Spoons

                “I’m bored.” complained Alex as he squished his nose against the window. It had been raining all day and Alex was getting restless. He turned away from the window and glanced around the room at his siblings. Nick was stretched out on the couch, reading a book about airplanes. Libby was curled up in the armchair, wrapped up in an old novel. Sarah was sitting on the floor, perusing a book of crafts. Alex was not surprised when Libby absentmindedly told him to go get a book to read.

                “I’ve read all my books.”

                “So go get a book from the shelf inside.”

                “Those are boring.” Alex whined.

               “Ask Nick for a book to read. Nick?” said Libby. “Nick? Nick!”

                “Hmmm? What?” he mumbled, without taking his eyes away from his book.

                “Oh, never mind. Sorry, Alex.” she said, going back to her book. The room was quiet for a while until Alex broke the silence again.

                “Guys, can we play a game?” he asked.

                “Sure, I’m game for a game!” said Sarah impishly, closing her book. 

                “Ha Ha Ha.” said Alex. “What do you want to play?”

                “I don’t know, maybe monopoly?”

                “We would need Nick and Libby to play that. Hey, Libby? Wanna play a game with us?” Alex asked.

                “I’ll play with you guys, but only if we don’t play monopoly.” she said, closing her book.

                “But we always play monopoly!”

                “I know that’s why I want to play something else. What about a card game?”

                “Okay! Let’s play Liar!” suggested Sarah enthusiastically.

                “No!” protested Alex. “I’m no good at the lying part.”

                “Alright, Go-Fish.”

                “I’m thinkin’…. No.” said Libby. “I vote for Spoons.”

                “What the heck is that?” said Alex laughing. “Do we get to eat something?”

                “You’ve never played Spoons? Come on, everyone’s heard of Spoons.”

                “Yeah, you eat with them. Stuff life ice cream and soup and pudding and cereal and-“

                “I get it, I get it. Here, I’ll teach you how to play. It’s easy. Alex, go get a pack of cards, and Sarah, go get three spoons. Nick, get up. You’re going to play with us.” Libby said bossily.

                “Fine. What are we playing?” Nick asked.

                “Forks.” said Sarah quickly.

                “No.” said Libby.

                “Whoops. I meant Knives.” said Sarah, pretending to be innocent.

                “What?” said Alex, looking scared. “We’re playing with knives? My cub scout book says we should never play with knives.”

                “No, Alex, we are not playing with knives.” said Libby.

                “Sorry, my mistake. What is it again, Libby? Soup ladles? Chopsticks? Pitchforks?” Sarah teased.

                “Spoons, Sarah, Spoons! We are playing a game called Spoons. Now everyone sit down and put the spoons in the middle. Alex, where are the cards?” asked Libby.

                “Here.”

                “Thanks. Okay!” She said as she shuffled the cards. “Here’s how you play. First, you deal out all the cards.”

                “Lib, you deal cards like you’re playing poker or something.” said Nick.

                “I don’t know how to play poker.” she said as she flicked the cards down.

                “I do!” cried Alex. He jumped up and ran around Nick to his sisters. “Poke! Poke!” he said, jabbing a little finger into both Libby and Sarah.

                “Oww!” said Sarah.

                “Hey!” said Libby. “What are you doing?”

                “Playing poker.” Said Alex.

                “Where did you learn to play poker?” asked Libby, rubbing her arm.

                “Uncle Peter taught me how to play. He said that the way to play poker is to run around the room poking all the girls. That’s why it’s called “poke – HER!”

                “Well, we’re not playing poker. We’re playing Spoons. Now, does everyone have their cards? The goal is to get four of a kind. Everyone passes cards until they get four of a kind and when you do, grab a spoon. Once one person grabs a spoon, everyone tries to grab a spoon. Get it?” explained Libby.

                “So, it’s sorta like musical chairs, but with spoons and a pack of cards?” asked Nick.

                “Pretty much.” said Libby.

                “I’m not sure I get it.” Alex said, looking confused.

                “You will. Eventually. Ready? Go!” Libby said, officially starting the game. Nick, Libby and Sarah quickly began passing cards around while Alex tried to keep up. Soon Nick grabbed a spoon and Libby and Sarah followed suit and took the remaining spoons. They turned to Alex, who was still working through the pile of cards that had accumulated next to him.

                “Alex?” said Nick.

                “Yeah?” said Alex, still trying to play.

                “This round is over.”

                “What? I didn’t get four of a kind yet! I’m still looking for two queens!”

                “I got four of a kind.”

                “Oh.” Alex said. “So I lost?” His three siblings nodded. “Oh.” He looked at them holding the spoons. “Can we try again?”

