Moominmamma got up out of bed before her husband and way before her kids. She enjoyed the early mornings, when everything is covered in dew and the rising sun gives the trees, grass, and her garden a pinkish golden glow. Moominmamma loves to hear the birds start to quietly chirp from their trees and listen to the quiet babble from the stream.
As Moominmamma walked down the stairs to start breakfast, she smelled eggs and bacon and pancakes and heard the rustling of cabinets and dishes. Wondering who's up so early, she entered the kitchen to see Sam flipping eggs on the frying pan. Sam was wearing the dress that Moominmamma made for her, it's green with a flower pattern on it, and she was wearing one of her extra aprons over the dress. Her raven black hair was up in a bun and covered by a straw hat that she must have found in her room. The kitchen looked so small in comparison to her, that it was like she was an adult in a child's playset room.
Sam turned around and said, "Oh! I wasn't expecting anyone to be up yet. I still have to fry the eggs and bacon, but I have pancakes ready if you'd like some now?"
"What are you doing up so early, Dear?" Moominmamma asked as she sat at the kitchen table.
"Oh. I just woke up is all," Sam said as she got the coffee pot, "Coffee?"
"Yes, please."
Sam got a coffee cup down, filled it with coffee and then handed it to Moominmamma.
"Why don't you go sit outside and relax or something," Sam said, "I'll call you when I have breakfast done."
Moominmamma did love watching the sunrise. She hardly ever gets to do it properly since she always makes breakfast, so she said, "You know. That sounds lovely. I'll go do that."
Moominmamma then left the kitchen to sit on the front porch rocking chair. As she rocked in her rocking chair, she enjoyed the morning quiet as the sun rose. The coffee that Sam made tasted different from how she usually makes it, she could taste a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg in it, and she liked it so much that she thought she'd make coffee like that more often. Soon her husband came to join her with his own cup of coffee.
"Morning, Love," Moominpappa said as he sat in the rocking chair next to her.
"Morning, Dear," Moominmamma said as they rubbed noses together.
"Sam said she'll be done with breakfast soon," Moominpappa said.
"How lovely," Moominmamma said.
The couple sat quietly together, enjoying each other's company, and when the sun had just finished getting over the horizon Sam came out and told them breakfast was ready.
They went back inside, and Sam was doing the dishes while the table was already set up and ready for anyone to sit down and enjoy the spread of bacon, eggs, pancakes, orange juice, milk, coffee and water.
"You can do the dishes later," Moominpappa said, "Why don't you join us."
"I like getting the dishes out of the way," Sam said, "Go ahead and start without me."
Moominpappa shrugged, but Moominmamma seemed a bit concerned about her refusal to eat with them. The couple sat down and started filling their plates. As they ate, they were amazed by how different the food tasted but how delicious it was too.
"Dear, you have to tell me how you make your food," Moominmamma said, impressed, "There are so many different flavors."
Sam wiped her hands off on her apron as she walked over to sit down at the kitchen table and said, "Oh, it's nothing complicated. I just grew up cooking a lot of the same things and, well, I'll just say that condiments and spices are my best friend."
Sam finished eating before the couple did and as she got up to wash her plate she said, "I'm going to go chop wood."
"Wait. Do you know how to chop wood?" Moominpappa asked, surprised that she was going to do his job.
"Yes." Was her simple answer before she left the kitchen.
Moominmamma had that uneasy feeling again.
The children soon came down and ate their fill. Also surprised that Moominmamma didn't make the food.
"Well, I'm going to go to the beach and see if Snufkin will go with me," Moomintroll said. Then he got up from the kitchen table and left.
"I'm going to go see if Sam wants to play with me," Little My said, then she left.
Moominmamma followed Little My outside and stood by the back door as she watched the two girls interact with each other. Sam didn't stop chopping wood as they talked and after a minute or two Little My was walking back up to the house.
"What are you two going to play?" Moominmamma asked her.
"She said she'd play with me later," Little My said, a bit pouty, as she walked back inside, "She's going to clean the bathroom after she'd done chopping wood."
"Hmm."
Moominmamma watched Sam chop wood for a couple of seconds before closing the door and going back to the kitchen to finish cleaning up.
