A Problem Like Maria

Chapter 13

Georg woke up the next morning to a door slamming down the hall and realized he had slept in a rather uncomfortable leather jacket. He felt around for his phone without opening his eyes and grabbed it. He turned it on and was initially blinded by the screen. When his eyes focused in on the calendar notification he instantly woke up. It read "CPS" check.

They didn't necessarily have a cause to worry. A family agent had agreed to make a series of checkups on the family after the death of Mr. Von Trapp and when his Helen took custody. It was mainly to ensure the kids were well adjusted and doing relatively well. If they were having issues at school or abundant domestic issues then there was a chance that the kids, starting with the younger ones, could be placed out with other family members or become wards of the state. It wasn't that Helen was incapable, but she was older and 8 kids was no small task, especially after all they went through.

Georg shot up out of bed and immediately regretted it but spotted the Tylenol on his nightstand and took three before changing clothes. He walked down the hall and felt his brain shake with each step he took but he had to get Liesl.

After knocking and receiving a "yeah?" In response, Georg walked in to find her scrolling on her phone in bed, like usual.

"Look" he tossed her his phone and as she read her eyes grew wide

"Where's Aunt Helen?" He asked. Usually she was awake by now and could be heard bustling in the kitchen.

"She's asleep, she got in around the same time as Lou and Friedrich so she said she'd sleep in"

"Ok ok, uh you get her up and ready and I'll get the others up. We're screwed" he rubbed his face with his hands.

"You're hungover aren't you?, sure had a heck of a Friday." Liesl quipped

"Yes very, now stop yelling" he begged

Liesl laughed since she spoke calmly and went to go get her Aunt up.

Georg slowly got his siblings up and ready and explained what was going on.

"Are we gonna have to lie?" Gretl asked as Georg began waking Marta up.

"Georg!" Liesl yelled from somewhere "text Maria, she'll help!" He whipped out his phone and typed a hurried text who sent a list of things to do and an eye roll emoji.

"Ok ok ok, put these on" Georg grabbed Marta and Gretl's play clothes and threw them at them.

"But you said we had to dress nice?" Gretl was confused

"I changed my mind, just hurry, please" he pleaded and gave Marta a hurried kiss on the head before running down the hall and pounding on the others' doors.

Downstairs Liesl was hurriedly cleaning up the kitchen at bit. Brigitta and Louisa came down dressed in their thrift clothes but with sweatshirts instead of t-shirts because it was starting to get cold

The boys came down a little bit after and Georg came with the little girls.

"Where's Aunt Helen?" Brigitta asked

"Taking her sweet time" Liesl grumbled and threw her towel on the counter before rushing out of the room.

"What are we gonna say?" Louisa asked

"We're gonna act normal, not super put together like we did last time, remember how well it went when we acted like kids from the 1800s? She knew we were lying" Georg said.

Maria came plowing through the back door and heads snapped.

"Thanks for knocking." Georg turned to her, and just to get even she slammed the door, making his head pound.