Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 26721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 134(@200wpm)___ 107(@250wpm)___ 89(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 26721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 134(@200wpm)___ 107(@250wpm)___ 89(@300wpm)
Betsy ran her hand over her face. Chips and dip? She couldn’t just live on chips and dip.
Ink leaned in to whisper. “Don’t worry, this is probably just a phase. Just like when she decided she only wanted to eat green things. That stopped pretty quickly.”
“That’s because most green things are vegetables. And she doesn’t like vegetables,” Betsy whispered back.
“You know it’s rude to whisper in front of people. Isn’t it, brother?” Baron told them.
Royal nodded. “Very rude.”
“Just like it’s rude to talk with your mouth full?” Betsy asked dryly.
“That’s definitely rude,” Zippy said before she took a bite of her ham sandwich.
“You know that you’re eating meat right now, don’t you?” Betsy asked her.
“Oh yeah, this is my last piece of meat and then I’m going vegetarian,” Zippy replied.
“You also know you can’t live on just chips and dip? Right?”
“I can’t?” Zippy asked.
“You need good food so you can be big and strong like us, Zippy,” Baron replied, flexing his arm. “See? You don’t get muscles like this from eating just chips and dip.”
Royal nodded.
“Oh, okay, I’ll eat other stuff. But you can eat whatever you like on the Fourth of July, I figure.”
Baron and Royal nodded in agreement. As usual the three of them were all sticking together.
“I’m pretty sure it’s a rule or something,” Baron told her.
“Absolutely,” Royal added.
Betsy gave up. What did it matter if she wanted to eat chips and dip for the day?
It really wouldn’t cause any harm.
“Now that we’ve got that settled, why were you running through the house like you were? You’re going to slip and hurt yourself.” Ink gave her a stern look as he placed his hands on either side of her, resting them on the countertop. Her legs parted further as he stepped closer toward her.
“Yeah, Ma, you shouldn’t be running through the house,” Baron said, pointing his finger at her. “Naughty.”
Betsy gave Ink a quelling look. Then she turned to Baron. “I’m still the mom here, and don’t any of you forget it.”
They all just grinned back at her angelically.
Lord help her.
“We know that, Ma,” Royal told her, wiping his hands on a napkin.
“Of course we do,” Zippy said.
“Absolutely.” Baron nodded.
She didn’t believe any of them. They all thought they were in charge of her. And it was all Ink’s fault.
She crossed her arms over her chest and gave him a look.
Ink just stared back at her. “What’s that look about?”
“Because everybody thinks they get to tell me what to do. And it’s your fault.”
Ink pointed at his chest. “Me?”
“Yes, you.”
“No, we don’t, Ma,” Royal said. “We’re just looking out for you.”
“Yeah, Ma.” Baron licked his fingers. “Someone’s got to make sure you do what you’re told.”
Do what she was told?
Zippy nodded. “We always have to do what Dad says.”
“Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing,” Ink said as he pointed at Betsy.
“What am I doing?” she asked.
“Trying to distract me from the reason why you were running through the house. In socks. You could have easily slipped and hurt yourself.”
Oh shoot! She’d managed to distract herself.
“The plates!” she cried. “I’m missing a set of paper plates. What are we going to do? We haven’t got enough plates to feed everybody. I knew I should’ve bought two extra sets.”
“Ma, how many people are you expecting?” Baron asked. “Because there looks to be about eighty paper plates there.” He pointed over at the pile of plates sitting on the counter.
“There should be a hundred,” she told him.
“Pretty sure there’s around forty people coming today,” Ink said. “So why would we need a hundred paper plates?”
“Well, somebody might have one serving and then they might want seconds and get a fresh plate. And then there’s dessert! Or what if some of the plates get destroyed by a rogue firework? Then they might need another plate. So I figured I needed two or three plates per person. Actually, now that I think about it, that doesn’t seem like enough.”
“Okay, Brown Eyes. I need you to take a deep breath. You’re getting stressed and I don’t like it,” Ink told her. “Take a deep breath in. Slowly. One. Two. Three. Now, out. One. Two. Three. Good girl. And again.”
She breathed in and out with his words and felt herself starting to calm.
A flush of embarrassment filled her cheeks.
“I was acting like a crazy person, wasn’t I?” she muttered.
“We’d never call you crazy, Ma,” Baron said. “Just a little eccentric.”
“No, I don’t think eccentric is the right word,” Royal told him. “You were never very good at English, were you, brother?”
“No, I’m much better at blowing things up than I am at deciphering Shakespeare.”
“Who isn’t?” Royal said.
“Well, you aced that test on Shakespeare back in school,” Baron pointed out.
“That’s right, I did. There was a girl in our class who loved Shakespeare. She used to get this dreamy smile on her face any time I’d recite a sonnet.” Royal smiled.