The next morning came rather early around 7:00 in the morning.
"Rise and shine!" Pippi called out loudly to wake up Ephraim niece, and their friends. "We're Here!"
Mike and Lil also woke up as Pippi shouted. Wendy soon came in to check on them.
"Wendy, your uncle was an early riser." Mike muttered.
"I tried to tell you guys." Wendy reminded.
"Okay, sounds good," Mike said. "I'll be packed up."
"Yeah, yeah, I guess." Lil mumbled.
"Ready?" Mike asked.
"Yeah." Lil nodded.
Little Debbie, Mike, and Lil soon came out of ship.
"Land-O!" Ephraim chuckled to his brother-in-law.
"Yeah, We're in Sweden." Dave smirked.
Wendy and Pippi then came downstairs as well.
"Yup!" Pippi said.
"Luckily I was able to make it fast enough." Dave said as he soon gave them their breakfast plates.
"Thanks, Dad." Wendy replied.
"Thank you, Uncle Dave." Pippi beamed.
"You're welcome, girls." Dave smiled to them.
The ship is headed to city harbor, where the condemned area of the harbor. Seagulls caw and ships honk their horns, as the camera lowers down past the piers and shifts to a shot of an old houseboat. The camera cuts to the interior of the houseboat, as we see a horse named Buster.
"So, uh, is this your horse?" Lil asked.
"It is! His names is Buster." Pippi smiled.
Dave and Ephraim looked soft from that, but didn't say anything as they really knew what happened to Pippi's mother, but the girl never really understood what happened and always thought her mother was just missing somewhere in the world.
"When are you going to tell her?" Dave whispered to his brother-in-law.
"She knows, she just doesn't understand." Efraim whispered back to Dave.
"Oh. Gotcha." Dave replied.
"Well, that was a good breakfast, Dad," Wendy smiled. "I'm full."
"So am I." Pippi then said.
"Alright, then time to go," Efraim said. "So Long, Pippi."
"I'm so excited," Pippi beamed to the other girls. "Bye!"
They smiled and nodded from that.
"Yeah, it sounds pretty cool," Mike said. "So your dad's is leaving?"
"Yeah," Pippi smiled. "I know that Alfonso will be happy to see us back home."
"I'm sure," Lil nodded. "I Can't Wait."
Pippi, Mike and Lil, Dave, and Wendy get on a Horse.
"Come on, Mr. Nilsson." Pippi smiled to her pet monkey.
Mr. Nilsson soon came out to go with her and then climbed up onto her shoulder as they left the ship.
"Wow, a brand new adventure." Mike proclaimed.
"Come on, everybody." Pippi replied. "Here we Gooooo!"
They soon came onto the Downtown Stockholm.
"All right!" Mike asked. "A Mojang Studios Headquarters!"
"It is, Best known for Minecraft." Wendy replied.
"I guess so." Lil commented.
"Yeah." Pippi replied.
Out on the street, Pippi, Mike, Lil, and Wendy runs into traffic and slams his head on the limo door.
"What was that?" Pippi asked Lil.
"I, I don't know. But, but now, don't be alarmed," Lil replied. "He almost always gets the weather wrong. I feel bad for him sometimes."
"Forty seconds." Mike asked.
"All right. Here we go." Lil said.
Soon had passed and Pippi and Friends came onto the Cartenlot City.
"Home of the Cartenlot High," Lil replied.
"Where all Equestria Girls leave here." Mike then asked.
"Twilight is," Lil explained.
"Good to know." Mike then nodded.
"Come on, Buster, we're late. You can play with the kitty some other time, honey. Come on." Pippi said.
Moments as passed as Pippi and friends reach the Villa Villekulla
Pippi said as he started to brush past them. "Welcome to Villa Villekulla ."
"We're meeting at the cafe anyway, so why don't you at least listen?"
"Alright, I'll listen." The two children said.
The Door opened with A little boy with brown haire, wearing brown shirt, blue jeans, and sneakers. And other girl has blonde hair with blue headband, wears a light blue short shirt, blue skirt with dark blue waist around it, white long socks, and blue mary jane shoes.
