On the day Cedric left for the symposium, he had printed out a schedule for Forest. He gave it to Cyril, who noticed it was quite long.
"What's this for?" he asked.
"Forest's schedule," Cedric said. "It's the routine Sophia and I always do with Forest every day. Are you sure you want to do this, Pop?"
"Don't you think I'm capable of looking after my own grandson?"
"Well, okay, Pop, if you insist, but if you need any help with Forest, just call Ralph and Melissa. I told them that you were going to take care of Forest, and they said that they'll be on call if you need help."
"I won't. Trust me, Cedric. I took care of you and my business all at the same time when you were younger, so I can clearly handle Forest."
"Well, okay, I guess. Bye, Pop. Bye, Forest. I'll see you in a couple of weeks!"
And with that, Cedric left the Sneer mansion, and headed for the train station. He was going to meet Bert there, and then they would get on a train to California. Cyril took Forest back inside the mansion, and looked at the schedule.
"Schedule," he muttered. "I don't think Cedric thinks I can handle you, Forest, but we'll show him, won't we?"
Forest giggled, and clapped his hands. Cyril was going to show all of them. He didn't think Forest would be too much trouble. After all, he was only a baby!
Cyril walked into the kitchen and put Forest in his high chair. He looked on the printed schedule. First thing to do was to make sure Forest had his breakfast. Cedric and Sophia were trying to get him to eat solid food, so they had the cupboards in the kitchen stocked with strained fruits and vegetables.
"Let's see here . . . ." Cyril said, digging through the cabinets. "What are they forcing down your throat this week?"
Forest laughed, and banged his hands on the tray of his highchair. Cyril finally took a jar of strained peas out of the cabinet. He opened it, and looked at it. It didn't look to appealing to him. He shrugged, and plunged a baby spoon into it.
"Okay, Forest," he said. "Open up."
Forest just looked at the green goop on the spoon, turned his head away, and whimpered. Of all the solid foods Cedric and Sophia were feeding him, his least favorite were the strained peas. He didn't like their icky green color, he didn't like the way they smelled, and he didn't like the way they tasted. Of course, Cedric and Sophia never forced strained peas (or any kind of strained vegetables for that matter) on him in the morning.
"Come on, Forest," Cyril said. "I've got a lot of work to do today, and the sooner we can get breakfast over with, the better."
Cyril tried to get the spoon into Forest's mouth, but he wouldn't have any of it. He didn't like strained peas, especially for breakfast. Cyril was persistent, though. He was going to give this one more shot. And Forest was going to give it a shot, too. But not by eating the peas. Cyril looked like he was about ready to get the peas into Forest's mouth, when Forest knocked the spoon out of Cyril's hand, and the strained peas hit Cyril right between the eyes.
"Why you little . . . . ." Cyril started, ready to strangle Forest, but he curbed his temper instead.
"Okay, have it your way," he said, wiping the peas off his face. He went up to the refrigerator, filled a bottle with milk, and gave it to Forest to suck on.
As Forest sucked on his bottle, Cyril looked at the schedule, and the note that Cedric had made on it.
"Note," he read. "Never feed Forest the strained vegetables in the morning. Always go with the fruit. Keep in mind applesauce is Forest's favorite. Now he tells me!"
Cyril sighed, and went to look for the applesauce. As he was doing that, Snag came into the kitchen, wanting his breakfast too. He sat by Forest's highchair and looked up. Forest looked down and giggled. Then he decided he'd help his grandpa out, and feed the dog. He pushed the jar of strained peas off his tray, and it smashed to the floor.
"What the . . . . ." Cyril said, turning around. He then saw Snag eating the spilt strained peas, and Forest clapping his hands and giggling.
"Snag, you stupid dog!" Cyril shouted. "Ever since the baby came along, you've been eating nothing but his leftover baby food!"
Cyril grumbled, and kicked Snag out of the room. Then he cleaned up the strained peas and picked up the broken glass.
"Why can't companies make baby food in plastic containers?" he grumbled. "That way if the baby knocks it off his high chair, it won't break and make a mess!"
Forest giggled. Cyril sighed, and put some applesauce into a plastic bowl, and proceeded to feed the baby. Now this was more like it to Forest. He gladly accepted the applesauce. He liked that for breakfast a whole lot better than strained peas. Cyril managed to get one spoonful in, when the phone rang. Cyril put the spoon down and went to answer the phone.
"What?" he said. "Oh, it's you, Sofa Girl. Yeah, Cedric just left. I was just feeding the baby. Cedric left a schedule and . . . . . no, I don't need you to call those Raccoons! I can handle the baby myself!"
As Cyril was arguing with Sophia about whether or not he could take care of the baby, Forest was trying to feed himself. He had no idea how to use the spoon, so he began to use his hands. Pretty soon, not only was there applesauce all over his face, hands, and shirt, but all over the tray of the highchair, and it was dripping on the floor, too.
"If I can take care of Cedric by myself, I'm sure I can handle Forest," Cyril said, continuing. "What do you mean? Of course I'm watching him! How much trouble can he get into sitting in his high . . . . . ack!"
Cyril apparently chose that moment to take a peek into the kitchen. He saw that Forest was making a mess. He immediately hung up the phone and ran over.
"Oh lovely," he said, sarcastically. "Did you get any of that in your mouth?"
Forest laughed, as Cyril wiped his face and hands with a napkin. Then he took Forest out of his highchair, and put him down on the floor, so he could clean up the rest of the mess.
"Stay there," Cyril said, as he went to go find a sponge.
Of course, Forest wasn't going to just stay there. He didn't want to just sit around and wait for Cyril to clean up the mess. He wanted to move! So he started to crawl off into the hallway. He also wanted to continue his game of knocking things over. He hadn't had enough of that since he knocked over Cedric's books. Of course, he also noticed Cedric and Sophia didn't seem to like his new game. He didn't understand why. Cyril liked the game.
Forest wandered into Cyril's office, and looked at the trashcan. It was stacked with discarded papers. Forest gave it a push, and knocked it over. Then he laughed, and began playing with the trash, which was mostly crumpled pieces of paper, ashes, and discarded cigars. Cyril's employees, the Pigs, came walking by and saw the mess.
"Uh oh," Lloyd said. "Let's go, guys."
The pigs walked into the kitchen, where Cyril had just finished cleaning up the applesauce mess. He was now washing his hands.
"Uhh, sir?" Floyd said.
"What is it?" Cyril asked. "Can't you idiots see I'm busy?"
"But sir, uhh, you might what to come into your office. The baby's . . . ."
"What are you morons talking about? The baby's right . . . ."
Cyril looked down at the floor, and saw Forest had wandered off. Then he sighed, and ran for his office. He saw Forest making a mess and groaned.
"Forest, we've got to put a stop to this," Cyril said, as he picked up the baby. Then he turned to the Pigs. "And as for you three, clean up this mess."
"Yes sir!" the Pigs shouted, and they started to clean up.
Cyril walked upstairs to the nursery. He dug out a bunch of Forest's toys, and put them in front of him.
"Here," he said. "These should keep you busy for awhile. Now I've got work to do, so if you don't mind, I'll be doing that."
Before he left, Cyril turned on the baby monitor, just in case Forest cried or something like that. Then he closed the door to make sure Forest wouldn't get out of his room. Forest hated it when anyone closed the door on him. They knew he couldn't reach the doorknob! This was so frustrating to him.