Ezra knew that today was a special day. It was Mama and Papa's An… Anna... Anniversary! They had told him that it meant that they'd been married today eight years ago (which, Ezra thought, was a really long time!) and that since it was such an important day, like a birthday, they wanted to do something to celebrate it by doing something special together. At first Ezra thought this meant that all of them would be doing something really cool together as a family, but then Mama and Papa had told him that actually they were going to be going away, just the two of them. Ezra had been a bit sad that he wasn't able to go with them and help them do fun things on their special day, but Papa had told him that he and Mama would just be doing gross mushy stuff the whole time and suddenly the little boy didn't feel near as keen to go with them. And then Mama had told him something that made him feel not at all sad about not going on the trip-he and Sabine would be getting to stay with Uncle Zeb! Ezra would never turn down an opportunity to spend time with his favorite uncle, and he was even more excited that he was actually going to get to stay with him! He'd never stayed the night away from home before, and he knew it was going to be a lot of fun!
The night before Ezra and Sabine went to stay with Uncle Zeb, Mama and Papa helped them put everything into their backpacks that they would need for the weekend. Both Ezra and Sabine had a hard time choosing what to take-Mama said that they could only take two toys each, and Ezra finally settled on his kitty that he slept with every night and a toy robot that he loved playing with. As Ezra settles into bed that night, long after Mama and Papa had kissed him goodnight, he can't help but lie awake thinking about all the fun things that he was going to do this weekend!
The next morning, Papa woke him up while it was still dark out-he said that he and Mama had to start driving already so that they could get to where they were going, and while Ezra didn't like having to be awake so early, he somehow manages to stumble through getting ready for the day, even though Papa had to help him a lot even with things Ezra usually knew how to do on his own, like getting dressed. Ezra vaguely remembered Mama putting him into his car seat, but the next time he opened his eyes he was waking up in a bed that wasn't his own. He might have been more scared to be waking up in a strange room if he didn't have the feeling that he'd been here before. It took him a minute to figure out why he felt that way, but then he finally remembered that this was a room in Uncle Zeb's house! Feeling a lot better now that he knew where he was, he sits up in the bed, taking in his surroundings with more interest. The room didn't have much in it except for the bed he was sleeping in, although he saw his and Sabine's bags sitting by the door. He was debating investigating what might be in the closed closet if he could find a way to get the door open, but then suddenly he becomes aware of the smell of something really yummy drifting through the air, and his tiny stomach starts grumbling, reminding him that he hadn't had breakfast yet. The closet could wait for later. Right now, Ezra decided, he wanted to find where that yummy smell was coming from!
Climbing off of the bed and venturing across the carpeted floor, Ezra pulls on the door and finds, much to his relief, that it wasn't latched and he can easily get it open. Once he makes it out of the room, he finds himself in the living room, and, after a moment of deliberation, decides to head in the direction of the kitchen, which was where he was hearing voices coming from.
As soon as he steps into the kitchen, he beams as he sees Uncle Zeb sitting at the table with Sabine, who was happily working away at a stack of pancakes. And then, to his great surprise and delight, he notices that there was someone else in the room-Uncle Kallus!
"Uncle Zeb! Uncle Kallus!" Ezra cries, eagerly hurrying over to them.
"Hey, squirt!" Uncle Zeb grins and gets up from the table, scooping the little boy up into his arms and making him giggle. "I was wondering when you were finally going to wake up!"
Ezra beams and happily nuzzles up against him before frowning as he remembers something. "Mama and Papa?" he asks, realizing that he hadn't had a chance to say goodbye to them.
"They had to leave already," Uncle Zeb answers gently before adding quickly, "But they told me to tell you goodbye for them, and they promised to call tonight before you go to bed!"
Oh. Well, Ezra was still sad about not getting to say goodbye to Mama and Papa, but at least he was going to get to talk to them tonight, and until then he was going to be spending time with the best uncles in the whole world, so he decides not to be too upset. "Okay," he agrees, smiling up at Uncle Zeb before asking hopefully, "Are we going to be doing something fun today?"
"Of course we are!" Uncle Zeb answers with a grin, playfully ruffling Ezra's hair before setting him down in the chair across from Sabine.
"What are we gonna do?" Ezra asks eagerly.
"He said it was a surprise!" Sabine tells him, seeming a bit miffed that she hadn't been let in on the secret yet but mostly excited about the prospect.
"Can we go now?" Ezra looks hopefully up at Uncle Zeb.
