"Luke! Where are you? You need to get to school and I need to get to work. We don't have time for games this morning!" Uncle shouted as he walked down the stairs of the old house. He heard giggling and followed the sound into the kitchen, only to find his blonde- haired nephew sitting atop the refrigerator. Uncle had attempted to hide the cookies up there to encourage Luke to eat more fruit. He didn't mind the occasional treat, but he knew he should be teaching the boy to eat them in moderation. He had clearly underestimated the boys climbing abilities.
"Lucian Taylor! You little monkey. Get down from there right now! I do not have time for a trip to the hospital. You are late for preschool."
Luke swung his legs over the double doors of the fridge and slid down the handles. "Sowwy Uncca. Me wanted to take biscus to school today." He looked up at Uncle with his chocolate eyes.
Uncle sighed. "You're making me soft, Kid." He ruffled Luke's hair and picked him up sideways under his arm to carry outside. Luke giggled and righted himself before Uncle put him in the truck.
He wrapped his arms around Uncle's neck, "I wuv you. You're my bestest buddy."
Uncle patted Luke's back before ducking his head to put him in his seat. "I love you too, kid. Now let's get you off to preschool. Try not to cause your teachers too much grief today, alright?"
Luke giggled again as Uncle walked around to the driver's side of the car.
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The drive took a little over 40 minutes to get to the preschool and when Uncle pulled up to stop, he noticed Luke had fallen asleep during the drive. His head had fallen forwards with his hair covering his eyes. He should have realised earlier, when Luke had stopped talking, that he was asleep. He usually spent the whole drive pointing at other cars or looking at the clouds in the sky, making up stories.
Uncle went around the truck and picked up Luke's bag with his spare clothes and food inside before unbuckling the little boy and lifting him into his arms. One of the Mothers who was also dropping off her son held the door open for him. Uncle gave her a nod and whispered his thanks before heading in. He was met with a wall of noise as children played throughout the room.
The teacher in charge of the room looked up and smiled in relief when she saw Luke sleeping in his Uncle's arms. It wasn't that he was naughty. He was just, very adventurous and inquisitive. She liked to keep an eye on him so she didn't have a repeat of the day she found him on top of the storage shed, attempting to get the ball he had accidentally thrown up there. She stood up to welcome Uncle and guided him to the rest area where they placed Luke on one of the mats available for napping.
Uncle covered Luke with a soft, blue blanket and pushed a lock of hair behind his ear before leaving with the teacher. He went through the chores of putting Luke's lunch and snacks in the fridge, his bag in his cubby and signing the drop off sheet before saying goodbye to the teachers. Looking at his watch he found he would be right on time for his job, providing there was no traffic. He smiled to himself and went outside to his truck.
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Luke lay still with his eyes shut, listening to the noises around him. There were kids building train tracks in one area and he could hear the rustling of paper in the craft corner. Two teachers were talking and he was trying to work out the location of the third teacher.
