Chapter 9 - Roach Stomp Dance

"Come on, my main man, let's let mom sleep in today," Orlando said, grabbing Xerxes and leaving the room.

Awww!

I need to download a default for this athleticwear.  Spandex does not suit him.

Orlando had made a point last night.  She was probably being too hard on her Dad.  Instead of overreacting when he did something foggy, she would try to thank him for the times he was on the ball. 

"Thanks for helping with Xerxes breakfast this morning," she told him.

"Keep up the good work!"

Craig beamed. 

Craig tried to spend as much time bonding with his grandson as possible.  His biggest regret was that Zoe hadn't lived long enough to meet him, or the little tyke on its way.

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house,

Not a creature was stirring,

Except for this mouse.

Bored of laying in his crib, Xerxes shimmied down the side of the crib to explore the room. 

There wasn't much in the way of things a toddler could get into in here except for the same shape sorter in the corner.

Round peg, Triangle hole. Try again.

Feeling particularly hungry, Yoshi decided to eat the spoiled meal on the counter.  It hadn't been so very long ago that this was the norm for her.  What could it hurt?

Disgusted, she spit it out onto the plate.  How did they live like that? she wondered with a horrified realization of just how bad her childhood actually had been.

The place was a disaster.  Yoshi wasn't sure if it was because they were in the middle of an Apocalypse, because the dogs were filthy, or the toddler messy.

Perhaps a mix of all three!

Orlando had just sunk into a nice, steaming tub of water, prepared to soak away his sore muscles.

Yoshi cried out for him.

Beautiful, perfect Wasabi!

Yoshi went to put Wasabi in the crib before it dawned on her that she would need something else to put her newborn in.

Grabbing a box from the diaper changing stack, Yoshi set up a sort of make-shift crib.

"There, there, sleep well," she said soothingly, rubbing Wasabi on the belly.

Yoshi was in a panic.  She wasn't able to find her Dad anywhere inside.  She'd wanted to introduce him to his new granddaughter.  Running out onto the porch, she called out for him.  "Dad! Daaaaaaaad!" 

He could be anywhere by now! Eaten by Zombies, abducted by aliens, fallen in a ditch somewhere stinky... every thought worse than the one before.

Craig heard his daughter calling for him and sighed after a losing battle with the roaches.  "You may have won this battle, but I'll be back," he promised with barely constrained violence.

"Where were you Dad?" she asked worriedly. 

"I found some pesky roaches," he told her.  "Round back behind the house."

"Oh shoot."

One of the biggest inconveniences about their floorplan was if a dog peed in this corner, she had to push the dining chair out of the way to clean it up.  Orlando really needed to do something about those dogs!

Her mom's notes sat nearby, but Yoshi just had fun messing with the trauma dummy.  It was like playing a game of Operation!

Getting Webster into the bath was a frustrating endeavor. Because he was a larger dog, he often didn't want to come into the bathroom.  And getting into the tub? He fought it tooth and nail. 

When he freaked and jumped out of the tub, he must've broken something. 

Yoshi gritted her teeth when water soaked her from all angles.

Sighing, she grabbed the wrench and tried tightening the spigot.

Then went to go change clothes, leaving Webster asleep in a puddle. Xerxes snuck in through the door that was left ajar and began making his own mess.

Why does this little thing cry so loudly all the time? Tucker wondered, staring at the strange little creature.

Craig must have left Wasabi on the floor before wandering away.

At least he always remembered to head to work.

Yoshi headed back to the bathroom to clean up and found Xerxes jumping and splashing droplets all over.  "Xerxes!" she cried with dismay.  "You're making a mess!"

"Sorry, Mom!"

Yoshi lectured him about cleanliness and then sent him to his room to think about what he'd done.  It was technically a little alcove off the 2nd floor loft.  But, Xerxes didn't mind.

Then cried in the bathroom, wondering if she'd been too hard on him. 

"Hey, my main man!"

"Go get Mom!" Orlando called, pointing Xerxes inside as he ran to see if he could help his fatherinlaw.  Sometimes in life, it was just someone's time to go.

"Mom! Wake up! Something's wrong with Grandpa!" Xerxes cried.

Yoshi ran outside, but her Dad had already passed on.  She felt Orlando's strong arms wrap around her. 

We'll miss you Craig!

Xerxes was going on an adventure hunt.

Past the field of old, broken refrigerators.

Far, far away.

Roaches.

Orlando had stayed up late the night before comforting his wife.  He knew he was running late and hustled to catch his carpool.

"I'm going to go feed your sister, will you do me a favor and pick up the bottles?"

Xerxes didn't mind cleaning up the baby bottles.  The place always smelled so much nicer when it was clean!

Aww,  Wasabi was the cutest baby in the world, Yoshi thought.  But perhaps she was partial.

Xerxes lined up his opposing forces.  "Surrender or we will attack at dawn!" he declared dramatically.

Grabbing the knight, he pretended it galloped across the chess board.  "We meet at dawn then!" he cried.

Playing battle chess was much more fun than just regular chess.

Orlando brought home his coworker, Abijheet. 

The dude was a total jerk.  He disagreed with everything Orlando said and was a drag to be around.

He was glad when a nice woman walked by so he was saved from punching the guy in the nose. 

Then, glancing down the sidewalk he saw the Zombie ambling by.

"Nice meeting you!' he called, hurrying up his front steps and leaving the poor woman to her fate.  (AN: I always laugh when they say goodbye to the NPC's and the poor schmucks have a Zombie right on their heels.  The least he could do is invite them in to keep them safe!)

Oh, well that was nice, he invited the jerky coworker inside.

