Thursday morning:
"Waaa get off of me! Agh!"
"Hold still Uncle Donald!"
"Good morning uncle Donald"Huey said preparing breakfast for everyone.
"You can't wear this to your job interview"Louie said throwing his sailor suit in the dish washer.
"Ah my uniform!"
Louie brings out his outfit of choice, "You gotta dress for the job you want, not the job you have...which is no job."
"Huey, don't touch the stove, you'll get hurt!"He warned, ignoring Louie's comment.
"But it's a big day and a big day calls for a big breakfast!"
"I'll get the iron!"He says happily throwing the plate away and pulls the iron out of the wall, knocking Donald on the head by accident.
"Ouch!"He fell on the ground, as Huey moved out of the way nervously "Stop helping me- and put on your life vests. What if the boat goes down while the babysitters here?"
They boys sigh,
"Yes Uncle Donald"Huey says.
"Why do we have to wear these now? We literally live on a boat and we know how to swim."
"Just do it ok? Where's that babysitter?"
The hope of her not showing up at all was unbelievable. Louie felt guilty and yet happy she was late until.
"I'm here Mr Duck. I'm terribly sorry I'm late, I had to feed my cats."
"It-it's fine, as long as you're here now..where's Dewey, Dewey? I'm leaving come say goodbye!"
"Coming Uncle Donald"Dewey complies as he drug his feet to the kitchen to hug Donald goodbye- Donald gave each kid a kiss and thanked Mrs Nesbeak for taking care of the boys. "Oh don't worry, me and the little angels will he just fine"She says.
"Still happy with your decision Huebert?"Dewey asked.
"We did the right thing Dewey"He said.
As soon as Donald drove away Mrs Nesbeak looked to the boys, "So what should we do first? I have puzzles, we can feed the seagulls off the dock, or I can teach you the art of knitting."
"I hope"Huey added.
Donald showed up to his interview right on time- that wasn't normal but it happened. He thought maybe today was going to be the day, he was finally going to have a normal job with a normal pay rate and the boys wont ever have to worry about anything again; they could move out of the houseboat and into a real house- no, that's too far into the future to plan for, for now he just wanted to accomplish the one thing he always wanted to: Finally save enough money to legally adopt Huey Dewey and Louie.
He promised himself that he'd wait until a whole decade before even considering it. Especially since he had no idea of Della's whereabouts, he also knew it would take a long time, but the boys needed to know how much Donald loved them and thought of them as his own kids. He had talked to the boys about it before but they said it didn't make much of a difference to them. And it may not yet but Donald knows how it feels to live with a stranger your whole life and never being acknowledged as anything more then just a nephew or a kid you're responsible for. And he never wanted the boys to feel that pain of being unwanted.
Their lives were finally turning around. Things were starting to change for the better.
He looked at his resume that was falling apart, to his left he saw someone's looked a lot neater and more qualified. He couldn't change what was on his resume but he could staple it to make it look more organized.
Later:
Stapled to the wall Donald continued to fight with the stapler until he heard the words:
"You got the job duck."
"Seriously?"He asked, his new boss nodded, "Oh boy- I'm a real accountant!"
"Accountant? That was filled yesterday, you're our new sailor!"
"Sailor?"
Donald promised he wouldn't go on any more dangerous adventures..but he can't just deny every single job he didn't want. He was good at this- for once he knew what to expect..he can do this right? For the boys, he'd do anything,
"Welcome to Glomgold industries! Now, what do you know about Atlantis?"
Donald finally got himself unstuck from the wall, "Atlantis?"
"You were an adventurer before. Tell me what you know."
"How did you know I was a-"
"When you're as rich as I am, you can find out anything. Now, you were saying.."
Donald thought about it...
"I guess that depends on what you want to know..."
That night Donald got back home, checking the time: 9:30 pm. That meant the boys should be in bed. He's also seven hours late and had to pay for ten hours of service. Luckily for him Mrs Nesbeak doesn't charge that much.
He paid her what he could with the promise to send her the rest, "I'm sorry about the inconvenience"Donald said.
"Oh don't worry dear, the boys and I had a great time."
Donald honestly felt that hard to believe.
"When are you going on your trip?"She asked.
"Tomorrow, I'll be gone for two days."
"Would you like the boys to stay with me?"She asked.
"I'm not sure, I've never left the kids alone before.."
"Well you can always have them stay with a relative right?"She asked.
"If only.. I'll talk to the boys about it. How about I call you tomorrow and I'll let you know."
"Alright sonny, goodnight."
"Goodnight."
Donald then went to check on the boys. He knew they never actually went to sleep while Donald wasn't there. They always stayed up long enough to say goodnight. He walks in and saw all the blankets over the boys heads- probably pretending for the sitter.
"Boys you can drop the act, it's just me."
All three boys got up to see Donald, "How did the interview go?"Huey asked.
"It went very well. But unfortunately I start tomorrow and I'll be gone all weekend."
They didn't like where this was going.
"So I've asked mrs Nesbeak to watch you over the weekend."
The boys faces dropped to frowns again.
"What?"Donald asked.
"Nothing"Huey said.
"It's just-"Louie started.
"She's boring"Dewey said bluntly.
"Dewey"Donald warned, implying what he said was rude.
"It's true. All day she's done nothing remotely interesting."
"That's not fair Dewey"Huey said.
Louie weighed in, "No he's right, she's really that bad".
"Listen boys, I didn't want to take the job but we really need this. If we want to keep our home afloat, we all have to do things we don't want to do. Do you understand?"
They all nodded.
"I'll probably be leaving before you wake up. I'm really sorry it has to be this way but I'm out of ideas".
"It's ok Uncle Donald"Huey said.
"Yeah, we understand"Louie added.
He wished he believed them. Kids shouldn't have to make sacrifices for any adult. After this was over, Donald would get a real job and finally the boys could have a normal life.