A Wish with a Bow (Girl Power Series)

Chapter 17 - Double Identity

Brett was allowed to go home this morning after a big helping of pancakes and a temperature check. I had to laugh when he confessed to me that he hadn't changed his boxers since he came to my house on Saturday.

I'm free today and instead of having a lazy day, I'm going to babysit. Although child sitting would be a more appropriate term as my charges are way past the age to be babies.

"Thanks for coming at such a short notice," my friend Brenda says as I come in the house.

"No problem. I was free anyway,"

"Yeah, but you should be resting and here I have you looking after my little monsters. I'm so behind on everything. Work has been hell and I don't even have one gift at home. And let's not even start on the fact that putting up the Christmas tree will probably happen by Valentine's day," she says while picking up toys, pieces of clothing and a half eaten rice waffle.

"Don't worry. I'm happy to do this for you. Just relax, do some nice shopping and I will make sure that the boys have fun," I say, rubbing her arm.

Brenda and her husband Paul leave after telling their sons to listen, to behave, and to be nice or Santa will make sure that they receive a big pile of shit. That is extreme parenting, in my time it was all about coal.

I'm left alone with Blaine and Logan, and I can see that I won't be in for an easy time. But I have babysat kids from hell and these two don't scare me.

I head to the kitchen where there is a big pile of plates in the sink. I begin to empty the dishwasher and sure enough, I have the two shadows standing next to me.

"Batman... I don't know. I think Iron Man is a whole lot better," I say, looking at the dishes in my hands.

"Nah-huh, Batman is. He has all the cool cars and bikes," Logan says.

"Yeah, that might be cool and everything, but I think keeping a double identity must be so tiresome. Where do your mom stores this?" I say and one of the boys points to a cabinet.

I keep the Iron Man vs Batman discussion as I start the dishwasher and wipe the counters. I find a trash bag and start collecting stuff, including the mess of cereal on the dining table. The boys are helping me, even if they don't notice.

"And which of you two is the fastest?" I say, getting an idea.

"I am!" says Blaine.

"Nah-huh, I am!" Logan says.

"Okay, let's settle this. Here I have these two toy boxes. Let's see who can fill them quicker. On your marks, get set, go!"

The boys hurry around the house while picking up toys and I feel my phone buzzing with a message.

'So disappointing to be home. No one to take care of me, but at least I have clean underwear,'

I chuckle at Brett's message and type back:

'You can always come back,'

'I might consider it. Hey, what do I wear tonight?'

'Are you really coming to the Christmas show at church?'

'Yeah, I have never been to one. Or to a church...'

Goodness! Which planet does he come from?

'Something neat. Keep your tuxedo for New Year's Eve,'

'Man! Really? I guess that my Batman suit will have to do then. See you at 6.30,'

Superheroes... I guess the love for them doesn't change whether you are nine or 29.

The boys make a great job of tidying the house. I find a box of cake mix that is almost reaching its expiration date. With a dash and a pinch of things I find in the cupboards, we make it into a lovely Christmas confection.

I vacuum a bit around as the kids enjoy a warm slice of cake with a tall glass of milk. There will be so many sweets at the church activity that I'm saving my indulgence moment for then.

"Guys, how do you feel about putting up the tree? I bet that will score some points with Santa,"

The hope and happiness in their faces is worth a million. Something tells me that there has been plenty of naughty and very little nice. They basically drag me to the garage and start pointing at the dusty boxes. I find one labeled Tree and I hope it is complete.

Three trips to the living room later, we have everything that I think we will need. As I open the boxes, I find that the tree is missing the instructions, only one set of lights work and most of the ornaments are smashed.

"Oh, now Santa will bring us shit," says Blaine with sadness, looking at the disaster around us.

I stifle a laugh and start placing all the broken items in one box to bring to the trash. After everything is cleared and I make an inventory of what is left, which isn't much, I get an idea.

"How many toy cars do you have?" I say.

"Tons!" Blaine says.

"Nah-huh, more like a million," Logan challenges.

"Gather them!"

I tackle the tree and lights and luckily they are less of a mess than what I thought. It could use a few more strings of lights, but this will have to do. I look at the living room table where a collection of cars is growing. I grab a pack of ornament hangers and start looping them carefully on the little tires.

"What are you doing?" Blaine says, coming to sit next to me.

"You are surprising your parents with the best tree ever," I say, standing up and hanging a few cars from the branches.

"Wow!" Logan says with his mouth open in surprise.

After a while, the tree has tons of little cars, red bows and we even make popcorn to make a garland. They look proud at their efforts.

The door opens and Brenda and Paul come in. You can see the tension in their faces at what they could find.

As they look around, their eyes stop on the two grinning boys; then at the organized living room; then at the tree...

"They boys helped to make that for you,"

Paul takes a step back and looks at the house number, and Brenda just breaks into happy tears as she hugs her sons. She then moves to me and gives me a bone breaking hug.

"Callie, you are an angel in disguise. I wish all the happiness to you and I hope that this Christmas you get all you want,"

I only want one thing for Christmas, but it is an impossible wish.