"My Name's Pippi Longstocking and this is my cousin, Dave and Wendy, and my friends are Mike and Lil! "
"Hello I'm Tommy and this is Annika" Tommy said.
Moments later on Living room at Villa Villekulla
"Having fun?" Wendy said.
"Lots of it" Pippi said.
"Gimme a break! Speak English, Lil!" Mike said
"Oh, Mike. Now we got work to do. First, we'll spring the kid. Then, we'll take care of the old man. All right?" Wendy said.
"Yeah! That's right, man! He's family!" Lil said.
Meanwhile, when Wendy and Dave asked.
"What on earth happened to you two?" Wendy sald.
"Well at least they are having a good time" Dave said.
"Your cousin well be ready to eat pancakes" Wendy asked.
Back on Living room
"I Know, Let's all make Pancakes!" Pippi said.
"Grest Idea, Pippi" Mike said.
Pippi, Tommy, and Annika began working together to make wonderful lunch. As they were working, Pippi began to sing Recipes for Life.
As Pippi sang, Pippi making pancakes
Tommy and Annika also sing with Pippi as pancakes done, followed by new foods, pink jelly, Potatoes, Oatmeal Bar, Apple Bar, and Chocolate Chip Cookie.
And Pippi, Tommy, and Annika placing all foods outside of bench.
Pippi, Tommy, and Annika finish singing our song by singing: Recipes for LIFE!
The children sang as her hands raise up and cheering as they worked as the song is over.
"Well, you have certainly done a good job" Mike said.
"We all made them" Annika said.
"Who started off that Repices For Life? We could hear your singing on the second floor." Wendy said.
"I did, well we were making foods!" Pippi said.
"Ephraim!" Pippi ran into the kitchen as Ephraim visit Villa Villekulla. "Ephraim, I want to bake cookies for Mike!" Pippi jumped up and down, unable to contain her energy as she awaited her Ephraim's reply. Ephraim took her daughter by the hand and led her to the kitchen.
Propping Pippi on the stool, Ephraim took out the ingredients. "Hi Pippi! Do you remember what Mike?" she asked as she laid out the cookie cutters, the dough from the freezer, rolling pin, and the baking sheet.
Pippi nodded her head with pride. "Wendy says that the Mike and Lil ate dinner with their new friends the Indians."
Ephraim nodded her head, laying the cookie cutters in front of Pippi. "Pick your favorite ones," she instructed as she rolled the dough on the cutting board.
"Ummm," Pippi said to herself as she touched each cutter. Her family was bringing sugar cookies to Mike and Lil, and Pippi didn't want anyone to be sad over ugly cookies.
"This one is my favorite," Pippi said with pride, holding a star shape for her mother to see. "Mike will love this one." Pippi placed the fish shape next to it. "For my cousins Wendy."
Ephraim kissed her daughter on the head. "The dough is almost ready for the cookie cutters."
Pippi nodded her head somberly. "What did the Pilgrims and Indians eat at Thanksgiving?"
"Hmm," Ephraim said as she placed the rolling pin in the sink. "They probably ate a lot of the same things that we do at Dinner."
"Pink jelly, Potatoes, Oatmeal Bar, Apple Bar, and Chocolate Chip Cookie!" Pippi screamed the last part, barely able to control her glee.
"Yes," Ephraim said. "Take the star shape and place it on the dough."
Pippi did as she was told, with Ephraim placing her hands over hers to help her press down.
"Once you see the shape in the dough, we pick up the cookie cutter and peel off the cookie, placing it on our baking sheet." Ephraim explained as she lowered the first unbaked cookie onto the grey sheet. "Now place the cookie cutter in the dough again," Ephraim instructed.
"Like this?" Pippi asked, wanting to make the perfect shape.
"Perfect," Ephraim complimented as Pippi picked up the fish shape, handing it to her mother to peel.
Father and daughter continued the pattern for the next few minutes, until the baking sheet was filled with cookies.
"What next?" Pippi asked expectantly.
Ephraim carefully picked up the sheet and placed it in the oven. "We let the cookies cook in the oven."