                “Sure. Sarah, do you want to shuffle this time?” asked Libby, handing the deck of cards to her sister.

                “So, the point of this game isn’t to win, you just don’t want to lose.” said Alex.

                “Yeah, I guess you could put it that way.” said Nick as Sarah dealt the cards. “Everyone ready? Go!” The cards flew for a few seconds before Sarah grabbed a spoon. Nick and Libby quickly grabbed the other two while Alex continued to pass cards.

                “Nick! Come one, keeping passing cards! You’re so slow!” he said.

                “Alex, the round is over.”

                “It is? Already? That was so quick! Who picked up the first spoon?”

                “I did!” said Sarah triumphantly.

                “How did you get four of a kind so fast?”

                “Well, I started out with three sevens.”

                “How did you start out with three sevens?” asked Libby indignantly. “Wait a minute, you’re the one who shuffled and dealt the cards!”

                “You stacked the deck!” Nick cried. “You cheated, you card shark!”

                “I did not! I am not a card shark! Wait, what’s a card shark?” said Sarah.

                “Someone who cheats at cards.”

                “I am not! I just didn’t shuffle the cards very well, that’s all.”

                “Well, guess who’s not going to be shuffling the cards at all anymore?”

                “I didn’t cheat!” cried Sarah.

                “Can we stop arguing and play again?” asked Alex. “I wanna get this.”

                “Alright, but Nick, you shuffle this time.” Said Libby, eyeing her sister suspiciously.  Nick took the cards and began to shuffle them. And shuffle them. And shuffle them.

                “Nick, just deal the cards already!” complained Sarah.

                “I just want to make sure I shuffle them thoroughly.” He said as he finally started to deal the cards. “Everyone ready? Go!” The four kids rapidly started passing cards around.

                “How many tens have you passed me Libby?” asked Sarah as they played. “That must have been the fifth one!”

                “Well, considering there should only be four...” said Libby.

                “It doesn’t matter, Sarah keeps passing them to me and I don’t need them, so stop passing them!” said Nick.

                “You know Libby, if you had kept them all, you could have won by now.” commented Sarah.

                “If you had kept them all, you would have won by now.” said Libby.  

                “Touché.” All was quiet as the cards got passed for a few more moments and then all of a sudden Alex made a mad scramble for the spoons. He grabbed one and then started jumping up and down.

                “I got it! I got one! I won!” he cried.

                “Good for you!’ said Nick. “What did you have four of?”

                “I had four eights!” he said as he danced around the room.

                “Wait, that’s impossible.” Said Libby, abruptly putting an end to Alex’s celebration.

                “Why?” he asked.

                “Because I have an eight.” She said, holding up a card.

“What? I was sure I had…” Alex’s voice trailed off as he checked his cards. “Ohhh!” he wailed. “I only had three eights instead of four!”

                “I’m sorry, Alex. We’ll play again. You’ll win next time, I’m sure.”

                “Nay, I don’t really want to play again.” He said sadly. He put down his cards and started to walk out of the room.

                “Wait! What are we going to do now?” asked Sarah.

                “You guys can keep playing.” said Alex.

                “You can’t play spoons with just three people, it’s not as much fun.” said Libby.

                “Well, then play monopoly.” suggested Alex.

                “I don’t feel like playing monopoly.” said Nick.

                “Well, I don’t know what you should do.” said Alex, getting frustrated with his older siblings. “Go get a book!”

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The Lone Ranger... And Toto too!

 

                “Silver bullets, a masked man, Indians, villains! Who could it be? It’s the Lone Ranger! Dat-da-da-da! With a cloud of dust and a hearty “Hi ho, Silver!” the Lone Ranger and his Indian friend, Toto-“

                “No, no, no, Sarah. It’s Tonto, not Toto.” interrupted Nick.

                “Oh, I thought it was Toto.” said Sarah.

                The small acting group consisted of Nick, who played all the bad guys and supplied the props and costumes; Sarah, who was Tonto and the voice of the announcer, and finally, the star actor, Alex. Alex played the Lone Ranger and was the owner of the old episodes that inspired the three sibling’s theatrical career. For about fifteen minutes now they had been trying to get through the beginning of the show. Unfortunately, problems with scripting, costuming, and spacing kept cropping up. Sarah kept unintentionally messing up her “lines,” Alex was getting upset because he hadn’t been able to use his gun yet, and Mom was ready to banish them from the living room.

                “Let’s try it again.” Nick said. Sarah took a deep breath and tried again.

