Chapters Lemon Zest dug her teeth deep into the melon. Her lips tainted with its juice, she happily slurped the liquid out of its red fruit flesh, sucking it as dry as possible before she bit off the piece between her teeth. Drops of melon juice were flying around as she swung her head, her green mane swaying along. One drop landed on the screen of a laptop, the liquid creating a sheen of rainbow-colours on it. Angrily the owner of the laptop glared at the girl standing behind her, who casually munched on her melon.
“Your manners are terrible” Sugarcoat flatly told Lemon, a subtle, but clearly audible ring of annoyance in her voice.
Gulping down the melon Lemon shrugged, before biting off another piece. Sugarcoat mumbled something while she rubbed the melon juice off the screen with her sleeve of her uniform.
“Jeez, you’re treating that laptop like it’s your baby or something” Indigo remarked, looking from behind the bench over Sugarcoat’s shoulder.
“Well it is new” Sunny argued, sitting with her legs crossed next to Sugarcoat on the bench. “It’s understandable she doesn’t want it to get dirty.”
With a raised eyebrow Indigo looked at Sunny. “Why that?” she asked. Flashing a grin she put a thumb on her chest. “It’s bruises and scratches that give an item individual flair and personality!”
“That’s just an excuse for treating your stuff poorly” Sugarcoat said, not looking up from her laptop while Indigo threw some dark glances at her.
In front of the bench, Sour was walking up and down on the sidewalk, arms folded while looking rather annoyed at her friends. “I hope the bus will be here soon” she mumbled, glancing down the street. Seeing nothing but the morning sun shining on empty asphalt she turned back to her friends at the bus station, a sweet smile on her face. “Not that I don’t enjoy your company, but after spending the whole weekend with you guys - I’m starting to hate every single one of you” she grumbled.
Indigo chuckled. “You’re just mad you lost in ping pong - a hundred times!”
“Hey, I did beat you once!” Sour snapped at her, stemming her fists against her sides.
Rubbing her temples Sunny sighed. “Sour, sweetheart, tossing the ball between someone’s eyes does not count as scoring a point.” She flipped up her bangs, revealing a red spot on her forehead. “Especially when the one being hit isn’t even playing!!”
Lemon gulped down the melon in her mouth. “But such a rule would be really rats!” she smirked, wiping the juice off her smudged lips.
Sugarcoat rolled her eyes at the antics of her friends, before focusing on the screen of her laptop again. Leaning a little closer Indigo curiously peeked over her shoulder. “What’cha doing?”
Turning her head Sugarcoat glanced at Indigo, before staring back at her laptop. “Just setting up my desktop and preferences” she replied. “I just got this laptop on Friday. Didn’t have time to set it up yet because I’ve been fooling around with you guys.”
While Indigo frowned, Sunny leaned forward to look at the front of the laptop. “I’ve been meaning to ask that for a while, but what model is that? It looks rather expensive.”
“That’s because it is” Sugarcoat told her, tapping something into the keyboard. “I’ve been saving for it for months, and used up all my money to buy it. Which means one of you will have to pay my movie ticket on Wednesday. And probably all my other movie tickets for the rest of the year.”
Meanwhile, Sour was growing increasingly impatient, staring down the road while tapping faster and faster with her foot on the sidewalk. She pulled out her smartphone, scoffing as she looked at the time. “Is your bus always that late, Sunny?”
“Not really” she shrugged, smirking slightly. “It’s probably your bad karma.”
The cherry-haired girl growled. She was about to snap something back, when the sound of an engine approaching caught her attention. With a big smile she turned towards the road, contently noting a large yellow vehicle appearing in the distance. “Finally! ” she chirped, picking up the backpack at her feet. “Was about damn time!”
Sunny got up from the bench and picked up her backpack lying under it, while glancing at her seat neighbor. “You should pack up your computer” she advised her as she shouldered her backpack. “The driver isn’t really famous for his patience…”
“I’ll pack up in the bus” Sugarcoat told her, not taking her eyes off her screen as she stood up. With one hand she held the laptop, while her other one continued to use the mousepad. “I’m in the middle of organizing my personal files. If I stop now, I have to start over again. Also, please carry my backpack.”
Though she scoffed at her friend’s blunt request, Sunny grabbed the second backpack stuffed under the bench. At the same time Indigo also grabbed her backpack, throwing a glance at Lemon who took another bite from her melon. “Come on Lemon, get going!” she told her. “You can finish eating at school.”
Lemon looked at the rest of the melon quarter in her hands, and nodded. Her mouth full of half-chewed melon pieces she put her head back, fighting a little as she gulped it all down. Suddenly the rocker girl’s eyes widened in shock. Frantically she hammered with one hand on her chest, coughing as she choked on the pieces of melon stuck in her throat. Realizing her friend’s dilemma Indigo immediately dropped her backpack.
“Uh-oh… hang on!” the athlete yelled, getting behind Lemon. Wrapping her arms around her Indigo pressed her thumbs against her chest. Lemon gargled, before a red bulb came flying out of her mouth. Flying straight forward the munched mass of melon headed for Sunny’s face. With a loud “splat” it landed right on her cheek. A blank expression on her face Sunny slowly turned her eyes towards the red spot in the corner of her sight. The goo was clinging to her skin, little chunks dripping off.
“EEEEEEWWWW!!!!!” Sunny’s high-pitched scream echoed through the neighborhood. Dropping Sugarcoat’s backpack she jumped on the spot, while flailing her arms through the air as if she tried to shake something off them. “Gross gross grossgrossgross GRRROOOOOOSSS!” She kept screaming while gesturing in panic. Her friends all gave her slightly bewildered stares, except for Sugarcoat who was still focused on her laptop. Suddenly Sunny jumped over to Sour, who was too perplexed to react as Sunny grabbed her hands. “GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!” she screamed, rubbing Sour’s hands over her cheek.
As she felt the red stuff on her fingers Sour immediately tried to jerk her hands away. “WHY ARE YOU USING MY HANDS?!” she screeched.
“I DON’T WANT TO TOUCH IT!!” Sunny tried to press Sour’s hands back on her cheek, while Sour did her best to pull them out of her grip. In their struggle they moved around on the sidewalk, looking like they performed some sort of modern dance. Finally, using her whole body Sour tore free from Sunny. This however caused her to stumble backwards, almost tripping over her own feet. Just as she was about to find her balance again she fell over Sugarcoat’s backpack. Shrieking she tilted backwards, right to where Sugarcoat was standing. The white-haired girl finally turned her gaze away from the screen, her eyes widening as she realized her friend was directly falling towards her. Both girls screamed as Sour fell on top of her, forcing her to drop the laptop as she was dragged to the ground. Her glasses almost fell off her face when she hit the hard sidewalk, while the hair of Sour’s ponytail got scattered all over her face.
Raising her head Sugarcoat glared at Sour who was lying on top of her. Her friend sheepishly smiled back, with a look on her face that screamed “Whoops.” Quickly she retreated, allowing Sugarcoat to get back on her feet. Behind them the bus approached the station, and slowed down. After brushing some dirt off her clothes, Sugarcoat took a look around. “Where’s my laptop?” she asked.
Suddenly, as the bus rolled to a stop behind her, Sugarcoat heard metal and plastic crunching, as if something was being crushed under a massive weight, before it abruptly turned silent again.
Paralyzed Sugarcoat stood on the spot, her eyes bulging behind her glasses. Not daring to turn around she stared at her friends. The four girls all looked behind her at the street, the look on their faces confirming Sugarcoat’s suspicion. A little hesitant she turned her head around. As she saw the crumbled pieces and wires scattered around and beneath the tire of the bus she dropped her shoulders slightly, while letting out a small, but very frustrated sigh.
“You got some of that melon left, Lemon?” Sugarcoat asked dryly. “I could use something to bite into right now.”
The entrance to Crystal Prep Academy was a rather calm place before the beginning of school, with only a handful of students hanging around on the schoolyard. Most of them were passing the time until the first lesson by themselves, though a few were bundled in small groups, talking to each other about various things. One of those groups was not engaged in a conversation however. Instead a gloomy silence was hanging around the five girls sitting on the stairs in front of the school. It wasn’t hard to figure the source of the gloom was the white-haired girl in the center of the group: Her arms crossed Sugarcoat sat there with her head held low, looking in a bad temper through her glasses at her knees. Around her, scattered over the stairs her friends tried to pass the time, each in her own way: Sunny uncomfortably sat on her hands, Sour kicked her legs through the air, Indigo leaned her head against her first and Lemon ate the rest of her melon. The whole time none of them said a word, but were just sitting around in silence.
Eventually, as the first lesson was drawing close, and a growing number of students walked past the group into the school building, Sunny cleared her throat. “I am really sorry about your laptop, dearie” she said, addressing Sugarcoat.
Briefly the grumpy teenager raised her gaze towards Sunny, before resuming to stare at her knees. “Thanks, but I don’t blame you for what happened. It was an accident – besides, your sympathy won’t get it back.”
Again silence fell over the five girls. Indigo glared at her friends, looking both bored and annoyed. “Well, how ‘bout a lil’ bit of soccer to cheer up the mood?” she suggested. “Not much time for a match, but we could just, you know, kick a ball around.”
Sour flashed an exaggeratedly large smile at her. “How very considerate of you! ” she chirped at her, before putting on a frown. “Way to read the atmosphere, Zap.”
Frowning back at her Indigo huffed, stemming her hands against her sides. “What? Should we just sit here and mourn Sugar’s laptop all day? Tis’ not like someone died or anything!”
From the side, Sugarcoat cast a rather dark glance at the sporty teenager. “No, but I just lost a brand-new 600-dollar laptop I saved almost a whole year for” she stated, the ring in her voice flat, but aggressive. “So excuse me for not being all sunshine and smiles today.”
A fist in front of her mouth Sour coughed. “To be fair, you usually aren’t really sunshine and smiles – no matter the situation.”
