Chapter 4, And the Recovery Continues…
Location: The park in Yucaipa, California, April 2, 2014
It had been two and a half weeks since Tommy made his broken leg injury even worse, prolonging his recovery period by another five weeks, and on this particular day, Peter was at the park with Zack, Jesse, Chuckie, Kimi, Phil and Lil.
"So, how's Tommy doing Peter?" Phil asked.
"Well, he hasn't been very happy. If anything, he's hardly spoken a word since it all happened. Mostly doing a lot of head nodding and pointing to things he wanted, and I haven't seen him crack a smile once, even though I continue to mark an x on each day of the calendar, and we continue to count down the days till his next appointment and x-ray." Explained Peter, as he helped pile some more sand on to the sandcastle he and the toddlers were making in the sandbox at the park.
"Poor Tommy you guys, I wish there was something we could do to make him feel better." Said Chuckie.
"How about we sing him the Happy Song from the Dummy Bears. Sing the Happy Happy Happy Happy Song." Sang Kimi, as she danced around the sandbox.
"Oh I don't know guys, Tommy's getting tired of watching TV. Seems he's seen just about every episode of the Dummy Bears, Reptar, and Captain Squash over his recovery period so far." Replied Peter.
"How about we decorate his living room with some dandelions, and make Tommy's resting place prettyful." Suggested Lil.
"Uh, remember? We did that last week, only to have Dil sneeze all of the fuzzies off." Said Peter.
"What if we put Tommy in the Reptar wagon, and we took him on an adventure." Suggested Zack.
"I'm sure Tommy would love that, but remember what Doctor Carmichael said. Tommy needs to stay still, and stay indoors. I wouldn't want an accident to happen, and for him to get hurt again." Said Peter.
"When I'm sad, sick, or hurted, mommy will make me a yummy snack to cheer me up." Said Jesse.
"Jesse! That's a great idea! We could go back to my castle, and make Tommy a yummy snack to cheer him up. I'm going over there this afternoon to watch him and Dil while Didi attends class at the local college, and Stu attends some inventors meeting, at which time, I could give him his treat!" Said Peter.
"Yay! Let's go guys." Said Lil.
Everybody picked up their shovels from the sandbox, gathered together, and headed off to Richmond, Virginia, where they began to make Tommy's special snack.
Location: The Castle of the Confederacy, Richmond, Virginia, April 2, 2014
When Peter and the toddlers arrived at the castle, they ran into General Frolo .
"Hey Peter, back so soon?" Frolo asked.
"Yes. My friends and I are going to bake Tommy some cookies!" Said Peter, as he walked past Frolo with his toddler friends into the kitchen.
"Well, you'll find your package arrived today. It's on the table." Said Frolo.
"Thank you!" Said Peter, as he got the toddlers seated around the table, and opened the package that was waiting there.
"What's in the box Peter?" Kimi asked.
"Cookie cutters." Replied Peter.
"Sounds dangerous." Said Chuckie.
"Nah, cookie cutters are fun! They let you make different shapes. See? This one here, will let you make the shape of a heart!" Explained Peter, as he held up a heart shaped cookie cutter.
The toddlers all started rummaging through the box of cookie cutters, till Phil found the perfect one. He held up one that looked like Reptar.
"Look! This one looks like Reptar! We could make Tommy his own Reptar cookies." Suggested Phil excitedly.
"That's an excellent idea Phil. Let's do it. I not only have the makings for sugar cookies, but I think I even have everything we need, to make some green frosting, to frost the cookies with, so they'll even look like Reptar." Said Peter, as he went into the kitchen, and got out all of the ingredients to make the sugar cookies.
Everybody got to work at making the dough for the sugar cookies. He went around, and let each toddler help stir the ingredients together, till the dough was ready to spread out in the pan, and for everyone to start making the Reptar shapes with the cookie cutters.
"Now, you just press down, like this." Explained Peter, as he helped Chuckie press the cookie cutter down in the dough, to make the Reptar shape.
Everyone went around and helped make the Reptar shapes with Peter's help, till they had the pan completely full of Reptar shaped cookies.
"So when do we frost them Peter?" Lil asked.
"In a little while Lil. We have to bake the cookies first." Said Peter, as he went and put the cookies into the oven.
Then, he got out the ingredients to make up the frosting, and had the toddlers help him stir in the green food coloring, and get everything ready to frost the cookies, once they were done. Once the cookies came out of the oven, and cooled, Peter and the toddlers, started frosting the cookies with the green frosting. Of course, Phil decided to put his glob of frosting on his head.
"That doesn't go on your head Phillip, it goes on the cookies!" Said Lil.
"No it doesn't Lillian." Said Phil.
"Yes it does Phillip." Argued Lil.
"Phil, your sister's right. The frosting doesn't go on your head, it goes on the cookies! See?" Said Peter, as he frosted another cookie with the green frosting.
Phil grabbed a glob of frosting out of his hair, and put it on to his cookie.
"Now, you spread it out like this." Said Peter, as he took a plastic knife, and smoothed the frosting out.
"Hey! That looks just like Reptar!" Said Phil excitedly, as he admired the green Reptar cookies in front of him.
"Tommy's gonna love these!" Said Zack excitedly, just as a knock was heard at the door.
"Ah, looks like Zack's aunt is here to pick you guys up and drop me off at Tommy's." Said Peter.
Sure enough, Aunty Celeste was at the door, where she picked up Peter and the toddlers. Peter put their freshly baked and frosted cookies into a tin to take to Tommy's, and they were on their way.