It was a few minutes before noon and Moominmamma was in her garden caring for her tomato plants. As she was pruning and watering, Moominmamma couldn't help but still feel like something was wrong or off somehow. She then saw Little My dragging Sam somewhere by the hem of her skirt, as the two girls passed by her. Both girls were smiling and looked excited. Moominmamma then felt more at ease as she went back to work on her delightful garden.
The next morning Moominmamma found Sam in the kitchen before her again, having already made some oatmeal.
"Sam."
"Hmm?"
"Are you having trouble sleeping, Dear," Moominmamma asked.
"No. I'm not having any trouble sleeping," Sam said, "Thank you for asking."
"Well, Moominpappa's going to have your new bed made here shortly so you won't have to sleep on the floor anymore," Moominmamma said as she sat down at the table, still having an unsettled feeling in her stomach.
Sam sat down next to her with a smile and said, "Thanks. I'll appreciate that."
Sam ate two bowls of oatmeal before Moominpappa woke up and as she was cleaning her dishes, she said, "I'm going to go to the cellar and clean it up. Do some dusting and sweeping."
"You know. You don't have to," Moominmamma said as her husband sat down next to her.
Moominpappa gestured for Sam to fill up his coffee cup and she complied.
"Riiiiight?" Sam said with a smile. She then put away the coffee pot then grabbed a broom, dustpan and feather duster from the tall kitchen cabinet and walked out of the kitchen.
"Dear?"
"Yes, Love."
"Do you think something's off with Sam?"
"Most likely. She's only been here for a week. Let her have her time to adjust," Moominpappa said as he scooped up some oatmeal from the pot in the middle of the table into his bowl.
"I suppose you're right," Moominmamma said, but she still couldn't help but worry.
It can slip her mind sometimes, that Sam's not a troll. You could look at Sam and think that she's a dark skinned mymble who just hasn't grown in her horns yet, but that's obviously not true, especially when you have a nice long talk with her, and she uses words that is clearly Moomish but has no meaning to anyone here.
As the day went on Moominmamma found Sam doing various cleaning activities like sweeping, mopping, dusting, washing the windows and so on, while her son and Little My were out doing their own thing. It's not like Moominmamma didn't appreciate the extra help around the house, but she couldn't help but feel like something was off about Sam's help. Or maybe it's a different universe kind of thing, maybe humans just like to clean in their free time? Moominmamma couldn't be sure. All she could be sure about is that if she saw Sam early in the morning again, tomorrow, she'd ask about it.
The next morning, she found Sam in the kitchen before her, frying eggs and sausage and toasting bread.
Moominmamma went up to Sam.
"Morning," Sam said as she reached for the coffee pot, "Coffee?"
"Not right now Dear," Moominmamma said as she reached over the oven and turned off the stove, then she said, "Come sit with me."
They sat down at the kitchen table together and Sam asked, "What did I do wrong?"
"Oh, Sam, you've done nothing wrong," Moominmamma said as she patted Sam's knee, "I'm just worried about you."
"Why? What do you think is wrong?" Sam asked, who looked confused.
"I feel like you're cooking breakfast and doing chores around the house because you think you have to, not because the house itself needs it or because you want to," Moominmamma said then asked, "Am I wrong?"
Sam slouched back into her chair and crossed her arms over her chest as she sighed.
"Cooking breakfast in the morning is just a habit. I cooked breakfast for my kid siblings ever since we moved out of the reserve because my parent's office hours started really early. I even cooked breakfast for my friends when we became dormmates," Sam sniffled, and a few tears escaped her eyes and as she wiped them away, she said, "I still can't believe I'm never going to see any of them again."
"I understand now," Moominmamma said.
"Did it bother you that I was doing the cooking," Sam asked.
"No. It's been a nice break not having to cook in the morning, but if you don't mind, I'd like to cook with you every now and again," Moominmamma said, "It'll be nice to have a kitchen partner who doesn't need a step ladder to grab items from the top shelf."
They laughed together at what Moominmamma said.
"Now about the cleaning thing."
"Oh, yah, about that," Sam said looking a bit sheepish, "I'm just cleaning to kill time. I'm kind of scared to leave the house…"
"What are you scared of?" Moominmamma asked, surprised by this revelation.
