Goldeen
Ellis desperately wants one, and Bailey and Henry, and Zola team up to help.
"Goldeen!" Ellis points out as she watches the television screen.
"I think that's a goldfish, Ellie," Zola points out.
"It's just like Goldeen though," Bailey insists as he matches the Finding Nemo character to the one on his mother's phone screen.
"It is," Henry smiles. "Do we have one of those?" He asks them all.
Since Addison had gotten a new phone, all of them have walked together to collect pocket monsters on her Pokemon Go app, and Meredith went along with it so long as they were getting their exercise.
"Not yet," Ellis sighs. "I think I might want one in real life though," says Ellis. "Like the one in the fishbowl at the end," Ellis smiles.
"But that would be so much work," Bailey groans.
"Hey, I think it could be neat to own a goldfish," Henry shrugs.
"Would it have friends?" Zola asks.
"Maybe. It might need an anemone. An enemy! Do goldish live in anemones like Nemo?" Ellis ponders.
"Good morning crew, who's ready for breakfast?" Addison asks them as she walks into the living room.
"Me!" All four of the children respond.
"Can we go to the pet shop?" Ellis asks. "I wanna get a Goldeen. And an anemone," she requests.
"Ooh, I don't know, let me ask your mother," Addison stalls.
"She wants a goldfish," Addison says as she delivers breakfast to her wife in bed.
"Oh, that could be a lot of work," says Meredith.
"It would be," Addison sighs.
"We could go to the mall and show her how much setup it is? Ask her to save her allowance?" Meredith suggests.
"Always the voice of reason," Addison smiles.
"I am," Meredith beams.
"And I am the nourisher of the voice of reason," Addison says as she hands Meredith toast and jam.
"That you are," says Meredith as she offers for Addison to sit next to her.
They eat some breakfast with each other as their kids continue playing before they receive a knock on the door, clearly an emissary from the land of their children.
"Can we go to the mall now, moms?" Ellis asks the, clearly having been sent because she wants a pet the most, and because she's the youngest.
"Alrighty," Addison smiles, and kisses her wife before she picks up the breakfast tray and brings it down to the kitchen.
"Yay!" Ellis cheers, and Meredith gets up finally, and gets dressed so she can meet the rest of them and have some more coffee before they head out inevitably to the pet store.
"Wait, mom can we borrow your phone on the drive to catch Pokemon?" Bailey asks Addison.
"Alright, just a little bit. Let me know if the battery gets too low," says Addison, as she hands it to her youngest son.
"Ooh, catch that one," says Henry.
"Another water Pokemon!" Exclaims Zola.
"Cool, and it can be friends with Goldeen," says Ellis.
When they get to the mall, Addison and Meredith explain the deal that they've come up with about animals.
"If you want them, you've got to spend your own allowance on them, including all of the setups, okay?" Meredith says.
"Okay," Ellis sighs. "I think that's gonna take like, fifty-hundred years though," she huffs, as she realizes she's probably not going to be getting her 'Goldeen,' today.
"Can we go to the toy store today though, after we look at the pet shop?" Bailey asks them.
"Sure, why not. As we said though, this is going to be your allowance money right, because it's not anybody's birthday," says Addison.
"Okay!" They all say in chorus.
Going to the mall is all part of the experience though, and even Addison admits she likes it, though she misses being in a sports car rather than this big minivan.
"We'll get a sports car when they're all gone to work or college or trade school or wherever," Meredith had promised her, and Addison had smiled and agreed to that at the time, especially because Meredith had already let her pick out the van's color (a bright navy ble with a pearl painted finish).
Addison snaps out of being lost in thought as she catches up to her wife and three children, who all want to see the fish first.
"Look at the tank, it's just like the movie," says Bailey, as he pushes his nose to the glass.
"Yeah," says Ellis, mesmerized.
"Ooh, look over here's a rare Pokemon," Henry nudges Zola, as they head off into another aisle with Addison as Meredith helps Bailey and Ellis look at more of the aquarium tanks.
"So, are we gonna get a fish?" Ellis asks aloud.
"I'm not sure you have enough money for one," Meredith laughs a little.
"We could buy one together," Bailey proposes.
"Mm, maybe next week," thinks Ellis. "We've got to get the tank also."
