"Dashi-" Tweak began as I turned around. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tweak pull her into her quarters and sit her down on the bed. I turned around, but Tweak just silently make a shooing motion, shooing me off, but winked at me and mouthed,
"I'll talk to her." I gave her a tiny little salute and slipped out of the Launch Bay, into the Octochute and to the Library. Inkling was livid with both Pinto and me, so obviously, we got a lecture. An hours long lecture, long enough to wish I was already peeling the books off of the ceiling. Once the end of the stupid lecture was finally in sight, I began to climb onto the bookshelves to get the damn things down.
After coaxing one of my sister's stupid Donna Doxy books down from the ceiling, Pinto and I'd gotten ourselves quite an audience of 2 creatures. Tomminow ran up to me, held her tiny flippers out, and chirped happily.
"She's asking if you would read the book to her." Shellington translated for her.
"Oh." The request took me aback. I couldn't sit still long enough for Dashi to take a picture, much less read a book. But then Tomminow put on her "You can't say no" face with the big pleading eyes and tiny quivering lip; saying no was immediately put out of the picture.
"In a little bit," I promised her, "After I finish getting all the books down from the ceiling." She seemed a bit taken aback by my statement and immediately looked up. The second she laid eyes on the books dangling from the ceiling, she "oohed" and "ahhed" before crashing into my legs and chattering in awe. I glanced at Shellington, who was smiling.
"She said, you've turned the books into stars." He chuckled as Tomminow ran back to him and jumped into his arms.
"Pwetty!" She chirped as she pushed herself to the tips of Shellington's arms and reached for the books on the ceiling.
"You like them, baby?" Pinto asked gingerly, abandoning his ladder immediately and stood on his the tips of his toes to tickler her shin as she giggled and hugged him, "We would've put more on there, but then this P-" I pinched his flipper to keep him from cussing me out any further in front of the innocent little baby in Shellington's arms. Unfortunately, it didn't exactly go in my favor. Tomminow's face immediately fell and she ran up to Pinto and hugged him, and began scolding me.
"Oh, she says not to pinch him." Shellington translated, as Tomminow ran up to me, squeezed her tiny flippers around my knees and chattered some more, "And also, she's sorry for scolding you." She looked up to me and nodded. That'd never happened before. It turned out, at the sight of the sweet little baby clutching my knees, my heart had melted into a boiling puddle of mush, so I bent down to her, gently squeezed her tiny baby body, and whispered,
"Now how about we read?" The tears currently in her eyes instantly evaporated, and she began bouncing up and down.
"Mystwy!" She chirped. My voice died in my lungs. I didn't have the heart to tell her I'd rather push my sister off the Octopod than read one of those dumb mystery books, but thankfully, Inkling saved me from that.
"Not so fast, dearie." He patted Tomminow's soft little head and kissed her little nose gently, "I have a book I want both you and Jane to read." He retreated to the corner of the library and pulled out a brown leather book so tightly bound, the leather at the center began to come off a little with gold lettering that glittered in the light.
"The Story of Princess Anastasia." I read aloud. Oh great, a princess story. Tomminow would love it, me? Not so much.
Tomminow squealed in delight at the shiny gold lettering, and ran her tiny flippers over it. I pulled her into my lap as she held the book and opened it up. The pages were stiff and crinkled, but the words on them were bold as ever.
"The Grand Duchess Anastasia was and still is one of the most revered figures of the Russian Revolution, but she wasn't her parents' golden princess." I stopped here. And the words of the next few paragraphs came tumbling out. It turns out while all 3 of her older sisters were golden, prodigious children, she was the mischief-maker. I stumbled through pages and pages of her tricks, Tomminow giggling at every one. I loved it too. I'd finally found a book that could hold my pathetic attention for a bit, and I loved it.
YOU ARE READING
The Odd Sister Out
Fanfiction"The middle child has it worse" Janine Margot Doxter knows that this is a lie. Being the younger sister of Dashi and Koshi, who were known as inseparable, mystery-loving sisters in their hometown. Therefore, she has always been the third wheel to he...
