"When are we going to get there," Salina asked.
"For the third time, in the afternoon," Teague replied tiredly. Salina was like this since she woke up. She was so excited to get back home she was practically jumping up and down.
"Isn't there any way we can get there faster," she asked childishly.
"No. Why don't you just relax, we'll get there when we get there," Teague said.
Salina sighed. "I just want to get there as soon as possible. I keep imagining what your mother has been doing, or worse what she hasn't been doing."
Valerie woke up to crying and she groaned. She rolled out of bed and onto the floor. She was starting to have a new respect for his dad. Now Valerie knew what it was like to take care of two kids alone.
As soon as this thought entered her mind she did her best to hold back the tears that were threatening to leak out already. This always happened when she thought of her mother. She had died when she gave birth to David. Valerie barely remembered her mother at all. Her dad loved her mother very much. When she got pregnant Brannigan offered to marry her if that would help. He didn't even cheat when he played poker with her.
Once she realized that there were in fact some tears running down her face she scowled and quickly wiped them off. Then she went to Jack's room. He had been crying more than usual the last few days.
"He must have finally realized that his parents are gone," she mused out loud.
Valerie picked her cousin up and did her best to carry him downstairs. In the living room she had set up a play pen using pillows as walls. She set Jack down and he immediately went over to his stuffed monkey that was still in the play pen from the previous day. Jack started to chew the bear's head while Valerie went back upstairs to get her brother.
Unlike Jack, David never cried when he got up. Instead he would just stand up in his crib and wait for someone to get him. No one really knew when David got up. Every time someone would go in there he was already up.
When Valerie walked in sure enough he was awake. He lifted up his arms and said "Up, up!"
Valerie took David and put him in the play pen. Now it was time to get them breakfast. She fed Jack his baby food and then moved on to David's breakfast.
"What do you want to eat David? Bread or bananas?"
David laughed when she said the word 'bananas.'
"What? Are bananas funny," Valerie asked even though she already knew the answer. David just laughed again. "Okay bananas it is." As she walked toward the kitchen she could hear David laughing.
When she walked in she saw her grandmother sitting at the table sharpening one of her many daggers that she had hidden on her person."Grandmama do you know where the bananas are," she asked even though she wasn't expecting an answer.
"There in the cupboard," she muttered not looking up from her weapon of choice.
Valerie's eyebrows shot up. This must be one of her good days, she thought. When she opened the cupboard she found two bananas. If David eats one banana and I have bread there will be one left for my lemur, she thought excitedly. After she gave David his banana Valerie walked out the backdoor with the extra banana.
Once she reached the edge of their backyard she started to peel the banana and break off a chunk of it. Then she held it up to a tree. Soon a small lemur hopped out from the tree and onto Valerie's shoulders. She laughed when the lemur took the chunk of fruit from her hands and started to nibble on it.
One day she was outside eating an orange when a lemur just jumped out of a tree and snatched the orange right out of her hands. She soon became friends with the bold animal.
Valerie was broken out of her reverie when she heard someone call her name. It sounded like Uncle Teague! She raced back toward the house forgetting to give her 'friend' the rest of the banana. This did not rest well with the lemur since it was still hungry and it chased Valerie toward the house.
Once the Misty Lady reached port they let off the crew and went to the Cove. After they docked the ship there Salina practically dragged Teague back to their house.
When they got there Salina found Jack in the living room and immediately went and picked him up. When Jackie saw his parents he squealed with delight.
"Hi Jackie," Salina said. Jack replied by babbling non-sensible gibberish.
After Teague said hi to his son he looked around for his niece. "Mum, where's Valerie?"
"I think she went outside," she said still focused on her daggers.
Teague opened the backdoor and called out "Valerie!"
Soon she came running through the door and hugged Teague like the world was going to end. While the door was open the lemur ran inside, but no one noticed.
"I'm so glad you're here, I've had to do all of the work while you were away!" she said almost in tears thinking of it all.
Salina's mouth dropped and she put down Jackie. Then she rounded on Hazel.
"What exactly did you do while we were away?"
"Nothing," Valerie said. When she saw her grandmama glare at her she hid behind Teague.
"Are such a witch you can't even take care of you own grandchildren," Salina screeched.
Valerie raised an eyebrow. Maybe she was hiding behind the wrong person…
"It's not my fault you went out and got kidnapped!"
Before Salina could reply or Teague could intervene the lemur jumped up onto the kitchen table. It jumped on Valerie's shoulders again and took the rest of the banana that was still in her hand. When the lemur looked up to see all of the shocked faces of everyone in the room it became afraid and scurried down the hall. After standing there in shock Valerie also ran down the hall screaming "Come back!"
"What in Davy Jones locker was that," Teague asked.
"It looked like a lemur," his mum said forgetting her fight with Salina.
So that's where all the food has been going, Salina thought.
A week later Brannigan finally came back from his trip. He brought back two chests full of gold and jewels. As soon as he walked through the backdoor Valerie came running at him and tackled him with a hug. When he went to see David, who was in his room playing, he squealed "DAH DEE," and hugged him as well.
When he went to put his treasure in his room he was rewarded by finding a lemur on his bed. Before he could even utter a word his daughter came in and said "Sorry, he still doesn't know his way around the house yet."
"…Why is a lemur living inside the house," he asked cautiously.
She put her hands on her hips. "You try telling a lemur to leave when it doesn't want to, especially that one!"
"…Umm, does it have a name," he said still not exactly sure why there was a lemur inside their house and more importantly on his bed. He'd have to ask Teague about that later…
"Uhh, no…I'll think about it," Valerie said. She realized that her lemur would need a proper name.
As the day passed Valerie still couldn't think of a name. Her grandmother said that she was being too picky but she didn't care. Salina spent most of her time with Jack trying to teach him how to walk.
"Come on Jackie, come here," she said. Teague and Salina were in their room with Jack. While Teague was sitting in a chair playing guitar, Salina was on the floor trying to get her son to walk toward her.
Jack took a few small steps and then fell down. After a few more attempts at walking he got hungry and started to cry. When Salina went out of the room to get his food he saw a bottle that was sitting on a small table next to his dad. There was a candle right behind it so it appeared to glitter in the light.
He wanted to get a closer look so he got up unsteadily and slowly started to move across the floor and toward the table.
When Teague looked up he saw his son walking toward him.
"Salina is going to be so mad that she's missing this," he said.
Once Jackie got near his dad, he abruptly turned and went to the table. Then he reached up and tried to get the bottle. When Teague saw this he started to laugh uncontrollably: something that doesn't happen very often.
When Salina came back and saw Teague laughing and Jack reaching for a bottle of rum she gasped and ran over to pick her son up.
"Before you yell at me he walked over here," Teague said not wanting Salina to be mad at him.
"He walked," she asked in an excited voice forgetting he walked over to get near the rum. "I can't believe I missed it!"
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