Hiking to a New Life (Chapter 40 posted 5-6-24)

[Kat5]

I couldn't resist. I made pancakes. I used milk instead of water, and a splash of vanilla extract.

I have only myself to blame.

Please forgive me for my over the top description of giant steaming chocolate chip pancake shaped like a heart.

Be the light in the world. Make pancakes with love. (and milk)

(also, melt butter in the skillet before you pour the batter and your pancake has a permanent butter flavor without even having to put butter on it after it's cooked.)

[Guilend]

6 minutes ago, Kat5 said:

I couldn't resist. I made pancakes. I used milk instead of water, and a splash of vanilla extract.

I have only myself to blame.

Please forgive me for my over the top description of giant steaming chocolate chip pancake shaped like a heart.

Be the light in the world. Make pancakes with love. (and milk)

(also, melt butter in the skillet before you pour the batter and your pancake has a permanent butter flavor without even having to put butter on it after it's cooked.)

I actually never thought of using milk. I have the quick bisquick you just add water. I usually add vanilla extract to it, but next time I'll use milk instead of water and see how it turns out. Thanks

[babygamerboy]

11 minutes ago, Kat5 said:

I couldn't resist. I made pancakes. I used milk instead of water, and a splash of vanilla extract.

I have only myself to blame.

Please forgive me for my over the top description of giant steaming chocolate chip pancake shaped like a heart.

Be the light in the world. Make pancakes with love. (and milk)

(also, melt butter in the skillet before you pour the batter and your pancake has a permanent butter flavor without even having to put butter on it after it's cooked.)

Now I want pancakes, big fluffy heart shape pancakes with chocolate chips made with milk and love...... Guessing I might need thick diapers after just in case Amanda made them

[SGTbaby]

Great chapter! Love he fell asleep with the game. I look forward to the dinner with the surprise guest. 

[Dirkimaus]

Bitte lass uns nicht mehr so lange warten.

[Kat5]

Chapter Twenty Three

 

 

Amanda looked over her shoulder every so often while she worked on editing articles. Thankfully she remembered almost everything she’d ever read so finding relevant articles and inserting hyperlinks was always pretty easy for her.

 

She was honestly impressed that after two hours it was nap time and John was silently plugging away at the puzzle game. He should be falling asleep any minute now.

 

Stealing another glance as she finished up her work for the moment, it was a pleasant surprise to find her little boy asleep propped up against the dog. With a tap of the power button to put her computer tower into standby mode, she walked quietly over to the duo.

 

First she had to take a picture.

 

Only then did she carefully slide the tablet out of his hands and lay it on the couch. As she wormed her hands under him to lift him up Xerxes had the nerve to growl softly at her.

 

She knelt down and got face to face with the dog and whispered “Excuse me, do you have a problem with me taking my son?”

 

He just stared back at her silently.

 

With a sigh she unfurled the blanket and covered John where he was on his protective dog shaped bed. Once he was covered she walked away and came back with a pacy and his stuffie. She bopped Xerxes on top of the head with the stuffie before sliding it under the blankie and was pleased when Johns arm came up around it.

 

It was a bit tricky to get the pacy strap attached to his shirt without disturbing him. Conveniently, the pacy going into his mouth was a simple matter of poking his lips with it a few times and he took it in. a couple of gentle pokes to get it moving and when she let go it kept moving back and forth a bit on its own.

 

Getting down low she kissed him on the forehead before scratching Xerxe’s on the head. As she stood up she ‘accidentally’ lined up her phones camera and snapped another picture before heading to the kitchen.

 

Getting out her roasting pan and went about gathering chicken, onions, seasonings, and plenty of veggies she found herself bouncing excitedly up and down on the front of her feet and struggling to resist the urge to hum. Having company over was always nice when you lived so far out of town. Having a guest you had a crush on called for something special.

 

Laying out everything she had to work with on the countertop, she stood back to take it all in. Chicken for roasting. Potatoes. Onions. Squash and Zucchini. Probably four pounds of assorted spicy peppers, with more waiting to be picked. Enough carrots to stock a produce section. And a couple of bulbs of garlic.

 

Casting a glance over at her sleeping little, she realized that she needed to season things so that he could eat it, and their guest could enjoy it as well. Spicy was out. Sweet wasn’t a good fit. And that just left savory…

 

Growing a small smile she turned the oven on and started prepping. This was going to be a fun challenge.

 

 

 

~~~~~~

 

 

Just thirty minutes later Amanda smiled as she looked around. The chicken was in the oven and had about four hours to cook, All of the vegetables were prepped and in the fridge in three containers, seasoning and honey were next to the stove, and two skillets were waiting. Setting a reminder on her phone to start the rest and uncover the chicken so the skin could crisp up, she allowed herself a good solid smile.

 

The weather outside was clear and warm, She had an hour to herself and the opportunity was too good to pass up. So Amanda headed into the bedroom to change into loose fitting clothes and grabbed a towel.

 

Stopping to peek in on her sleeping little and pet his vigilant guardian, she slipped as quietly as possible out of the door. Spreading her towel out and settled in for a good long session of stretching and exercise.

 

Today is a very good day.

 

 

 

~~~~~~~~

 

 

John woke up with a BIG stretch. His right arm landed on top of a floppy ear, so he rolled over and scratched around the base of it. After a moment of scratching the ear he realized that he had something in his mouth. Alarmed at first he was afraid it wouldn’t come out. But when he pushed it out with his tongue it just flopped against his shirt hanging by a strap.

 

With a sigh of relief, he recalled being told that he wouldn’t be using the training pacifier unless he was bad … or asked for it for some reason.

 

With a stretch to one side, he quickly learned that he had apparently slept at an odd angle. Using Xerxe’s side to push himself up got him a lick across his face that left him sputtering.

 

With a sigh, he looked at the dog and admitted “Okay. I should have seen that coAHHHH” and flailed as the dog stood up now and did a full body shake, giving him a face full of dog shoulder that knocked him on his padded bottom.

 

With a deep inhale and a huff, John reached up and grabbed Xerxes’ collar and pulled himself up. He couldn’t quite stand with his legs together and he didn’t even have to check to know what that meant about the state of his underwear.

