Mixed Messages
Chapter 7
Unboxing day

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Amanda's ears perked up at the distinctive timber of a delivery truck's engine decelerating to a stop. She jumped up from her Algebra summer math, peeked through the drapes, eagerly, and caught a glimpse. The brown truck of joy!

The sunlight illuminated her crystal clear blue eyes as she watched the uniformed deliveryman stand up, stretch, and walk into the back of his truck. An eternity later, he looked at his paperwork, and then at their yellow trimmed house. She watched him slowly step out of the truck, amble across the street, down the paved walkway, up the stairs, and set a brown package on the welcome mat. He pushed the doorbell, turned around, and walked back to the truck.

Amanda ran out the door, snatched the plain cardboard box, and zoomed into the kitchen. She grinned at her mother, shook it next to her ear, and inhaled a long whiff. "Mmmm! Treasure!"

Blonde haired Sandra chuckled at her antics.

"Mom?" Her blue eyes twinkled as she gingerly twirled the box between two fingers.

"No."

"Mom! Seriously!" She whined, and turned on her heels about to stomp.

"With Lauren. I want you supervised."

"But Mom! You're right here!"

"Don't but me. She's a Grimm. She knows what to do with those things."

"Can we go now?"

Sandra looked out the window at the bright afternoon sun, then at the clock. 3:30PM. She chuckled, raised her eyebrows, then gently tousled Mandy's dark brown hair, and said, "Really? Right now?"

"Mom?" Amanda drew out the word into a long whine.

"Finish your summer math and reading, practice your cheerleading moves, then do your PT and shadowboxing for MMA. We'll see if she's home after dinner."

Amanda surreptitiously picked up the box and slinked off, towards her room.

"Mandy?"

"Yes mom."

Sandra raised her eyebrows and looked at the box.

"Mom!" She whined.

"It'll be fine right here on the counter, I promise." She chuckled as her daughter trudged down the hall to finish her work.

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A few hours later..

Amanda's eyes glittered as she twirled the cardboard box between two fingers.

Lauren laughed, and said, "Ok, fine, your Mom said you could open it."

She wogued into Lowen mode, extended one long razor sharp claw, and slit the large box open.

Lauren laughed at the spectacle as bright faced Amanda carefully lifted one small, colorful box out, then a second, and a third. She carefully separated a baggie containing a black rubber knife, then a second. Finally a larger bag containing a black, sheathed machete. She lined up all the boxes and bags on the black-rimmed glass top kitchen table next to Jess's stuffed animals, a yellow package of wipes, and jars of baby food.

Amanda paused with a silly grin, popped several bubble wrap bubbles between her tiny, slender fingers, and chuckled. Lauren couldn't help herself, and popped several herself. Jess toddled over and climbed up into Amanda's lap. He curiously reached a chubby hand up and touched her shiny, black, curly hair. He noticed the bubble wrap popping and stared. She slowly squeezed one plastic bubble in front of him until it popped. he chuckled and clapped. She popped a second one for him. He picked up a sheet, squeezed a bubble in his chubby fingers, shook it, and babbled.

Amanda carefully slid the matte black automatic knives out of their colorful boxes and set them in a line. Next came the rubber knives. Finally, she slid the short 12" machete out of it's black scabbard, gently handled it, and said, "Cool!"

Young blonde haired Jess happily pushed the empty cardboard box around on the beige pattern linoleum kitchen floor and made car noises. He finally climbed in and rolled around inside it. Lauren set her LC monogrammed, pink stripe, baby bags next to Jess's plush stuffed animal toys on the kitchen table, alongside the half-dozen black automatic knifes and two dark rubber training knives.

Petite Amanda, in her pink unicorn tee shirt, bluejeans, and white tennis shoes, licked her lips, sighting down the non-reflective black machete in her left hand. Taller, athletic, Lauren, in her light purple Xander Adhesives company polo shirt and form fitting beige pants, flicked the button on a rubber gripped automatic knife and watched the jet black blade flash out with a muffled clunk. She said, "Sweet! Mom got you the good ones! Hey, you want try that out?"

Amanda's eyes twinkled.

Jess toddled over, holding a black rubber knife in his hand, and said, "Knife!" Amanda scooped him up with a smile while Lauren set up a water-soaked roll of newspaper for machete practice.

Amanda said, "Now where did you find that? You're all Grimm aren't you buddy."

"Ready?" Lauren asked with a twinkle in her eye. "Like this."

