe," she shyly told the diners.

Yoshi wasn't the only one with a promotion...

*AN:  YAY! Craig got to the top of his career in the nick of time! 2 more days and he will be an elder and his next three days are days off! This means no more midnight picnics!  Both Craig and Yoshi eat when they're at work, though, so there's been a lot less starving!

Especially because the first few times Zoe threw away their leftovers, I started having Craig invite her to cuddle on the bed and then leaving her there to go skill.  It kept the food safe until she finally got up and started cleaning.

And now that the Culinary restrictions have lifted, we're gonna get a dog!! As soon as one walks by... lol

Something I realized today is that Andres is likely going to be a Legendeary Zombie because he was in the military with high body, logic and mechanical.  I'll be surprised if anyone ever beats him! Lol.