 

Finally taking a wide stance and staring his giant furry buddy down he rolled his eyes “I swear, you have knocked me over more times than I’ve fallen in my entire life.” After looking down for a moment, he admitted “At least the landing is … padded.”

 

Laughing a bit at his own joke, John started to walk awkwardly around the house, but he didn’t see Amanda. As he got close to the bathroom, he could hear the shower running. So he went back to his bedroom and sat (Delicately) in the chair.

 

Pulling over a spare print of the Iguana that he had been supplied with, he nodded at it “This time, I’m doing it right.”

 

It was odd giving himself a pep talk, but he was determined this time. He got out a black coloring pencil and pressed fairly hard as he traced not only the outline of the iguana, but the branch it was on and the leaves as well. This time he would get it at least mostly right.

 

Settling on a light blue background he started at one corner and pressed down as hard as he could manage and keep the pressure for a while. He started slowly working his way across the page diagonally. Careful to never let up. There was no erasing. He got one chance.

 

It took twenty minutes at the pace he went and his hand hurt. But when he was done he looked at an angle. It wasn’t perfectly flat, it did look a bit rippled in some spots. But so far so good.

 

He switched back to his left hand and closed his eyes. It only took a moment to recall the picture from the internet. John seldom felt like he was overly talented, but if he really concentrated on something when he saw it, he could usually keep a pretty close mental image of it.

 

Being incredibly meticulous, the world was tuned out far into the background. At some point a sippy cup showed up next to him. Every so often he would take a few pulls out of it when he switched pencils. Somewhere along the way the air in the entire house started to smell delicious.

 

“Focus” he said to himself. He was in the home stretch. The entire iguana was colored in, was not inside out, he remembered how hard he pressed in which spots.

 

Now all he needed was to add was the scales around the white of the jaw, and figure out the eyes.

 

The smell was getting distracting, the sippy cup was empty, and finally he stood up and looked down at his handiwork.

 

It wasn’t perfect. He could see a few things he could have done better here and there. But it LOOKED like an Iguana. A cartoon Iguana. But it was shaped correctly, and if he looked at an angle, it looked like it was coming out of the page.

 

Picking up his sippy cup, he walked… no. He couldn’t walk normally. He was waddling. And with the stiff backing of the diaper, it being even somewhat full stopped him from squeezing his legs together. It was like a board.

 

It was a very awkward waddle toward the the kitchen where he could hear Amanda moving around and food sizzling. But eventually he made it. It was honestly harder than it would have been to just give up and crawl.

 

Her back was turned to him, and she seemed pretty busy.

 

Not really wanting to interrupt her, but feeling like he kind of needed to, he cleared his throat and asked “Mom?” kind of tentatively.

 

She immediately turned and looked over her shoulder smiling at him. At least calling her Mom always seemed to make her happy. Even if he occasionally did it on accident for some reason.

 

“Oh hey, someone came out of their cave!” she exclaimed.

 

She looked him up and down a moment before adding “We need to get you changed and dressed. Someone will be stopping by in about twenty minutes.”

 

Looking down to see that he was just in a shirt and diaper he suddenly felt even more self conscious than usual.

 

“Umm… can I … have a change?” he could feel his face turning red.

 

“Of course you can! Give me just a moment to glaze this and turn the fire off, then we’ll get you cleaned up and in fresh clothes.”

 

Not really wanting to wait any longer than necessary, he turned to walk back to the bedroom. Walk was a strong term, since it was a very awkward waddle. The stiff backing of the rugged diaper made it so that when it swelled up it was either extreme waddle or crawl.

 

As he was starting to lost the fight to keep his balance, he leaned over, ready to just give up and crawl. Thankfully as he was tilting down, two hands wrapped around the sides of his ribs and hoisted him up into the air.

 

Riding on a hip into the bedroom, he looked up and asked “So who’s coming over?”

 

With a smile, he got the reply “That’s a bit of a surprise!” and he was lowered onto the table.

 

Humming as the bars flopped on top of him and the straps wrapped around his wrists, Amanda made quick work of the tapes and wiped him down. After balling up the wet diaper and dropping it into the built in bin, she pulled out a fresh one and said simply:

 

“Lift.”

 

He hesitated, not really sure he heard her correctly, but when he saw her shrug and reach for his ankles, he hurriedly planted his feet and lifted his butt up off of the changing table for her. Immediately a fresh diaper was slid under his bottom.

 

“Down.”

 

Obediently he flopped back down onto the diaper. He was still stuck in a diaper, but at least he felt like he got to participate some. For whatever reason that made it seem less bad.

 

As she powdered him and taped him up, she asked “Okay, what would you like to wear?”

 

“Ummm” He thought out loud “What are my options?”

 

Answering as she bumped the table, released his hands and lifted him up, patted him on the bottom and stood him up “You have a couple of options. And we can get more later. I guess the most modest for your underwear would be … a shirt and shorts … a onesie and pants … or I guess a shirt and shortalls. What do you feel like wearing?”

 

Being an avid wearer of shorts, the answer “Shorts, please!” came out almost before he could think about it.

 

“Okay then, that was quick! Peel off that shirt.” She patted him on the head as she walked to his chest of drawers.

 

As he peeled off the shirt and flicked it over the back of his chair, he looked down to see that he was back in one of the original little pups. Experimentally, he touched his knees together.

 

Never would he have thought that it would feel so good to touch your knees together.

 

“John, would you like a red shirt with Ratchet Racoon, or a green shirt with Clark the Scholarly Dinosaur?” Amanda asked.

 

Looking up, John felt conflicted. Neither of those choices felt particularly grown up, but at least he was being asked. He could get used to being asked how he felt about things.

 

Pointing at the green shirt he answered “I’ll take Clark, please.”

 

Sliding the red shirt into the drawer, she grabbed a pair of black shorts and shut the drawer with her thigh.

 

As she opened her mouth to say “Hands u..” John intervened by holding up and saying “I surrender!”