She swung her machete at the vertical roll. A sharp metallic clink cut the quiet of the room. A nine-inch tall section barely twisted sideways, slid over one-quarter inch, and stopped, standing straight up on top on the longer roll. Lauren swung a second time, in the opposite direction, slicing through the now-separate top section. The two wet newspaper rounds slowly tottered, and slid off the larger roll, and landed with a "splat" into a pile on the linoleum floor.

Lauren winked at Amanda and stepped out of the way.

Amanda smiled, and swung her machete with gusto. A dull thwack rocked the roll as her machete squished then bounced off. She looked at it, rubbed the edge, and scowled.

"Dull?"

Amanda grumped.

Lauren chuckled, and said, "First Grimm lesson young paduan - always sharpen you must."

Amanda exhaled a low sigh, looked down at the dull edge, paused, then looked back up, and asked, "Can I try yours?"

Lauren handed Amanda her machete. She gently brushed a finger on the edge, then smiled. She squared her shoulders, planted her feet, and swung. Lauren's machete dug halfway in and stopped. She looked at it, frowned, then started levering it and pushing to disgorge it.

Lauren chuckled, and said, "Watch." She swung again. One quick looping motion of the machete made two clink sounds, two more rolled sections slid off onto the floor with a splat, and she handed it back to Amanda.

Amanda swung again, harder. The machete buried itself into the roll, solidly stuck a second time. She looked at Lauren, disappointed, and said, "What am I doing wrong?"

"Here, I'll show you." She said, and slowly walked Amanda through an exercise. "Try like this."

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A few weeks later.

Amanda, dressed in her blue and white skirt middle school uniform, walked in the door with a smile and dumped a backpack full of empty plastic bottles into the sink. She started filling them up, one at a time, and screwing the lids on. She ran upstairs. Misty looked at Sandra, rolled her eyes, slurped her coffee, and said, "I guess it's good we have a privacy fence."

Soon, quiet, regular, monotonic, metallic grating of a stone on steel filtered down the stairs.

Sandra, peeling potatoes over a white plastic cutting board, looked away for a second and hollered towards the stairs, "Mandy, change into your play clothes. Don't get that on your school clothes."

"Ok Mom," echoed down the stairs.

Sandra grimaced, looked down, then scowled. She laid a kitchen knife and a bloody potato in the sink, stuck her left thumb into her mouth, and quickly tore off a sheet of paper towel.

Misty chuckled, looked down at several bandaged fingers, and said, "At least the kitchen knives are sharp."

Sandra held up her right hand and wiggled two bandaged fingers while she nursed her thumb.

Amanda ran back down with her machete slung across her back. Misty stopped her, and said, "Honey, remember to get your newspapers out of the car."

"Ok Mom." Amanda threw on a gray hoodie, scooped up the stack of water bottles, and ran out back.

Sandra bandaged her thumb, resumed prepping ingredients for dinner, and said, "Life with a Grimm, I guess."

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Meanwhile, in a suburban red brick house outside Houghton, Michigan...

JJ Prentice angrily stood up from the oak kitchen table. He rubbed a large, square, hand through his short blonde hair, and said, "Don't do this. You're crazy!"

"And you're a coward!" Blonde haired Connie's expression betrayed open disgust, her eyes glowed yellow with anger. She stood up straight, arms crossed, back against the yellowish granite countertop, and said, "That thing murdered our son!"

"And that 'thing' has a father, who's a Grimm!" He stared back at her, eyes glowing bright yellow against the sunlight dappled kitchen, and said, "What happens when he finds out?"

"He will probably help us deal with that mixed up abomination, and her weird excuse for family."

"I doubt it, especially when he finds out that our Wesen son tried to rape his thirteen year old daughter."

She stared at him, then transformed into a tawny Lowen. She snarled sharp white fangs at him, and said. "You're weak! Soft! You don't want to do the right thing by your family!"

"I AM doing the right thing by my family!" He transformed into Lowen mode, towering over her shorter stature. He snarled and yelled, "I'm not the one hell bent on bringing the axe on my own family!"

"Nobody around here is scared of a Grimm. We haven't even seen a Grimm in years."

"Until July! Look how that went."

"They are gone."

"They aren't 'gone,' they left! And now, a Grimm knows where we live."

"So we kill her, and this Grimm father of hers, if he doesn't go along with us."

"Listen to yourself! A Grimm going along 'with us' to kill his own daughter? Really? More likely he hunts us down, murders us, and our kids. Your parents? My parents! Our whole Wesen community?"

"I've got a plan!"

"A plan? You're going to get us all killed! That's what you're going to do!" JJ said as he stomped out, slammed the brown oak door behind him, got into his white full-size pickup truck, and drove off.

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1.7k words 12/5/20 r3

Lauren Cole = Theresa Rubel