"Not until after you've eaten your breakfast," Uncle Kallus tells him, coming over and putting a plate of pancakes (which Ezra now saw looked like smiley faces, with fruit making the silly eyes and smiles.) "You need to eat so you have plenty of energy for today."
"Okay!" Ezra agrees, beaming up at him and remembering his manners to say, "Thank you, Uncle Kallus!" before hurrying to eat his breakfast.
"Not so fast!" Uncle Kallus gently warns him, a slightly amused but firm expression on his face. "If you eat too fast, you'll make yourself sick."
"And if you get sick, you won't be able to go on the surprise adventure we have for you!" Uncle Zeb adds when Ezra didn't slow down by much. That was enough to make the little boy actually eat at a more normal speed-he didn't want to not be able to go on the adventure!
About half an hour later, Ezra and Sabine had both eaten what Uncle Kallus had deemed a sufficient amount of pancakes, and together he and Uncle Zeb were helping the kids into Uncle Zeb's truck. Ezra tried to be patient as his uncles did their best to buckle him and Sabine into their car seats-Mama and Papa always did this so quickly, why was it taking them so long? He wanted their adventure to start! At last, though, Uncle Zeb and Uncle Kallus finally seem to figure out what they're doing wrong and, when the last buckle is safely in place, they both climb into the front of the truck and they start off down the road.
It took what felt like forever to finally get where they were going. Sabine had a coloring book that she was working on, but Ezra kept his eyes glued to the window, determined to figure out where they were going. But wherever they were headed, Ezra had never seen these roads before, and no matter how many times he begged his uncles for a clue, neither of them would give him so much as a hint, and he was left to his own imaginings to figure out their final destination.
After what seemed like an eternity, Uncle Zeb finally pulls the truck to a stop in a parking lot, and Ezra eagerly looks out the window to see where they were. What he saw, however, was extremely disappointing-the only thing of interest was a small wooden building with a big fence behind it. Why on Earth had Uncle Zeb driven them this far just to see this little building? And then, to make it worse, Uncle Zeb didn't even let them out of the truck! He told them to stay put while he went into the building, leaving them to just sit in the back seat. Even Sabine was starting to look a little bit bored by this point, and she and Ezra trade doubtful glances, starting to suspect that maybe their beloved uncle was either starting to lose it or else this was some sort of joke that wasn't funny at all. Still, when Uncle Zeb returns, he was grinning, and as he climbs into the driver's seat again, he turns around and hands each of them a large paper cup full of greyish-brown pellets that looked something like the food they'd fed the class hamster Sabine had brought home from school once.
"Are we supposed to eat this?" Sabine asks, eyeing the pellets with distaste. Ezra, a bit more adventurous, carefully sniffs the contents, only to instantly wrinkle up his nose and pull away as the smell hits his nostrils-there was no way he was going to eat that!
"It's not for you!" Uncle Zeb chuckles. "It's for the animals!"
"What animals?" Sabine and Ezra chorus together after staring at each other in stunned silence for a moment.
"You'll just have to wait and see!" Uncle Zeb answers, grinning at them before starting to drive towards the gate. Ezra starts bouncing eagerly in his car seat-animals? Things were actually starting to sound like a real adventure now!
At the gate, Uncle Zeb hands a man in a booth a small piece of paper, and the man nods and presses a button that opens gates for them. Ezra and Sabine both eagerly look out their respective windows for any sign of the promised animals as they drive through, determined to be the first one to spot something interesting. They don't even realize that they had a visitor until suddenly they hear Uncle Zeb crying out from the front seat as the car comes to a sudden stop.
"HOLY-"
"ZEB." Before Uncle Zeb could finish whatever he was going to say, Uncle Kallus nudges his arm-hard-and he seems to rethink whatever it was that had been about to come out of his mouth. Usually Sabine and Ezra would have both been very interested in finding out what he'd almost said (probably a word that Mama and Papa wouldn't let them use) but at the moment they were much too distracted by the gigantic bird standing in front to the truck, it's long neck craning towards the window and eyeing them beadily through it. Both the siblings were a mixture of awed and just a tiny bit terrified.
"What is that?" Ezra breathes.
"It's an ostrich!" Sabine tells him eagerly. "It's a type of bird! I saw one in the book my teacher has about Africa!"
"That's a bird?" Ezra looks at her in disbelief.
"Yep!" Sabine answers, looking proud to know something her little brother didn't.