 

With both of them laughing, the shirt was pulled into place and the shorts were held out for him to step in. Of course it felt a bit childish to step into shorts and have them pulled up. But into them he stepped regardless.

 

As she pulled up his shorts and gave his bottom a firm pat, John could sense her being distracted. So he looked up to see her looking over at the desk. He followed her eyes and saw that she was looking at his Iguana that he had mindlessly spent the last several hours working on.

 

“John…”

 

He stepped over to look at it nervously. Did she see something he did wrong?

 

“John.” she repeated with a tap on top of his head.

 

Looking up at her, now kind of confused and insecure, he finally asked “Umm… did … did I mess up?” He could feel his chest tighten up a little as he wondered what he had done wrong with it. He immediately looked back down and reached for it.

 

His hand was stopped en route with just a large thumb and forefinger.

 

“No, you didn’t do anything wrong at all! This is actually pretty good!” He could hear her gushing about it a little.

 

Now feeling insecure in a different way he admitted “I made a few mistakes, though.”

 

That earned him a firm tap on the head and a “No Sir, this is actually kind of good. And it’s only your second try.”

 

He couldn’t stop himself from mumbling “Third.”

 

Which earned him another firm tap and a “You were still figuring out how they worked that time.”

 

Just then they heard a knock at the door that snapped them out of it.

 

John looked toward the door, and then to Amanda, who pointed at him and said simply “Don’t forget to shut the child gate to the bathroom!” and went out of the bedroom door, not even thinking of putting down the paper.

 

Now on a mission, he was pleased to be able to walk almost normally out of the room behind Amanda. Where she kept going, he grabbed the gate to the bathroom and leaned into it to swing it shut.

 

Just in time as he heard the door open and Amanda announce.

 

“Hello! Welcome back!” she said excitedly.

 

Walking past the couch now, he could see a familiar giant among giants standing in the doorway.

 

“Hello Miss Taylor, I was sent back out because we missed a couple of items on your delivery. I hope you don’t mind.” said Mike.

 

With a dismissive wave of her hand, Amanda nonchalantly stepped aside and invited him in “Come on, come in. I was just about to make coffee and have a bite to eat. Would you be willing to join us?”

 

John watched on in fascination at the scene unfolding before him.

 

Mike held up a bag that was honestly taller than John was as he explained “Well, it’s a bit odd, but Miss Bairn told me that I didn’t have to rush back since the store is closed, well I guess it’s closed right about now. If you don’t mind, I’m always up for a cup of coffee.”

 

She nodded now “Well, roast chicken will be coming out of the oven in about” And at that moment a timer in the kitchen started to beep. “Now!”

 

Starting to turn toward the kitchen, Amanda stopped when she realized that she was still holding the paper. In a moment of rushing she held it out to Mike “Here, can you hold this for me?”

 

Nodding while accepting it, Mike accepted it from her as she walked very briskly tot he kitchen to hurriedly finish her task. He then looked at the paper in his hand closely before looking up and scanning the room.

 

Mike locked eyes with John and sprouted a big smile “My Man! It looks like you’ve been busy!”

 

John could really only nod in response as Mike came over to him and went down on one knee.

 

Holding the paper down so that they could both see it, he asked “How did you do this so quickly? This isn’t half bad my man!”

 

Biting his lip a bit shyly, John could really only manage a shrug “I umm… I messed up the first one. And the second one looked inside out and kind of freaky. I still made a few mistakes on that one, though.”

 

Mike was shaking his head by the time he had even finished the sentence “You can practice and make a better one later, but you had to do this one to get to the next one. And honestly, I know a lot of people my size that couldn’t have sketched this out, let alone had the patience to …”

 

Mike then got distracted looking at the paper from an angle and mumbling “Look at tail coming up off the paper at the tip. And the white on pattern on that spot. Did you have a picture on a screen while you worked on this or something?”

 

John could only shake his head “A … Mom showed me a picture of one last night. I traced the outline from a page and I only had to draw the patterns and fill in the details.”

 

Hand on his jaw now, Mike nodded along. “Hey Miss Taylor, I think your young man may be a bit Eidetic.”

 

Setting some plates on the counter top, Amanda looked over at the two of them “You may be on to something, but we’ll find out what he’s good at together.”

 

John just shook his head “I don’t have whatever that word is, I just traced the outline.”

 

Mike put the page on the arm of the couch and patted John on the head “Don’t worry about it at all, the word may mean something different here than where you’re from. It just means that you remember details that you see, rather than what you are told. Everyone is different.”

 

At that point, Amanda chimed in “Well, Dinner is ready and coffee is brewing. Would you like some water, or some tea?” An John was visibly relieved to have the attention off of him all of a sudden.

 

Standing up, Mike turned to face Amanda “Oh, Muss Taylor I couldn’t possibly impose for dinner, I’m just here to deliver what we forgot.”

 

“Nonsense” Amanda interupted “You are here after work, and dinner is ready. It’s no imposition at all. Besides, I’ve gone a little overboard and cooked enough to feed four Amazons. You’ll be doing me a favor. Now: White or dark?”

 

“Oh, I guess dark meat please.” Mike seemed a bit caught off guard by Amanda refusing to take no for an answer.

 

“Tea or water? The tea was made an hour ago.” Came her next statement.

 

With a shrug, Mike admitted “Fresh tea would be really good.”

 

Nodding now, she said “I’ll have us each a plate ready in a moment. While I’m fixing this, what did you bring us?”

 

Picking up the bag and holding it up, he explained “Well you see, that’s the strange thing. This afternoon Miss Bairn said that we forgot the pillow that was on your order. But it turned out that the pillow was next to her in the van on the way back.”

 

With a nonchalant shrug while she loaded up three plates, Amanda said “Well, these things happen. The important thing is that you’re here with it now.”

 

“Well, Miss Bairn doesn’t usually make any mistakes, but yeah. Here we are. She also send out this.”

 

Mike now reached into the bag and pulled out a large flat rectangular object and held it up. It was about two feet by three feet and had a spiral binding on one of the short ends.

 

Now curious, John walked closer to inspect it while Amanda asked “What would that be?”

