Part 9
The next Saturday, Harm, Mac and Mattie found themselves again at Bud and Harriet's. They had all planned to have lunch together, but first, Harriet had to drop Tyler and Tiegan at where their foster- mother was staying.
The three visitors arrived just as Harriet and the kids were heading out of the door.
"Hi there!" Harriet greeted them, showing them in the door as she was taking inventory of everything the kids needed to bring with them.
"Bud's just out back, with the kids," she told Harm and Mac, "AJ and Jimmy are playing in the leaves and Bud's pushing the twins on the swings. I've got to go and drop Tyler and Tiegan off . It's Tiegan's ballet recital and the whole of the family's going to be there."
"Not Robby," Tyler informed Harriet.
"He's away on a trip to Spain with his biology class," Tiegan added, "They're going cave diving."
"I wish I was," Tyler muttered, under his breath, but Tiegan still heard him and shot him a dirty look.
"Now, now, Tyler," Harriet chided the boy, "I'm sure you're going to enjoy Tiegan's ballet show. It's Alice in Wonderland, it's full of fun."
Tyler looked doubtful.
"Show Mr. and Mrs. Rabb your costume, Tiegan," Harriet prompted the young girl.
Tiegan proudly unzipped the zipper on her garment bag and showed off the little white tu-tu. It had a pink heart on the front and Tiegan reached inside the bag and lifted out one of her props. It was a styrofoam lollipop on a stick.
"I'm a lollipop kid," She announced, gleefully.
Tyler made vomiting noises.
"I don't see you getting picked for anything, Tyler," Tiegan rounded on him, scathingly, "Your coach doesn't even pick you for the football team. You get to sit on the bench every week. Your shin guards haven't been used since the day you first bought them!"
Harm and Mac fought to maintain a straight face.
"Yeah, well," Tyler fought back, searching for some good material, "You're not exactly Alice, are you? Your teacher wouldn't even let you audition for the part! You're obviously not good enough!"
"It was because I don't have blond hair, you moron," Tiegan pouted, "But at least I'm in the play, not on the bench…"
By now, they could see that this was getting out of hand.
"Alright, you two!" Harriet resolutely pushed them both out the door, "That's enough! We're going to be late, at this rate."
Before the front door closed behind them, Harm, Mac and Mattie heard Tyler pipe up;
"Good! I hope we miss the whole thing…"
Harm let out a chuckle, now able to do so without encouraging the kid's bad behavior.
"What a handful!" Mattie laughed along, "Are they always like that?"
"Not always," Mac shook her head, "Most of the time they're quite close, actually."
They all went out back to find Bud and the other children.
Half an hour later, Bud and Mattie had a twin each on their lap, while Harm and Mac chatted to Bud.
"What have things been like, this week?" Harm asked the man, "It can't have been easy to watch six kids."
"It was no more stressful than usual," Bud shrugged, "I guess that Harriet and I are at the stage now where we've had so many of our own, that we just know what to do and two more don't really make any difference."
Bud was cut off when his oldest son came running over to him.