Edwards favorite toy was the recycling bin,
either stuffing things in it, like the unnamed Ragdoll.
Or tipping everything out of it.
John explained to Tam again. "It's a sixty day experimental trial, every time you touch it, it records everything for the manufacturer, how far you traveled, with how many people, and how much energy it used. With our solar, it's totally free, and I can't give Em and Dolly driving lessons with broomsticks."
"And it's totally free? For sixty days?", Tam double checked. "Yes, unless we crash it, then we pay the insurance premium.", John attempted to reassure her. It didn't help.
Tamara finally relented, and John taught both the girls to drive well enough to pass the test within a few days.
Emily and Tamara where presented with the latest model Pegasus Zoomsweeper's as a reward. Edward was also in the process of learning the joys of mobility. While he hadn't learned to walk yet, the speed at which Edward was able crawl out of sight, and into mischief, never failed to astonish his parents.Edward had also mastered the art of crib escapology.
Due to Edwards amazing talent at escapology, hide and seek, and generous mischievousness, Tamara and John agreed that they needed to keep closer 'tabs' on Edward.
Emily and Dolly also kept an eye on him.
John and Tamara where a little concerned about Edward having pointy ears. The boy wasn't Fae, wasn't Vampire, and wasn't Werewolf. Little Eddie appeared to be a regular human baby, except those ears. Tam was mostly worried that when Edward was older, that people would assume he was some sort of supernatural fan poser, and that that might cause him trouble.
Emily didn't care, she loved her little brother, even if he was a zombie, and enjoyed playing with him when he wasn't grumpy.
John made a concerted effort to get his little boy walking and talking.
Emily explained to Dolly that a rider should always get on and off the same side of a horse. Not that Emily was a more experienced horse rider, they had both studied the same book.
Secretly, Emily was quiet proud of the fact that she had made it onto the saddle without falling off.
Em gently encouraged Princess to walk to the end of the yard and turn around.
Emily's dismount was far less graceful than she had intended, but at least she hadn't ended up on the ground. "Now you try Dolly!", Emily encouraged her best friend.
Dolly approached Princess, appearing to whisper soothing words to the horse before attempting to climb on to the saddle. "So you remember when we where little, and you bit one of my buttons off?", Dolly reminded Princess. "I still owe you for that, and if you give me any trouble, I'm going to bite your ear off, because now I have teeth too.", Dolly whispered sweetly.
Princess stood perfectly motionless while Dolly put her foot in the stirrup and clambered up.
Dolly tried to remember what came next, 'The reins', thought Dolly.
Princess walked gingerly to the end of the yard.
"Um, how do I turn around?", Dolly asked Em. Dolly couldn't wait to get off.
The things you do for friends!
Emily pointed Princess towards the gate, she was going to go around the block at a trot, and there wasn't enough room between the washing line and the electric car parked inside the gate for that. As Princess climbed the hill, Emily dug her heels in as she thought she was going to slip off, and Princess bolted.
When she didn't return, John put Edward to bed and went out on a broom to look for her.
Tamara and Dolly sat reading on the front porch, pretending not to be worried.
Emily told Princess, "It's definitely this way, we are almost home!",
although she had said that several times tonight.
Emily slipped from the saddle and lead Princess to the barn, all the lights were off,
"Everyone must be asleep.", Em told herself.
Emily crept up the front stairs, although Bridgeport was trialing the no curfew law for teens,
she still knew her parents would freak at her for being out this late.
"Do you know what the time is!", Tam growled as she flipped on the light switch. "You are grounded."
Tam dialed John's mobile number. Emily accepted her punishment gracefully, she could have stopped and asked someone for directions hours ago, but for some reason she had decided not too.
John and Tamara spent time together working on their special project.
Emily was allowed to walk Princess around the yard, but not ride, And only left the yard to go to school.
John stayed around the house a lot, avoiding Nightgarden to concentrate n his family.
Eventually prom time rolled around, and Emily was un-grounded for the event.
Instead of attending the after-party with boys and booze and bubbles,
Em and Dolly used the time to go fishing. Em still had three weeks left on her sentence.
Tamara's engineering and science knowledge had allowed her to walk straight into a high paying job at the local marine science facility, although she had only been visiting to find some other information.
Authors Note:
In the last week few weeks of RL, I 'adopted' a slightly feral street kitten, it took most of a week to be able to get close enough to touch it, and it still bolts for cover if I move quick. It doesn't like being picked up. The day before yesterday it discovered the joy of pets and ear scratches, today it discovered the joy of sitting on keyboards for attention, and knocking things of shelves.