 

Mike turned and offered it to John “Miss Bairn said that you needed a sketch pad.”

 

Grinning from ear to ear, John reached out with both hands to take the offered sketch pad with a polite “Thank you very much!”

 

As the clinking of plates hitting table filled the air, John was already walking back toward his room with his sketch pad.

 

“Young Man.” Amanda called after him from by the table. “I hope you’re planning to put that down on your desk and then come back immediately without getting distracted.”

 

“Right!” exclaimed John “That is exactly what I was planning to do, not go draw.”

 

“Uh huh.” She didn’t sound convinced, but as he walked he heard her ask Mike to the step stool.

 

Obediently, John put the sketch pad down on his desk, but not until after he opened it up to take a peek. It had about 50 thick sheets in it, and was a bit ungainly, and easily three pounds despite being just paper.

 

“John!”

 

Almost squeaking in surprise, he turned and walked as quickly as he could manage toward the kitchen/dining area. When he got there he found the two giants talking about seemingly nothing in particular. His stool was by the chair with his booster seat in it, so he took the hint and climbed up the stool, onto the chair and slid into his booster seat.

 

Amanda turned away from Mike to buckle the lap belt and push his chair up to the table.

 

There waiting for him was a plate with a pile of dark meat from a chicken that had already been ripped off of the bone, but was cut up into squres with the golden brown crispy skin still on one side. Frankly, it looked and smelled quite good. Next to that was a ‘small’ pile of steaming seared squash, both yellow and some sort of green. It honestly looked good too.

 

But there was something else on the plate. And that something was orange. It was cut into little parallelograms to make them look pretty. But it was still obvious that it was carrots. He barely even registered the sippy cup of plapple juice.

 

Looking around, and down, he was happy to see Xerxes, his accomplice in crime, was already walking up to his position next to the chair.

 

Now he had a mission. Feed as many carrots to the dog as possible while the ‘grown ups’ were distracted.

 

John paid close attention to the conversation that Amanda and Mike were having while he ate the squash. It was a bit peppered, but not too spicy for him. And it fell apart as he chewed it, like it had been slow cooked for hours.

 

Mike was asking Amanda how long she had lived here as two pieces of chicken ‘accidentally’ made their way onto his fork at the same time. One went into his mouth, and the other into the dogs mouth. Completely unnoticed.

 

The chicken was really good. It was the single most savory chicken he’d ever had in his life. Back in his dimension chicken had a just normal chicken flavor. This tasted like it had roasted chock full of some sort of herbs and butter.

 

So far so good, Amanda was talking about the phases of her garden. Apparently corn needs light soil to start. Also there are several types of corn. Oops, dropped a carrot. It didn’t hit the floor. Conveniently he had more chicken at the same time.

 

Oddly he heard Mike say his name, and tuned in to hear that apparently he had made a good impression with Miss Bairn. That topic went on for a few minutes with them taking glances at him every so often before moving to a new topic.

 

She asked Mr Mike about hobbies. Oh, he likes fishing. There’s a giant stream, that’s pretty convenient. Oops, dropped some chicken. The skin stuck to the fork. ‘crunchy skin for me’ he thought to himself while he chewed away at it. Man that seared chicken skin is good. Gotta make sure to sneak Xerxes an extra one, he deserves it.

 

All was going well, he had snuck at least four pieces of carrot and five little bits of chicken to the dog. And as he speared a carrot and brought it closer he noticed the conversation stop.

 

Looking up, he saw all eyes on him.

 

Don’t panic, he thought to himself.

 

“Hmm?” he asked without actually saying anything.

 

Mike apparently repeated himself “I asked how you like everything in your bedroom?”

 

“Oh! Yes. That. Ummm….” He tried to shake the carrot off the fork while he rambled “The mattress is comfortable, I just can’t stand up on it, or I fall over. And I really enjoy the desk and the 3D.. “ the carrot wasn’t coming off. “..coloring pencils are the coolest thing that I’ve ever seen.”

 

Amanda interrupted now “John, just eat the carrot already and stop playing with it.”

 

The outsides of his lips turned down on their own, betraying him.

 

“John…” she had a warning tone this time.

 

With a deep breath, he took a moment and stuck the carrot in his mouth.

 

“Huh.” he said out loud before he could catch himself.

 

Now came the question “Did you not like the honey I baked them in?”

 

John just nodded “No, no. the honey is good. And they’re sort of buttery. It’s just a thing with carrots.”

 

“And what is that thing with carrots?” She prodded him a bit further.

 

“Oh. Well…” He scrambled for a believable excuse “A carrot killed my Iguana when I was a kid.” right after the words left his mouth he thought to himself ‘oh nuts, that’s what I came up with?’

 

Immediately Mike started laughing and Amanda rolled her eyes.

 

Amanda wasn’t buying it as she asked “You didn’t have an iguana, did you?”

 

“Not after the carrot incident.” was all he could think to blurt out before spearing some chicken and taking a bite.

 

Amanda was rubbing her forehead and mumbling something about a dork, Mike was laughing, and John spent a moment pretending he couldn’t hear anyone over the taste of chicken.

 

Eventually Amanda gave up on subtlety and declared “If any more carrots go into the dog, You’ll be staying right there until you’ve eaten twice as many as what’s on that plate, Mister.”

 

John slumped in the seat, mumbling “I used to be an adult.” quietly and mostly to himself.

 

Apparently Mike heard it and interrupted his reverie “Hey. You’re still an adult. But being here changes littles a bit. Plus, grown ups don’t tend to feed carrots to the dog to get out of eating them.”

 

All John could think as he went back to eating was ‘et tu’ Mike?’

 

They did at least go back to talking. Apparently Mike knew about PH level of soil and somehow they started talking about fertilizer and math at the same time. Truly riveting conversation, that. John fed the last bit of chicken to Xerxes and was left staring down a pile of carrots. He was still hungry, but they were carrots.

 

When he caught Amanda giving him a sideways glance he suddenly felt a bit indignant. He had the sudden urge to just drop his fork onto his plate and declare that he wasn’t hungry. In fact his hand squeezed the fork tightly as he almost did it.