                “Silver bullets, a masked man, Indians, villains! Who could it be? It’s the Lone Ranger! With a cloud of dust and a hearty “Hi ho, Silver!” the Lone Ranger and his Indian friend, Toto-“ Nick shook his head in surrender. He knew she would never get it right. “-begin to look for bad guys. The chase is on! The Lone Ranger is on the look-out for any trouble and Toto is by his side. Suddenly, they spot a shady looking character in the shadows.”

                Alex excitedly bounced onto “the stage.” In reality it was just the living room but he didn’t care. To him it was the Wild West, filled with criminals and tumble weeds. He spoke his line in a deep, cowboy voice.

                “What’s that, Toto? Do you see him?” he asked Sarah, who had switched into her Indian costume.

                “Yes, Kemo Sabe. Me see man, look like trouble. Hey Nick?” she said, suddenly coming out of character. “What does Kemo Sabe mean?”

                “Oh boy. I don’t know. Dad?” Nick yelled. “What does Kemo Sabe mean?”

                “I think it means dumb cowboy in Indian.” Replied Dad nonchalantly from behind his newspaper.

                “There you go, Sarah. Oh, and by the way, Toto- I mean Tonto’s costume does not consist of a coonskin cap, a lei, and a pair of plastic red sunglasses with the lenses popped out.” Sarah looked down and surveyed her costume.

                “But I like it.”

                “Alright, whatever. Let’s get back to the script and can we please stick to it?” Nick said.

                “Nick, can I use my gun yet?” Alex asked.

                “No, not yet. Just wait. Go ahead.” Alex began where they left off.

                “I think I’ll go check this out. You stay here, Toto.” Alex proceeded toward the kitchen as Sarah took off her Tonto costume and put a hairbrush microphone to her mouth.

                “The Lone Ranger down the mountain to where the mysterious man had been standing. He sees something! He-“ Sarah’s narrative was suddenly cut off by Alex’s sound effects.

                “Bang! Bang-bang! Hahaha! I got you, you evil bad guy!”

                “No, Alex! Not yet!” came Nick’s voice from behind his bandana. Alex began to chase his older brother around the room at gunpoint. Anxious to escape Nick ran into the hall, around the corner and was just about to make his getaway when he smacked into the kitchen cabinet door.

                “Why is this cabinet open?” Nick asked as he tried to stay away from Alex and rub his head at the same time.

                “I had to get something out of it.” Mom answered. “You can close it now.” Still trying to evade Alex, Nick hide behind the door but he was spotted right away by Alex.

                “Put your hands up!” Alex told Nick.

                “That’s right. Put your hands up and into the sink. It’s time to wash up for dinner.” said Mom, bringing their episode to an abrupt end. Nick sighed with relief. He had gotten away from the plastic gun this time.

                “Stick ‘em up!” commanded a voice from behind him and he felt something poking him in the back.

                “Sarah, cut it out!” he protested. Sarah just giggled and pushed him into the dining room at “gunpoint.”

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Sarah and the Silly Putty

                “Libby!” said a hushed whisper. Libby rolled over and groaned.

“Libby!” This time the whisper was harsher. “Wake up!” Still Libby tried to ignore whoever was whispering. “Wake up, wake up, wake up!” Libby could not ignore the shaking that accompanied this plea to wake up and she rolled over to see her older brother standing over her.

“Why should I wake up? Mom isn’t even up yet.” mumbled Libby as she pulled the pink covers over her head. Nick was aware of the fact that Libby was not a morning person, but he was in desperate need of assistance.

“I need a pair of scissors.” At this Libby ripped the covers off her head and stared at Nick in confusion and slight indignation.

“What in the world do you need a pair of scissors for this early in the morning?”

“Sarah woke up and came into my room since she knows not to wake you up in the morning.” Nick sighed.

“So? She usually wakes you up in the morning.” She replied grumpily.

“I’m not finished yet. I put on an episode of Adventures in Odyssey, thinking she would listen to it with me and –“

“You thought Sarah, our Sarah, was going to sit quietly for half an hour and listen to a radio show? Sarah, who won’t take any naps and never sits still? Ever?”  

“Hey, I was listening to it. I thought she would like it.”

“Nick, she’s two and a half!”

“Anyway, I was listening to the show when I turned around to look at Sarah. You see, she had been really quiet for a while and you know that usually means trouble.” A sense of dread began to grow in Libby.

“Oh, no. What did she do this time?”

“Well, um, Sarah? Could you come here?” The sounds of little footsteps came from Nick’s room and Sarah’s round, chubby cheeks peeked around the doorway. Her hair, as usual, was in a static cloud around her head but she had a strange form of adornment just above her right eye. A huge glob of bright green goo was stuck in her wispy brown hair.

“Oh, Sarah, what is in your hair?” Libby asked in disbelief.

“Silly putty.” She said in her impish way. She looked at her older sister, who was now thoroughly awake, and smiled.