Location: Tommy and Dil's house in Yucaipa, California, on the afternoon of April 2, 2014
Celeste dropped Peter off, and took the toddlers back to her apartment for the afternoon. Peter, with the tin of cookies in his hand, headed inside, where he found Didi finishing up feeding Tommy in the living room. He found Tommy on the couch, where he had been all of this time, except for those rare moments when one of the grown ups would help him move to the potty, as he had begun getting potty trained about a month before his accident, where Didi was finishing feeding Tommy some chicken salad and a sippy cup of apple juice.
"Oh hello Peter, you made it just in time. Tommy is finishing up his lunch, and Stu is putting Dil down for his nap." Said Didi, as she looked up from the couch to see Peter in the doorway of the living room.
"Hi Didi, I'll take it from here. You have a good afternoon at your class." Said Peter, as he approached the couch where Tommy was lying.
"Oh all right. Thank you for watching the boys, and you two have a good afternoon." Said Didi, as she gathered up her things and headed out the front door.
"It's no problem Didi." Said Peter with a smile, as he saw her leave.
A few minutes later, Stu came downstairs, and handed Peter the portable baby monitor.
"Dil's upstairs taking his nap. See you later Champ." Said Stu, as he too headed out the front door to go to his inventor's meeting, which judging by how fast he was running, he was obviously running late to the meeting as usual.
Once all of the adults were gone, Peter got out his surprise for Tommy.
"Hey buddy, how you doing today? Any better?" Peter asked, turning to Tommy, who was still sipping on his apple juice.
Tommy nodded, with a huge frown on his face.
"Awe, cheer up Tommy, look, we only have two and a half more weeks to go." Said Peter, pulling the calendar out of his pocket, and marking a red x on that day's date, and counting the squares up to where the black dot was.
Tommy just let out a sigh and pouted, as there were still too many squares on that calendar in his book, which felt like forever to him.
"Your friends and I made you a special treat for dessert. I give you, your very own, Reptar cookies!" Said Peter, as he opened the tin of the home made Reptar sugar cookies, and handed one to Tommy.
Tommy took a bite out of one of the cookies.
"Mmmm." Said Tommy, as he licked the green frosting off his lips.
"Good huh?" Peter asked.
Tommy nodded.
Once Tommy finished his Reptar cookie and juice, Peter took his now empty sippy cup that once had apple juice in it, along with the tin with the remaining cookies, into the kitchen, and cleaned up from lunch. While this was going on, Tommy lay there on the couch, bored as usual, unsure of what to do next. There wasn't much he could do, being cooped up on the couch with a broken leg, and all he wished for at that moment, was the day to finally come, when that cast would come off his leg, and he'd be able to do all of the things he loved to do again. By this time, Dil was fast asleep upstairs in his crib, and Peter could hear the sound of Dil's baby snoring over the monitor in the kitchen. Once he finished cleaning up, he got out a story book, and came back into the living room, where he pearched himself in an armchair near the couch where Tommy was lying.
"So Tommy, would you like me to read you a story? I have your favorite here, The three little Reptar Juniors and the big bad mole person." Said Peter, as he opened up the book and began to read.
"Once upon a time, there were three Reptar juniors, who each wanted to live in their own caves. But little did these Reptars know there was a big, bad mole person, just waiting to gobble them up. No matter, the Reptar juniors got to work. The first one, made his cave out of straw. Little dinosaur, little dinosaur, let me in, said the big bad mole person. Not by the scales on my chinny chin chin, said the Reptar junior. Then I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll knock your cave down, said the mole person. Once he knocked the cave made out of straw down, the little Reptar Junior, had no place to live. So the Reptar junior went to his friend, Reptar Junior the second, who made his cave out of sticks. No sooner were the two Reptars together, when the big bad mole person came along. Little dinosaurs, little dinosaurs, let me in, said the Mole Person. Not by the scales on our chinny chin chins, said the two Reptar juniors. Then I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll knock your cave down, said the mole person, as he knocked down the cave made out of sticks. So the two Reptar Juniors went to Reptar Junior the third, who made his cave out of bricks. No sooner were the three Reptars in the brick cave, when the big bad mole person came along. Little dinosaurs, little dinosaurs, let me in, said the mole person. Not by the scales on our chinny chin chins, said the three Reptar Juniors. Then I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll knock your cave down, said the big bad mole person, but when he tried to knock the cave down, nothing happened, and the three Reptar Juniors, lived happily ever after. The end." Said Peter, as he closed the book, and looked over at Tommy on the couch, who looked anything but impressed by the story.
"Something wrong pal? I thought The Three Little Reptar Juniors and the Big Bad Mole Person, was your favorite book as of late." Said Peter.
"It was, the first elevendy bazillion times you, and Taffy, and mommy read it to me." Grumbled Tommy, crossing his arms.
"Come on Tommy, I assure you, there's not too much longer to go. You'll have that cast off soon." Said Peter, trying to cheer him up.
"Yeah but it can't go quick enough." Muttered Tommy.
"Hey, maybe you should take a nap. Sometimes, a good dream can bring on inspiration." Said Peter, as he got up, and covered Tommy up with his favorite blue Reptar blanket, that he got as a get well present post breaking his leg from Taffy.
"I'm not sleepy." Said Tommy, as he let out a huge yawn.
"Hmmm, not sleepy eh? I think somebody's more sleepy than they think. I'll be back to check on you in a little while." Said Peter, as he left the living room and went into the kitchen, where he decided to play some games on Dice World on his iPhone.
No sooner had Peter left the living room had Tommy closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, where sure enough, he had one interesting dream.
And what happens in Tommy's dream? Sorry readers, you'll have to wait until the next chapter to find out.