LOVE POTION

Angelica peered through the tiny gap between the couch and recliner. Her mother was watching one of those shows again, the kind she only watched on those few days when she stayed home with Angelica. Today she had a checkup, but there was plenty of time until then…at least Angelica thought so. She couldn't exactly tell time yet, and she didn't really know what her mother was watching. She couldn't learn how to tell time so quickly, but she could try to watch the show to figure it out.

She sat down, moving to crawl between the furniture to get a better view, but she had no idea what she was looking at. The picture kept going from one group to the next, but they all seemed to be talking about the same thing: icky, icky love.

Angelica made a face and crawled back to her play spot from before. She was confused, but she knew love like that was gross. She didn't know what it meant, but she knew it was something that came and went during the show, and drinks were always involved.

Angelica gasped, "That's it! A love potion!"

That had to be it. The drinks were love potions, and if you drank it, you were in love with whoever you were drinking with. If you stopped drinking, especially if you threw your drink at the other person, then you weren't in love anymore.

Now that she had it figured out, she wondered if her parents drank their love potions regularly so they'd stay in love and stay married, which meant they'd stay her parents. She couldn't figure it out, and before she could, her mother appeared over her, her purse on her shoulder and her keys in her hand. It was time for her checkup, but even a few shots couldn't keep her from thinking about the potions. She had to make sure her parents were drinking theirs, and if they weren't, then she'd have to find a way to make one herself.

Angelica watched her parents closely. Her mom made her dinosaur nuggets and crinkle fries while they had some kind of steak with bacon. Angelica didn't understand it, but she didn't care about anything right now. Her parents had two glasses full of some sort of dark red liquid, but neither of them had taken more than a sip, and that was a problem.

After Charlotte returned to the table with some sauce for their meat, she took a sip of her drink and grimaced, "This is disgusting! Where does Didi get these wine recommendations? I'm going to pour this out."

"Here, take mine too. Dr. Carmichael got it from a patient, so I guess Stu convinced Didi to spread the love. I'll ask them about it later, but I bet they poured it out too," Drew said as Angelica looked on in silent horror.

Charlotte rinsed out the glasses and poured the bottle of wine into the other side of the sink, "Come to think of it, neither of them drink now that they've had Tommy. Maybe they didn't know, but it'd be nice to blame this on someone. That was horrible!"

"Dr. Carmichael," Drew nodded as Charlotte returned to the table, "Or at least her patient. It might've been homemade for all we know," he said, turning to Angelica, "Sweetie, aren't you going to eat?"

"Leave her be, Drew. She went to the doctor today and had a few shots. She just needs to rest," Charlotte said, nodding her head, "We have the play tonight. Let's leave her with Didi and Stu so she can rest."

Angelica loved that idea. Her parents dumped out their love potions, but Aunt Didi and Uncle Stu were the ones who gave away theirs, which meant Tommy's parents were going to fall out of love too. And Angelica couldn't wait to let them know.

Angelica strolled up to the play pen. Tommy was rolling his ball to Chuckie, who pushed it back in a carefree way. Angelica sighed, "Poor Tommy, I guess you haven't heard the news."

"What news?" Chuckie asked. Tommy shrugged and passed the ball back, but Chuckie was curious. And Angelica was happy to have an audience.

"About our parents. Your mommy and daddy and MY mommy and daddy aren't drinking their love potions anymore," Angelica said with such conviction that Chuckie's eyes went wide with surprise. "That means they don't love each other no more."

"They still love each other, Angelica," Tommy said, walking over to Chuckie, "It's your mommy and daddy's anniversary. They don't need love potions for love. That's just a story."

"I saw it on my mommy's show. If you dump out the potion or throw it on someone, you don't love them no more," Angelica argued.

Chuckie shook his head, "Those are stories too. That's what my nana calls them. She's always watching them when we go see her. Your mommy must watch them too," Chuckie said, siding with Tommy.

"My mommy watches them too. It's made up stuff, Angelica," Tommy grinned, walking back to his spot. Their simple game continued, so Angelica stormed off, mad that she'd been so wrong.

As she entered the living room, she realized she was hungry, REALLY hungry. She regretted not eating her dinner now, but she didn't know any better, and now she was angry that she'd been so wrong. She was the maddest that Tommy knew the potion thing was fake, and being mad made her even more hungry.

Grandpa Lou studied Angelica standing in the living room. He decided to ask her what she was up to, but instead of saying anything about the potion, she asked about food. He was happy to make them both sandwiches, and life went back to normal.

~End

Theme 177: Soul Mates

A/N: Theme from my Infinite Theme List Challenge. You can find it on my profile, and if you want to try it, let me know so I can check out your responses. And if you have any ideas for me, shoot them my way. Nothing too mature though please:)