“How did you get it there? Nick, how did this happen?”

“I’m not really sure. Sarah?” Sarah just raised her hands a shrugged.

“It was an accident.” She said simply.

“How are we going to get it out?” Libby asked.

“That’s what I need scissors for. I’m going to cut it out of her hair.” Nick said in his matter of fact way.

“I don’t have any scissors. If you really want some you’ll have to go downstairs. I’ll go get Mom and tell her what happened.” said Libby.

“No! Don’t wake her up. She’s still sleeping.” Nick protested.

“We have to tell her what happened, Nick. We can’t just cut off a chunk of Sarah’s hair and expect Mom not to notice. Besides, she can cut hair a lot better than I can though I can undoubtedly cut hair better than you can.”

“Hey!” Nick said hotly.

“Well, it’s true.” She said as she got out of bed. “Sarah, you stay here and don’t get any of the dress up clothes stuck to the silly putty you have stuck in your hair. Nick, you go get the scissors and I’ll go get Mom.” Libby instructed.

“You don’t have to be so bossy about it.” Nick complained as he went in search of scissors. Libby helped Sarah get a cowboy hat off the top shelf and then went to go get her mother. However, the noise Nick made going down the stairs had woken up Mom and she met Libby in the doorway of her bedroom.

“What’s going on? Nick sounded like an elephant going down the stairs.” Mom suddenly caught sight of her youngest daughter. Standing there with a full cowboy costume over top of her pajamas, her rosy face was accented by that large glob of silly putty in her hair. Seeing the look on her mother’s face, Libby attempted to smooth over the incident.

“Don’t worry, Mom, we’ll take care of it. Nick just went to get a pair of scissors; we’ll just cut it out.”

“Cut it out? It’s right in front of her face. I have enough trouble trying to tame her hair as it is; an uneven haircut is not going to help.” Mom sighed and rubbed her eyes. There was never a dull moment and to prove this fact, Alex started crying the moment Nick came up the stairs.

“Got the scissors! Oh, hi Mom.”

“Nick, you can’t just cut off Sarah’s hair. Would you like your sister to walk around with a bald spot?”

“Uh, no. I guess not.” Nick said. “So, what do we do?” Mom sighed and went to go get Alex.

“First of all, tell me how Sarah wound up with silly putty in her hair.”  She listened patiently as her two oldest told her what happened. “Only you, Sarah. Out of all the kids, only you would wind up with neon green, glow-in-the-dark, silly putty in your hair.”

“Sorry.” Said Sarah, as she looked at her family and smiled mischievously.

“I’m sure how we are going to get this out of your hair.” Mom sighed.

“Could we brush it out?” Libby asked.

“I think that would be painful for Sarah. Besides, I can’t get her to sit still long enough to brush her hair normally, I’m not sure we could strap her down long enough to get silly putty out of it.” Said Mom.

“I heard mustard will get gum out.” Nick suggested.

“I think that was mayonnaise, Nick.” Libby said.

“I suppose we should look it up.” Mom said. “Everyone, go get dressed. Except you, Sarah. We might as well wait until we get that out of your hair.”  A few minutes later all four kids where crowded around Mom as she searched the web.

“The Crayola website says that peanut butter will work, or this other website says to try baby oil. I guess we try both and see what happens.” Said Mom. She turned to look at Sarah. “Let’s do this in the kitchen. Libby, get the peanut butter.” Nick hoisted Sarah into a chair as Libby grabbed the peanut butter and brought it to her mother.

“Do you just smear it in?” asked Libby, her nosed wrinkled.

“I guess so. Here goes.” said Mom. She took a spoonful of peanut butter and started spreading on Sarah’s hair.

                “Ewwww.” Libby commented.

                “Libby, that doesn’t help.” Mom said. “Sarah, please stop wiggling. You are making this very difficult.” Sarah was trying to see what was happening on top of her head. Anyone who has ever tried this knows that it is very hard to do. However, Sarah was determined to do it.

                “Hey! If she ever gets hungry, she could just eat her hair!” Nick said.

                “Ewwwwww, gross! “ Libby replied, completely disgusted.

                “Alright! That’s enough. Nick, go feed the dog. Libby, keep Alex occupied. Sarah,” Mom looked at Sarah, who was again smiling impishly. “Sarah, just sit still!” The kids saw that they were unintentionally pushing Mom toward the edge and they quickly obeyed her. Even Sarah stopped fidgeting. Left in peace, Mom worked on Sarah’s hair for about half an hour before all the green gunk was removed from her hair.

                “There. Now go play and stay out of trouble!”

                “Yes, Mom.” Sarah replied, angelically.

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