“Can’t you ask your parents get you a new one?” Sunny suggested. “Maybe one not quite so expansive, and-”
But Sugarcoat shook her head. “I’ll have to buy it from my own money. And since I spend all my savings for this broken plastic case full of ripped wires…” She nodded at the trash can where they had buried the remnants of her laptop “…I’m totally broke.”
Again it became quiet. The silence was somewhat interrupted however by the slurping noise of Lemon eating her melon, finally causing Sour to turn her head towards the green-haired rocker girl. “Hey Lemmy, how about you put that melon away and try to help us here a little? ” To herself, she mumbled: “Though I doubt you something useful to contribute anyway…”
Chewing on her melon Lemon pondered for a moment, then swallowed. “Dunno… Maybe we can make some cash with a gig?” she thought out loud.
Sugarcoat looked very seriously at Lemon. “Our band still needs a hundred hours of practice before we can earn money with it” she told her. “At least.”
“But maybe you can earn money in another way?” Sunny remarked, pointing with her index finger in the air. “Like searching the newspaper for a job offer?”
Raising an eyebrow Sugarcoat skeptically glanced at her. “A teenager taking a job from a newspaper announce? That’s rather cliché.”
“Oh, is the idea not original enough for our little Captain Obvious? ” Sour asked, then scoffing at her. “Then how about you try earning money by grabbing it from thin air? That’d be new!”
“Hey, isn’t there this website that distributes jobs for teenagers?” Indigo chimed in, though she still seemed rather disinterested in the conversation.
Sugarcoat considered that for a moment, and shrugged. “Still cliché, but at least with a modern touch to it.” She pulled out her smartphone, and began browsing through the web. When she had found the site she began to search through the list of job offers from her region, her friends curiously looking over her shoulders at the display. “Let’s see… there are twelve requests to mow the lawn, three offers to deliver newspaper, four requests to clean a house, and one guy who searches for someone to organize his jelly tub collection.” Raising her gaze from her phone she harrumphed. “All of them sound like a lot of work and little money.”
Looking over the payments Indigo nodded. “Jeez, no kidding - it’d take months before you could even afford the charging cable of your new laptop!”
Suddenly Sunny’s finger jolted past Sugarcoat’s shoulder. “Wait, a new one just popped up!” she declared, pointing at the display.
“What is it?” Sour asked, all four girls leaning closer over Sugarcoat’s shoulders. Pushing them back slightly Sugarcoat gave herself more space, glaring angrily at her friends before looking back at her smartphone. Seeing what kind of job it was, she curiously arched her eyebrows.
“A babysitting request.”
Lemon, Indigo, Sunny and Sour shuddered slightly. “Babysitting?” they all said in unison.
Ignoring her friends Sugarcoat clicked on the offer, reading through the details. “Twins, this Friday night, roughly four hours…” Reading the payment details, her eyes widened. “Twelve dollars per hour!” Without hesitating, she clicked on accept. After filling out some contact details she put the smartphone back into her skirt pocket. “Well, that’ll kill my plans for Friday, but at least it looks like I just earned some easy first bucks for my new laptop.” As she turned to her friends however, she was slightly startled by the dumbfounded stares they were giving her. “Why are you all looking at me like that?”
Her friends exchanged some concerned glances, before Sunny cleared her throat. “That’s great, Sugarcoat dear, but um… do you really sure babysitting is the right thing for you?” she carefully asked.
The white-haired girl arched an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
With a sheepish smile, Sour scratched her head. “Ee don’t want to be rude or anything, buuuut you don’t seem like the type who likes kids.”
Lemon nodded. “Yeah, more like the type who eats kids.”
Sugarcoat shrugged. “What does it matter? I don’t need to like them. I just have to make sure they’ll still be alive by the time their parents return.”
Rubbing her forehead Indigo shook her head. “Jeez, did you ever actually babysit before?”
“How hard can it be?” Sugarcoat asked back. “I’ll be watching over two little kids who will probably be already asleep by the time I arrive. Only problem will be to kill the time.” The ringing of the school bell then caused her to stood up. “We should head to class now” she stated, walking past her friends up the stairs. Still sitting the others looked after her, with mixed feelings.
“Should we tell her?” Sunny asked.
Indigo shook her head. “Nah, let Captain Obvious figure that out on her own.”
The evening sun was shining on the crossroads in a small town. A bus drove by, stopping at the station to let out a single passenger. With her usual expression of indifference, Sugarcoat stepped out of the vehicle. The Crystal Prep student was dressed in a white basic dress going to her knees, alongside a blue sweater vest with her favorite logo on the backside. Once she had left the bus Sugarcoat heard the doors closing behind her, before it slowly continued its route down the street. She briefly glanced after it, then set her gaze on a building across the street, in the corner of the crossroads. Tables with parasols were standing in front of it, casting large shadows on the street despite the parasols being closed. Right at the corner of the building there were large double doors out of glass. Between the large windows of the first and the smaller windows of the second floor there was an awning, shielding most of the tables from above.
Sugarcoat looked left and right down the street. There were no cars coming in her direction – she also noticed aside from her, there were almost no pedestrians, safe for one or two men and women walking down the sidewalk. “What a sleepy town” Sugarcoat remarked, unable to imagine the city being so quiet on a Friday evening. Walking straight over the crossroads she headed for the building. She stepped up to the large double door, and took a look through it inside. Since the lights were out the room was sparsely illuminated by the light shining through the door and windows. The tables, seats and the counter were shrouded in half-shadow, casting long dark shadows all over the interior. It gave the place a slightly eerie appearance, especially with the silhouette of a slightly corpulent woman in the middle of the room. Holding a broom in her hands she wiped the floor, her eyes focused on the ground.
With the back of her hand, Sugarcoat lightly knocked against the glass. Immediately the broom’s movements came to a halt. The woman looked up to the door, Sugarcoat seeing in the shadowy contours of her face the knock had startled her. The woman quickly relaxed however when she saw Sugarcoat, a wide smile forming on her face. Leaning the broom against a nearby table she hastily hurried over to the door, while pulling some keys from her pocket. A few seconds later she opened the door.
“Good evening” the woman greeted Sugarcoat, taking a step outside. In the sunlight, Sugarcoat could see the face of a friendly woman in her late thirties or early forties, with some small signs of age on her expression, but only few wrinkles on her light-blue skin. Her hair was whirled up like the top of a cappuccino, its color alternating between large stripes of cherry-red and a lighter hue of red. Looking over her the teenager noticed she was wearing a simple evening dress, alongside some jewelry and make-up - nothing overly fancy, but it was clear she had plans of going out tonight. And though it was slightly covered by the sweet odor streaming from inside the shop, Sugarcoat also noticed the smell of perfume on her. “You must be Sugarcoat, right?” the woman asked, her voice beaming with cheerfulness.
“Yes I am” she replied, her voice beaming with nothing. “I am here because of your babysitting request.”
“I am Mrs. Cake.” Holding the door open she gestured Sugarcoat to come in. “Our apartment is on the second floor. The staircase is behind the shop.”
Sugarcoat entered, and once she was inside followed Mrs. Cake to the back of the room. As she led her through the shop, Sugarcoat took a quick look around. The place seemed clean and nice, if a bit old-fashioned, but with a certain charm to it. It was nowhere near the level of the cafés and restaurants in the city, but considering this was a small town with little other opportunities to hang out, she guessed it would do.
Mrs. Cake went through a door labeled as “private”, and Sugarcoat went after her. The two of them entered a staircase going upwards, with a door on the opposite wall that probably connected to a nearby alley. Looking up the stairs, Sugarcoat saw another door on the next floor. They began going upwards, Mrs. Cake walking ahead. “Thank you SO much for this!” she told her on the way. “Our regular to-go-babysitter had to cancel, and I was afraid we couldn’t go out tonight. But then I heard about this website, and luckily for us, you answered our request!”
“It’s no big deal” Sugarcoat assured her.
“But it is!” Mrs. Cake insisted. “I know babysitting isn’t how teenagers usually want to spend their Friday nights. And you came all the way from the city too, didn’t you?”
Sugarcoat shrugged. “The ride is not too terribly long, and there is a regular bus connection back to the city until after midnight.”
Mrs. Cake smiled at her. “That’s good to hear!”
“But you’re right, it is rather annoying to be here tonight.”
Mrs. Cake kept smiling, though it was a little more uncomfortably, while Sugarcoat kept her neutral expression. As they reached the top of the stairs Mrs. Cake opened the door. “Honey, the babysitter is here!” she called out as she entered. Sugarcoat followed her inside the living room of the apartment, and took a look around. There was nothing extraordinary about it, with a TV corner sporting a couch and a table, a dining table in the back of the room and some additional furniture like shelves full of books on the walls. Her glance fell upon a door with a smiling cupcake on it, and presumed this to be the children’s room. The other doors, Sugarcoat suspected, probably led to the kitchen, the bathroom and the bedroom.
Through the door with the cupcake, a slender, tall man around the age of Mrs. Cake appeared. His skin was yellow, while his slightly fuzzy hair bore a rather vibrant shade of orange. He seemed a little exhausted, having wrinkles under his eyes while the smile he gave Sugarcoat looked a little worn out. Like Mrs. Cake he was dressed to go out, wearing a simple tuxedo. Unfitting to his appearance though, he was carrying a toddler under each of his arms.
“Ah, hello there!” the man greeted her, still bearing his tired smile as he walked up to Sugarcoat. Mrs. Cake approached him and took one of the toddlers into her arms, allowing him to hold out his liberated arm towards the teenager. “I am Mr. Cake. A pleasure to meet you!”