 

He sat there frozen as he struggled internally. Could he get out of being forced to eat something he didn’t want like a child? Probably not.

 

“Ugh. Fine!” he said out loud as he started stabbing carrots and eating them quickly. It took a full minute of rapidly eating carrots to get rid of them. They tasted fine. The texture wasn’t his favorite, he’d just never been a fan of them.

 

The instant the last bit of carrot was in his mouth the sippy cup was in his hands and he was pulling the juice out as fast as he could. Even he felt like he was being a bit dramatic and couldn’t figure what had come over him. Now that it was done, he couldn't see why he’d made a big deal about it. But in that moment, it was a big deal to him.

 

While Mike happily went for seconds, Amanda got up and unbuckled John. But not until after she insisted on wiping his hands and face, even though they were clean. She lifted him up and gave him a hug and whispered “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

 

“No Ma’am” Came a glum admission.

 

“Okay, would you like to go tot he living room with your new sketch pad, or maybe sit on the porch with it while it’s not too cold out?”

 

He looked over at the child gate at the back door and decided not to interrupt their time to visit.

 

“I’ll draw in the living room.” he said as he walked over to his bedroom to grab a dark gray pencil and his sketch pad.

 

Amanda was laughing at something Mike was saying as he settled into his usual spot reclined against Xerxes, this time with a sketch pad propped up on his knees.

 

He opened the sketch pad up to the first page and stared at it. What to draw? Nothing came to mind. He always had ideas. Until he wanted one. Then he drew a blank.

 

He flopped back against Xerxes as he racked his brain for ideas. The smell of coffee started to fill the air. He remembered that he had some sort of a wrist band on so he looked at it and poked it a few times.

 

‘22:18’ it read. What did that even mean? While he sat there looking at it, the screen ticked over to 22:19.

 

“Oh. But it’s not dark out yet. The time here is super weird. I miss home.”

 

And suddenly he had his inspiration. Sitting upright he picked up his pencil and sketched, from memory, the view of his one room efficiency he’d lived in for the last couple of years. He drew it from the viewpoint of the front door. Quickly sketching out basic lines of the floor, ceiling and wall, with the little room for the bathroom to the left of the little kitchenette that he had, he spent a moment trying to figure out how to draw the curtain that divided the room in half.

 

It took some doing to get the finer details, like the missing hangar that left the curtain drooping third spot from the left. And there was one cabinet where the door didn’t sit just right, so that took some squinting. As far as furniture he didn’t have much to bother drawing in the first place. There was no way he was going to be decorating with the budget he had to work with so the walls were still barren, which made drawing the walls painfully simple.

 

So completely lost in thought was John that he never noticed the two giants sitting on the couch behind him, occasionally peeking over his shoulder at what he was drawing. It wasn’t great, but it was at least pretty accurate.

 

It wasn’t until he stalled out and stretched a bit while he was carefully making semi straight lines of the fake wood laminate floor that he heard the two behind him stop talking to each other and include him in the conversation.

 

Mike asked “Hey, what you drawin’ there Little Man?”

 

John sat up on a knee and turned around. When had they gotten there?

 

“Oh … ummm. This is just my apartment where I lived for the last few years.” He said while holding it up for the two to see.

 

Amanda had a strange look on her face.

 

But Mike was the one to speak “You did a really good job with these details. I can get a good mental image. How big was this room?”

 

Lowering the pad, he quickly doodled out a top down view really small in a corner to help him remember. He wrote 16 on one side, and 30 on the other.

 

“About … a little less than 500 square feet?” he answered as he did the headmath.

 

Both of the giants looked around the living area that was clearly much larger than his entire apartment had been.

 

Amanda spoke up this time, asking “Is this … what your place was like?”

 

He could really only muster a nod. It was normal to him for this to be an apartment for a young adult.

 

She slowly nodded along with him “And you never went to see the doctor or the dentist?”

 

Now he shook his head while looking up at her.

 

It took Mike to break the silence “You know, John. I know you didn’t come here on purpose, but I think that maybe you could do a lot worse for yourself than living here with your new Mom. She’s going to keep you well taken care of and healthy.”

 

What a strange thing to say. They both had a really sympathetic look in their eyes. Mike kept his mostly hidden, but Amanda scooted to the edge of the couch and held out her arms like she wanted a hug.

 

So, he got up and walked over so that she could have her hug. He was pulled in by her arms but she was so very gentle about it, like she were suddenly afraid to injure him emotionally instead of physically.

 

After a few moments of silence, Mike got up and refilled their coffee cups. When he came back, he asked “Hey, why don’t we go sit on the porch for a bit? The fresh air will do us all some good.”

 

That actually seemed like a good idea. So the moment Amanda let go of him, he had his new sketch pad in one hand, pencil in the other, and was on his way to the back door.

 

Mike seemed to be waiting patiently for Amanda to stand up and join him, and he let her open the gate and the door for all of them. The first one out the door was Xerxes. It was hard to make him out because of the blur, but he went into the yard and ran laps while they all found a spot to sit.

 

The two amazon sized chairs were obviously for them, with the little metal table holding their coffee cups. John, meanwhile sat on the edge of the porch and propped his foot up on the upturned handle of his wagon. Immediatey he was prepared to flip his pad over and hyper focus on drawing his view of the garden.

 

While he was doodling out the lines for the top of the fence, he noticed a large-ish gray furry object on the corner of the fence. Looking down into the wagon hit foot was propped up on, he saw some acorns. A peek over his shoulder told him that the two giants were talking to each other, and getting along very well.

 

As he scanned the fence line he noticed an upside down bucket leaned against the fence. And with the dog running around like a lunatic in the yard, he wasn’t in guard mode.

 

Before he could stop to bother thinking about it, he put his sketch pad down, and slid as quietly as he could from the porch to the wagon. Grabbing a couple of acorns as he stepped out of the wagon, he walked in a straight line for the bucket on the fence line, silent with his bare feet on the dirt.

 

As he got to the bucket, he simply hunkered down and got his arms around it and stood up. Waddling awkwardly with the bucket to the corner of the yard, he put it down and scooted it up agianst the fence.