"And then we decorate them?" Pippi asked urgently.
"Yes," Ephraim laughed. "That's the last part."
"It's the best part!" Pippi insisted. Her face quickly fell. "What do I do while the cookies are in the oven?"
"How about we go in the living room and visit your friends Mike and Lil."
"And Tommy and Annika!" Pippi added excitedly darting into the other room, disappointment over waiting for the cookies now forgotten. There was just too much fun to be had.
"Friday evening. apple juice at seven and dinner at sever-thirty," Mike clairified. She listened for a moment. "How old is your daughter? Oh, that's quite all right. My youngest son will be fourteen in a week. I'm sure they can keep one another entertained." Privately she was not sure at all. Her youngest son Lil would be fourteen in a week but he barely looked eleven or twelve. He was tiny and skinny and so much shyer than the other boys his age but the pediatrician had assured her that would all change with puberty – which he had yet to show any sign of. Her Lil preferred books to sports and was happiest curled up in one of the overstuffed chairs in the family room with a piece of classic literature. His older brother Wendy affectionately – most of the time – called him a geek. Wendy, at eighteen, had recently graduated high school. He had already made it plain that he would not be attending college that fall and had instead chosen to work at Dixie Calhoun's garage, further allowing his obsession with anything with a motor and four tires to take over his life. Sometimes she thought if she could combine her two boys – Lil's brain and almost too pretty for a boy face with Wendy's physical strength and drive to prove himself as a man – she might have one perfect son. "I'll see you then," she said and hung up the phone a moment later.
Tommy and Annika eating Cookies for launch.
Lil had offered to help but he had been shooed away, informed that the kitchen was for girls and his place was to stay out of the way. He had to remind himself that Momma did not know about Pippi, that no one knew about Pippi but Wendy.
That meant she would not see him sitting backward on the couch on his knees with his thumb in his mouth and run to tattle. He folded his right arm atop the back of the middle couch cushion and rested his chin on it with his left thumb still in his mouth. He stared out the big etched glass window on the door.
Lil ducked his head to rub his eyes and when he looked up again the familiar black pickup truck was already parked in the driveway. His nervousness was not enough to keep him from wriggling excitedly as his brother climbed out and headed for the house.
Mike was met – or perhaps assaulted might be a better term – by a pair of big brown sad puppy dog eyes the moment he walked in the front door. Those eyes could only belong to Lil. "Hey, kid," he said, ruffling his brother's hair. "What's up?"
"Momma's having a party," he pouted.
"Ah, damn. That tonight?" Mike asked. He hated his mother's dinner parties. There was nothing worse than having to sit around making small talk with his mother's friends and avoiding the advances of their daughters who saw him as the dangerous bad boy sort. His evening would be better spent driving Pippi out to the old Civil War cemetery and making love to her in the bed of his truck until she could not sit comfortably on the way home. He was sure Pippi – and by extension Lil – felt the same way.
Lil nodded silently in answer to his brother's question.
Mike sighed. He might hate his mother's dinner parties but Lil dreaded them. The younger brother was painfully shy around anyone he did not know well. New neighbors he had never met coming for dinner and most likely asking all the questions adults asked children – school, summer plans, favorite hobbies all included – and thinking he was strange when he answered that he was not playing any sports and his favorite hobby was reading Jane Austen. To make matters worse they were bringing a girl Lil's age. A week before Mike's fourteenth birthday his favorite pastime had been making out with Josie McAvoy in her treehouse and trying to get his hands on her boobs. Lil was four days from being fourteen and girls terrified him. "Yeah," Mike said finally, then, "all right," and "fuck it. I need a shower." Lil made a sort of whimpering sound and Mike took pity on him. "Ya wanna come upstairs with me?"
Lil gave another silent nod. He studied his brother for a moment. Then he held up his arms in Mike's direction.
Pippi talked constantly. She never shut up. There were times when her chatter got a little annoying. But Lil was shy and quiet even around his family. Still somehow Mike always knew what he wanted. He lifted his brother up over the back of the couch and stood him on his feet. A little giggle escaped Lil and when his feet hit the floor he did not look quite so hopeless anymore. "Ya feel better?" Mike asked. It was amazing how a little attention could bring out a whole new Lil.