Sugarcoat took his hand. “Likewise” she flatly replied. While they shook hands, she cast a quick glance at the kids he and Mrs. Cake were holding: Though they were supposed to be twins, it was obvious they were not identical, having different hair, eye and skin colours. One, who Sugarcoat presumed was a girl had fiery orange hair, yellow skin, and a pair of bright blue eyes, giggling as she tried to grab her father’s bowtie (who kept trying to keep her out of its reach). The other one, a boy as far as Sugarcoat could tell, had skin of a considerably brighter hue, brown hair and dark brown eyes, and was currently fumbling around the decoration of his mother’s dress. Their hairstyles, if one could call the single curls reaching out from their foreheads like that, were similar, though the hair of the boy was slightly smoother and the girl wore a blue ribbon on the tip of hers. Both toddlers were naked except for a diaper.
“This is Pumpkin” Mr. Cake told her, nudging the little girl in his arms with his nose. Nodding towards the kid his wife was holding, he added: “And that’s Pound.”
Sugarcoat looked at the two toddlers, both busily playing with the attires of their parents. It took a while until Mr. and Mrs. Cake had managed to get them away from them without tearing something off their clothes. “I take it you still have the instructions I sent you per email?” Mrs. Cake asked as she held her son in the air, the kid giggling and reaching his arms towards her. Sugarcoat nodded to that, and she put Pound to the ground, while Mr. Cake placed Pumpkin right next to him. “Okay, sweeties, Mom and Dad will be back real soon” she told her two little children. The two toddlers kept chuckling, even more as their mother started tickling their bellies. “Until we’re back, Auntie Sugarcoat will take good care of you. So be sweet little kids and be nice to her, won’t you?”
“I’m not their aunt though” Sugarcoat remarked.
Both parents gave their kids a kiss on the forehead, before they headed for the door. “We should be back in around three or four hours” Mrs. Cake told her as she grabbed her handbag, while Mr. Cake took their jackets. “Feel free to make yourself as comfortable as you like.”
“You are free to use the TV and take anything from the kitchen” her husband added as he helped his wife into her jacket. “Just don’t enter our bedroom, please. Other than that, make yourself at home!”
“That’s very nice” Sugarcoat said, though the Cakes weren’t quite sure if she really meant it since her face showed no signs of joy or gratitude. As they opened the door and got out, she weakly raised a hand. “Have fun tonight.”
The completely emotionless look on her face caused the Cakes to exchange a short glance, as if they were having doubts about the choice of their babysitter. They still waved back though, smiling a little awkwardly at the completely impassionate teenager, before closing the door behind them. Sugarcoat could hear them go down the stairs, their steps becoming quieter until they died down. There was one more noise of the door in the first floor opening. Once it fell shut again it became silent in the building, leaving Sugarcoat alone inside it.
Except for the kids she was supposed to take care off, of course.
Sugarcoat looked down on the two toddlers on the floor. They were staring back at her, big smiles plastered over their faces. It almost seemed like they expected something from her, making some undefinable baby sounds as they looked the grumpy teenager in the eyes.
Sugarcoat knelt in front of the twins. “I don’t like you” she told them. “Go to bed.”
Pound and Pumpkin still stared up at her, giggling. With a sigh, Sugarcoat, wrapped her arms around their little bodies. “Guess I’ll have to carry you…”
She grabbed the two kids around their waists, taking one with each arm. The moment she lifted their diaper-wrapped butts off the ground Sugarcoat could feel their weight straining her arms. Groaning while the little toddlers kept giggling she raised herself, then turned towards the door with the cupcake. She was about to walk towards it, when she felt some sort of pressure on the sides of her head. A quick glance left and right, and she noticed Pumpkin and Pound had wrapped their arms around her pigtails. With childish glee they were pulling on the long strands of her hair, treating them as some sort of toy. Clearly not amused by this Sugarcoat mumbled something under her breath, making sure to speak so low the kids couldn’t hear her, before she headed for the room with the smiling cupcake. Since her arms were occupied she wanted to open it with a light kick, only to find it was closed. Annoyed by this she raised her leg, careful not to lose balance with the kids in her arms. While bringing her foot slowly towards the door handle the two toddlers kept pulling on her hair, all the time giggling and laughing in their baby voices. Using her growing annoyance as a driving force Sugarcoat finally managed to bring her foot on top of the handle. The sole of her shoe nearly slipped off, but she managed to push it down. Immediately the door opened, so fast however Sugarcoat nearly stumbled forward. The babies giggled even louder as their sitter tripped into their room. Fortunately, she caught her balance at the right moment, keeping herself from planting her face against the floor.
Regaining her composure she took a look around the room. It looked like an ordinary room for little kids, with a table to change diapers, a few toys scattered around the carpet and a large crib with a mobile hanging from the ceiling. She looked if there was a second crib, and when she couldn’t spot one carried both babies towards it. Much to her annoyance however, as she leaned over the crib and put them inside it she found the two toddlers were unwilling to let got off her pigtails. Grunting she grabbed the arms of the babies, trying to get them off her hair. With surprising strength Pound and Pumpkin held on to her pigtails, forcing Sugarcoat to pull even firmer. It felt like she was tearing her own hair out, an experience made even more unpleasant by the babies’ high-pitched laughter. Finally their tiny hands slipped off her hair. Her head snapped back slightly, her glasses sliding a little deeper down her nose from the momentum. Her vision was a little blurry, but she could still see the two children resting inside the crib, their empty arms reaching for her hair, but unable to grab it. “Much better” she said, sighing in relief as she adjusted her glasses. Confident she looked down at the two toddlers, who seemed a little confused as they stared back up at her. “Okay, now be good little babies and just fall asleep” she told them, a slightly commanding ring in her voice.
Pumpkin and Pound gazed at her, tilting their heads as if they didn’t understand what she wanted from them. After a while Pumpkin started giggling, while Pound put his foot into his mouth. Sugarcoat looked at them for a while, tapping with her foot on the ground. “Thinking about it, I don’t have to stand here and wait for you to close your eyes.” Turning her back to the crib she headed for the door. In a few quick steps she was already out of the room with one foot. “Good night” she said over her shoulder, throwing one more glance at the crib.
It was empty.
For a moment Sugarcoat stared at the empty baby bed, blinking. The sound of giggling children then caused her to look around in confusion. With the lights turned out and the sun having vanished completely, the lighting in the room was rather sparse. Yet she was pretty sure to see no signs of the toddlers, neither in the corners nor behind the toys scattered around the room. Her eyes then stopped at a chest of drawers probably containing clothes and more toys. There was a small gap beneath it, just broad large enough for her to slip an arm through underneath.
Skeptically, Sugarcoat looked at the gap. Could these two actually have crawled down there? It looked rather small, but… maybe toddlers were flexible? Like rubber or gum? She then shook her head at herself for comparing a baby’s body with gum. Another look around the room and after hearing the giggles once more however she grumpily walked to the chest of drawers, and knelt down in front of it. Putting her hands on the ground she lowered her head, her glasses slightly sliding down her nose again as she peeked under it. While trying to push her glasses up by moving her nose she checked if there was something in the dark space. Far at the end, near the wall, she could see something roughly the size of a toddler cramped between carpet and the bottom of the chest – though with her glasses half-down and no real source of light, she couldn’t really make out what it was. With one arm she grabbed into the dark gap, fumbling around it. She could feel all sorts of dirt clinging to the sleeve of her vest, from thick clusters of dust to all sorts of hairs and sticky stuff. The usual indifferent girl turned up her mouth into a grimace of disgust. Finally, she got a grip on what she presumed to be one of the toddlers. The moment her hand touched it however she realized it was no human, but something made out of plastic. Thinking it was a toy she grabbed it, noticing it was crumpling between her fingers, and pulled it out to examine it.
It was a diaper.
Immediately she stuffed it back under the chest, quickly pulling her arm out again. It took a moment for her to digest the shock. Eventually she calmed down, telling herself the diaper was clean. She had seen it only for a brief moment, but there were no dark spots, so it was probably unused - unless they had peed into it, it struck the teenage girl. Cringing she rubbed her hand over the carpet, before she focused on finding the twins again.
As she pondered where she could have disappeared to, still kneeling on the ground, she suddenly felt something pulling on her pigtails.
Startled she looked at the ground. Her eyes widened as she saw Pumpkin and Pound sitting beside her, each holding one of her pigtails. Looking up at her with tiny baby eyes Pumpkin giggled, while Pound put the tip of Sugarcoat’s hair into his mouth.
After staring at them in surprised for a moment Sugarcoat frowned. Inside, she could feel a fit of rage slowly building up, intensifying with every second the babies innocently glanced up at her, one munching on her hair. The teenager took in a deep breath. Calmly, she put her arms around the two toddlers, stood up, and walked back to the crib. There, she placed them back inside, freed her hair from their grip, and looked them straight in the eyes.
“Sleep.”
Her voice was so stern and cold the toddlers froze for a second. Pound and Pumpkin looked at each other, as if they were communicating with their eyes. Then, all of a sudden, they let themselves fall backwards, dropping their backs on the mattress of their crib. Their eyes closed they immediately began to snore, their little baby bellies going up and down in the rhythm of their breathing.
With a look of satisfaction upon her face Sugarcoat watched the two slumbering toddlers. “And they said I couldn’t handle babies.” Confidently she strode back to the door. As she stepped outside she glanced over her shoulder at the crib again. Pound and Pumpkin were still lying inside and sleeping. Careful not to wake them up she slowly closed the door behind her, peeking one last time at the two snoring twins before closing it completely.
Standing in the living room Sugarcoat smiled for a second, before her face returned to its usual monotonous expression. “Well, that’s enough babysitting for one day” she declared, stemming her hands against her sides. “Now to kill the rest of the evening.”
She took a quick look around the living room, and decided the best way to pass the time was the TV. Sitting down on the couch she grabbed the remote, and turned it on. There was a cooking show on something called “Baking Channel”, apparently a channel only showing things related to sweets and baking. Sugarcoat raised an eyebrow, then changed the channel. The impassionate girl quickly zapped through the TV program, only watching for a brief moment before moving on.
