Iago shook his head and stared more intentedly at the portrait. For a while he thought she left the portrait and was aiming straight at him.
"Just a painting."he muttered to himself, and decided to fly off, but not without looking back.
The woman in the portrait was the same as she always was. With that expressionless face, and her hands in her lap.
"Enough cause for a headache, that's for sure!"
"Iago!"he heard Ali say.
Genie came up pushing Saba.
"Weren't you supposed to be holding a tea party!"asked Iago.
"We were letting Sabdullah give us a tour of the house."said Genie. He chuckled. "Apparently he definitely knows more than some of the adults here. About the paintings, and his family."
"No, I want to collect Iago feathers."said Sabdullah.
"AH! NO!"
"No, no! We were going to look at the pictures!"exclaimed Genie, as he watched the children go after Iago.
Genie went after them, to get their attention and leave Iago alone. Ali caught Iago's tail feather, but he managed to escape. They started trying to capture him in vases of flowers. They threw the flowers down, which Genie caught, and began to try to capture Iago in them.
"ALADDIN!"screamed Iago.
"Wha…?"
Everyone turned around to see the children chasing Iago, and the vases in their hands. The floor had just been waxed that morning, and Badr slipped, and the vase in his hand went flying.
"NOOO!"yelled Ester.
"Grandmother's vase!"yelled Josefina.
"Genie!"yelled Aladdin.
"Not to worry Al!"
Genie made a spectacular dive trying to save the vase before it crashed on the floor. CRASH! He didn't make it, and the beautifully ornamented vase fell into a dozen pieces.
"Oh, no!"said Francisco.
"That one was one of my favorites!"said Aida.
Iago had flown to hide behind the curtains on one of highest windows.
"It was all Sabdullah's idea."said Badr, as he got to his feet.
Luckily, when he had slipped, he crashed right into one of the soft sofas, and landed against the cushions.
"Sabdullah's idea or not, why in the world were you playing with the vases?"asked Francisco, bending to pick up the pieces.
"Isn't there any way to repair it?"asked Jasmine.
"Of course."said Genie, examining it.
He tried to arrange the pieces together, but they fell apart again.
"Oh, that vase made it here all the way from China! It was given to my grandmother as a wedding gift. How she valued it so!"cried Josefina.
"Oh, well, um, it'll be repaired."said Genie. "At least, I hope so. We just have to be a little patient."
"Boys! Why were you carrying those vases? All of you!"
"Just why precisely that one?"
"Were trying to get Iago, but he kept getting away from us."
"I think it's time you all left that bird alone!"
"Awwww."they all wined.
"No wining, no wining!"
"But he's fun."
"Well, I can't say it's not fun to be after him every now and then, but why with those vases. Sabdullah, you know you're not allowed to use them as toys!"
"We couldn't get back and find something else. There wasn't enough time."
"Iago was looking at the paintings on the other side of the house."
"And what were you doing on the other side of the house?"
"We were giving Genie a tour."
"Genie, couldn't you have stopped them?"
"I did all I could, Al. Well, unless I tied them up, or confined them to their rooms, or something."
"That may just be the very thing."squeaked Iago. "Even the monkey agrees with me. Don't you?"
Abu stared at him.
"Don't you, please, Abu?"begged Iago. "Isn't it enough!"
Abu nodded.
"Well, you should leave Iago alone."
"But he's funny."
"Funny or not, just looked what your Iago games have done! You broke great grandmother's vase!"
"I didn't think it would break."said Badr, begging to cry.
"Well, it's obvious you didn't think at all!"said Iago, seeing that now was a good chance to get everyone on his side, and put a stop to this torturing for good. "Which is why, I repeat, Al, that you should ship them off to boarding school, and they can learn to think about the consequences of their actions, you see."
"Boarding school!"yelled Josefina. "Oh, no! Not my nieces and nephews! Not my darlings! Well, it's a pity that the vase broke for sure, but of course, the nuns have always told me we shouldn't become so attached to material things! It's a shame, no doubt, but what's important is that we learned a lesson today, didn't we?"she added to the children.
"We don't play with the vases anymore?"asked Badr.
"Or any other ornaments."added Josefina. "Why don't we go for a pleasant walk?"
"Yes, Tia Josefina."
Josefina smiled as she went to get her hat and parasol.
"Now, everyone get their hats."she said to them.
"Yes, good idea."said Genie, as he ran to get the children's hats.
"Yes, good thinking Josefina."
"I should say the opposite. Bad thinking! What would be good thinking is shipping them off to boarding school, and putting a stop for good on all these 'accidents'."said Iago.
"Oh, but they're only children."said Josefina.
"Children or not, I say ship them off."
"Nobody's shipping anybody off anywhere, Iago."said Aladdin.
"Josefina's right."said Cassim. "They are only children, after all."
Genie came back with the hats and parasols, and they went outside.
"Well, the least you could do is get better nurses. It's obvious Genie isn't that good. I could have been murdered, or if not, been plucked completely with not a single feather left! That would be attractive."
"Stop complaining, Iago."Aida told him.
"It's easy for you to say. I don't know how you put up with those little monsters."
"They're just replicas of yourself, Iago. With the difference that they're a little more mischievous. But as far as their talking is concerned, you're identical."she said, picking up her knitting.
"Replicas, hmm!"
Everyone smiled and rolled their eyes.
"Replicas or not, someone has to do something about them. Stop them! Have mercy!"