Keith is 7
Lance is 6
Hunk is 5
Katie is 1
Chapter 1
It all started one afternoon….
6-year-old Lance pretty much hung out of the basket of the shopping cart. There were so many sights and smells around him. The store was huge, and Lance wanted pretty much anything he could get his little hands on. The rest of the siblings just gazed around. Keith was pretty chill, Hunk drooled over the food, and Katie tried to grab the nearest gadget play with it. Their father Shiro gazed down at them, watching their every move.
"Keith, hey Keith," Lance poked his brother, waiting for him to respond.
"What do you want now?" Keith asked in annoyance.
"Let's go to the toy place," Lance hopped out of the cart.
"Lance, no jumping up and down," Shiro said, while grabbing canned food.
"Eh, I'd rather stay here," Keith crossed his arms and sat down.
"Fine, Hunk and Katie, are you up for it?" Lance asked them.
Katie clapped her hands and smiled at him. Hunk was unsure.
"There would be more food there!" Lance grinned.
Hunk took a second and then nodded. "Okay, I am in."
The store was crowded. Shiro went through the canned food, reading the labels and being totally distracted. Lance and Hunk climbed out of the cart and landed on the floor. It was huge. But of course, Lance knew where the toy part was by heart. They pushed Katie's stroller that was next to the shopping cart and headed off. Keith watched them go, knowing they would get into had no idea his children escaped.
Lance took the lead and allowed Hunk to push Katie. She was clapping her hands and blubbering nonsense. But Hunk was in control and followed Lance. No one seemed to notice the three small rebels making their way through the store. At last, they made it to their destination.
"Wow, look at all the toys," Lance grinned, his eyes sparkling with excitement and mischief.
Their was so many toys and the shelves were so big compared to them.
"Lance, you said there'd be food here?" Hunk said, not seeing any food. "There isn't candy in here!"
"There's Candy the Lion! The one from the commercial."
Lance looked on all the golden shelves. "I don't see it. Maybe it's out back?"
"Aww." Hunk whined.
Katie clapped her hands and pointed to the employers only doors. She was babbling nonsense again.
Lance grinned at his little sister. "Good work Katie, let's go," Lance patted one of her bouncy brown pigtails and pushed the stroller.
"Wait, what?" Hunk said as he watched them walk away. "Lance, wait for me, you know I hate being alone!" He hurried after them.
They pushed through the wide doors into a cold room filled with opened boxes of new toys and pink packing peanuts. Lance ducked and ran Katie's stroller behind a shelf when he saw a woman with her hair pulled back.
"Right the Candy the Lion stock just came in, we are loading them inside the building now," the woman said into a walkie talkie.
Katie saw that walkie talkie and wanted it. She reached out her small chubby arms trying to grab it. Lance covered her mouth, waiting for her to be quiet. "Later, we need to stay hidden," he hissed at her. A couple of seconds later the woman put down her walkie talkie and walked away. Lance saw the opportunity to go.
As they went by, Katie grabbed it and started to suck on it. Lance, the responsible older brother, did not notice and kept moving to the truck.
Meanwhile, Hunk opened the surprisingly light doors and walked in. "Lance?" he called out. Nothing. It was just then he saw the truck with boxes printed with Candy the Lion on it. "Aw Candy Lion!" He hurried to the truck, and then saw Lance and Katie climbing inside.
Lance pushed Katie's stroller up the ramp and moved to the back out of sight. Hunk slowly followed inside to catch up to them.
"Lance, we found them, we should tell Shiro," Hunk said enthusiastically.
"All in good time, buddy," Lance said as he opened another box.
Katie was happily drooling all over the walkie talkie while Hunk helped Lance open many boxes, looking for different colors of Candy Lions.
"Oh! I have a yellow one," Hunk grabbed a Candy Lion from a box. He pressed a button and it started singing. "Ooo."
"This was an awesome idea," he laughed. They heard someone coming and quickly hid behind some boxes again. They knew this was risky.
The person was chatting with someone else as they moved some of the boxes. "Oh, that's weird. Some of them are open." he paused. "Eh, not my fault. We'll unpack them at the next stop," he closed the door and locked it, removing the ramp attached to the trunk. "I bet you Earl did it," his muffled voice rang through.
"Lance, why is it dark in here?" Hunk asked, holding his yellow Candy Lion tight. "Lance?"
"I am right here, and I think we are locked in," Lance said confusedly.
"Locked in? Lance this is a big problem," Hunk said, about to cry.
Katie clapped her hands and made a bubbling sound.
"See Katie chilled about it?" Lance smiled at his sister.
"Lance she's only 1…." Hunk said. "I am scared, I want Daddy."
"Shh, just stay quiet." The truck began to make a rumbling sound, and the floor shook. "Oh no, they're taking us somewhere," Hunk wailed.
Katie looked up at him, her eyes big and owlish in the few slivers of light streaming through the cracks in the sides of the truck. She banged on the walkie talkie and it activated. But thanks to the drool, it was pretty muched fried. Nevertheless Katie kept banging it against the walls in a sort of frenzy until her brothers had to confiscate it.
Meanwhile Shiro got back from debating about whether to give Katie mashed peas or mashed apples. It was hard to decide. Maybe he would let her decide. He turned around to see Keith reading his comic book.
"Keith? Where are your siblings?" Shiro asked his oldest son. Keith shrugged and turned the glossy page. "Keith," Shiro said in a warning tone.
"They walked off like idiots," Keith stated casually.
"With Katie?" Shiro asked.
Keith nodded.
"How could you let them go like that and take Katie?" Shiro gritted his teeth.
"She was clapping her hands I think," Keith said. "They're probably at the toy section."
Shiro hurried to find them.
TBC please review