"We're in the middle of a large, forested valley that has strange creatures where magic is real," Sam said, "And that's what I do know about this place. I can't fathom what to do out there by myself if anything happened. What would be weird? What wouldn't be weird? I literally turned invisible when I was up in my room moping for those three days, you can't do that back in my universe. What else can happen to me just by being here," Sam ranted.
"Oh my," Moominmamma said as she crossed her arms over her chest, "That is quite scary when you put it like that."
"It is!" Sam agreed.
"The best remedy I can think of for your fear of this world is for you to explore it and study it," Moominmamma said simply.
"Mmm," Sam said as she looked down at her knees.
Moominmamma happily clapped her hands together and said, "We can walk into the forest together and I can point out all the different plants to you. Do you like plants?"
"I do," Sam said as she looked up at Moominmamma, a bit excited about the idea.
"And whenever we're not out learning about plants you can always read Moominpappa's books about his adventures and Snufkin is always leaving during the winter to explore past the valley. He'll have loads of stories and knowledge for you to learn from and the kids are always off doing their own things exploring and playing with their friends and neighbors," Moominmamma said, "Speaking of neighbors, I can introduce you to Mrs. Fillyjonk and her children and The Muddler and the Fuzzy and their son Sniff, and there's The Muskrat, he's a philosopher, and as a scholar yourself I'm sure you'll appreciate that, oh! And I can't forget Snork Maiden and her brother Snork and so many other good people that I'm sure you'll like."
Sam smiled at all of Moominmamma's wonderful suggestions.
"But let's take this all one step at a time," Moominmamma said, "Let's finish cooking breakfast."
Together Sam and Moominmamma finished cooking breakfast and everyone in the household ate heartily. Then as Moominmamma said, she and Sam went into the forest, with Sam bringing a notebook and pencil, and Moominmamma taught her a great deal about the plants in the valley. Learning something new about what she loved, made Sam feel a bit braver in the new world that she was thrusted into.
The next day Moominmamma got ready to lead Sam to their closest neighbor Mrs. Fillyjonk. Moominmamma waited for Sam, to come down from her room, in the living room. Sam told her that she wanted to look extra good for her first time meeting a neighbor. When Sam came downstairs, she was wearing brown, high-waisted pants with a red, fluffy, long sleeved button-down shirt tucked into it. The shirt wasn't buttoned up all the way and her long raven black hair was up in a high ponytail.
"Oh. Does your shirt not fit properly?" Moominmamma asked as she pointed at her unbuttoned shirt, "I can refit it."
"No. It fits fine," Sam said reassuringly, "All of the clothes you made me fit fine. This is just the look I'm going with."
"And what looked would that be," Moominmamma asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Cool. Mysterious. And sexy," Sam said with confidence.
"Ah, yes. I see now," Moominmamma said with a smile, "You have the mysterious part down pat. Now come along. Mrs. Fillyjonk will be serving tea soon."
"Yes Ma'am," Sam said as she followed the round, white furry Arial Hippos.
After a mile walk the two of them came upon a three-story house that looked like a life size model of a doll house. There was a white picket fence, the grass behind the fence looked fake, the house was colored in a variety of white, pink, and red, and overall, it just seemed spotless in an unnatural kind of way.
"So, uh, what's your relationship with this Mrs. Fillyjonk," Sam asked as they walked up to the giant doll house.
Moominmamma rang the bell and said, "We're rivals."
Sam was going to say something, but the door opened as soon as the doorbell stopped ringing.
"Ah, Moominmamma, Welc—Ah!" Mrs. Fillyjonk shrieked after laying her eyes on Sam.
Mrs. Fillyjonk measured up to Sam's chest in height. She had on a little red night cap and a red dress that has black buttons and a white spot on the chest area of her dress. She has a long rat like face with white fur and brown fur covering the top of her nose to the bridge of her brow and she has long strawberry blond hair.
Sam smiled and waved at Mrs. Fillyjonk and Moominmamma said, "Remember me telling you about our new guest at my place. This is Sam."
"O-oh. It's a pleasure to meet you," She said, taking no pleaser in this meeting.
"It's good to meet you Ma'am," Sam said, "I'm excited to meet your kids."
"Ah. Yes. Well. Come in. Come in," Mrs. Fillyjonk said, forgetting to remind them to wipe their feet before entering her house.