"I didn't know birds could be that big! How can it fly?" Ezra asks, not sure that he believes her.
"It can't," Sabine informs him. "But it can run really fast!"
"How can it be a bird if it can't fly?" Ezra objects.
"Not all birds fly!" Sabine tells him. "Like penguins-they're birds, and they can't fly!"
"...Penguins are birds?" Ezra asks in disbelief.
"Yeah they are!" Sabine answers proudly. "And so are-"
"As much as I hate to interrupt this ornithology lesson," Uncle Kallus gently interrupts her, "we do need to keep moving along since there are other cars behind us."
"And we need your help to get this oversized chicken out of the road," Uncle Zeb adds with a wry smile.
"How do we do that?" Ezra asks curiously.
"Y'know that food I gave you? I'm going to open your window, Ezra, and you're going to throw out a couple pieces-that'll get his attention, and when he goes to eat it we can drive past him," Uncle Zeb explains.
"But don't throw it all out-we've got a lot of animals to see today and they'll all be hungry," Uncle Kallus adds with a slight smile.
"Oh-okay!" Ezra agrees with a grin. He felt a bit nervous as Uncle Zeb opens the window-what if the ostrich put his head in the window and tried to bite him or something? Still, he takes a couple of the pellets tosses them, and, as promised, the giant bird instantly darts to the side of the truck to gobble them up.
"Wow…" Ezra breathes, staring at the ostrich as they drive past it-it was even bigger closer up! Still, he doesn't have too long to think about that-Sabine was eagerly pointing out the window to where some big, deer-like animals were grazing, and Ezra's attention was instantly focused on them.
The rest of the morning passed in much the same way-they saw gazelles and wildebeests and sables (Uncle Kallus helped them use a special book the man at the gate had given them to find the names for each of them) and even zebras! About what Uncle Zeb said was halfway through the park, they came to a place where there were lots of tables to eat at and, even better, a petting zoo! Somehow Ezra and Sabine managed to get through eating their lunch (the sandwiches Uncle Kallus had made were super yummy, but they really wanted to go see more animals!) before they were finally allowed to go see the petting zoo. They had a great time getting to pet the sheep and goats and even some cute little bunnies, and in big cages where they couldn't actually touch them, they got to see some really pretty birds and even some big animals like cheetahs and rhinos!
After they finished at the petting zoo, they all got back in car to finish driving their way through the park. The second half was almost as cool as the first-there were still a lot of really fun animals to see, even, to both Ezra and Sabine's great delight, giraffes! Still, with all of the excitement of the day, by the time that they finally drive out of the gate that let them out of the park, both siblings were starting to feel very tired, and even though Ezra decided that he was only going to close his eyes for a moment, by the time he opened them again, he was already back at Uncle Zeb's house.
Uncle Kallus unbuckles him from his car seat, and, still feeling sleepy, Ezra wraps his arms and legs around him, burying his face into his uncle's neck.
"Do you want me to carry you in?" Uncle Kallus asks, sounding like he was probably smiling even though Ezra couldn't see his face. Ezra just nods in response, and he was glad for once that Uncle Kallus didn't tell him that he was a big boy and could walk on his own and instead just carries him inside. Ezra really didn't want to let go when Uncle Kallus started to put him down on the couch, and he started to whine in protest, but then Uncle Kallus reminded him that he still had to make supper for them all and finally the little boy lets go, pressing into the couch cushions to make up for the loss of having his uncle's arms around him. Sabine, who was looking a bit sleepy herself, crawls up onto the couch next to him, and even though they didn't usually like to cuddle, Ezra doesn't complain when she nuzzles up against him, actually somewhat grateful to have a warm body near him. They probably would have stayed like that until Uncle Zeb and Uncle Kallus had told them it was time for dinner, but they both bolt wide awake when suddenly they hear the sound of dish breaking, followed by a Uncle Zeb shouting a word that neither of them had ever heard before but that they were definitely sure their parents wouldn't let them use.
Both wide awake now and extremely curious, by silent agreement the siblings get up and head towards the kitchen where they find their uncles cleaning up what looked like the shards of a broken plate.
"Zeb, you need to be more careful!" Uncle Kallus was saying.
"I didn't try to break the dish, it slipped out of my hands!" Uncle Zeb answers. "It was an accident!"
"I don't mean that!" Uncle Kallus snaps. "I meant the swearing! You can't do that when we have Sabine and Ezra in the house! What if they'd heard you?"
