Fortunately for the boys, their birthday fell on a weekend, so school was put off for another couple days. After donning outfits from their new costume chest (a gift from Cecil) the children ran outside to play with Morand's Gnubb set.
Just because they were kids didn't mean that the old man had to take it easy on them, however. He easily beat them at the game, teaching them the important lesson of being a gracious loser.
The next morning Flora got up bright and early and met up with her mom outside the garden.
Faith was surprised to see her daughter up so early and in what seemed to be gardening clothes. "Good morning, honey. What are you doing out here?" she asked her.
"Can I help?" the girl replied.
Faith was actually pleased to see the girl taking an interest in the hobby, "Of course you can, just be careful not to step on any of the plants."
Flora stood by and watched as Faith tended to her garden, harvesting the plants, pruning the trees and pulling out the intrusive weeds. The whole time she was working she was explaining to Flora what she was doing, passing along the little tips and tricks she'd learned as well as some of the secrets of her research.
The young girl was fascinated by the idea that you could grow pretty much anything you wanted - you almost never had to go to the store!
Nice weather meant that Faith could be heard yelling "You kids go outside and play!".
Flora drew out a hopscotch court on the front walk and taught her younger brothers how to play. Julius, being a rather smart young man took to the game rather quickly, but his twin Vincent couldn't quite get the hang of it.
Naturally Flora was the best, having mastered the game long ago. This upset Vincent. He didn't learn much from his grandfather's lesson, remaining a pretty sore loser.
Julius tried to ignore his brother when he suggested they take Flora out of the game, for good.
When he couldn't get Julius to help him, he decided to get a little revenge on his own...
The sinister little boy watched with barely contained glee as his plan went off without a hitch.
As Flora sat down on the couch a loud and embarrassing noise came from the seat. Turning beet red, she looked around, knowing that the noise hadn't come from her. After a little bit of poking around, she found the whoopie cushion underneath the seat.
She had a hunch who'd put it there, but this definitely required more investigation. She was now a girl on a mission.
While she was playing chess online, she went with a hunch and checked the browser history. In it, she found that there had been a recent search for "tricks to play on my sister". This was definitely a good clue, but still wasn't quite enough to prove her hunch.
There will be no rest until this case was solved.
It wasn't long until the kids were off on their next field trip, the first for the boys. They were being treated to a movie and tour of the cinema.
Almost as soon as the doors of the bus were open, Vincent was running towards the theater, running inside before anyone else was even close.
Once the tour was over the class went to find their seats in the main theater. As their chaperone, Jennie Boggs, sat down there was a loud and audible flatulence sound. All the kids sniggered except two; Flora who looked apologetically at the woman, and Vincent, who seemed to look pleased with himself.
After heading home and finishing her homework Flora went to her room to find someone in it. "What are you doing in here?" she asked her brother.
"Just playing," Vincent said, with the air of someone who'd just been caught doing something he shouldn't be.
Flora looked at her brother and knew he was up to no good, "I don't believe you. And I know you were the one who pranked me and Miss Boggs."
"I didn't do it, nobody saw me do it, there's no way you can prove anything," he said to her calmly. A little too calmly.
Flora could only stand there and huff in anger at him. He might have gotten away with it this time but she was going to watch him like a hawk.
He quietly left his sister to stew in her anger, taking a small amount of pride in pulling one over on her. However, he didn't want her to see him celebrate just yet.
He savored his victory over the queen on his own, once he was back in his private castle hideout. The Prince of Darkness will reign over all!
OUTTAKES
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| The children pose for a family photo |
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| "The Shining" anyone?? (Inside the theater) |
Title / Lori Anderson
