smiling critters

chapter 38 - boxes

as Anders walked to Donna's house, he pondered what Godfrey could’ve left him that was so important that he wasn't letting Neil see what it was. whatever it was, Anders wanted his younger son to see it too. he finally got there and knocked on the door, only for a random pug to answer.

“Malachi, there's another Mormon at the door!” he shouted into the house before turning back to Anders.

“my dad will be here in a second,” he told him before he was about to shut the door when a hand held it open.

“go play with the cats, I'll talk to them-” he turned to Anders and realized who it was. “oh, Anders, hello! come in, come in. Neil's doing homework, make yourself comfortable and I'll grab him,” he greeted as he ushered the feline inside.

“danke schoen,” he nodded as he walked over and sat on the couch in front of a bunch of variously sized boxes as the pug from before came out from a hallway roughhousing with two cats while Malachi stretched over the railing that guarded anything too big from falling downstairs before he knocked on one of the doors.

“neil, your dad is here, it's time to take a break!” he called as the pug noticed him.

“Malachi, why is the Mormon in the house? are you cheating on Donna with him?”

“PJ, be respectful. he’s not not here as a Mormon, he’s Neil's father,” the elastic yokai scolded as he stretched back downstairs.

“who knows the kinda shit you're into,” PJ snickered. Malachi just sighed and began to usher them outside.

“ok, you three go play outside for a while. I am so sorry about PJ, he tends to get a bit... bold,” he told them before turning to anders while Neil walked downstairs and sat down with Anders.

“It's no trouble, I understand. good afvternoon, Neil. how was your day at school?” the Norwegian forest smiled as his son sat beside him.

“it was good, we made a lot of progress on our choreography for greased lightning.”

“ooh. you know, grease is my favorite American musical.”

“that's nice. what do ya wanna do?”

“I was hoping to open the boxes Godfrey had given me with you.”

“but he said I couldn't look inside them.”

“he entrusted me wid dem dough, and if I know your border, it’s not anyding malicious.”

“but-”

“if you're worried about what we’ll see, I'll take a small peek before you look, ok?”

“ok,” Neil hesitated before Anders cut the tape of the lightest of the boxes with his claw before before opening the box enough to see what was inside. Classic Godfrey. he had held onto all the photos and other trinkets Anders had given to grace over the 22 years they've been together and in this box was the biggest dragon Anders had evers crocheted for her. it’d taken months for him to complete, and he ended up giving to her as a two year wedding gift. he fully opened the box and pulled out the stuffed animal.

“woah! Is that yours?” Neil exclaimed upon seeing it.

“I made it for you moder.”

“neat, how long did it take to make?”

“a few monds, it didn't help that we were lifving togeder when I was making it and it was supposed to be a surprise, I ended up finishing it in my car while I was caught in a traffvic jam. I will never forget de look on your moder's face when I gave it to her.”

“how happy was she?”

“it made her cry, but I chalk most of that up to pregnancy hormones.”

Neil smiled to himself a little as Anders put the dragon back and went to open another box, which was full of more stuffed dragons he crocheted for grace over the years, nothing too of note, so he moved on to the next box, full of framed photos anders had taken of grace and Godfrey.