Long Story #15: The Nanny (P2)

The twins exchanged a look. They'd had friends ask the same question before; it would have made sense if they didn't have the option, but this was a big house, and it could easily support them having their own individual space. They of course already knew why they did it, but it always felt weird to have to explain it to someone else. Molly was fortunately the first to speak up about it, "We've just always done it. We always play together anyway, so it just makes sense." "Yeah, we can talk and stuff whenever! It's like a sleepover that never ends!" Max added with a grin. Mrs. Rhinehart seemed unhappy by the answer, but didn't probe any further on it for now. Though she did think it was a natural enough segue to what she had to say to them next. "Yes...Well, one of those rooms will be used. Since I am a live-in nanny, my daughter will be living here as well. She's already moved her things into the room at the end of the hall." "You have a daughter? Our old nanny was kinda, well, old, so I think her kids were grownups." Max blathered as he ate another piece of celery. "Yes, her name is Amber and she's close to the same age as you. I expect that you'll show her courtesy and be polite, is that clear?" That was clearly directed at the boy in the room. "...Yes ma'am." Max mumbled, shooting his sister a look, as if this was proving his analysis of the nanny that he'd given in their room. "Good. Now, I expect that you'll finish your homework after your snack. No television or games until all of it is done. I need to get started on dinner, but I will be checking to make sure you've finished." The woman went out of the dining area and deeper into the kitchen proper, which left the pair alone to finish their snack and discuss things. Molly seemed less perturbed about the ruling on homework, since she liked to get it taken care of early on, but Max considered it a great offense. "I told you she's a bad nanny. I'm gonna miss the cartoons I wanna watch, because she's got a stick up her butt!" "Calm down, Max. It's not a huge deal. I'm sure she'll lighten up once she's been here a while. Besides, you can't afford to keep forgetting about your homework! You don't want to get held back, do you?" The boy sighed and relented to his sister's reasoning. She was right, even if he didn't like it. So against every natural instinct he had, he would go on to spend these prime TV hours on stupid homework. Having Molly there to assist was a huge help, but it still felt like an unending slog, and it reminded him why he only turned in about half of the assignments on average. Once they'd finally finished, Molly had been the one to go tell the nanny, as a request from the boy that knew the nanny didn't like him. The woman came back and started to look over their papers; she seemed to be looking to see whether or not Max had just copied his sister's work, which was admittedly something that happened from time to time. "Hmm...Everything looks in order...Except this penmanship." She prodded one of Max's worksheets, "Atrocious! I've seen Kindergarten students do better with crayons!" "S-sorry, my writing is kinda...Bad." Max admitted with a shrug. "I can see that. We'll have to work on that too, while I'm here." It took all his willpower to resist rolling his eyes at that. Was there anything he could do right in her eyes? Thankfully, it was at least enough to grant them a reprieve from work. She dismissed them to their own devices, though she cautioned that dinner would be ready in the next thirty minutes. Accounting for commercials, it only ended up being enough time to watch two zany episodes of something in the playroom; Max could barely even enjoy himself, because he'd been wound up by the woman's words. Molly could tell he was grumpy about it, but she knew better than to set him off by talking about it right now. It'd be more constructive to approach the topic later, when he'd had a chance to cool down. During the climax of the second cartoon that they'd had the chance to watch, the door to the playroom opened and in peaked the eyes of an unfamiliar girl. She was taller than them by a couple of inches and wore her hair similarly to Mrs. Rhinehart. It didn't take a genius to deduce this must be Amber. "Oh, there you two are! Mom wasn't joking when she said you were joined at the hip." The girl cackled, letting herself in to get a better look at her new house-mates. Max audibly groaned at the interruption, and while he'd usually be more friendly with a new face, he was still far too irritable from dealing with the girl's wicked mother. Molly on the other hand was all smiles and offered the girl an amiable wave. "Hi! I'm Molly, and that's my brother Max." "Obviously. Unless there's more than one pair of twins living in this house." Amber retorted, coming over and looking down at her seated peers. "What's up with him? Cranky because he missed his afternoon nap or something?" "O-oh, uh, Max just doesn't like when his cartoons get interrupted." Molly sheepishly explained. "Yeah, neither does my baby brother, but that's because he's three. Same reason he doesn't like getting his diaper changed...Well, that and boys are just gross like that." Max clenched his fist, but stayed calm. He had already let the nanny get to him, he wasn't about to let her daughter get under his skin too. Molly luckily pivoted for him and instead asked: "You have a baby brother? Your mom didn't mention that earlier. Is he going to be staying in one of the other rooms too?" "He stays with my dad two weeks, and then he stays with us two weeks. I guess he'll be here, but not all the time. It's better that way anyway, since it's bad enough to have one smelly baby in the house, let alone two." Max saw the credits start to roll on his show, and he realized that he'd missed the bulk of the ending, since he'd been so distracted by Amber's incessant chatter. He sighed and turned his head to finally look at the girl, "What about smelly babies?" "She was talking about her baby brother, Max." Molly said, though she knew that Amber had hidden an insult in there too; she just didn't know if it was in reference to Max or herself. "Oh. Maybe that's what the diapers were for? For her baby brother?" The boy suddenly considered, though he would have to be a very large toddler for that to make sense, with what the sizing on those diapers were. "What diapers?" Amber asked, her smarmy grin betraying that she already had an idea of what they were talking about. "We found some in our room, after your mom cleaned up in there. It's like a whole package of them too! I thought they were for Molly, but it makes more sense that they're for an actual baby." Max giggled. "Yeah, and I thought they were for you, dummy!" His sister grinned back at him. "Well, one of you is right. They're