Instead of answering Lil reached up and ran a hand over the stubble on his older brother's face. "Can I help you shave?" he asked.
"I don't know." Mike said as he started up the stairs, "how long till dinner?"
"Momma said apple juice at seven and dinner at seven thirty."
"So that's two hours-"
"Can I?" Lil persisted.
"Yeah, whatever." Mike did not see why helping him shave was so fascinating. When Lil finally started shaving himself he was not going to like it. If Lil ever started shaving. There were drugs out now that would stop transgender kids from going through puberty or halt it or whatever. Mike had no idea how it worked but Pippi had given him a long drawn out explanation about how the changes in Lil's body that would eventually turn him into the man he did not want to be were caused by a hormone. The first drug would prevent his body from creating it, in effect keeping him a child until he was ready to take another hormone that would give him a more feminine appearance though it would do nothing about his genetalia.
That had been a strange conversation ending with, "and I'm gonna have boobs, Mike! Real ones!" Fortunately it had been Pippi, not Lil who had made that statement. But there was a problem with getting Pippi the drugs she needed. On the black market a few months worth could cost as much as the 1962 Corvette C2 Mike wanted so badly. Obtained legally the insurance from their mother's real estate agent job would probably pay for them but that meant telling Momma about Lil's condition. And Momma with all of her southern Baptist beliefs was not an open-minded person.
Mike pushed open his bedroom door. "Sit down and watch TV or somethin' till I'm out of the shower." Then something else occurred to him. "Ya need a bath too, doncha?" he asked.
Lil shrugged.
"You had one yet?"
"No." The younger boy brightened suddenly. "Can I come in with you?"
"No," Mike told him. "Course not." If Momma happened to come upstairs and catch them in the shower together…
Well, come to think of it, it probably wouldn't be that strange because they had always taken their baths together when they were younger. Taking care of Lil was Mike's one and only household chore now that Wendy and Momma were married. It was going to be up to him to make his brother presentable at dinner tonight. Getting the two of them showered at the same time would be easier than showering, shaving, and then giving Lil his bath. "Well, okay," he reconsidered, "but Pippi better not come out and pull any funny shit." They had showered together a few times when Lil was Pippi and it hadn't mattered then because Momma and Wendy and Elena had been out for the day. But showering with Pippi was one thing and showering with Lil was something else entirely.
"I won't! I'll be good!"
"Are ya sure?" Despite Lil's insistence Mike was still unsure. There had been a couple of times recently when Mike had been giving Lil his bath or putting him to bed that Lil had tried to kiss him the same way he did when he was Pippi. Mike knew it was ridiculous, particularly when Lil and Pippi were technically the same person but there was no way he was doing the same things he did with Pippi – his girlfriend - with Lil – his innocent little brother. Mike had tried to explain his reasoning to Lil but he was not sure how much his brother had comprehended.
"Yes!" He sounded way too happy but Mike was sure no one had given him any attention today and Lil was probably just excited because his older brother was paying attention to him.
Mike laughed. "Yeah, I reckon it'd be alright," he said.
Lil bounced – almost like Pippi – into the bathroom that connected Mike's room with his own. He had wriggled out of his tee shirt before his brother had time to think that a shower with an excited Lil – an excited naked Lil – might not be a good idea because when they were alone he had a tendancy to turn into Pippi at any given moment. When Pippi got excited she was like an octopus with her hands in places Lil's hands didn't belong. "Come on, Mike," Lil whined.
Mike laughed again as he stood up and stretched. He watched his brother shimmy out of his shorts and underwear and knew suddenly that this was a bad idea. Mike had never had trouble keeping Pippi and Lil separate in his head. Pippi was his girlfriend and Lil was his brother. Pippi had poise, confidence, and those cute little dresses from the Goodwill store. Lil was shy and skinny as a stick with a face too pretty for a boy. He had never had trouble being attracted to Lil even though he and Pippi were technically the same person and Mike knew that skinny little body inside and out. There had been nights he had made love to Pippi out in the Civil War cemetery until neither of them could walk quite right then come home to give Lil a bath before putting him to bed. All those times he had never wanted to fuck Lil. Mike supposed this time it must be because he planned to take Pippi out tonight and presented with the same body he could not help thinking about it as 'Pippi.'
