Chapter 20: Playgroup
Two days. Tuesday and Wednesday. That's how long it took me to feel better from being sick.
It turns out that Daddy was right, that germs got me sick and not pizza. That's what Grandpa had said when he came over with Grandma early Tuesday morning. He had his black doctor bag with him, he gave me a check up and medicine that smelled like cherries but didn't taste very good. I didn't want to take it but he said I had to drink it anyway because it would help my fever go away. I plugged my nose and did as he told me. That was right before it was almost time for him to leave for work and Daddy was getting ready to go to school, while Mommy would stay home with me. But once Grandpa said I had a stomach flu, Daddy changed his mind and announced that he would stay home too.
Daddy seems to get really nervous when he hears the word "flu." I think that's because when he was human he became very sick with the flu and almost died, that's why Grandpa had to turn him into a vampire. Even though Grandpa said my stomach flu wasn't the same as the flu Daddy had in his last human days, Daddy looked like he was about to go into panic mode. That is until Grandma and Mommy calmed him down and Grandpa said I would be better very soon. Grandma reassured Daddy that he could stay home, that she would call the High School to say that my Mommy and Daddy were sick and staying home from school. That seemed to make him feel better.
Both of them stayed home from school those two days to take care of me. I liked that it was just the three of us for a lot of hours. All of us laid in their bed and watched movies and documentaries about animals when I wasn't sleeping. That was nice but the best part was that no one made me eat any food because I was too sick. It was a nice change that there was no talk about food at all.
The only thing that I had to put in my mouth besides yucky medicine was yummy caribou blood. Daddy caught a caribou for me, since I was too sick to get out of bed he drained the blood and put it in juice pitchers that he stored in our refrigerator. He filled my Star Wars water bottle up with the yummy stuff and wanted me to drink up even though I didn't feel like it. He and Mommy were worried about me getting dehydrated and kept encouraging me to drink. I did.
Even as sick as I was, I was very happy that no one tried to get me to eat food.
That is until I started to feel better on Wednesday afternoon. Then I had to eat soup since that is a good food for people that don't feel well to eat. Grandma came over to our cottage and made a big pot of chicken soup especially for me, with a frozen chicken and lots of vegetables she bought at the grocery store. But I couldn't eat it because chicken soup is made from chickens and Lois Lane is a chicken! Grandma ended up giving the pot of chicken soup to Uncle Em who wanted it for his upcoming bear hunting trip, because bears like soup. Grandma ended up making vegetable soup for me instead. Unfortunately, I did have to eat that soup. A whole bowl of it.
Now it is Thursday morning and Grandma and I are in the van on our way to her mom group and my playgroup which is called MOPS. The letters stand for Mothers of Preschoolers, but it's really for moms with kids of any age, even babies and big homeschool kids like me. So I don't know why they call it that.
When we first moved to Alaska, back when Auntie Alice, Daddy and Mommy went to the Middle School that's connected to the Elementary school. Because they were pretending to be middle school students since they look the youngest so we could stay here longer. I didn't like them going to school. I was smaller then and had a hard time adjusting. At least, that's what I was told because I wasn't happy about them going to school because they never did that before. It was new to me. I didn't like it much even though staying home with Grandma was fun. After she and I would drop everyone off at school it was just her and I.
But there was this one particular day that I really wanted my parents to stay home, it was a week after the school year started. It was a day that everything was going wrong. I was having a fit because I didn't want Daddy to leave me and I accidentally broke the strap to his backpack when we were in the van. Daddy was grumpy because Grandma wouldn't turn the van around and go back home so he could switch backpacks, because if she did that they would be late. Mommy was upset with Auntie Alice because she didn't like the clothes Auntie Alice made her wear, she said they weren't her style. And Auntie Alice was in an argument with Grandma about appropriate shoes to wear for PE because Grandma said Stiletto shoes were not suitable for dodgeball.
By the time we got to the school we looked like seven different kinds of crazy and none of them would get out of the van. Though Grandma doesn't need sleep, she actually looked like she needed a nap and it was still early morning. She had to talk them into getting out and going to school.
To make sure they actually went to school, Grandma walked them to the gate like little kids, which none of them were happy about while she carried me while I was crying buckets of tears. Anyone who looked at us could tell we were not having a happy morning and that was when another mom that has two boys, cheerfully came up to Grandma and asked her if she ever heard of MOPS. She hadn't, so the lady whose name is Ms. Shelly explained it to us and Grandma was so happy there was a group just for moms with a playgroup for kids. She said that was her silver lining to a morning that didn't have a great start.
