A thousand apologies to my readers who waited far too long for this small chapter….
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Davis raised his hands above his head in a long lazy stretch in order to wake up his sleeping muscles. He sat on the sofa with a stack of pillows against his back, a comforter covered his legs, his feet resting on top of coffee table. Davis blinked a few times before looking around the television lit room.
Kari sat next to him; actually, she sat very close to him. In fact, he could feel heat raiding off her skin; he could smell her perfume, even the firmness of her leg pressed against his own. Flashes of light glowed on her face as the television displayed a movie Tk had slipped into the DVD player.
Of course, he observed small length of the sofa and he factored in that Tk sat just as close to Kari as Davis sat… but he could smell her.
He opened his mouth to voice such thought but for once, the words passed through his mind and sank deeply in an isolated part of his brain. Yea, telling Kari that he could smell her would not be a wise idea.
Davis leaned back and glanced over at his blond friend. Maybe he should just give up on Kari. After all, Tk liked her and Tk was his friend.
Davis frowned as Tk popped a corn chip into his mouth.
Wait, Davis blinked once. Tk was not that much of a friend, more like an acquaintance.
Another chip popped into Tk's mouth.
An acquaintance who did not offer to share the bag of corn chips, Davis fumed. Well one could hardly blame Tk for the lack of manners his parents did not teach to the young boy.
Another corn chip went into Tk's open mouth. Davis licked his bottom lip, not only was he growing hungry, he was now growing thirsty. Those corn chips had to be salty.
Davis looked at Kari whose eyes were still captivated on the television screen.
He only knew Tk from knowing Kari who happened to be related to Tai, who happened to be friends with Matt but only after being rivals with each other first and it was not Matt's fault that his father married Tk's mother, whom then divorced Matt's father…, which leads to not knowing Tk very well after all. That of course meant Kari was fair game! Davis grinned and stretched his arm behind Kari.
"You smell great, Kari. New perfume?" Davis asked lazily.
"I'm not wearing any." Kari pushed Davis' arm off her shoulder with out taking her eyes off the television.
"Well I'm not surprised. Blossoms must be your natural scent." Davis leaned into her.
Kari leaned away. "No but my deodorant is fresh blossom. Maybe that's what you smell."
Davis heard a snort from the other side of Kari where Tk sat, observing the movie. "It smells great!"
"Uh…well thank-you. I could pick you up a roll if you like." Kari glanced over at Davis with a raised eyebrow.
"Err…no that won't be necessary." Davis turned his attention to the show.
"This is great." Tk placed his arm over the back of the sofa above Kari's head. "I mean this baby-sitting is a piece of cake."
"Thanks to us." Davis added.
"True. I don't think I would have been able to get pass the diaper but after that…." Tk shook his head.
"Your right." Kari agreed. "It's kind of fun. Diaper Ryoko, feed Ryoko, diaper Ryoko, and put Ryoko to bed. Nothing to it."
"How much are you getting paid?" Davis asked.
"Forty easy dollars." Tk grinned.
"And me and Kari, what are we getting?"
"Well…"Tk glanced over at them.
"Tk I do hope you plan on splitting that money with us." Kari eyed her friend.
"Sure. Would not dream of anything different. However, you two are aware that we can not dived forty into three evenly."
"No but if you give me and Davis thirteen dollars each, you can keep the fourteen dollar."
"Oh no!" Davis shook his head. "I want my thirty-three cents too!"
"What?"
"Thirteen dollars and thirty-three cents times three equals thirty-nine dollars and ninety-nine cents. I don't mind Tk keeping the extra penny."
"You've thought this through carefully, haven't you?" Tk leaned forward so he can see pass Kari.
"Sure I did. Every penny adds up." Davis sighed. "Yep, this sure is the easiest thirteen dollars and thirty-three cents I ever made."
"Shh…do you hear something?" Tk glanced around, straining to pick up an odd noise.
"Turn the television to mute." Kari patted Tk's arm as she too listen to the new sound.
Tk hurried with the remote buttons to switch the volume on the television set.
"It's Ryoko." Davis informed them.
"He's crying…why is he crying?" Tk turned to Kari.
"Don't look at me! Get up and check on him." Kari pushed Tk.
"Yeah, you're the one making a penny more." Davis nodded his head.
Tk rolled his eyes and rushed into his room where his nephew slept only moments ago. In a bassinet by his bed, little Ryoko wailed with his arms flying about, his little face scrunched up in a display of disgust of the lack of care he wanted.
"Hey, Ryoko." Tk cooed, picking the baby up before sitting on his bed. "What's up little dude? You are supposed to take a nap and not give your Uncle Tk any problems."
Ryoko stared at his uncle for a moment, mesmerized by the soft voice yet it was not enough and he let his uncle know with a louder wail.
"Shhh…" Tk bounced his nephew in his arms and groaned. "You were just changed, please don't make me suit up again!" He peeled Ryoko's diaper back to see if he should slip into his diaper-changing suit one more time.
