Tai Tea
He closed the cupboard and looked at himself in the reflection. His messy brown hair grew as though it were a new species of bush waiting to be discovered. In fact it probably wouldn't be long until his goggles would need Indiana Jones's help. He needed a haircut and badly.
Tai shook his head anyway and opened it again, reaching for the brown box. A nice soothing cup would help invigorate him. He smiled and switched on the kettle.
"Tai?" shouted Kari.
"Yes?" he replied.
"Where are you?" she immediately enquired.
"In the kitchen. I have tea on the go. Want some?"
"What flavour?"
"The usual!"
"No thanks," she answered.
Well, so it would only be him. He looked at the box and opened it. Inside was one packet. One packet. Tai frowned. "What did you do with my tea?" he shouted again.
"I didn't, what!" she shouted back. "Never mind. I'm just going out for me Tai-chi!"
"Yes?" he enquired
"Yes what?" she replied, sounding confused.
"Did you want anything?"
"No. Why? Never mind. See you in half an hour."
"Where are you going?" he enquired further.
"I already told you. See you later!" she finished. Tai heard her slam the apartment door.
Tai put the box down. The kettle suddenly whistled, making him jump. Okay, one packet left now and his hair would have to await a future date. He could only have one cup now and so he would have to go out to get some more.
Yolei was stacking soup tins. Her glasses were rather steamed up from the hot weather. After she finished, she took them off and started wiping them with her jumper. She had done this so many times that she need not look at them and so looked out the window. A small brown blob about five feet off the ground was slowly getting larger. It didn't take long for her to realise who it was.
THUD!
"Ow!" screeched a familiar boy.
Yolei looked perplexed and rapped on the glass. "Hey try-"
"Yes?"
Yolei shrieked at Tai's instinctive reaction. Moments ago he looked as though he had been moping with his head fully down. And he suddenly shot up and was now glaring into her soul. As odd enough as that was, she tried to put it aside and wondered how he could see through that brown jungle.
"Yolei?" he called again.
"Yes?" she replied.
"Don't repeat me! I was wondering if you had any of this tea?"
Out of thin air it seemed, he produced a small brown box.
"Of course we do. Try-"
"Yes?" he answered, eyebrows furrowing.
"I didn't ask anything." She sighed. "Go to the aisle with tea in. You know which one that is. You don't need any help. Now can we stop speaking through a pane of glass. I need to go and tie-"
"Yes?" interrupted Tai, almost robotically.
"I need to get back to work. Call me if you need anything. I hope nobody sees me like this." Yolei frowned and reached down. She had dropped her glasses in the mean time. She was nearly blind without it and wouldn't have seen Tai if he hadn't been standing so close. On her search, her hand briefly graced one of the bottom cans. And that was all it took for her to find herself in the same situation before Tai had appeared.
Tai looked over the aisles. It was only a small store and so it couldn't be hard for him to find his precious treasure. His eyes quickly managed to lock onto an overhanging sign, indicating drinks.
Tai wandered through the store, avoiding everyone else completely and homed in on his target. Once it was acquired, he ran and he shoes squeaked almost exactly like a GPS system indicating that the object was near. He stopped and exploded with relief. Now all he had to do was find the right box.
A large woman was also at the shelf fondling boxes of various types. Tai silently strolled over and looked up. Immediately a similar box stood out.
"Excuse me?" he inquired.
"What?" she replied gruffly.
"I was wondering if you could reach up and get that for me?"
"What?" She inquired in the same tone.
Tai reached into his hair and pulled out his brown box. He handed it over to her.
She looked down. "Chai-"
"Yes?" he inquired.
"Yes what?" she frowned.
"Why did you call my name?" he answered.
"You name? What's your name? Wait why am I asking?" she grumbled.
"I'm Tai like you said," he answered again.
The woman groaned and continued. "The Chai-"
"Yes?"
"As I was saying, the tea is on top. Do you want some Chai then?"
"Yes?"
"Will you please stop saying that?" she growled. It obviously did not take much to tick her off but Tai was wondering what her problem was. Here he only wanted some tea and yet everyone wanted him for some reason. Yes it was a bit annoying but he coped with it.
"Here!"
She gave his box back and also handed him a similar box. She then stomped off. Tai looked at the new box and frowned. Roobias. Definitely not his tea. He turned around and spotted a man that could have passed off as a butler. "Excuse me?"
"Tai, Yolei called me and expressed you had been harassing her and her customers again?" Kari was now next to her brother with an annoyed expression on her face.
"I was just looking for tea!"
"Tai, we've got loads. Don't tell me you forgot again. It's in the top cupboard. Just ask next time." Kari shook her head and wandered off.
Tai slapped his forehead. Never mind. He reached up into the top cupboard and switched on the kettle. He opened the packet. Hmmm, only one packet left. He was lost in thought so much that the kettle made him jump.