not for my brother though; I don't think my mom has brought anything for him yet." That rained on Max's parade pretty quickly, "Really? Then why did she put them in there? Does your mom like playin' pranks?" A smile broadened across Amber's face, like the secret she was holding in was life-sustaining. "No, I don't think she does pranks. If she put diapers in your room, then it has to be for one of you two. I can guess who they're meant for..." Before either twin could inquire further, they heard the loud call of the nanny, signaling it was time to wash up and eat dinner. Amber giggled and skipped away, leaving Max and Molly looking at each other with concerned looks. The twins got their hands washed and headed into the kitchen. On the table were three places set, with Amber already sitting at one of them. Dinner appeared to be chicken, broccoli, and macaroni. None of this would have looked too suspect, except one of the chairs was in front of a very different setup. Plastic dinosaur plate with a plastic fork, on top of a cutesy place-mat, and with a sippy cup of milk off to the side. The food on the plate was cut up into small pieces, and there was even a booster seat in the chair. To say this caused confusion would be an understatement. Molly was quicker than Max to grab the remaining 'normal' chair, which left the boy scrambling to make a decision on what to do. Amber had said her brother wasn't yet here, so why was there a preschooler placement at the table? Max took an empty seat instead, which was likely where the nanny had intended to sit. "That's not your place, Max." The woman said, coming out of the inner kitchen to look at the three kids. "Let me see hands and make sure you washed up." Amber didn't comply, which left the twins awkwardly holding their hands out for inspection. The woman took two seconds to look at Molly's hands, but she basically put Max's hands under a microscope; she grabbed them and raised them to see closely as to whether or not he had any grime on them. The nanny then leaned down and grabbed Max from underneath his armpits; she lifted the boy and instead placed him on top of the plastic booster seat. He looked totally confused, especially since he was now in front of the 'baby' placement at the table. "Umm...I don't need a booster seat.." He sheepishly explained, deciding to focus on that part first. He was technically the shortest one here, but it was by a very slim margin! "You looked like you were slouching during snack time, this should help you sit more properly at the table." The nanny plainly put. Max frowned and looked at the other problem in front of him. Without another word, he grabbed his juvenile plate and casually switched it with his sister's plate, before doing the same with the sippy cup. If the booster was for him, then the stuff in front of it was obviously for him too, but Max didn't want to believe that. Molly gave him a dirty look, but it was Mrs. Rhinehart who spoke up. "Stop moving things around, young man." She pointedly switched the dinnerware back and scowled. "Why does everyone else get a real plate and a real fork? And a real cup, too! This is all... Baby stuff!" Amber giggled and smiled smugly at the sight of the frazzled boy. She'd already known beforehand that this would be the case, and she knew plenty of other things that would follow it! "I can't be sure that a boy your age can be trusted with anything other than plastic." A boy his age?! This was an outrage! It was as if the woman didn't understand the whole main thing about being a 'twin'. "Me and Molly are the same age, and she doesn't have this stuff." Max firmly pointed out with an indignant huff. "Boys take much longer than girls to mature. I don't want to take any chances that you'll break something or make a big mess. Now eat, before your dinner gets cold, or do I need to feed you like you're a baby?" Max furrowed his brow and picked up the blue plastic fork. He wasn't sure what the nanny's problem was, but he really wasn't liking all the things that she was trying to do here. He started to take quiet bites of his meal, fully avoiding the nasty broccoli for now. Once it came time to wash things down, he picked up the sippy cup and began to unscrew the lid. "...Mom! Max is taking the lid off of his cup!" Amber was quick to tattle. "I don't need a sippy cup! I'm nine, not three! I'm not gonna spill on myself!" His sister found it prudent to back her brother up, since as funny as this was, it simply wasn't fair to pick on him like this. "Y-yeah, Max might not be the neatest eater, but this seems like a little much..." The nanny came back in, now with her own plate. She set it down at the last chair and turned her attention to the only boy in the room. "Oh? Well, then I suppose I can let him prove to me that he doesn't need the lid. If you spill or dribble, then it'll be some time before I give you another chance, young man." Max couldn't resist rolling his eyes this time. He unscrewed the lid to the sippy cup and took a gentle, cautious sip of the milk that was inside. He was oblivious to the fact that the sippy cup was tainted, in more than one way; it held something inside that would lead to an unhappy morning, and it also had a tiny hole near the top that would guarantee that the boy dribbled on himself. Fortunately for him, the way he picked the cup up was on the side where the hole wouldn't be a problem, so he cleanly drank from it and gave the nanny a smarmy look about it. "See?" The woman had her own smile, "Good! Now just keep that up and show me what a big kid you are." Dinner was quiet for a few minutes after that, until Amber decided to stir the pot and get some drama going: "Max and Molly said that they found diapers in their room. You haven't set up anything for Mac's room yet, right?" Max didn't like that the nanny's youngest child had a name so close to his own, but he chalked it up to an unfortunate coincidence. Both he and his sister were still curious about the diapers, so they listened intently for some clarity. "No, those diapers are far too large for your little brother to wear." The woman replied, technically answering the query, but not giving the information that was actually wanted. "...Molly might get scared easily, but I think diapers are kinda overkill." Max commented, giving his sister a playful smile, but sort of meaning what he said. "Those aren't for your sister, young man. They're for you. I can't trust that a boy your age will keep his sheets dry, and I'm not about to be doing more laundry because of it." Amber giggled again, and Max just looked stunned by the sexist logic of what the woman was saying. First the sippy cup, and now this? It'd been months since he had wet the bed, and he really only had those type of accidents a couple of times a year! (Continued in Part 3)