Grandma was very excited about finding out about the mom group. She was even happier that she would get to make food for the human mothers. That Thursday was the first time we ever went and even though she didn't have to cook that day, she did. She loves to cook.
She sure does like to cook. This morning when Mommy and Daddy dropped me off at my Grandparents house, Grandma was singing while cooking food for the mom group. She was excited and made a lot of food. Two large trays of food and a big round plate to be exact.
The two trays of food that grandma cooked, plus the large plate of cookies, fills the air in the van. One of the trays has fresh baked cinnamon rolls with icing and the other one has Shepherd's pie. I'm sure the aroma for freshly cooked foods smells great to a human, but it doesn't to me. I am sitting in my seat, wearing my pink goggles and plastic snorkel while I'm trying not to breathe in the smells from the food.
Just like Mommy and Daddy had explained to me that when I'm out in the human world, I have to blend in with the humans by eating a little bit of food. Grandma had given me a long talking to when we first got in the van about how I need to act when I'm around other children, which she does every time we go to my playgroup. And of course, she had to throw in that I must eat at least one food today that I'm offered and drink the juice that I'm given. So none of the adults that do the child care at the Church where the mom group is, will become suspicious of why I don't like to eat. Because I am often the only kid in my group that doesn't eat anything and Grandma has been asked about it before. She had to make up excuses, such as that I am a picky eater, or that I had a really big breakfast and was still full at snack and lunch time. No one questioned her any further, but she told me that she doesn't want to lie any more than we have to. So I must start learning to eat food just as everyone else in our family does.
I made a promise to Grandma that I don't want to break since it's not good to break a promise. Which is that I will try to eat one thing. I only hope that there will be different food today, other than the usual applesauce and Goldfish crackers that there always seems to be. I really don't like either of those even though the other kids do. Both of those foods smell very strange to me.
"Nessie, darling." Grandma says, looking ahead at the road as she turns a corner. "We are almost to the Church. Please remove your snorkel gear."
"Okay." I answer, speaking into my snorkel tube. It makes my voice sound like a robot. I like that. "I'm taking it off now. And I will put it in the seat pocket right next to my book and ice cream sunglasses." I say way more words than I really needed to because it's fun to sound like a robot.
"Wonderful." Is all she says.
Grandma didn't really want me to wear my snorkel mask inside the van while she drove. She didn't think it was very human until I said I was pretending to be an underwater deep sea diver and the van was my submarine and the outside world was the water. She didn't object to that. In fact, she said I had a very vivid imagination and we even made up a little game during our drive to town. We were pretending that every car was a different kind of fish and making up names for them. That was fun.
The van starts to slow down as we turn into the Church parking lot. There's a few other cars here but not many, only eight since we are early. That's because Grandma and the other ladies from her table that she sits at, have to bring food and have to get here before everyone else does, that's just the rules. I take off my snorkel gear and safely put it in the seat pocket and pick up my backpack as the van stops. Immediately she gets out and comes around to my side to let me out. Staying next to her - like I'm supposed to since we are in the parking lot - I walk with her to the back of the van as I put on my backpack.
My Guardians of the Galaxy backpack has everything I need. A change of clothes (for just in case) and my Star Wars water bottle, which actually has water in it today. These are things that every kid has in their backpack when we go to playgroup. I don't know why but we have to come prepared.
The smell of food mixes with the fresh air as Grandma opens up the trunk, where the trays of food are along with four green bags. The bags have arts and crafts stuff in it and are for the moms. Grandma brought those since she is in charge of their art projects that they do.
Though the food is covered in foil, I can still smell it. The scent is very strong since I'm right next to it. I'm not sure how Grandma can stand being so close to the food. I wrinkle my nose. Why does human food have to stink?
Before Grandma grabs what we need from the trunk, she opens her purse and pulls out two pairs of fingerless gloves. One for her and one for me. She hands me mine and I put them on my hands just like she does. Fingerless gloves are necessary for both of us to blend in. With me it makes people believe that my hands are hot because I'm wearing gloves even though it's warm in the classroom. For Grandma, the gloves keep her hands warm and people believe that her fingertips are cold because they aren't in the nice and toasty gloves. Auntie Alice, who was the one who bought them, says they are very stylish and fashionable. I agree with that.
"Vanessa," Grandma glances at me while she reaches for the first tray of food. "Remember, you must try one food at snack time as well as at lunch and drink some juice."
"I will." I want to roll my eyes but I don't. After all, I already know this.
"That's my girl." She says happily. "Now, please help me carry the food." She hands me the plate of cookies.
I answer with my half smile. Just the way Daddy does.