After some careful calculations, Ellis and Bailey (along with the help of their mother), learn that it will take them two more weeks to save up enough money to buy a goldfish if they share their allowance.
"Okay," the two youngest say together. "And we'll decide then what to name it."
Meanwhile, Zola and Henry have managed to catch another water Pokemon, much to Addison's delight.
"Isn't it cute?" Addison shows Meredith as they meet up at the front of the store.
"Uh-huh," Meredith giggles, always fascinated by how much her wife adores the game sometimes even more than her children. "Alright, time to go Pokemon hunters, if you want to get to the toy store before lunch time."
"It's Pokemon trainers, mom," Bailey huffs.
"Yeah, like Ash and Misty," Ellis smiles.
"Yeah we don't hunt them, we capture them in Pokeballs mom," adds Zola.
"Awe, give your mom a break, there's a lot to learn," says Addison supportively.
"You're just sayin' that to make her feel better, you play Pokemon even more than all of us," says Henry.
"Alright you four, onwards," says Addison, but the kids know that they've won because Addison's not got a good comeback for that one.
The toy store brings even more joy, with all the stuffed animals and craft supplies and anything and everything kids could ever want.
"Let's go check out if there's any Pokemon!" Ellis says, as she insists it's hers and Bailey's turn with the cell phone.
"Alright," says Addison, as she lends her phone out again. "Catch me something good, hey?" She calls out after them as she catches up to them.
"Hey, maybe we could get a game of Operation together," Henry suggests to Zola. "So we can practice if we want to be surgeons," he offers.
"That could be cool," says Zola, as they head for the board game section, no longer distracted by the Pokemon catching.
"I think I might have an even better idea," says Meredith, as she looks at the Play-Doh section.
"Clay?" Says Zola.
"Yeah, what?" Says Henry.
"We did this in medical school once I think. You can make models of organs with them and sew them up with sutures," she says.
"Cool!" Says Zola.
"Yeah, that's a whole lot cheaper too," says Henry.
They decide to pool their funds just as Bailey and Ellis had, and splurge on a twenty-pack of Play-Doh with Meredith promising she'll lend them a spare suture kit or two.
"Awesome," says Henry.
"Good work," Zola gives him a high five.
When they meet up with the others, Bailey has a large stuffed animal in his arms, and Ellis has a toy keychain.
"I finally found a Goldeen!" Ellis says, as she points at the stuffie.
"And we don't even need to keep it in a tank, and here's a Pokeball for it," says Bailey as he holds out the keychain.
"Perfect," says Meredith, sighing in relief that they're not going to end up with a pet fish colony.
"And we even caught another Pokemon," Addison leans down to show Zola and Ellis what had been hiding at the end of the toy store. "Oh nice, we're sure on a water Pokemon kick today," says Zola as she shows Henry the Gyrados.
Once everyone has paid for their new toys, all of them pile back into the blue minivan, and this time Meredith drives so Addison can have some Pokemon Go time of her own while the kids chatter away in the back seat.
"Well that was a success," Meredith says as she holds hands with Addison at a red light before they get going again.
"Yeah it was," says Addison as she smiles up at her wife.
"Will you be mad if I spend the afternoon making clay models for Henry and Zola to learn to operate on?" Meredith asks Addison.
"Nope not at all, because I was hoping to spend the afternoon with Bailey and Ellis setting up their imaginary Pokemon fort," Addison giggles, and Meredith squeezes her hand.
"We're such kids," Meredith laughs.
"We sure are," Addison laughs with her.
"Mom, mom, check your phone, I think there might be a Goldeen there!" Addison hears from the back of the car.
"Well, look at that," says Addison as she reacts quickly to catch it.
"Name it 'Nemo,' like in the movie!" Insists Ellis.
"Alright, I will," says Addison.
"What level is it?" Asks Henry.
"Ooh, what moves does it have?" Asks Zola.
"Someday I'll have to learn what all of this fuss is about…" Meredith muses to herself as all of her very favorite people in the world bond over their new water Pokemon.
***** FIN
Author's Note:
For iamkellylouise, who Tweeted for LordofLezzies and I halfway through writing this the genius idea of having play-doh as a teaching tool for Meredith and Addison's kids to learn on.
bobbiejelly