Yoshi worried that too much time was passing by and she'd never accomplish what she'd set out to do.  At the time, having 2 babies before she started her career had seemed like a solid plan.  But now, she counted down the days until she could follow her life's dream.

Xerxes took good care of the dogs since that was his responsibility.  He even cleaned out the food bowl dish before putting more food in.  No one else in the house ever did that!

It was a quiet night.  The family was fast asleep.

Only the ghosts roamed the empty rooms.

Until Yoshi decided she was feeling a little peckish and wanted a small snack.

She didn't sense anything amiss and completely missed the levitating candlestick on the countertop behind her.  (Which is really a fire hazard)

She was starving, so she grabbed a plate of yummy pancakes and started to sit down.

The ghost of her Mom popped in front of her, startling her so bad she dropped the plate of pancakes.  She clutched her chest, terrified that her heart had stopped beating, but she felt the racing beat.  Then just as suddenly, the ghost disappeared.

Xerxes was getting a kick out of teaching Tucker to roll away.

"You need to teach that dog to stay or come here," his Mom said as she passed by.

Really? You're worried about the baby reading what you're writing? Silly Xerxes.

Yoshi felt like she hadn't been making enough time for friends lately.  She was so centered on her family, that she'd been neglecting her studies and nurturing friendships.  She greeted a passerbyer with a smile and a wave.  His name was Sinjin and he was a really nice guy.

Feeling more social, she greeted another passerbyer. 

"I love your jacket!" she raved, indicating the stylish trenchcoat Lily was wearing.

"I can't believe you'd say that to me!" Lily grouched irritably.

Yoshi wasn't really sure what she'd said wrong!

She called Sinjin over to hang out with them when she noticed he seemed quite cold. 

Hopping up, she tried to be friendly and offered to let him warm up in her house. 

He snubbed her.

Feeling remarkably unsocial after dealing with those two for the last few hours, Yoshi thanked them for chatting and headed inside.  They could freeze their asses off outside for all she cared!

Webster absolutely hated getting a bath.  He stared at her with puppy dog eyes.  "I'm sorry! You reek!" Yoshi said as she scrubbed the dog clean.

Wasabi's cries in the middle of the night woke Yoshi and Orlando from deep sleep.  They stared at each other, trying to get the other to see to the child. 

"I need a shower!" Orlando said sleepily.

"I'm going to starve to death!" Yoshi countered, her stomach rumbling in agreement.

Starvation trumped stinky & Orlando padded over to the crib to change Wasabi's diaper. 

He headed downstairs to feed her, catching his wife licking the sauce off the plates.  "That's disgusting," he said.

"I was still hungry," Yoshi said, abashed.  "Besides, less dirty dishes!"

"You put those away after you lick them?!" he asked incredulously. 

"Here, take her upstairs and put her to bed while I do the dishes."  Now he needed to rewash all the plates and bowls.

Tired of being cooped up, Yoshi and Xerxes spent some quality bonding time outside throwing snowballs at each other.

When his lips started to turn blue, she gave him a hug and a kiss and headed back inside.

"You clean up and I'll get lunch on the table," she told him. 

Xerxes hurried to clear off the table.

"If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?" she asked him.

Xerxes considered the question very seriously.  "I think it would have to be the candy store," he told her seriously.

Orlando couldn't believe they'd missed Wasabi's birthday!

His excuse was that he was exhausted from a long day at work and very little sleep.  He was dead on his feet!

With a stroke of brilliance, Yoshi moved the spare box crib downstairs to her parents old room.

They slept peacefully for the first night in a long time!

Poor Wasabi did not, though.

When Orlando heard her crying, he raced down the stairs and into the room. "You're okay. See? Daddy's got you!" he told her soothingly, rocking her in his arms.

When he set her down, she immediately wrapped her arms around Webster's neck, smiling and cooing happily.

Orlando quickly cleaned up the puddles of pee near her Dad's grave.  (Oh my goodness, that was a horrible place to die!  The rules say you can't move the grave outside if it's outside.  But, that is going to bug me!)  Maybe if I nudge the mailbox over...

Xerxes sobbed uncontrollably over the roaches that scurried near the back of the house.

Just leave them alone Xerxes and go back inside. Ignore them. They can't hurt you!

This is not going to be good.

On cue, Xerxes heard a weird moaning noise and shot up in bed. "Mom? Dad?" he called sleepily.

"GRANDPA!"

Terrified, he darted out of his grandparents room and saw his Mom with his little sister.  "Mom! Mom! I saw Grandpa!" he cried.

"There, there," Yoshi said, knowing how it felt to be scared by a ghost.  "It'll all be better in the morning," she promised.

"But I saw Grandpa," he said, probably in shock.

"I know sweetheart.  Ghosts can only scare you a little bit, they can't hurt you," she told him.  "Come on, let's get you up to bed."

Sometimes, you see someone pass by and you feel like you should know who they are.  (I know the picture may be fuzzy, but that was Clarence, the 3 bolt potential love interest of her Mom.  I'm still annoyed when I see him. 😒)

But not as annoyed as I am by the roach stomp dance.

Leave them alone Yoshi. They're not hurting you!

"Mom, why don't we ever get to go anywhere fun, like on base or Dad's headquarters or the candy store?" Xerxes pouted.

"We're just waiting for Wasabi to be a little older.  Once she's a big girl, we'll take the whole family and have a fun day at the soup kitchen," she promised.

"We never get to do anything fun!" he continued his complaints.

"That's not true! Just the other day we had a snowball fight!" she pointed out.

Xerxes rolled his eyes.  "Once!"