“The new heavy-weight world champion…”
“...crowned in 1865 during times of revolution and crisis…”
“…in a colony of merkats in the savannah…”
“…the virus that turned all of humanity into zombies…”
“…now with twenty percent more electrolytes!”
Documentations, movies, ads, TV series – new shows kept flipping over the screen, the programs switching in the rate of a few seconds. Eventually she settled for the probably hundredth rerun of a sitcom that had been a hit when she was a kid. The episode was about the teenage daughter of the family babysitting the child of their neighbors to earn money for a new mobile phone after she had accidentally broken hers.
“How ironic this kind of mirrors my own situation” Sugarcoat flatly remarked. The girl on the screen stood in the living room, the look on her face one of pure horror. The whole place looked like a battlefield, with the couch lying on its back and the TV (still a tube model) resting on the floor. Hectically, with quite some exaggeration in her acting the girl jumped through the room, turning everything upside down and peeking under every surface. “WHERE IS THIS DAMN BABY?!” she screamed, pulling on her hair as the camera zoomed in on her. The giggle of a child suddenly could be heard from the off, and as the camera zoomed out again, the baby was sitting right at the girl’s feet. Blinking the girl rubbed her eyes, background laughter playing as she stared in disbelief at the innocently laughing newborn.
Sugarcoat snickered. “Sure. As if little kids could just pop up out of nowhere.”
Right as she had said that, she could hear a childish giggle both to her left and right, and feel something pulling on her pigtails.
The teenage girl widened her eyes in surprise, before squinting them in annoyance. Peeking below the rim of her glasses, she glanced to her right and left. On each side of her, one of the twins sat on the couch and pulled on her hair. And Pound was chewing on his piece of hair again.
Sugarcoat slumped her shoulders. “Okay, so you two can’t walk, but apparently can climb out of your bed, somehow open the door of your room and crawl all the way the couch in the living room without making any noise?” She harrumphed. “Good to know.”
While Pound kept munching on her hair, Pumpkin seemed to be using “her” pigtail like a bell rope, constantly pulling on it. Feeling both a metaphorical and literal headache building up Sugarcoat pulled her arms around them, and placed the twins on her lap. With some effort she managed to wrest her pigtails from the grips of their hands and teeth. “Listen, you little brats” she scolded them, sternly staring into their face. “I have no idea how you managed to get out of your room, if you jumped up to the door handle or somehow climbed on the furniture – or if you two can fly or have some sort of magic powers, whatever. Just let me make one thing clear: I am the babysitter. You are the babies. When I tell you to sleep, you don’t fall asleep for five seconds and then come to bug me, you stay in your bed and leave me alone so I can spend the rest of the evening not caring about you. Got it?”
The two toddlers looked at Sugarcoat with big eyes. She thought her message had gotten through to them, when she noticed a change in their expression: Instead of curiosity, they were looking at her in a mixture of confusion and sadness. Suddenly, their lips began to quiver, and their eyes became wet. Sugarcoat didn’t have any time to react when they already burst out crying and screaming. Immediately she covered her ears, but the screams were still banging against her eardrums. After taking a hasty look around she grabbed a couch pillow with each of her hands, and tightly pressed them against her ears. Despite being muffled she could still hear the twins’ shrill screams. She squeezed the pillows as hard against her ears as she could, closing her eyes at the same time while leaning slightly forward. When everything around her turned silent she thought it was working, until she noticed a familiar feeling of her hair getting pulled. She opened one eye, then both to see Pound and Pumpkin had taken hold of her pigtails again, looking absolutely content as both were chewing on her hair.
Dropping the pillows Sugarcoat let her arms fall to her sides in defeat. After watching the babies munch on her pigtails for a while, a thought struck her. “Maybe some food will make you tired.” She pulled her arms around them, and got up from the couch. Trying not to think about how the tips of her hair were being covered in baby spit she headed for the kitchen. As she stood in front of the door she raised her foot towards the handle, managing to “grab” it after a while. When she was about to push it down her smartphone suddenly vibrated in her pocket.
One foot in the air, with two kids in her arms, the teenage girl frowned. “This better not be Lemon going crazy over some indie punk rock band again.” With caution, she brought Pumpkin higher up in her arm. Holding her close her armpit she slowly moved her hand to her pocket, her foot all the time still on the door handle. Somehow, she managed to get her phone out of her pocket and bring it up to her ear. As she had to be careful not to drop the twins she could only hold it at the bottom with the tip of her fingers. Tucking it between her cheek Pound’s head she managed to hold it relatively secure at her head, and took the call by pressing her chin against it. “Here is Sugarcoat” she said into the speaker, careful not to let Pumpkin slip out under her arm.
“Hello, Mrs. Cake here” the voice of Mrs. Cake spoke to her. “I’m sorry to disturb you, but there is one thing we forgot to put in your instructions: Do NOT let them have anything sweet! They’re in the age when too much sugar can make them a little bit hyperactive.”
“No problem” Sugarcoat replied. Simultaneously she pressed down the handle of the door with her foot, and pushed it open. As she looked into the kitchen however her whole body froze, and her jaw dropped.
“Okay then. We’re entering the restaurant right now. If there’s anything you need, you can just call. Have fun!” Sugarcoat heard her hanging up, followed by a dial tone. Absent-minded, the phone slipped out under her cheek, and fell to the ground.
The whole kitchen was filled with bakery products, from tarts and cakes to cookies of all flavor and several different kinds of self-made lollipops, bonbons, and other forms of dandy. There was no surface not covered by some sort of sweet treat. Upon seeing the colorful confect the two toddlers giggled, reaching their arms out into the kitchen.
Still holding Pumpkin in her armpit Sugarcoat pushed her glasses up with her thumb and index finger, rubbing her eyes. “You gotta be kidding me…”
Gritting her teeth Sugarcoat pushed with all her strength against the refrigerator. Inside, she could feel the various cakes, tarts and other candies pushing back against the door, keeping her from closing it. Stemming her whole body against it the refrigerator finally fell shut, sealing all the sweet treats inside it. Exhausted Sugarcoat leaned back, deeply breathing in and out. She wiped her sleeve over her forehead, taking a glance around the kitchen. Her stoic face showed some slight signs of satisfaction as she stared at empty surfaces, all the baked goods resting inside the fridge. Only a jar with cookies was still standing around.
“Good” she said to herself, taking a step forward from the fridge. “It’s unlikely these squirts will crawl into the kitchen, climb up a table and take a piece of a cake or something, but after they snuck out of their rooms, I’m not taking any chances they could somehow snack on something, get hyperactive and turn into even more of a pain than they already are.”
With all the sweet stuff out of the way, she could finally start preparing something the two toddlers were actually allowed to eat. From the pocket of her dress she pulled out her smartphone, and looked at the email with the instructions from Mrs. Cake. “If hungry, give them some warm milk” she read out loud. “Doesn’t sound too complicated.” Putting the phone back she looked around the various cupboards and shelves in the kitchen. “So, where do they store their milk?”
Very slowly, her eyes darted towards the refrigerator.
“…Somehow I feel I should have predicted this” she grumbled. Carefully she grabbed the hilt of the fridge. Closing her eyes she pulled the door open, shielding her face with an arm while turning her head away. To her surprise though, no avalanche of confect was burying her in a sweet grave. Putting down her arm she looked into the fridge, finding that while it was completely cramped, all the cakes, tarts and everything else were safely residing at its place. She breathed a small sigh of relief, and began to search for the milk. Since the fridge was overflowing with bakery products it was quite hard to see anything behind all the frostings and cream toppings. After a while Sugarcoat was about to close the fridge and search the cabins and cupboards, when she spotted something: The teat of a feeding bottle, looking out behind a strawberry-cake.
Which was placed behind a staple of muffins.
Which were cramped between two three-story tall tarts.
Which couldn’t be moved without making half of the fridge’s contents fall out.
Which would probably cause the rest to fall out as well.
The teenager rolled her eyes. “And that was even more predictable.” Grunting, she began to one by one take out the various baked items she had carefully stuffed into the fridge earlier. She had to be very cautious when removing something from the wall of sweets, especially the larger stuff like cakes and tarts. Whenever something began to tumble even the slightest she paused, waiting until the towers of confect had calmed down again. Once she had put almost everything else out of the fridge again she grabbed the feeding bottle – conveniently for her, it was already filled with milk. After putting it to the side she began to refill the fridge again, cake by cake, muffin by muffin, until it was bursting with bakery products again. Again she leaned her whole body against the door, and with some effort, managed to close it. It took a moment for her to catch her breath again. She was about to step forward and grab the bottle, when suddenly, she remembered a small detail.
“Wait, I’m sitting two babies.”
Quickly she reopened the fridge. Looking through it again she found a second bottle, like the last one placed in the far back behind all the sweets.
Sugarcoat planted her palm against her face.
Another emptying and refilling of the fridge later, Sugarcoat carried the two feeding bottles towards the door. “They better be hungry” she murmured to herself, about to push the handle. Just then, she remembered she was supposed to warm the milk. “Hm… I think I’ve seen that in a sitcom before.” Turning on the spot she walked to the stove, and put the feeding bottles on a counter. After searching the cupboards for a while she found a pot large enough for both bottles, and filled it with water. She put the pot on a hotplate, activated it, waited until the water boiled, then turned the plate off and pulled the pot on a cold one. Putting the two bottles inside it she leaned against the counter, waiting with crossed arms for the milk to warm up. “Of course, in the sitcom the bottle exploded and the entire kitchen was covered in milk, but that won’t happen in reality.” She tapped her finger against her elbow, listening to the silence around her. “Who am I talking to?”
