Chapter IV
Date: August 9th, 1992; Time: 10:30am; Location: The Playpen
Tommy and Dil were rolling the infamous star ball back and forth to each other. For a while, the only sound that could be heard was the jingling of the ball. After a while however, they became bored.
"Why are you acting so different, Tommy," babbled Dil, "You're bein' all quiet and stuff."
"It's a long story," Tommy sighed, "It seems like the biggerer I get, the more I end up doin' stuffs I never did before."
"I know watcha' mean. Like how I fed myself for the first time yesterday?"
"Yeah, sort of," replied his brother, "There's good things like that, but there's also really bad thingsā¦"
"Like what?"
"There's things I'm scared of now that I never thought I'd be scared of before."
"Oh," said Dil, half interested.
At that point their conversation was interrupted by the obnoxiously loud doorbell. Stu opened the door to find Boris and Minka carrying suitcases (two per hand).
"Boris! Minka! You're here a bit early."
"We couldn't wait any longer," said Minka in her thick Yiddish accent, "The boys are growing so fast. We need to savor every moment."
"Where's Didilah?" asked Boris.
"Oh she's in the shower right now," Stu replied, "She should be out in a few minutes. For now I'll show you guys to the guest room, eh?"
Minka rapidly shook her head, "Not yet. First we must see the babies while they are still babies."
"Well, okay then," Stu said as he took all eight of their suitcases, "Is this all?"
"Of course not!" laughed Boris, "There's a lot more where that came from!"
Stu poked his head out the window to see a taxi in their driveway. The driver was leaning against it, arms crossed with feet impatiently tapping.
Boris and Minka made their way through the living room and towards the playpen. Minka burst into tears at the sight of Tommy's hairline. Boris lifted up Dil told him not to worry about his "crazy grandmother".
"So I hear you're going to be two years old soon!" said Minka to Tommy after she had calmed down. "Aye aye aye!" she exclaimed as she picked him up, "It's like he's tripled in weight in the past month since we've seen him."
"Huh- hiyyya Grammuh," said Tommy nervously but with pride.
"And he's talking now too!"
"Relax, Minka," said Boris "He was talking the last time we visited."
"Two words, Boris! He only knew two words: 'no' and 'poop'!"
At this point, Didi entered the room with hot rollers in her hair. "Hello, Mom and Dad. Glad you could come down."
"What are you feeding this child, Didilah? Rocks? Bricks? Cement?" asked Minka as she struggled to hold Tommy.
"That's what everyone always asks me," Didi laughed, "He's my excuse for not going to the gym. Would either of you like some coffee?"
"Yes," they both responded without any trace of hesitation