Holding the big plate full of cookies that's wrapped up in foil, I feel very helpful. Grandma takes a bag in each hand and carefully grabs the first tray of food, saying that we'll have to take the food we are carrying inside and come back for the last tray and bags. I nod my head. I know she could carry all the food and bags at once without dropping anything. But since that would be too heavy for a human, she wants to carry one tray at a time.
"Esme," Grandma's not grandma name is being called. I look and see Ms. Jessica, the lady that's in charge of the mom group, walking over to us. She's smiling very big. "Good morning. Do you need any help?"
"Good morning, Jessica." Grandma greets her with a smile. "I have another tray of food and the bags for our arts and crafts too. Some help would be great."
"Of course, and I'll be happy to help." Ms. Jessica begins walking to us.
Even though Ms. Jessica knows us and has seen us many times, she stops walking when she gets closer to where Grandma and I are. For some reason she's no longer smiling, she now looks a tiny bit scared and I hear her heart beat very fast, like a jackhammer. That's because we are vampires. Daddy has told me that even though humans aren't aware of what we are, there is a tiny part in their brains that tells them to fear us.
"Hi, Ms. Jessica!" I do a big wave with my hand to snap her out of her trance. I don't like humans to be scared of us, because we are not scary.
"Goodness me." Ms. Jessica blinks her eyes, she looks a little embarrassed that she was scared for a second. "I seem to not be awake this morning. I need to get a cup of coffee as soon as the coffee pot is done." She says, walking over to us. Grandma agrees with her about the coffee. "My, Vanessa, it seems you have grown taller since the last time I saw you." She's back to smiling now.
"I did. My Pa said I grew four inches last Sunday." I say very proudly. I like when people notice that I am taller.
"Wow!" Ms. Jessica is amazed.
"She's growing like a weed." Grandma says.
I press my mouth into a hard line. I don't like being compared to a weed. I think it's weird and I don't understand it.
Ms. Jessica nods her head. "Kids grow so fast. Don't they?"
"They sure do." Grandma agrees. They begin talking about the usual mom stuff as the bags and the last tray of food is taken out of the van.
They talk and I listen while we walk away from our van, up the cement walkway and into the Church. Inside the Church where ladies are busy chatting and setting up the food on two different counters - one for sweets and one for food that is not sweet - the air is warm from the heater and the smell of food is very, very, very strong. I do my best to not wrinkle my nose or make it known that the scent of food bothers me as Grandma tells me where to put the cookies.
At the same time I put the cookies right where she tells me, I hear what the other ladies are talking about. The chatter is about the crazy incident at Chuck-E-Cheese. Grandma looks awkward as one of the moms, that is wearing her small baby in a pouch around her chest, questions if it was really her kids that destroyed the plastic play structure at Chuck-E-Cheese. In a quiet voice Grandma admits that it was her rambunctious boys who were indeed responsible for that. Another mom that has teenagers comes to Grandma's defense, saying that teenagers, especially boys, can be so wild but they will outgrow it when they grow up. She goes on to say that Grandma is doing great raising seven children as more moms walk in and start asking Grandma about how her boys got stuck in the plastic play tube to begin with.
It's so interesting that so many ladies want to hear about our families outing. They seem so fascinated with that story. I wonder why. Don't their kids do anything fun like my family does?
Soon it's time for Grandma to walk me to my class. We walk out of the Church and go over to the kid classrooms where other moms are taking their kids. Each door has a paper with the ages the classroom is for. There's one for newborns, toddlers, preschoolers, Kindergarten to third grade and the last is for fourth to six grade. I go to the second to the last classroom.
It doesn't take long for Grandma, who is pretending to be my mom, to sign me in on the clipboard that my teacher hands her. With a kiss and a hug, and a reminder to be good and eat food, Grandma leaves to go with the other moms. Now I'm in the classroom with the other kids. I look around to see if my best friend Peyton is here yet, she is not. Neither are Reese or Andi, my other two best friends. But I do see Jason and Matt. I don't like those boys much.
Jason is nine but he is so much shorter than me. He looks more like a six year old than a nine year old and he always makes fun of me because I am so much taller than him and everyone else. Matt is the same age as me. He used to be my friend but then one day he turned mean and I don't know why. He often calls me mean names like poopy head, when I never said anything bad to him.
More kids come in but I don't move from my spot by the door, where I can see out the window. I'm waiting close by the door so I will see my friends as soon as they get here. That way I am the first one to greet them.
"Vanessa," Ms. Nicole, my teacher, comes up to me. Even though I don't want to stop looking out the window because I'm waiting for my friends. I do. I look up at her. "Don't you just look pretty today as always. I really like your mermaid bow."