 

A quick loook up showed a curious squirrel still in place, and looking down at him curiously. So he climbed up onto the bucket and held up an empty hand to see what the squirrel, Steve, would do.

 

A cold nose smelled his fingertips and then quickly moved away. So he lowered his hand, grabbed one of this two acorns and held it back up.

 

As Steve the Squirrel reached down to take the acorn from him, there was a frantic barking in the distance rapidly getting closer.

 

Xerxes ran up barking at the squirrel and jumping up and down while Steve made his way to a nearby tree with a single large bound.

 

John quickly reached over and grabbed the dogs collar as he hopped down off of the bucket and tried shushing him, but it was too late, the squirrel was gone, and the two giants were looking direclty at him.

 

As he watched them, Amanda waggled her phone at him. He knew that meant that she had recorded another moment that she thought was cute.

Edited December 19, 2023 by Kat5
Edited because I somehow managed to underline one random word, but thankfully not the whole post somehow. Task failed succesfully.

[Pierry Louys]

John in this chapter sees a little more of his new life ( eating carrots rsrs ) and Mike is oblivious of the big scheme hehehe I really hope the can form a big happy family and maybe John embrace more his little side ! 

[Dirkimaus]

Tolles Kapitel bitte weiter so

[Kat5]

There has been a slight delay. It turns out that you have to he able to see to type. 

It's a work in progress.

[Guilend]

John was great in this chapter. I loved the interaction when he took the drawing pad to the bedroom and when he quickly took it from Mike with a thank you. 

I hope you get to see again soon.

[christi]

That was a really good chapter, Kat, well done.  "A carrot killed my iguana"  Oh my gawd, where do you get that stuff?!?!  I love it!  Thanks for sharing and I hope your eye gets all better very soon.

[Kat5]

34 minutes ago, christi said:

where do you get that stuff?!?! 

Well you see, I used to be a very calm person with no imagination. But that all changed then the fire nati... I mean when I was visited in a dream by a spotted white cat named Meowthany. She told me that it was my destiny to ramble out nonsense in a dead serious tone so that no one knew what I was talking about. And since that day I knew that it was my mission, NAY, my lifes work, to invent coffee flavored pancakes. So far research has stumbled because I have no idea what I'm doing. But some day, I shall succeed and ... I ran out of steam mid ramble.

The important thing to remember is that it's not my fault, I'm just not wired right.

[Guilend]

1 minute ago, Kat5 said:

Well you see, I used to be a very calm person with no imagination. But that all changed then the fire nati... I mean when I was visited in a dream by a spotted white cat named Meowthany. She told me that it was my destiny to ramble out nonsense in a dead serious tone so that no one knew what I was talking about. And since that day I knew that it was my mission, NAY, my lifes work, to invent coffee flavored pancakes. So far research has stumbled because I have no idea what I'm doing. But some day, I shall succeed and ... I ran out of steam mid ramble.

The important thing to remember is that it's not my fault, I'm just not wired right.

🤣😂 I absolutely love your humor. 

[babygamerboy]

Love this chapter. I have a feeling Mike might have to come back for a second date, and maybe also take John fishing sometime. Or at least go hiking with him, would be cute to see to two of them bond and have some bro time. Though could see John end up embarrassing himself during it though. Especially if he has another special chocolate pancake breakfast made with love and milk before heading out, and maybe with coffee milk. (Is it bad I want more embarrassing John moments, especially around others.)

[Kat5]

31 minutes ago, babygamerboy said:

(Is it bad I want more embarrassing John moments, especially around others.)

There's nothing inherently wrong with that. When I find myself hoping for a certain outcome or experience with a character, it usually means that I'm starting to feel emotionally invested in/identifying with something that character is going through.

I honestly find it both sweet and encouraging that you like the character enough that you are hoping from the occasional vicarious experience.

So thank you very kindly for the compliment, I promise to keep writing as I'm able to see.

[CDfm]

Loved the chapter.  So sweet seeing John interacting with the dog.  The nap was so sweet it could have caused diabetes.  I was thrilled to see Mike come back into the picture.  Wasn’t much of a role here yet but I do see a future for him in this little family. I actually had to laugh a little bit with John’s quick thinking.  You have to give him some credit for his ability to come up with something on the spot that way.  Kind of hard to discipline when you are laughing yourself. I can’t wait to see more. 

[SGTbaby]

Awesome chapter. I think  mike will come around more and a babysitter would be interesting. John is definitely a toddler .

[Kat5]

3 hours ago, CDfm said:

I actually had to laugh a little bit with John’s quick thinking

Sometimes the habit of speaking before you think about what you're going to say might get you in trouble. Doubly so around giants with a very strong parental instinct!

3 hours ago, CDfm said:

 Wasn’t much of a role here yet

No spoilers, but there's a chance Mike may become a recurring character.

1 hour ago, SGTbaby said:

John is definitely a toddler

Honestly, even as the author I can't quite tell how much it's sunk in the situation he's gotten himself into. But as with any major life change acceptance is a bumpy process.

[christi]

I rather liked Xerex(?)'s little protective growl.  Its amusing, inappropriate which is why he got a scolding, and also entirely realistic with some dogs.

[Kat5]

2 minutes ago, christi said:

I rather liked Xerex(?)'s little protective growl.  Its amusing, inappropriate which is why he got a scolding, and also entirely realistic with some dogs.

He's a good boy.

[babygamerboy]

On 12/19/2023 at 8:24 PM, Kat5 said:

He's a good boy.

The bestest boy. Can't wait to see more of Xerex and John getting in trouble and Xerex keeping John safe since I can see Xerex take his "Big bro" role seriously as we saw growling when Amanda went to pick up a sleeping John hehe

[Kat5]

It might take a week or two before I can use my laptop again. Need a surgery. I'll get back to posting as soon as I'm able to, because it turns out that sharing this story has been great fun.

 

Sorry for the delay, and thanks for the understanding. 

[christi]

Just get better.  The characters can play in your head until then and tell you all their stories.