After a while she decided to check the temperature. She took both bottles out of the water and pulled up her sleeve slightly, holding one bottle above her uncovered wrist. She squeezed it lightly, squirting some drops of milk onto her wrist. Part of her had expected a burn that would sear her skin and cause her to scream in pain. Instead, the stain of milk felt a little warm, but not painful in the least. Uncertain Sugarcoat looked at her wrist. Could she give it to the babies like this? Or did she have to cool it some more? Did she actually heat it up enough or was it still too cold? She knew it wasn’t supposed to burn, but was it okay if she barely felt the temperature?
She pondered about this for a while, wondering if she should serve it like this, heat it up further or wait until it had cooled down some more. “It would have been nice if Mrs. Cake had been more precise in her instructions instead of just saying I need to warm it up.” She frowned. “Why do I keep talking to myself?”
With a sigh, she put the bottle down. At least she had got a little break from these two toddlers pulling on her hair, she thought. Before she had started cleaning up the kitchen she had put them on the couch in the living room, and told them to stay quiet. She was pleasantly surprised they seemed to have listened to her this time, since she not heard a sound from them after leaving them alone.
She let the words roll around in her head again. She had left the babies alone in the living room.
“That… was probably a dumb thing to do.” Immediately the teenager rushed to the door. Before she swung it open however she paused. “Wait, what am I worrying about?” she asked herself, her panic dissolving into her usual bad-tempered monotony. “They are babies. It’s not like they could wreck the entire place.” A lot more composed she opened the door, and looked inside the living room.
The sight in front of her resembled a battlefield. Magazines, couch pillows and some other small or light objects were scattered over the floor. Additionally, there were toys lying around everywhere: On the couch table, around the TV, in the dining area - even on top of a shelf she could spot a stuffed plush pony. Several of the shelves had been emptied of some of their contents, books being piled loosely around them. Sugarcoat wasn’t sure, but believed the couch had been moved as well, standing a little more diagonal than before. The only thing left to make the scenery complete would have been flickering lamps and a fire.
Sugarcoat stared at the chaos in front of her, as if she wasn’t sure how to react to it. Suddenly, she could hear a giggle from below. Looking straight down she saw the twins sitting at her feet, innocently smiling at her while stretching out their baby hands for her face. Sugarcoat’s wide eyes then narrowed slightly, bearing a look of boredom. “Wrecking the room behind the babysitter’s back” she summarized the situation flatly. “You two really leave out no cliché, do you? And how did you do without making a sound? Are you secretly ninjas or something?”
High-pitched laughter and tiny hands grabbing the air were all the response she received. Reluctantly, Sugarcoat bent down to the ground. Sure enough the little baby fingers embraced the thick strands of hair the moment they were in their reach. With a dark look on her face Sugarcoat grabbed the toddlers under her arms, who kept giggling as they were lifted up from the ground. Turning on the spot she walked back into the kitchen, while Pumpkin and Pound kept pulling on her pigtails. “Maybe this will be a fashion trend someday…”
Inside the kitchen she put the little troublemakers on the table. “I’m giving you two your milk bottles now” she said sternly, at the same time pulling her hair out of their grip. “You will drink it, then you will get tired, I will bring you into bed, and you will sleep for the rest of the evening while I clean up the mess you created.” She gave them one more glare to tell them to stay where they were. The two toddlers actually sat still on the spot, their smiling faces becoming looks of curiosity. Turning around Sugarcoat walked over to the counter near the stove where she had left the bottles. When she was about to grab them she heard a giggle behind her. Immediately she turned her head. Pound and Pumpkin were still sitting on the table. Pumpkin was grinning and giggling as she watched Sugarcoat, while Pound sucked on his thumb. Squinting her eyes the teenager coldly stared at them. As if she expected them to do something the moment she wasn’t looking she didn’t let them out of her sight for a second, at the same reaching her arm out for the bottles of milk. Since she didn’t see where she was reaching exactly however her hand first fumbled around through the air for a moment, before it eventually landed on the stove. The moment she touched the smooth surface Sugarcoat felt a sudden warmth at her hand. Surprised she turned her head, seeing her palm was lying flat on a hotplate.
The one she had used to warm the milk earlier, to be precise.
Pulling her arm back Sugarcoat screamed loudly. The rather comical outburst was quite untypical for the stern teenager, even more when she jumped on the spot and started blowing air into her hand. Luckily, the plate had been cooling down for a while, so her skin wasn’t burned or hurt. Soon the pain had subsided, leaving her with no lasting damage but a small tingle in her hand. Glad nothing had happened Sugarcoat breathed a heavy sigh of relief. The noise of giggles, much louder than before however caused her to scowl. She threw another glare at the two babies on the table, both seeming very amused by Sugarcoat’s little accident, laughing and giggling happily.
Sugarcoat’s eyebrows furrowed, while her cheeks flushed red in anger. With grit teeth she grabbed the feeding bottles. With heavy steps she stomped back to the giggling babies, and shoved the teats right into their open mouths.
Immediately Pumpkin and Pound froze, their tiny eyes staring in shock at Sugarcoat. As she kept holding the bottles in their mouths under her stern glare however, they nervously embraced them with their little hands, and began to suck. Soon, the looks on their faces relaxed. Smirking with confidence Sugarcoat let go of the bottles, watching the babies greedily drink their milk. The white liquid steadily depleted, Pound and Pumpkin tilting their bottles further and further to keep the milk flowing. Once they had drunken every last drop they put the teats out of their mouths. Simultaneously they belched and dropped their empty bottles, Sugarcoat catching them before they rolled off the table. Both toddlers smiled in satisfaction, and, to Sugarcoat’s delight, seemed a little drowsy. “Good” she said, grinning a little. All that was left to do was to put them into their crib, clean up the living room, and then she could finally get her well-deserved-
Her train of thought was interrupted when something caught her nose. She sniffled the air, her smile dropping as her nostrils registered a rather foul stench. Sugarcoat looked at Pumpkin and Pound, who still seemed rather satisfied, and leaned a little closer to them. Carefully she took a smell from both them. Immediately she pulled back her head, frowning in disgust while pinching her nose. Reading the look on their faces again, Sugarcoat realized they didn’t really look satisfied, but more as if they were… relieved.
The babysitter scolded them with a stare. “You two really leave out no cliché.” One hand keeping her nose shut she pulled out her smartphone, again checking the email for instructions. Once she had read what she wanted she put it back, and began searching the cabins of the kitchen. It didn’t take long before she found the package with what she needed, and hefted it over to the kitchen table. She looked at the two toddlers, noticing the stench was getting more pungent, and took in a deep breath through her mouth.
Changing diapers. It was the most over-used situation to get a laugh out of any baby-sitting scenario. Sitcoms, cartoons and any other media portrayed it as a terrifyingly disgusting task with plenty of opportunities for gross accidents. The stench alone would leave the poor sitters barely conscious, and usually the scene would end with the contents of the diapers spilled all over the place. Sugarcoat, of course, didn’t believe any of this. She was certain that the design of modern diapers would not only absorb most of the bad smell once it had been taken off, but also make sure changing them was a comfortable experience with practically no room for possible mishaps.
Ten minutes of changing diapers and cleaning every surface in the kitchen later, she had gained a newfound respect for the realism depicted in cartoons and sitcoms.
Throwing the last cleaning cloth into the (well-filled) garbage can, she leaned against the nearby fridge. Behind her glasses, her eye-lids were having trouble staying open, almost falling down several times. A wave of tiredness was washing over the teenage girl, settling into all her limbs. Part of her wanted to just lie down on the kitchen floor, roll into a ball and sleep for the next two weeks. Quickly she shook her head, suppressing a yawn. “It’s almost over” she told herself, not even questioning anymore why she was talking to herself. “Just put those two into bed, and you can get all the rest you-”
Suddenly she froze. Her eyes were set on the table where she had changed the two babies. The surface of the table was sparkling brightly since she had at least cleaned it three times, leaving no trace of any dirt behind. Also, the babies were gone.
Frustrated Sugarcoat clenched her hands against her face. “Not again!” she groaned, pulling on her cheeks. Hastily she looked around the kitchen, checking for any signs of the toddlers. She couldn’t spot them anywhere though, not on top the shelves, not near the stove, not under the table, not around the open cookie jar, not-
Wait, wasn’t the cookie jar supposed to be closed?
And why were there crumbles lying all around it?
Sugarcoat gulped. Slowly she walked over to the open cookie jar. The lid was lying next to it, not looking like someone had lifted it, but rather pushed it off. With an uneasy feeling in her stomach she leaned forward, peeking inside it.
It was empty.
In that very instance, a loud noise suddenly sounded from the living room. Startled Sugarcoat turned her head to the door. From the other side, she could hear how things were getting thrown around and falling down, amongst various other sounds of destruction. And in the middle of all, she could hear the high-pitched laughter of two individuals – not little giggles, but full-blown laughter, chortling in a maniacal pace as if it was coming out way too fast.
For a second, a look of horror was on crossed the teenager’s face. It only remained shortly however before it fell back into its stoic façade. Slumping her shoulders, Sugarcoat massaged her temples. “I should have mowed a dozen lawns...”
After sunset, when the moon and the stars shined in the night sky, the streets around Sugarcube Corner were very quiet. Only occasionally a car would drive by, and even rarer a pedestrian pass the lonely sidewalk. Despite the solitude of the crossroads, busses still regular dropped by the local station, even at late hours. As the bus stopped at the street, a young girl stepped out of it. She was dressed in blue jeans and a purple-white training jacket with the emblem of Crystal Prep Academy on it. Once the bus drove off she didn’t even look left and right before crossing the street, heading straight for Sugarcube corner. Instead of going to the entrance of the café however she walked into the little alley next to the building. Though a lantern was standing right in front of it the girl’s own shadow blocked most of the light, making it hard to see in the alley. Still, as she walked deeper into it, the hands in the pockets of her jacket, she could spot a door at the wall. As she approached it a lamp went on above it, the sudden flash of light causing her to shield her eyes. When she had adjusted to the brightness she stood in front of the door. An intercom was built into it, alongside the button of a doorbell reading “Cake” right below it. Pushing the button she heard a ringing from the inside, then stuffed her hand into her pocket again as she waited for a response. However, even after a minute no response was coming from the intercom. The girl began to frown, tapping with her sport shoes impatiently on the ground. She was about to turn away and leave, when a scratching noise sounded from the intercom.
