Louise vs. the Dark
Linda was upstairs, cleaning every nook and cranny that she could find. She had just finished cleaning Gene's room, which was like cleaning an entire mansion of pigs, and was heading to Louise's room. When Linda got to the entrance to Louise's room, she took a deep breath, and went into Louise's room with a vacuum, a cloth, and a spray bottle. She knew that if Louise found anything slightly misplaced in her room, there would be hell to pay.
Thirty minutes later, she finished vacuuming and wiping down Louise's room. Linda was surprised how clean that the room was, given that Louise could be rebellious. Linda was making her way out of the room, but she felt the hose of her vacuum get caught in something. Linda pulled on the hose harder until she heard something break. When she turned around, she saw that Louise's Kuchi Kopi nightlight had been broken.
"Oh my God! Louise is gonna be so mad!" Linda nearly screamed, causing Bob to come upstairs to see what had happened. When he got to Louise's room, he saw Linda trying to clean up the nightlight, or what was left of it.
"Linda! What happened?" Bob asked once he walked into Louise's room.
"It was an accident! I was leaving, and the vacuum hose got stuck on Louise's nightlight, and it broke when I pulled the hose," Linda said, still trying to clean it up. After hearing this, Bob started massaging his temples, imagining the headache that was to come if Louise found out about this.
"OK, here's what we do; get rid of any evidence of the nightlight being broken, and just don't talk about it. That'll give us enough time to think of something that happened to the nightlight," Bob said, knowing that Louise might find out one way or another. Linda, looking around, took a deep breath and nodded her head.
"Alright, Bobby. Hand me the vacuum," Linda asked before she and Bob got to work on cleaning the broken pieces of the nightlight.
About an hour later, Louise walked into the restaurant along with Gene and Tina, having their usual…odd discussions.
"Louise, I don't think that what you did to Mr. Frond was a good idea," Tina said, with Louise scoffing in response.
"Oh come on Tina! You have to admit, it was hilarious how Frond was drinking all that water to get the feeling of the Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce that I put in his lunch," Louise countered, still chuckling from the image of Frond prancing around, trying to get a drink.
"Yeah, Tina. It reminded me of that ballet class that kicked me out because 'I had no rhythm', and 'I couldn't dance,'" Gene said, with a hint of bitterness in his voice. When the three of them looked up and saw their parents, they both had odd smiles on their faces.
"Uhhhh…Mom, Dad, what's with the smiles?" Tina asked, her voice cracking from fear.
"What're you talking about, Tina?" Bob asked, still keeping a huge smile on his face.
"You look like you're hiding something. Is it our Christmas gifts!? You got the gifts without looking at my list!? Gene asked, worried that he didn't get the new sound system that he wanted.
"No Gene, Christmas isn't for another six months. We're just happy because…we…came up with a new burger of the day! …Where's Louise?" Bob asked after seeing that Louise was no longer next to Tina and Gene.
"Oh, she went up to her room while you were talking," Tina said simply before hearing a high pitched scream coming from Louise's room. Bob and Linda looked at each other with fear in their eyes as they went upstairs.
"Is there something wrong, sweetie?" Bob asked once he and Linda got to the door to Louise's room. Louise stared at her parents with nothing more than a crossed look and clenched fists.
"Hello Mother, hello Father. I was wondering if you knew what happened to my nightlight," Louise said with a little too much sugar in her voice for her parents to be comfortable.
"Well…you see…there was this…uh…yeah your mother broke it," Bob uttered, not being able to think of a good excuse. Louise's pupils shrank before she prepared herself for another scream. Linda quickly put a mouth over Louise's mouth.
"Don't worry sweetie. We bought you a new one, but it'll take a few days for it to come," Linda said, hoping it would calm Louise down, but it did little to calm the bunny ear wearing girl.
"A FEW DAYS!? Are you crazy? How am I going to sleep without my nightlight, Mom?" Louise asked. Bob shook his head, and went over to Louise, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"Sorry, Louise, but until the nightlight comes, you're just going to have to make due," Bob responded. Just as Louise was going to reply, Tina and Gene ran upstairs to investigate the cause of the yelling.
"Louise, what're you yelling about? Did you find the Christmas presents?" Gene asked, looking around Louise's room for any sign of the presents. Louise rolled her eyes and thwacked Gene on the forehead.
"There aren't any presents, Gene!" Louise yelled in his face.
"But, Mom said that she and Dad bought you something that would take a few days to come…" Tina countered before getting the thwacked in the forehead treatment Gene got. "Ouch," Tina said in her usual robotic tone.
"They were getting me a new nightlight because they broke mine! And now, I have to be in my room without my nightlight!" Louise once again complained before she shooed everyone out of her room, and closed the door. Meanwhile, everyone was out the door, looking at each other in an awkward manner.
"Should we be worried?" Tina asked, worrying about Louise's over-reaction to her nightlight being broken.
"No need, Tina. I'm sure Louise just needs some time to cool down, and everything will be fine," Bob replied, thinking that this was just like every other situation with Louise.
"Your father's right, kids. Now, let's leave your sister to calm down," Linda said, walking off with Bob. Tina and Gene took one last look at Louise's closed bedroom before leaving as well. If they had looked inside the door, they would have seen Louise shaking.