"Uh, we kind of did," Sabine says, a mischievous grin on her face, and both of their uncles instantly turn to look at them, Uncle Zeb especially looking slightly horrified.
"S-Sabine! Ezra!" he says, a worried expression on his face. "Y-You won't tell your parents I said that, will you?"
"Maybe…" Sabine replies with a sneaky smile. "But only if you tell us what it means first!"
"What it means," Uncle Kallus puts in quickly before Uncle Zeb can say anything, "is something that you will learn about when you're older."
"Why can't we know about it now?" Ezra asks curiously.
"Because…" Uncle Kallus seems to be considering how to answer this. "It's something that you're not quite ready to understand yet. It's like… You know how in school the teacher doesn't tell you how to do something until you've learned enough to be ready to do it?"
"Um… Maybe?" Ezra says uncertainly.
"You mean like how I can read the books with chapters 'cause I'm in third grade grade but Ezra can't yet 'cause he's still in Kindergarten and he's learning his words?" Sabine puts in.
"Yes, exactly!" Uncle Kallus agrees. "It's like that. The word means something that, when you're old enough, your parents will explain it to you. And once you know what it means, then you can choose whether or not to use the word, but until you know what the word means you shouldn't say it because you don't know what exactly you're saying to someone. Does that make sense?"
"I... think so," Sabine answers carefully, nodding. Ezra nods too. He wasn't sure he fully understood, but if Uncle Kallus thought that it wasn't a good idea for him to say it then he'd listen to him.
"Good." Uncle Kallus gives them a warm smile, and Uncle Zeb looked relieved. "Thank you for understanding."
"But wait-if it's something we're not allowed to know about yet, why is it something that Uncle Zeb said because he broke a plate? Does the word have something have to do with breaking something?" Sabine asks, looking confused, and Ezra could see her point-why weren't they allowed to say something about a plate breaking?
"No, it doesn't," Uncle Zeb answers. "It's- Sometimes people say it when they're upset, even though the word has nothing to do with what they're upset about."
"Well that doesn't make any sense!" Sabine frowns.
"No, it doesn't," Uncle Zeb replies, to Ezra's surprise looking like he was trying not to smile for some reason. "But I'll tell you what-how about I help you guys come up with a silly word that you can say when you're upset that doesn't really mean anything so your parents won't get upset if you say it?"
"That sounds good!" Ezra says with a smile-that actually sounded fun!
"...Yeah, okay," Sabine agrees after thinking it over. "What should it be?"
"How about… Karabast?" Uncle Zeb answers after a moment's thought.
"Karabast?" Ezra giggles at the silly-sounding word.
"It's as good as any other word," Uncle Zeb chuckles.
"Okay, Karabast sounds good," Sabine says with a slight smile.
"And I'm sure your uncle will make sure to use it too," Uncle Kallus adds, giving Uncle Zeb a pointed look.
"R-Right," Uncle Zeb quickly agrees before saying, "Now c'mon, let's finish cleaning up this mess so we can all have dinner, okay?"
"Dinner!" Ezra says, beaming, the whole discussion they'd just had quickly going out of his head-he was more worried about what yummy food they'd have for dinner than about words he could or couldn't use. By the time he was finished getting ready for bed, having brushed his teeth and put on his pajamas, he had completely forgotten about it. Still, he hadn't forgotten about the entire day, and while his uncles were tucking him and Sabine in, some of it comes back to him and he says softly, "Uncle Zeb? Uncle Kallus"
"Yeah, sport?" Uncle Zeb answers, lightly ruffling his hair.
"Thank you for such a fun day!" Ezra tells him, happily nuzzling into the touch.
"I'm glad you enjoyed it," Uncle Zeb says, looking a bit embarrassed but not upset by the praise.
"We did!" Sabine reassures him, grinning.
"Well, we're glad you had such a fun time." Uncle Kallus smiles as he finishes tucking them in. "Now, time for sleep, you two."
"Sweet dreams." Uncle Zeb tells them as they go to turn off the lights.
"Love you, Uncle Zeb! Love you, Uncle Kallus!" Ezra calls after them.
"Love you!" Sabine agrees.
"We love you too," Uncle Zeb answers, smiling at them from the hallway, his arm wrapped around Uncle Kallus' waist.
"Very, very much," Uncle Kallus affirms.
Ezra beams at them before letting out a large yawn and settling contentedly back against his pillows. Today had been so much fun, and he couldn't wait to see what tomorrow would hold!