But he had promised Lil a shower. Mike willed his downstairs brain to behave itself and followed his brother into the bathroom. First he adjusted the shower to that perfect not hot but not cold temperature – the only one they could agree on because Lil liked his bath cold as ice and Mike preferred boiling hot. "Go on and get in," he said.
"But –" Lil started to protest.
"Do what you're told, Lil," Mike cut him a little more harshly than he had intended to. "I ain't got time to mess with ya now." Mike pulled his shirt over his head and, thus distracted, missed the look of distress that passed over Lil's face.
Momma yelled at Lil, especially when she came to wake him up for school and his bed was wet but he was used to that. Wendy ignored him but he had come to expect that too. But Mike never yelled and he always had his brother's full attention. This was new and Lil didn't like it. But he had no idea how to convey that feeling so, with tears in his eyes, he obediently stepped into the shower.
Mike – still oblivious – knew what the bathroom floor would look like once they were finished. It was wet enough when he helped Lil with his bath at night but with both of them in the shower it was likely to be worse. He took several dirty towels from the basket and spread them out on the floor in front of the shower. They would soak up most of the excess water that got on the floor and Mike would have less to clean up later. He took clean towels out of the closet and placed them on the closed toilet seat within easy reach. Then he stepped into the shower with his brother.
Which was weird because while Mike was used to helping Lil with his bath and getting dressed they had not been naked together in a long time, at least not when Lil was still Lil.
But Mike need not have worried about anything unusual happening with his brother. Lil stood in the shower stall, arms wrapped around himself and head down as he watched the water swirl away down the drain. Mike would have sworn he was crying but it could have been the water from the shower dripping down his face. "Hey." Mike placed his hand on his brother's shoulder. "What's wrong?"
Lil let out a surprised sob and spun around quickly. His feet slipped on the bottom of the shower and he slid right into Mike's arms. Another little whimpery sob escaped him and his fingers clutched at Mike's upper arms even as he did his best to hide his face against his brother's chest. "I'm sorry," he sobbed.
"Sorry for what?" Mike asked. What had Lil done this time?
"What you yelled at me for."
"I didn't-" Mike began before realizing that he had. "I ain't mad at ya, Lil. Ya didn't do nothin'. I'm just…I dunno. Tired I reckon." His arms came up and around his brother, hugging the younger boy to him. Lil was shaking and that never bodes well. "Then Momma had to go and have this damn dinner party and I forgot about it and was gonna see if Pippi wanted to go to the movies."
Lil sniffled. "Pippi wants a movie and McDonalds and ice cream."
Mike's hands rubbed Lil's back and he could feel his brother beginning to calm down. "You tell Pippi I'll take her to the matinee tomorrow since I don't gotta work." Lil made a content little noise into his brother's chest. He relaxed further in Mike's arms and his thumb crept into his mouth. Mike didn't mind. He thought it was kind of cute. "Hey," he said, "ya ain't fallin' asleep on me, are ya?"
Lil's thumb slipped out of his mouth as he tipped his head back to look at Mike with big brown eyes. Pippi's eyes. Before Mike knew what he was doing he leaned down and pressed his lips to his brother's.
"Hi guys!" Pippi said to Everyone. Pippi to make herself useful, she followed Tommy and Annika outside the banch.
"Pippi this looks delicious! Did you cook everything yourself?"
Mike looked at her friend and grinned. Lil demanded to know the reason.
"You, my dear, are desperately bored," replied Pippi "I am so sorry darling, but you know how Lil gets. He literally forces people to come to our house. I know he forced that friend of his to come. Ephraim hospitality."
"Farah don't worry about it. Here let me be useful. At least I won't be bored!"
Laughing and gossiping about the ladies, the two friends served dinner in Pippi's beautiful backyard, which Wendy has jazzed up with fairy lights and picnic tables.