 

[Kat5]

Chapter Twenty Four

 

 

Amanda sat on the porch, coffee mug in one hand, cell phone in the other, and smile on her face. This day started off good. And it turned out great.

 

“Careful now” Mike said next to her “You’re starting to look as mischievous as your son. And he sets the bar pretty high.”

 

With a pause for a chuckle, she called across the yard “Xerxes: Guard” before taking a sip of her coffee.

 

Form her right came the observation “You know, those two are adorable together. I hope they don’t get each other in trouble.”

 

She almost choked on her coffee and went into a coughing fit. Hurriedly she put her cup own and patted her chest with one hand while covering her mouth with the other.

 

Mike was quiet until she finished her coughing fit.

 

But while she was still blushing in embarrassment, he added “I’m going to take it from your reaction that they have already gotten into mischief.”

 

She coughed one last time and nodded “Oh yeah. Xerxes all but demands that nap time is with him. John uses the dog as a ladder. And when I had to put John in time out this morning Xerxes was outside on the porch staring daggers at me through the window.”

 

“Hah.” Was not the response she expected, followed up by “It sounds like you’ve got your hands full with these two. But you have the look of a happy Mom. It looks good on you.”

 

Now she could feel the blush on her face deepen a bit as she mumbled out a “Thank you.”

 

After a pregnant pause he broke the silence “So what do you do with all of the produce from such a big garden?”

 

Now feeling kind of ecstatic, she explained “Oh, that’s easy. I have a friend with a stall at the farmers market. He comes by every other Friday night and I load him up. Each time he gives me half of what he gets. It’s sort of a hobby that pays for itself. The spicy pickles actually sell well, and my friend Cat occasionally helps me make salsa, but I haven’t been able to get her to come help in a little while.”

 

He listened intently through the whole description and then asked “Well, what stops you from just making the salsa yourself?”

 

“I just hate spending four hours by myself prepping and blending.” The answer that came from her was as immediate as it was earnest.

 

“You know …” Mike trailed off, obviously thinking out loud.

 

“Yes?”

 

He lead back in “… If you’d accept the help, I’m off on Saturday. We could make salsa and then the three of us go for a walk by the stream?”

 

Hide the smile, hide the smile, look serious, look serious. Was the thought repeating through her head while she said out loud “I think that I would like that. But I would insist on you taking a few jars with you.”

 

She saw him sprout a smirk and say “I think that’s a fair trade.”

 

They sat enjoying their coffee and small talk for a couple more minutes until they heard from somewhere on the other side of the yard, a loud

 

“HAH!!!”

 

Mike and Amanda immediately looked at each other and stood up, leaning to see what was going on.

 

“Onward noble steed!” they heard clearly from John.

 

Into view came a very happy Xerxes. His tail was wagging, he was practically bouncing with excitement. And perched on his back was a small little boy with just a big ol’ a grin on his face as was possible.

 

Mike and Amanda both immediately pulled out their phones. Amanda recorded it, and Mike snapped a picture before anything could go wrong.

 

Amanda whispered “Xerxes is professionally trained to work with littles. But I don’t think that training included playing horse. How long should we let this go on?”

 

Mike whispered back “Let’s see if he can get the dog to turn first. At least give him that.”

 

She nodded silently as they watched John engrossed in his task. He tried patting the dog on the side to get him to walk in a different direction. That just made him turn and smell John. He tried giving a little tug on the collar, but the dog just kept wandering around the large yard wherever he wanted to.

 

She whispered “I wonder if he’ll heel.”

 

“Do it.” the response came from her right with a chuckle.

 

So she took a breath and said loudly “Xerxes: HEEL”

 

And sure enough, Immediately the dog did a 180 and came trotting up onto the porch with an indignant looking John hanging on by the collar.

 

“Good boy!” She praised the dog.

 

Then, all on his own, the dog sat his butt down.

 

“Nonono” was all John could say, repeating it as he slid down the dogs back only to be bowled over by the ballistic tail. Again.

 

A laughing Mike rescued John before he could get pummeled by the tail, reaching down with two giant hands and lifting him upright and standing him up next to his canine friend.

 

Amanda slid her phone back into her back pocket and leaned down, looking her little son up and down “John. I’m glad you had fun playing horse with Xerxes. But did you leave any dirt in the yard?”

 

He looked a bit sheepish for once as he opened his mouth to speak.

 

She interrupted him “John, you don’t have to make an excuse. I’m genuinely glad you had fun.”

 

Instead of answering her, he grabbed a dog toy and ran off into the yard with it, followed by a lumbering dog that dwarfed him in size.

 

Mike leaned to watch them go, commenting out loud “Those two are definitely a good pair.”

 

With a nod, she agreed “Oh, they’re adorable together, but the minute John figures out how to steer him like a horse the house is in danger. At first I thought it was just a one time thing, but now I’m certain that he’s clever enough to do it.”

 

“I’m sure he’s smart enough to stay out of TOO much trouble” Mike responded before finishing off his coffee. Amanda spent a moment having another coughing fit.

 

After he finished his coffee, he pointed down to the sketch pad and asked “Do you think he drew an accurate representation of how he lived before coming here?”

 

Looking down at the pad herself now, she answered “I have no reason to doubt it. He mentioned once before that all he really had to his name was a bed and a laptop. Apparently he had a little truck that was old and barely holding on.”

 

Mike was quiet for a moment, and when he spoke he seemed uncharacteristically somber. “Do you think that many littles live like that? I’ve wondered before, but now I’m wondering if coming here isn’t safer for some of them.”

 

“I’ll be honest with you, Mike. I’ve worked with research groups for years and to me they’ve always been a statistic. And now I look at him and I just … I want to take care of him. He deserves at least a safe life.” She couldn’t even think as she answered, it just came out.

 

She felt him pat her on the shoulder gently “Hey. You’re gonna be a great Mom. And he’s a good kid. Bit rambunctious, probably a bit smarter than he realizes. You’re going to do fine.”

 

“Thanks. Goodness, he came through so scrawny!” Amanda couldn’t help adding the last part as she saw his little legs go awkwardly trying to sprint by with the top of his diaper showing and shorts bunched up around his upper thighs. His shirt was up a bit showing his belly. And there was obviously a dog zig-zagging excitedly behind him.