Everyone here calls me by my going out name. Only, they think that it's my real name. I just go with it.
I smile. "Thank you, Ms. Nicole." Feeling very pretty, I grab the ends of my tutu that matches the rest of my mermaid outfit and do a curtsy. It feels nice when people notice my outfits and bows.
"Adorable." Ms. Nicole giggles. "Why don't you move away from the door now and go put your backpack in your cubby?"
The way Ms. Nicole says the words, I can tell it's not really a question. It's more or less something that I need to do. After all, she doesn't like kids standing next to the door. She gets afraid that kids will get smacked by the door and get hurt. Well, it would hurt a human kid but not me. I think it would hurt the door more and probably break it if it hit me. But that's something that I will never say since humans would think that's weird.
"After that," She adds before I can give an answer. "You can find some toys to play with or read a book, anything you like, until Ms. Amy gets here with today's arts and crafts project. It's going to be a really fun one." Her eyes are really big and she looks very excited.
"Okay." I skip over to where the roll of cubbies are. Wondering what our art project will be today, I find the cubbie that has my name on it and hang my backpack up. I also hang up my jacket and place it on the hook next to my backpack.
With my backpack and jacket hung up, I start walking over to the lego corner to build a kingdom. But before I get there, Matt and Jason zoom over there so I change directions because I'm in no mood to deal with them. I never am and they can be very mean when teachers aren't looking. Once when Andi, Peyton and I built a big lego castle those cheeky boys knocked it down. Then when we told on them, Jason and Matt switched it up and said we were being mean to them and wouldn't let them play with us. That was a lie. Even though that wasn't true, all of us had a time out for a little while, even the boys. It wasn't very fun or fair.
I walk over to the reading corner and look at the books they have to read. These books are for the Sunday school kids and are different from any books we have at home. But Grandpa does have similar books in his home office that he has read to me. I have memorized all of the Bible stories he and Grandma read to me. I pick out the book Noah's Ark since it's one of my favorites and sit on the bean bag chair and get ready to read. As I open the book the door opens and in walks Andi and her mom.
I'm very happy to see her. I jump up and run at human speed right over to her while her mom is talking to Ms. Nicole.
"Andi, you're finally here!" I squeak loudly and happily, giving her a big hug.
"Yup." I'm here." Andi hugs me. She doesn't sound too happy. "Mikey didn't want to put on pants. He ran all over the house until my mom caught him and put his pants on him. He made us late."
"That's not good." I say.
"Nope." She shakes her head.
We begin to walk away from the door as I tell Andi all about my new pet chicken. She is amazed that I have a chicken for a pet because she hasn't heard of that before. I tell her all about the strange way my family greeted my pet, she laughs at that. She then tells me all about Mikey ruining her Barbie as we walk over to the cubbies. As she hangs up her Princess backpack and purple jacket she tells me all about the naughty things, like putting slime on their dog and not wanting to wear pants that Mikey has done this morning.
Mikey is Andi's little brother. He's three years old and I don't know why he wouldn't want to wear pants. That seems strange. After all, everybody has to wear clothes.
"Want to read with me?" I point to the reading corner.
Andi shrugs. "Sure."
Holding each other's hands we walk over to the reading corner and sit on the bean bag chair together. While we read there are three kids, two boys and a girl that are running around the room. They are being very loud and Ms. Nicole keeps telling them to play a quieter game. Andi and I just keep reading. Andi is eight but I can read harder words than she can. So when she stumbles on words that she doesn't know, I help her out.
The classroom gets very noisy as more kids show up. All the other kids besides Peyton and Reese have arrived, I guess they aren't going to be here today. That happens sometimes where some kids don't show up but I'm glad Andi is here. It's always fun to have a friend around.
While Andi and I reach the end of the book as our other teacher Ms. Amy walks into the room with a cardboard box labeled art. I'm becoming curious about what our craft will be. Andi quickly closes the book and I put it away. At the same time Andi and I get up, Ms. Nicole and Ms. Amy calls everyone to the table for arts and crafts.
"Let's go!" Andi grabs my hand.
"Okay." I say.
Both of us walk to the table and sit down next to each other, far away from those cheeky boys. She doesn't like them either.
"Alight boys and girls." Ms. Amy says, once everyone is sitting down. "Today we will be making sailboats out of recycled materials and decorating them with stickers." She holds up a water bottle that is cut in half, in her right hand. In her other hand she holds up a finished sailboat.
The sailboat looks really nice. The sail, which is a plastic paper with a bear sticker in the middle, is held up with a popsicle stick. There is a lot of excited chatter about the sailboats as our Ms. Amy explains how to make them. Ms. Jessica quickly passes out everything we need. Everyone starts making our sailboats, they are very easy to make.