Moominmamma wiped her feet out of habit. Sam took the time to take her shoes off before entering Mrs. Fillyjonk's home, and Mrs. Fillyjonk appreciated that.
Mrs. Fillyjonk offered her guests the couch. It felt like sitting on pure plastic instead of fabric and cushioning. The inside of Mrs. Fillyjonk's home was even more doll house-like, with no sign of dust and everything in its proper place.
"As a first impression, what do you think of my home, Sam," Mrs. Fillyjonk asked.
"It looks photoshopped in a cute way," Sam said, "I like it."
Mrs. Fillyjonk didn't know what "photoshopped" meant, but she understood cute and took it as a complement.
"Thank you," Mrs. Fillyjonk said then she went to her kitchen and brought out a tea tray with a plate of cookies. As Mrs. Fillyjonk was serving tea, Sam reached out to grab a cookie, but Mrs. Fillyjonk slapped her hand away.
"Ow?!"
"Those cookies are not for eating," Mrs. Fillyjonk said, "They are only to look pretty. I don't want you making a mess with crumbs all over my good rugs."
"Oh? Okay?" Sam said.
Moominmamma gave Sam an understanding pat on the shoulder.
After serving tea and everyone had talked some over their first cup, Mrs. Fillyjonk called down her children, "Etta! Votta! Tretta! Someone is here for you."
Three identical children, who looked just like Mrs. Fillyjonk, walked down the stairs. As soon as they saw Sam, they screamed in terror. Sam smiled and waved at them.
"Kids. Why don't you three take Sam up to your room and play some board games," Mrs. Fillyjonk said.
The tallest of the three said, "Yes Mama."
The tallest motioned for Sam to follow them and so Sam did. Moominmamma and Mrs. Fillyjonk then proceeded to converse with each other, both women trying to politely out sass the other one about their home, their living style, their families, and so on. Two hours had passed when the two of them started hearing screams of joy.
"What is that noise," Mrs. Fillyjonk asked as she tidily put down her teacup, "That doesn't sound like quiet play to me."
Moominmamma put down her cup as well to follow Mrs. Fillyjonk and said, "No, but it does sound like that they're actually having fun."
The women didn't find the three children and teenager in the kid's room. Instead, they found the four of them in the backyard, getting muddy and wet. Sam had a few watering cans in hand as she roared about being the water monster. Etta, Votta, and Tretta were screaming with delight as it looked like they were playing a wet game of tag. Moominmamma covered her ears before Mrs. Fillyjonk screeched at the sight and her three kids immediately lined up single file, smallest to tallest, while Sam looked on in confusion.
"What happened? What's wrong," Sam asked.
"You made a mess of my backyard. You made a mess of my gardening supplies. And worst of all you made a mess of my children," Mrs. Fillyjonk said with a rising voice as she stomped over to Sam, "I don't want you near my house or my children ever again."
Moominmamma then came over and place a hand on Mrs. Fillyjonk's forearm, and said, "Now, Mrs. Fillyjonk. They were only playing. As all kids should be allowed to."
"Moominmamma, I am not in the mood for our banters," Mrs. Fillyjonk said as she rubbed her eyes with both of her hands, "Just leave."
"Very well, Dear," Moominmamma said as she patted her forearm, "Until next time."
Sam was putting away the watering cans like she found them when she said that. Moominmamma and Sam then walked around Mrs. Fillyjonk's house to the front door to grab Sam's shoes and they made their way back home.
Once Mrs. Fillyjonk's home was out of sight, Sam whistled, then said, "She's certainly something. I can see why you two are rivals. You like spending time with her?"
"Yes. She makes wonderful tea and it's nice having someone to be mutually mean too," Moominmamma said as she pulled a towel from her purse and handed it to Sam.
"Oh, I see," Sam said as she placed the towel on her head, "You two are frenemies who like to smack talk each other."
"Yes?" Moominmamma decided to agree, not really understanding Sam. Then she asked, "What do you think?"
"I don't really think I could be friends with her. Not in a normal way or the way that you two are. I would just get annoyed by her and provoke her on purpose," Sam said, "Her kids are another story though. They're going to grow up wild and I'd like to see what happens."
"Indeed."