Trouble

My leash kid days are behind me!

Over the next few days, they got up to lots of fun stuff. It was so good to be back together again and they were having a great time.

They'd been swimming, visited lots of famous sites, played football and taken Narla on loads of walks.

Maisie was so happy to be back around Keira and Lucy and the smile barely left her face. It was the exact same for the adults and despite the chaos and constant repeating of instructions, they were loving it.

"Woah mush," Lucy laughed. It was 10 in the morning and Maisie had burst into their bedroom. She came and leapt onto their bed and wedged herself between them.

"Did you know that crocodiles don't die of old age? Like they just keeping going until disease or an injury gets them."

"Really?" Keira said, "That's mental."

"I know. And they never stop growing either. So like you can just get these massive old geezers who are like 50 foot long because they've been alive forever and have spent the whole time growing."

"That's mad," Lucy said.

"Do you reckon you could beat a 50-foot crocodile in a fight?" Maisie wondered, "I think I could if I had some weapons."

Keira and Lucy chuckled at the wonderful way her brain worked.

"Well I reckon I could beat a 50-foot crocodile with my bare hands," Lucy said.

"No you couldn't. You're not that strong!"

"Ooo that's a mistake," Keira laughed, knowing Lucy didn't like her strength questioned.

"Oi I am very strong," she said, pulling the sixteen-year-old into her side and poking her all over.

"Get off," Maisie laughed, trying to wriggle her way out.

"If I'm not that strong, you should be able to get yourself out," Lucy told her.

"Fine, fine you're super strong! Please let go."

She did so and Maisie shifted herself back to lying between them as they fell into silence.

"Would you rather fight a chicken the size of a dinosaur or 50 dinosaurs that were the size of chickens?"

***

Keira and Maisie had been at each other's throats for the past couple of days. It was getting closer to Christmas day but the Christmas cheer certainly wasn't in their house.

Maisie was constantly winding her sister up and this always turned into an argument.

"Just give me the stupid remote!" Keira said.

"No!"

Maisie had clambered up onto the back of the sofa and was holding the remote in the air so she couldn't reach.

"You're so fucking annoying!"

Keira always tried to keep her cool with Maisie but when she was in overly irritating little sister mode, it was hard not to snap.

The pair continued to squabble as Keira tried to fight and grab the remote. Maisie was finding the whole thing deeply entertaining and was laughing at her sister's frustration.

Lucy could hear their arguing from the kitchen and went to investigate. She knew that one of them was going to snap and that would not be a good thing at all.

She walked over and wrapped an arm around Keira's waist, gently pulling her from the room.

"She's so annoying," she groaned when they got to their room. Lucy wrapped her arms around her and pulled her into a hug.