“Is that you, Mister and Miss Cake?” a dry female voice asked through the speaker. Though it sounded rather monotonous by nature, there was also a tired ring in it, even a pleading tone as she asked: “Are you back already?”
Leaning towards the speaker the girl pushed the button to reply. “Um, no, it’s me” she replied “Indigo.”
The intercom responded with a loud, disappointed sigh. “One second” the dry voice told her, before the speaker went silent. Inside, Indigo could hear a door opening, followed by feet going down stairs. A moment later the door opened. Indigo took a small step back, startled by the teenager standing in front of her. The white-haired girl seemed rather beat-up, her shoulders slumping and her head hanging low. The look on her face was even more dour than usual, a deep tired frown dominating her expression. Her clothes were ruffled and full of wrinkles, her vest hanging off one shoulder, and her white hair was a complete mess – especially her pigtails, which looked like someone had tried to eat them.
“Hey, Sugarcoat!” Indigo greeted her, forcing a smile as she rubbed her neck. “You look, um…”
Sugarcoat arched an eyebrow. “Terrible? Drained of life? Completely destroyed? As if I’ve been rolled over by a tank, got back up on my feet only to be rolled over by a second tank?”
Indigo cleared her throat. “Actually, you look like a third one hit ya good, too.”
With her thumb and index finger Sugarcoat pushed up her glasses, rubbing the bridge of her nose. “What do you want, Indigo?” she asked the blue-haired girl.
Indigo shrugged. “Oh you know, I was just in the area and-”
She was cut off as Sugarcoat held up a hand in front of her face. “This is a private apartment on top of a bakery and café” Sugarcoat stated, looking sternly at her. “Also, this isn’t even our hometown. Don’t give me that ‘I was just around‘-nonsense.”
The athlete stroke the back of her head, smiling somewhat embarrassed. “Fine” she confessed. “I came over because I figured you could use a hand.”
Sugarcoat crossed her arms. “Why would you think that?”
Indigo put both her hands on her friend’s shoulders. “Sugarcoat, you are a great girl with many talents, and you’re one of my best friends” she said seriously, startling Sugarcoat slightly as she looked her straight into the eyes. A wide grin suddenly spread over her face before she burst out laughing. “But seriously, YOU and KIDS? No way that CAN’T go wrong!”
Under Indigo’s loud laughter Sugarcoat frowned even deeper. “Well thanks for that” she said, brushing Indigo’s hands off her shoulders. “But while I appreciate your concern, I highly doubt you could help me.”
“Oh, I can help you big time!” Indigo proudly responded, pointing her thumb at her chest. “I know a thing or two about babysitting! Besides, if it’s two versus two, at least the odds are evened.”
Sugarcoat huffed. “I wonder.”
The blue-haired teen gave her an odd look. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
For a moment Sugarcoat seemed unsure if she should go on, but then continued speaking anyway. “Well, to put it bluntly…”
“…which is pretty much all you do…”
Sugarcoat sighed. “Look, I don’t have time watching three babies” she told her, not in an offending, but still slightly aggressive tone. “I have enough trouble keeping two from destroying the apartment.”
The noise of something heavy falling on the ground up the stairs made Sugarcoat cringe.
“Which I should probably get back to right now. Good night.” Just as she had said that Sugarcoat closed the door, leaving a rather irritated Indigo standing in front of it. Suddenly, the door opened again by notch, Sugarcoat’s head poking out for a moment. “But I still appreciate you dropping by and offering your help.” And the door fell shut again.
Left alone in the alley, Indigo scowled. Hands in her pockets as she turned to the street, mumbling something as she walked away.
Inside the building Sugarcoat went back up to the apartment, one hand on the rail. Halfway up the stairs she suddenly heard a crashing noise from up above. Panicked, she jumped up the remaining stairs, dashing into the living room. The whole place was a mess, looking even more vandalized than before she had answered the door. The most striking difference, Sugarcoat noticed in shock, was that the TV had been thrown over from its stand. The screen facing the carpet it was lying at the ground, the wires ripped out and scattered around it.
Immediately Sugarcoat rushed to the TV. As she bent down she took a quick look around for the culprits. She just saw a small blur vanishing through the door into the kids’ room, accompanied by a hyperactive giggle. Grumbling she set her eyes back on the TV - though leaving these toddlers alone was basically like setting up a time bomb, she decided to check first if the TV was alright. “If that thing’s broken, I’ll have to babysit until these two are in third grade to pay that off.” Carefully she lifted the TV up, grateful it was rather light, and put it back on its place. To her relief, the screen seemed undamaged. “Good thing they don’t make those out of glass anymore” she said to herself, and began to plug the wires back into their places. Once she was done she took a step back. Everything seemed okay, but she decided it was better to test if it was really running alright. She glanced at the chaos around her, guessing the remote to be hidden among one of the piles made out of toys, books and pretty much anything else a baby could grab and throw. With a sigh, she pushed the button on the TV.
It took a moment for it to boot, Sugarcoat nervously staring at the black screen. A weight fell off her chest as it jumped to life, showing a clear picture. The sitcom with the babysitting girl was still running. Sugarcoat recognized the scene as one near the end of the episode, with the girl standing in the living room. No traces of the chaos from earlier were left, the whole furniture being back at its place, shining and sparkling. In her arms, the girl was holding the baby, wrapped in a white cloth and sleeping peacefully with the face of an angel. Next to her a boy around her age was standing, a stereotypical nice guy from the book. Both teenagers were smiling from ear to ear at each other, so much in fact it was slightly disturbing.
“Thank you so much for helping me!” Sugarcoat heard the girl in the TV say in a voice so artificially sweet it would have put Sour to shame. “You are my best friend! I should have listened when you told me I wasn’t up for this by myself.”
“It’s no problem!” he assured her, overacting just as much as his female colleague. “But remember, next time you have a problem you can’t overcome by yourself, just call a friend for help!”
Sugarcoat turned off the TV. Her hand remained on the switch for a moment, before her fingers slowly glided off. She stared at the black screen, standing in the devastated living room. In the silence around her, she could clearly hear her own thoughts inside her head – a train of complicated and contradicting thoughts, born from a variety of complex emotions like despair, solitude, shame and personal pride.
The train of thoughts suddenly crashed when she heard something heavy fall over in the kid’s room.
Sugarcoat stared at the door with the smiling cupcake for a moment. With a look of annoyance upon her, she then pulled out her smartphone. After rummaging through her contacts for a moment she put the phone on her ear, waiting until the call was picked up.
“Indigo, it’s me. You’re not in the bus back to the city yet, are you?”
Dear Dean Cadence,
Today, I’ve learnt a very important lesson: When you have trouble with a task or face a problem you can’t overcome on your own…
A loud crash sounded through the apartment. Sitting on the couch with her smartphone in her hands, Sugarcoat heard how Indigo dashed after the two hyperactive twins. “COME BACK HERE, YOU LITTLE TWERPS!!”
…don’t ask someone just as incompetent for help. Zero plus Zero doesn’t equal one.
With a sigh Sugarcoat put her smartphone away. Behind her, Indigo threw herself over the couch, panting in exhaustion. “You’re no better babysitter than I am” Sugarcoat remarked, sternly looking at her.
The blue-haired girl angrily glared at her. “Hey, you didn’t tell me they were on a sugar rush!” she snapped back. “Besides, you’re the one getting paid for this – so get off your butt and help me!”
Though a little reluctant, Sugarcoat stood up. “Alright, what shall we do?” she asked.
Raising herself Indigo held up a finger. “First, we lock all the doors so they can’t get out of the living room” she said, hold up a second finger. “Then, we catch them.”
Sugarcoat scoffed. “That’s a terrible plan. Also, I don’t have any keys for this apartment, so we can’t lock the doors.”
Stemming her hands against her sides Indigo looked around. “I’m sure there are keys lying around some-” Suddenly, she froze as something lunged out at her from behind. Indigo turned her head, seeing two small bodies flying at her from a dark spot of the room. Time seemed to be slowing down for the athlete, giggles resonating in her ears while little hands were reaching out for her. Just as slowly as things seemed to unfold at first everything suddenly happened in an instant: One pair of hands grabbed her around the neck, the other around the waist. The tiny arms were barely able to reach around her, yet were holding her with surprising strength. Despite their light weight the impact was strong enough to make Indigo tumble backwards, fall right over the back of the couch and land upside-down on it, her head smashing into the seat cushion.
Sugarcoat simply stared at Indigo and the two toddlers clinging to her. The little kids weren’t just calmly hugging her however – in their current state, this seemed to be impossible anyway. Hanging upside down around her waist Pound tightly clenched her arms around her, while frantically banging his head against her belly. Though still holding her arms around her neck Pumpkin had stepped onto the couch, jumping up and down on it while violently shaking Indigo’s head. Although they were laughing and giggling the whole time their expressions were more over-ecstatic than cheerful, as if they were unable to stop smiling even if they wanted to. Their little eyes were flickering with excess energy, their whole bodies quivering the whole time while they constantly turned their heads from one direction to the other.
Sugarcoat watched the hyperactive toddlers for a moment, before casting a glance at Indigo’s face. Though being tortured she gave her a determined look, as if she was saying: “What are you waiting for? Grab them!” Getting into position she watched the twins “play” with Indigo a little longer, waiting for the right moment. Then, when she though the time was right, she moved her arms forward as fast as possible, trying to grab Pound and Pumpkin. Her fingers could almost feel their skin when they suddenly slipped away, abruptly letting go off Indigo and instead jumping at Sugarcoat. Pound grabbed her head while Pumpkin lunged out at her shoulders, both toddlers giggling as they pulled her down. Taken by surprise Sugarcoat couldn’t regain her balance, and fell with her face first on top of Indigo. Both girls yelped as Sugarcoat pushed her off the couch. The two teenagers fell on the ground, the twins laughing as they jumped away.