Arts and crafts time goes by quickly. We make a sailboat out of a plastic water bottle that's cut in half. Andi decorates her sailboat with cat stickers and I decorate mine with chicken stickers, of course. Putting on the last sticker, I feel very proud of my boat and can't wait to show it to my family and put it in water and see if it floats. It's supposed to float.
With our craft all done we place the boats on the window sill so the glue that holds the popsicle sticks in place dry. Now it's time to line up in a single file line and wash our hands in the sink that's in the back of the room. That's because we are going to have a snack before we do other fun stuff. I line up with the other kids because I have to but I'm not looking forward to this. I don't like snack time.
I'm the fifth one in line but I wish I was the last. Andi is in front of me and she's talking about something, but I'm not listening or talking. I'm trying to figure out how I can get out of eating food. But then I do a frowny face. I can do that. I made a promise to Grandma that I would eat food today. And everyone knows that it's bad to break a promise.
The hand washing line moves while I think about how sad Grandma would be if I broke my promise. I don't want to make her sad. Breaking the promise would also make Mommy and Daddy sad too. I don't want to do that. Guess I really have to eat human food today.
"Are you sad?" Andi asks me.
"Umm...no." I try to make my face look happy. After all, I can't share my problem with her. She's human and likes to eat. She wouldn't understand why I don't. "I'm not sad."
Andi looks at me, not saying anything. Finally she nods her head as a boy named Sam - who was in front of her - walks away from the sink. Ms. Jessica tells him not to dry his hands on his jeans as Andi walks up, turns on the water and washes her hands. It doesn't take her long, soon her hands are all clean and it's mine turn.
Washing hands went by too quickly and now I'm back at the table with all the other kids. Andi and I are sitting next to each other again. In front of each of us there is a napkin with string cheese and grapes. There's also a juice box. Everyone is eating but me. I'm just staring at my food. I already know I won't like it but the problem is I have to eat it anyway.
"What's wrong, Vanessia?" Ms. Amy walks over to me. "Are you not hungry?"
"I don't think I like this kind of food." I say without answering her question.
"What weirdo doesn't like grapes and string cheese?" Jason rudely wonders. Him and Matt laugh. They always find it funny when I don't eat.
I glare at those mean boys. Having to eat is no laughing matter to me. Ms. Jessica and Ms. Amy tells Jason and Matt to be nice. That doesn't help, they keep being mean. All the other kids don't pay attention to the meanies, they just keep eating. Everyone seems to be enjoying their snack. Everyone but me.
Matt and Jason continue to make fun of me while they eat their string cheese. With the teachers looking at them instead of me, I begin to get an idea. The boys laugh at me some more while our teachers tell them if they don't behave they will get a time out. I doubt they will listen. That's when I decide to put my idea into action. I do something that I've seen Daddy do when he doesn't want people looking at us. I pull my lips back and show my teeth, just a little bit. It works. Those cheeky boys stop laughing. With scared looks on their faces, they look down at their food at the same time.
Ms. Jessica and Ms. Amy are very pleased that Jason and Matt finally listened. Only, they think that is their doing. I smile to myself. I did that. I made the meanies stop teasing me.
"Vanessnia," Andi taps me on my shoulder. I look at her. "The grapes are very yummy. Try one, you might like it."
"Okay." I shrug my shoulders.
Feeling very unsure about this, I pick up the smallest grape on my napkin. I hold it up in the light and examine it carefully. It's tiny green and round. That's all I can say about it. Andi tells me to eat it. She plops one in her mouth and I do the same.
I carefully chew the squishy thing that bursts into my mouth. With each bit I take I realize something new. Something that I never imagined in a million years. I like grapes! They are yummy!
"So?" Andi asks. "Do you like grapes?"
"No." I shake my head. "I love them!"
She giggles.
"You tasty beautiful thing," I say, picking up another grape. "Where have you been all my life?" I put the grape in my mouth and chew it.
I'm too busy eating my delicious grapes that are making my tummy very happy to notice or care that there is laughter in the classroom from what I said. I'm so happy I tried grapes, I never thought food could be yummy. Now I have one food that I can eat when I have to blend in with humans and eat. I can't wait to tell my family about this. I think they will be proud of me.
The End.
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Thank you to everyone who read, followed, favored and especially reviewed this story.
My apologies for all the spelling mistakes, thanks so much for overlooking them. I have dyslexia and spelling isn't always easy.
If you enjoyed this story please leave a nice review for Amber. That would really make her day. She loves reading all of the encouraging reviews. :)))