"No surprises!" Tk grinned and placed a kiss on top of Ryoko's blond hair, yet the child in his arms continued to cry.
"Haven't you found out what's wrong yet?" Kari came to his door.
"Duh! Stupid question of the day. Can you not hear that he continues to cry?" Davis asked from behind her. "That very loud sound he is making is because Tk failed to find what the problem is."
"Boy, don't get smart with me or I'll cram those goggles up your nose and pull them out of your ears!"
"I wouldn't challenge that threat, Davis." Tk blinked at his friends.
"Here let me try." Kari took Ryoko from Tk. "Maybe he's hungry?"
"I thought you weren't supposed to feed them every time they cry. I mean, maybe its something else. Maybe he's afraid of the dark?" Davis looked around the room. "I suppose you don't have an embarrassing secret of owning a nightlight, would you Teek?"
"Nope." Tk glanced around his room. It was quite dark and new to Ryoko, why wouldn't his nephew be afraid.
"I have a flash light!" Tk hurried out of the room to the storage closet and returned shortly with a large flash light. He placed it so the light would shine up onto the ceiling.
The three looked down at Ryoko who quieted in Kari's arms.
"That's it then! Matt's kid is afraid of the dark!" Davis beamed.
Ryoko blue eyes glanced around for a moment and still not satisfied, he once again crinkled his face for another bust of pouts.
"Any other ideas?" Tk asked his friends.
"Lullaby!" Kari grinned.
"Great idea!" Davis beamed, "Mum used to sing me them all the time!"
"Do you remember any?" Tk asked.
"Err…no. When she sang, I covered my ears. Some people should never sing and laws should be passed about torching children with hideous vocal skills."
"True. Very true." Tk bite the bottom of his lip. "Matt sang the itsy bitsy spider song to me."
"I remember that song!" Kari giggled. "We sang it in school with the tea pot song!"
"Together then?" Tk looked at his friends who nodded their heads.
"The Itsy bitsy spider crawled up the waterspout. Down came the rain and washed the spider out. Out came the sun and dried up all the rain. And the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again." They sang in their softest voice. Davis even made a spider shadow above the flashlight as he sang.
"Itsy bitsy spider crawled into mama's bed. Crawled up hubby and bit him in the head Mama laid there sleepin' while hubby laid there dead…" Tk droned on.
"Tk!" Kari slapped his arm.
"Dude, don't sing a baby a song where the father ends up dead. Especially if the kid is only has one parent and is crying because his dad isn't there!" Davis brown eyes were huge. "Harsh man!"
"It's not like he knows what the words mean! Besides, it's the lyrics Matt sang to me!" Tk stated.
"And how much do you like spiders? In fact, you refuse to go into a room if you know there would be a spider sharing the same room as you." Davis leaned against the doorframe. "I haven't forgotten that high pitch scream you shriek out!"
"I was tortured with that song and fake spiders in my bed when I was three, what do you expect!" Tk hissed.
"So why sing that to him?" Kari asked.
"Because it's the only song I know!"
"We can make up one!" Davis grinned. "About soccer balls and polar bears wearing goggles!"
"No!" Tk and Kari shouted, Ryoko cried louder.
"What's going on?" Nancy appeared behind Davis.
"We're saved!" Davis turned and gave Nancy a huge hug. "I have never been this happy to see an adult before!"
"We can't get him to quiet down." Tk gave his mother a sad eye look. "Help?"
Thirty minutes later….
"Call Matt." Nancy was now pacing back and forth in her living room. "Find out what he does to help Ryoko to sleep."
"Maybe he sings? We can put in one of Matt's cds!" Davis stood up and strolled to the CD player.
"The songs Matt sings aren't going to make him go to sleep…" Kari rolled her eyes.
"Well maybe if he heard Matt's voice?" Davis looked injured, his idea quickly washed away.
"Matt doesn't sound like that when he talks to Ryoko. I doubt Ryoko could even tell the difference."
"Wow, Matt's kid isn't very bright." Davis shook his head.
Kari glared at him, "He is a child, Davis!"
"Shhh…" Tk hushed everyone but Ryoko who still wailed from the other side of the room. "Hey Matt, you busy? Something wrong? Oh, well…never mind. No, everything is cool…well yeah, he is crying…why? I do not know…No! No! No need to come home. Mother is here… Yeah. Well what do you do? Oh…Dad does that?" Tk grinned. "Thanks. See you in a while."
"Well?" Davis asked as Tk set the telephone back in its cradle.
"Well, it seems Ryoko likes late night elevator rides and a casually stroll down the corridors of their apartments."
"He likes elevators rides? A man of thrills!" Davis grinned and held his arms out to take the infant from Nancy.
"We can take him up and down a few times, Mum." Tk rubbed his own eyes. "Matt said he should be here within an hour or so."