Lying in front of the couch the babysitters couldn’t move, their bodies being slightly caught up in each other. They exchanged an annoyed glance, before setting their gaze on the toddlers. Their movements were rather hectic, their bodies twitching from the overdose of sugar as they leapt over the couch. From their position, the teenagers watched them spurt through the living room. Despite their small size they moved surprisingly fast, making it a little hard to follow them. Eventually they stopped in front of a door. Sugarcoat and Indigo then watched quite perplexed as Pound pressed his arms against the door, while Pumpkin climbed on his shoulders. Despite their bodies’ constant trembling Pumpkin stood secure on top of her brother. Stretching herself as far as possible her tiny fingers reached the door handle, and as she pushed it down the door opened by a notch. Immediately Pound grabbed the open edge of the door, pulling it further open while Pumpkin jumped from his shoulders. Laughing like tiny maniacs they then rushed through the door, vanishing in a blur.
The teenagers stared after them, blinking. Sugarcoat was the first to regain her composure. “So that’s how they open doors” she remarked flatly.
Indigo nodded. “Good to know.”
With some effort, the two separated themselves from each other and got back up on their feet. Indigo stretched herself slightly, keeping her eyes on where the twins had left. “Where does that door lead to?” she asked.
Sugarcoat shrugged. “I don’t know” she said, walking over to it. “I guess it’s the bedroom.”
Indigo turned up her mouth. “That’s bad. Parents hate it when the sitters get in those. We have to be careful not to leave a trace.”
“The way I see it” Sugarcoat said as she stepped through the door “We must make sure THEY don’t leave a trace.”
She looked into the room, Indigo walking up behind her. It was rather dark aside from the light streaming in from the living room, but they could see a large double-bed standing at the wall. Aside from it, the furniture seemed to consist mainly of a few shelves and bed tables on each side of the bed. Sugarcoat fumbled around the wall next to the door, until she found the light switch. Flicking it on she saw there was also a desk in the back of the room, hosting a computer. Additionally two laptops were lying on it, the sight of which making Sugarcoat a little melancholic. She couldn’t space out for long though as Indigo pushed her aside, walking into the bedroom.
“Okay, let’s search those little brats and get out of here” the sporty girl declared.
Sugarcoat harrumphed, but began searching. Both she and Indigo scanned the room, looking for the babies. “Babies are really good at suddenly vanishing into thin air” Sugarcoat remarked.
“Probably because they are so small” Indigo guessed. She walked towards the bed, lifting one of the pillows. Seeing no baby beneath it she put it back down. “But seriously, these toddlers are like nin-”
Suddenly, the athlete froze. Her gaze was locked onto the ceiling, her jaw hanging wide open. “Um, Sugar?”
Sugarcoat turned towards her. “What?”
Indigo silently pointed at the ceiling lamp. As Sugarcoat looked up her eyes widened, almost popping out of her head. Pound and Pumpkin were standing on the shade of the ceiling lamp, holding on to the cable with their tiny hands.
“They’re not ninjas” Sugarcoat said, adjusting her glasses as if to check if they were broken. “They’re circus acrobats!”
Both girls looked clueless at the toddlers hanging at the lamp above the bed. Pound and Pumpkin swung forth and back, rocking the lamp from one side to the other and using it like a see-saw. “You think they are gonna hurt themselves?” Indigo asked a little worried.
Sugarcoat shook her head. “They are too annoying to be seriously injured by something like that” she deadpanned. “But they could damage the lamp.”
Crossing her arms Indigo rolled up her eyes. “Well, good to know where your priorities lie.” She looked back at the kids, who were swinging steadily faster and wider. “Anyway, we gotta get them down there.”
Watching the hyperactive kids swing from side to side, Sugarcoat asked: “And how are we supposed to do that?”
“Easy” Indigo replied. “One of us grabs the lamp, the other one gets the-”
“I call lamp.”
Indigo glared at Sugarcoat. “Fine. You stop the lamp and I’ll grab the kids.”
After slipping out of their shoes the two stepped onto the bed. Standing on the mattress, careful not to mess up the blanket, they held up their arms. Above them they watched the lamp swing back and forth, the two toddlers giggling more excitedly the faster it moved. Sugarcoat kept her eyes on the lamp, memorizing the pattern of its movements. When she thought she had it she tried to snatch the shade. She only grabbed into empty air though, the twins chuckling even louder as if to mock her. Frowning Sugarcoat repeatedly tried to grab the lamp, but missed it again and again, growing more frustrated with each failed attempt. Furious, she leapt up at it, basically throwing her whole body against it. She wrapped her arms around the shade, right between the babies’ bodies, and stemmed her feet against the mattress. But instead of stopping the lamp Sugarcoat yelped as she was suddenly swinging along with it, her feet sliding over the bed. Watching her swing around Indigo quickly grabbed her friend around the waist. At first it looked like both girls were swinging with the lamp, but it didn’t take long before they stopped. With Sugarcoat hanging on the lamp and Indigo hanging around her the two stood on the bed for a moment, the toddlers laughing above them.
“Nicely done, Pigtails” Indigo commented sarcastically.
A slight hue of red crept onto Sugarcoat’s cheeks. “Just grab the kids” she muttered.
Indigo let go of Sugarcoat, looking up at the twins. Though the lamp was not moving they still tried to swing it, moving their bodies back and forth while laughing out loud. Seemingly distracted Indigo carefully brought her hands close to them, before suddenly moving her arms forward. “Got’cha!... Huh?” Quite surprised Indigo felt nothing between her fingers. Just before she could grab them they had let themselves fall backwards, dropping through the air right onto the bed. They bounced off the mattress, both landing on their feet and immediately jumping down the bed. Running away from their babysitters they dashed towards the living room, so fast it was barely possible to follow their movements.
Still standing at the lamp Sugarcoat looked flatly at Indigo. “You’re really a babysitting expert, aren’t you?”
This time the blue-haired athlete blushed. “Shut it, Sugar.”
The two teenagers jumped off the bed and ran after the toddlers. Back inside the living room they saw them dashing around the piles of stuff they had thrown over earlier. Indigo and Sugarcoat exchanged a glance, both looking determined. Nodding at each other they turned back to the twins, and began chasing after them. The chase went through the entire living room, across the TV area and around the dining table, continuing into the kitchen, back to the living room and then into children’s room. As the toddlers ran back into the living room again Indigo yelled and jumped forward, stretching her arms out for them. Just before she reaching them however they suddenly made a turn to the side. The airborne teenager landed on the couch, burying her face in a pillow. The impact caused the couch to slide a few feet over the carpet, luckily without damaging it.
Rushing behind the couch Sugarcoat helped her lean up. “Are you alright?” she asked.
Indigo stared dizzily into the air for a moment, then shook her head. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine” she mumbled. As she climbed over the back of the couch to Sugarcoat’s side, she and Sugarcoat stared after the twins. They were still running around, their bodies blurring through the room and turning it into an even greater mess. “But if this keeps up, we’ll never get the apartment cleaned up before their parents are back.”
Sugarcoat crossed her arms. “So, what do we do now, Miss expert babysitter?”
With a ponderous look on her face, Indigo scratched her head. “Running after them won’t do any good…We need some sort of bait, something to lure them towards us.” She turned towards Sugarcoat. “You spent the whole evening with them. Was there anything they were especially interested in?”
Though she didn’t reply, Sugarcoat turned up her mouth upon Indigo’s question. She looked like she was fighting with herself for a moment, before eventually, she slumped her shoulders. Under the curious look of her friend she kneeled on the ground, leaning forward and placing her hands on the carpet. Grumpily she let her pigtails fall down, their tips just touching the floor.
Once they saw the white strands gently swaying near the ground the twins immediately stopped. Their tiny eyes sparkled as they stared at Sugarcoat’s hair, their lips quivering in excitement. Faster than light they were at Sugarcoat’s side, one toddler hanging at each of her pigtails. Clenching their arms around them they wildly pulled on them, with so much strength it felt for Sugarcoat like they really wanted to tear them off this time. She cringed, even more when she felt them taking the tips of her hair into their mouths. In the middle of her struggle, she glanced up at Indigo. Looking down on her the cheeks of the blue-haired girl were quite inflated, and although she pressed her lips together, small laughs constantly slipped through them. “Not one word, Zap” Sugarcoat sternly demanded.
Turning her head away Indigo chuckled into her hand. Sugarcoat grunted, when she suddenly noticed the twins were not pulling on her hair anymore. Fearing they had run away again she immediately turned her eyes back to them. What she saw however surprised her made her stare with wide eyes and an open mouth at them. “Hey, Indigo…” The athlete turned back to her, and upon seeing what Sugarcoat saw, made the same baffled expression as her.
The twins had fallen asleep.
They watched the toddlers for a moment. They had both let go of Sugarcoat’s hair, lying peacefully on the carpet. Then, the teenagers relaxed, as they let out a loud sigh of relief. Sugarcoat leaned back while Indigo dropped to the ground, both girls resting their bodies against the couch. They felt the exhaustion settling into them, panting and sweating from the stress of the evening.
”See?” Indigo said between breathes, the smile on her face radiating both exhaustion and pride. “All went just as I planned!”
Sugarcoat glared suspiciously at her. “As you planned?” she repeated.
Indigo nodded. “Yeah! When kids are on a sugar rush, you gotta let ‘em run around until they get tired and fall asleep. Playing with your hair seems to have pushed them to that point.”
Still looking skeptical Sugarcoat cocked her head. “And that is actually a certified and recommended method to babysit?”
