Jbarkerstargazer: December 4th and Yellow, Dealer's choice.
Drugged. Sibling. They found it funny.
I tried really hard to find a way for a brother to drug another for this reason, but I really couldn't. They know better than to mess around like that! After much discussion with Gumnut I have come up with this…set pre-iR.
Alan was excited.
Tonight his eldest three brothers would be home for a week, a whole week! And he was determined to show them how well he was doing with his schooling. His only regret was that Gordon wasn't going to be home, his fishy brother in training to prove his fishiness at the national swim meet on Wednesday. They were going to travel up on Tuesday to watch him blow his competition out of the water.
Alan was excited because he'd been learning in class all about mushrooms and cooking. And he knew that soup was just the thing for travel-weary brothers.
Plus, it would be a meal that Grandma hadn't cooked…
He'd been out in the woods beyond their fields and collected lots of mushrooms, being extra careful on the types of mushrooms he picked. He'd thumbed through his edition of A Pocket Guide to Common Kansas Mushrooms to make sure that he'd only managed to pick ones he was positive were edible.
He finely chopped the mushrooms and an onion. Then Alan melted some butter and gently cooked them for eight minutes. He'd made up some chicken stock earlier and added it to the pan, brought it to the boil and then reduced the heat.
As Alan finished this part he heard a car pull into the drive. Thankfully he was almost finished cooking, he could leave the soup to simmer for 20 minutes, and he rushed out to see Scott, John and Virgil climbing out of Scott's car. He didn't waste a second, he was down to the car before the doors had closed and jumping up at Scott, who caught him and swung him round. Once he had been put down Alan leapt up at Virgil and the process was repeated. John laughed and ruffled Alan's hair.
And Alan was delighted.
He grabbed John by the hand and pulled him into the kitchen while Scott and Virgil brought their bags in before joining them. John perched on the stool while Scott was checking in with Grandma and Virgil made drinks for everyone. Scott and Grandma joined them just as Alan took the soup off the stove and poured it into the blender. It smelt good, and all of them commented on the delicious smell.
Once blended Alan returned the soup to the pan and stirred in the remaining butter before serving soup for everyone except Grandma, who didn't like mushrooms.
They ate with gusto.
Scott and Alan took the couch in the living room while Virgil and John did the washing up and took their turn chatting with Grandma. They began watching an old Disney movie and the others joined them when they had finished.
The giggles from the living room first alerted Sally to the fact that her boys were beginning to relax, and she smiled to herself. It was good to hear them so carefree, especially Scott. She stood in the doorway watching them. When they started to giggle at a scene that was inappropriate she frowned. It wasn't like them to laugh at that scene, it was one of the sadder ones. Sally frowned.
Alan was staring at his hand, waving it in front of his face. Scott was quietly giggling. Non-stop. Virgil had stoop up and was looking at one of the paintings on the wall. There was a look of wonder on his face, and he had his hand out as if he was going to stroke the paint but he never actually touched it. John was staring at his book, frowning. Suddenly, he flung the book across the room and drew his knees up onto the chair and hugged them.
Sally had been a doctor for years. And she knew exactly what was going on, even if she couldn't work out why. Her boys were acting like they were trip…oh.
Oh.
Oh dear. Alan's soup. Mushrooms. Bless the boy, he'd been so careful to pick only mushrooms he could clearly identify, but he'd obviously picked some he shouldn't have. She disappeared back to the kitchen and picked up Alan's book. He'd been very careful about the mushrooms he'd picked, taking pictures and comparing them to the ones in the book, and he'd left them on the side when he'd finished.
Looking through the pictures and Sally quickly identified where Alan had made a mistake. She stifled a giggle of her own when she realised what had happened. Poor boy had accidently put an hallucinogenic mushroom in with the others. And the kicker was that there was nothing she could do. Thankfully the amount would be minimal and the effects would wear off in a few hours.
She'd just need to keep them safe until the effects wore off.
Unfortunately, Jeff, knowing his boys were back, had decided to finish work early. He walked in to…well, he wasn't sure what he had walked into. Scott and Alan were giggling madly at what looked like a nature documentary where a pride of lions were currently about to devour a wildebeest. Virgil and John were almost asleep on the other couch, and the fact that John was leaning heavily on his brother was another cause for concern.
Jeff looked at his mom. She smiled and shook her head.
Yeah, she was right. He didn't want to know.