 

Mike laughed and she turned to give him an indignant glare. As soon as he saw it, he explained “Hey, with the quality of dinner I had tonight, I doubt he’ll be scrawny for long!”

 

Amanda, laughing now, reached out to take the empty cup from Mike. “That reminds me. If you would be so kind as to stay here and watch over John, I’ll go pack you a box of leftovers.”

 

“Miss Amanda, you don’t have to do that.” Mike tried to object.

 

But Amanda brushed it off “Nonsense. You’re my guest and you’re not allowed to leave without food. Besides, I cooked too much anyway.”

 

With a shrug Mike went down the stairs as she went inside. Having already prepared operation ‘Feed Mike so much he’ll come back’ she moved on to phase two. Which was very simple. Mike wanted to come back, and if he had leftovers, he would want to bring back the container. Thus cementing her plan.

 

The way to Mikes heart was through his stomach, his friendly nature, and as a bonus he seemed a natural father figure for John.

 

With a moment of decision making, she decided to use the three compartment container that came with her set of storage containers. She didn’t work in town, so packing a lunch never did her any good. And by her reasoning, when he ate it for lunch tomorrow, he’d remember his time here.

 

Amanda made absolutely certain to pack in so much food that he would either have to eat until he hurt, or share it at work and get to brag about where it came from. Picking it up, she could feel the hefty weight of food she had prepared. Excellent. Oh a whim she popped it open and slipped in a handful of her pickled ghost peppers.

 

As she walked outside with the container she saw Mike walking around the yard with Xerxes trotting along beside him. And on top of Xerxes was a laughing little boy. So with her free hand, out came her phone to record.

 

This was too good to interrupt. So she recorded a few seconds before slipping the phone into her pocket and walking over to them.

 

“Mike, are you teaching my son new tricks, or are you teaching my dog new tricks?”

 

In unison they looked over and said “Both!” together.

 

She pinched the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath, mumbling “Boys of all sizes” to herself.

 

Mike walked over to her with a big smile, and Xerxes and John stayed right by his side.

 

Mike goaded her a bit “Here, you try it. It’s pretty great!”

 

With a laugh she held the container out to Mike “Here, this is for you.” and as he took it, she said “Xerxes: Heel” and started walking through the yard, followed by a daft collie and a giggling little.

 

Trying as hard as she could to look serious and not crack up laughing, she only partially succeeded as she said “Okay, this is a convenient way to take both of them for a walk at the same time.” with her mirth in her voice.

 

Mike walked over and gave John a high five and then held a hand out politely to shake hands with Amanda. She noticed he was very gentle as he took her hand. It was charming.

 

With a smile he nodded “Miss Taylor, thank you very much for dinner, and lunch tomorrow. I’ll make sure to bring this back Saturday. Is eleven o’clock good for you?”

 

Clearing her throat a bit she nodded “Eleven will be great!”

 

And with one last wave he was through the gate.

 

It was quiet for a moment as she heard the truck start up and back away.

 

But only for a moment.

 

From down and on her left she heard some giggling.

 

Looking down, she quizzed the giggling little “And what is so funny, young man?”

 

She could see his face twisted as he tried to hold something in. Being John, naturally he failed.

 

With all sorts of emphasis, he giggled out the first word “Mom has a cruUuuuushhhhhh.”

 

Scoffing, Amanda rebutted him “Hey! I just happen to like him. Plus he’s nice. And you like him too.”

 

That same grin spread across his face “Yeah, but you didn’t just ‘accidentally’ cook too much food.”

 

“Xerxes, come” she said as she started walking toward the house “What makes you think I cooked too much on purpose.”

 

“Uh huh.” the little rascal chided her! “Give it up, how did you know he was coming?”

 

Now it was her turn to smirk “That’s actually YOUR fault. You made a good impression with Miss Bairn.”

 

Ah the look of confusion was so cute on such a small face as he asked “How is this my fault?”

 

“Welllll.” She led in and took off her shoes on the porch. “Someone was polite and grateful all on his own, and all that she deals with day in and day out is screaming selfish littles that were just adopted. I’ve been trying to tell you that you’re unique in our world.”

 

He was so distracted that he didn’t notice where she was leading Xerxes until they were all in the bathroom.

 

“Hey wait a minute, why are we …” But he stopped as she reached down and pulled his shirt up and off in one quick motion.

 

Protesting now “It’s way too early for bath time!”

 

“John. You have been literally rolling in dirt and your bedtime is in two hours. Sit!” and as Xerxes sat she nabbed John when he went sliding down and pulled his shorts off with one hand as she pivoted around to put him down in front of the bath tub.

 

“Fine, but can I at least try the shower?” he asked

 

She did a double take “Are you going to try an bargain with me?”

 

Shrugging a bit he admitted “I’m not really in much of a position to bargain.”

 

“Well, why don’t you bribe me.”

 

“I’ll … “ she could see him doing that thing where he is obviously thinking as he talks. He’s going to blurt something out in 3 … 2….

 

“Ah, I’ll draw you a picture.”

 

“That’s a good start.”

 

“Snuggles in the rocking chair before bedtime!”

 

She shook her head “That’s going to happen every night anyway.”

 

“I’ll give my new uhhh ... Mom a kiss on the cheek.” he was grasping now.

 

Shooing Xerxes out of the bathroom to make room, she knelt down real low and presented her cheek.

 

He hesitated but ultimately leaned and gave her an awkward kiss on the cheek and then asked politely “Mom, may I take a shower instead of a bath?”

 

She nodded “We’ll give it a try, but I’m still going to have to help.”

 

“Once a week?” he obviously had to push a bit.

 

Holding up a finger, Amanda explained “First let’s figure this out. Then we’ll see about the rest, okay?”

 

“Yes Mom.”

 

She knew he was just trying to play sweet to get what he wanted. But it seemed like a step in the right direction, so she let it slide as she turned on the water.

[christi]

Good addition, thanks for sharing.  🙂