Pulling one leg towards her Indigo shrugged. “You don’t tell anyone, I don’t tell anyone, okay?”
Closing her eyes Sugarcoat nodded. “Deal.”
Both girls fell quiet. Sugarcoat breathed deeply, hearing nothing but Indigo’s pants and the snores of the toddlers. With one eye, she glanced towards them. Pound was lying on his belly, sticking his in diapers covered butt to the ceiling and rubbing his cheek against the carpet. Meanwhile Pumpkin rested on her back, bringing her hand to her head in her sleep. Softly she slapped her face a few times before her thumb made its way into her mouth, and she began to suck on it as she slept. Sugarcoat watched them for a while as they were peacefully slumbering, the little devils suddenly having turned into angels. “Indigo?”
Turning her head to the side Indigo looked at her friend. “Yeah?”
Leaning back Sugarcoat closed her eyes again. “Remind me to never have kids.”
“Okay, at three!” Indigo called out. “One… two… THREE!”
From its bottom, the two teenagers simultaneously lifted the couch, each holding it at one end. Slowly its feet rose from the carpet, a little higher on Indigo’s side. With some effort they managed to move it a few steps to the sides, back to its original position. “You got it?” Indigo asked over the couch.
Feeling her fingers growing numb from the weight Sugarcoat leaned slightly backwards, peeking under the couch. She could see the dents in the carpet where the feet had originally been standing, and tried to hold her end of the couch so they would roughly be above it. “Okay!” she eventually responded. Carefully the two girls lowered the couch again, trying to hit the “markings” as precisely as possible. When the couch was back on the ground it had slightly shifted its position, but on a superficial glance, seemed like it hadn’t moved.
“Phew!” Stemming one hand against her hip Indigo wiped her arm over her forehead. “Looks like we’re finally done – or what do you think?”
While she rubbed off the sweat from her own face Sugarcoat looked around the living room. The furniture was all back on its original place, just like it was in every other room. The lamps were standing again, the books and other objects put back into the shelves, and there were no toys lying around. “Maybe one or two things are still a little off” Sugarcoat remarked flatly. “But by the time they notice, I’m hopefully back at home with their money already.”
Indigo snickered. “Speaking off home, I better get lost before the parents come back” she suggested, pointing with her thumb towards the door. “You know, they could think you invited a friend over to party or something.”
Sugarcoat glanced towards the children’s bed room. The door was closed, but as silent as it was, she could hear the twins lying in their beds, snoring peacefully. “Are you sure they’re gonna sleep through?” she asked a little nervously.
Indigo nodded. “Don’t worry” she assured her. “After such a sugar rush, kids usually are totally burned out.”
Again Sugarcoat ran her palm over her sweaty face. “They’re not the only ones.”
A bit embarrassed, Indigo rubbed the back of her head. “Yeah, I guess I should have told you twins aren’t the best choice for a first time babysitter job – sorry I let you jump into the cold water.”
“It’s okay” Sugarcoat told her “I probably wouldn’t have listened to you anyway.”
Indigo showed another smile at her. Raising one arm to wave at her, she headed for the door. “Well, I’m out. Good night!”
“Good night” Sugarcoat replied. When Indigo was almost outside, she called after her: “And… thank you.”
Indigo stopped at the door. Again she smiled at Sugarcoat, before closing the door behind her.
Sugarcoat looked after her for a moment, waiting until she couldn’t hear her footsteps on the stairs anymore. After a while, she turned to the door with the smiling cupcake. On her tiptoes she walked over to it, opening it by a notch. She was careful not to open it so far the light streaming in would hit the crib, just so much she could poke her head inside.
Inside the crib, the little toddlers were lying next to each other, Pumpkin on the back and Pound on the side. A blanket covered them up to their chests, though Pound had pulled his half a little lower. One of his arms was lying on top his sister’s chest, who was holding a teddy underneath one of her arms. Both were snoring softly, in a steady, calm rhythm.
A slight smile flashed over Sugarcoat’s face. Pulling back her head she closed the door again, careful not to make any noise.
Feeling rather stiff Sugarcoat stretched herself, letting out a small yawn. “All right” she said to herself, walking back to the couch. She let herself fall on the soft cushion, sighing as she leaned back. The stress in her muscles slowly dissolved, the teenager still smiling slightly as her whole body was relaxing. “Now, it’s finally time to sit back and kill the rest of the evening.”
Her moment of peace was short-lived however as the doorbell rang a few moments later.
The corners of her mouth fell down. “Well, so much for the rest of the evening.” She forced her tired limbs up from the couch, and moved over to the door. She could already hear footsteps going up the stairs outside, meaning whoever had rung the bell probably had keys. She looked over herself, checking if there were any apparent signs of the chaos from earlier on her. Once she had confirmed her clothes were in an okay she opened the door. Mrs. Cake was just coming up the last stair, with her husband following behind. “Welcome back” the teenager greeted them unenthusiastically, making way for them. “I hope you had fun.”
Mrs. Cake smiled at her. “Oh, thank you Sugarcoat!” she said as she and Mr. Cake entered the apartment. “And yes, it was a very nice evening. Thank you so much for making it possible!” She took a small look around the living room. “I guess Pound and Pumpkin are already in bed?”
Sugarcoat nodded. “Sleeping peacefully side by side, fed and changed.”
The smile of the middle-aged woman grew even brighter. “That’s good to hear” she praised her, patting the teenager’s shoulder. “Well done.”
“I hope our little sweethearts didn’t cause you too much trouble?” Mr. Cake asked.
Deep inside her, Sugarcoat felt an urge to tell them that their children were a pair of badly educated brats and had wrecked the entire apartment after accidentally eating some cookies. Despite her blunt nature however, Sugarcoat suppressed that urge and simply said: “They left me in one piece.”
The Cakes laughed, even though Sugarcoat said it with a straight face. “Well, I could keep on thanking you for babysitting” Mrs. Cake said, putting a hand into her bag. Sugarcoat perked up slightly when she pulled out her purse from it. “But I guess there is a far better way to express our gratitude.” With a content look on her face, Mrs. Cake opened her purse. Her expression then turned into one of confusion however, followed by one of panic as she rummaged through her purse. “Oh dear” she whispered, turning the purse upside down. Not a single cent fell out. “Um, looks like we were a little too generous with the tip” she stated, smiling nervously at Sugarcoat. “Whoops.”
Behind her glasses Sugarcoat’s eyes widened, before they squinted them with furrowed brows. “You mean you can’t pay me?” she asked, a hint of anger ringing in her voice.
Mrs. Cake just kept smiling awkwardly at her, while throwing a glance to the side at her husband. He was rummaging through his own purse, also growing panicked as he found it just as empty. “Darling, I thought you wanted to make sure there was enough money left for the restaurant AND the babysitter when you brought today’s profit to the bank?” she whispered to him.
Putting his purse away Mr. Cake blushed. “I… kind of forgot” he whispered back. “The twins were keeping me busy, so… I was a bit in a rush to get everything done in town.”
Mrs. Cake gulped. “Please tell me we have something here to pay her!” she pleaded him. Scratching his head Mr. Cake began to think, the boring glare of Sugarcoat making him noticeably nervous.
“Um… oh wait, I’ve got an idea!” Quickly he dashed off towards the bedroom, vanishing inside. After a moment of Mrs. Cake awkwardly smiling at Sugarcoat who in return kept staring daggers at her he returned, carrying something under his arms. “I-I’m afraid we don’t have much money in the apartment right now, but maybe you can accept this as payment?” he offered, holding out his hands.
Sugarcoat looked at the object he carried. It was a laptop.
Blinking, the teenager stared in disbelief at the small computer. “I recently got a new one, and haven’t gotten around to tossing this one out yet” Mr. Cake explained. His voice was reaching her ears like a distant echo, as all of her attention was on the laptop. “I deleted all my personal files, and the standard programs are still installed. Of course, it’s a rather old model, but maybe you can sell it for a little cash on the internet? “
Mrs. Cake put a finger on her chin. “We could also go down and see if there is some money left in the register of the bakery” she suggested. “I think there was a larger group of costumers just before we clo-”
“That won’t be necessary!” Sugarcoat hastily assured them, snatching the computer from Mr. Cake and clutching it against her chest. “I’ll take the laptop.”
The Cakes looked at her in surprise. “Well… if it is okay with you” Mr. Cake muttered.
Silently Sugarcoat hugged her new laptop. With a sigh of satisfaction, she then took out her smartphone. “My bus will arrive shortly” Sugarcoat told the Cakes. “I think it’s best if I get going now.”
Mrs. Cake nodded. “But of course - we don’t want to hold you off” she said, making way for her. “Thank you again for looking after our kids.” As she reached out her arm Sugarcoat shook her hand, then that of Mr. Cake.
“Good night!” he wished her with a smile. “And have a good trip home.”
“Thanks, and good night to you, too” Sugarcoat told them. The laptop under her arm she stepped out of the door. In her mind, she quickly let the events of the evening go by: She had touched a diaper that might have been peed into, stuffed a ton of bakery products into a fridge three times, changed diapers, cleaned a kitchen, chased a duo of hyperactive toddlers through an apartment and got pulled so many times on her hair she would probably have a headache for the rest of the weekend. More than once she had doubted if it was all worth it. Yet, in the end she thought, feeling the laptop in her arm, everything had somehow turned out in the best way possible for her.
She was about to go down the stairs, when Mr. Cake called after her: “Oh, one more thing: Would you be interested in looking after Pound and Pumpkin more often in case our regular sitter has no time?”
Sugarcoat leaned her head into the door, looking blandly at the Cakes. “No.” She then vanished out from the door frame, walking down the stairs and leaving the building.
The Cakes stared after her for a moment, rather irritated. Looking at each other, Mr. Cake shrugged his shoulders. “Well, at least she is straight to the point.”
Author's Note
Thanks for reading the story! Be sure to check out the epilogue here .