Charlie

Rachael's sitter, Gina, and her daughter were the first to arrive.

"Thanks for coming!" Natalie said.

"Thanks for inviting me" Gina replied.

Rachael quickly recognized them, and said hi, or at least, her version of it. She wore a pretty pink dress and her hair had a couple of pink clippers.

"Where do I put this?" Gina indicated a wrapped box.

Dad showed her, after a hearty thanks and the babies follwed. They tried to reach for the presents, but he scolded them.

"There's a time for everything!" he told them, but those two didn't listen.

"Aaah!" Rach said impatiently and made another attempt.

" Wouldn't you rather open it when your friends and family are here?" Dad tried to convince her.

"Aaata!" my sister insisted. I didn't blame her. As a kid, I always wanted to open presents right away on my birthday, but Dad, also made my brother and me wait,

"Opening one won't hurt" I suggested,got mine, and gave put it on the floor.. So far, there were only a few.

Natalie glared at me and softly told her, "Sweetie, it'll be much better to have more presents to open all at once."

It was too late, she and Gina's daughter, Kate were already at work.

"Charlie..." Natalie began with a deep breath. I could tell that she was angry. "She's going to want to open the other presents as well. "

Her parents and Don came in at that very moment. My brother was showing them the yard.

"opening a present, huh?" Don squatted close to the babies.

"Charlie thought that it would be a good idea to give her one" Natalie explained to him and her parents. Pretty soon, the wrapping paper was all torn off; Rach and Kate played with it, while I opened the box.

"Look!" I got her attention as I got a toy puppy out. It was soft, had realistic fur, and made sounds when you hugged or squeezed it.

"That's so cute!" Gina commented.

I squeezed the thing to show Rach, but what came out was this weird sound. What the hell?

"Is it an alien/dog hybrid?" Don teased.

In disbelief, I squeezed it again,while my sister kept trying to reach for it. Damn! Maybe the sound chip was defective? What a shame!

"Sorry...I'll uh go exchange it" I started to put it away, but the baby protested by making her own loud sounds..

"Let her have it, Charlie" Dad suggested, after taking a closer look. "It looks to be in good shape."

Kate tried to reach for another present, but Gina scolded her "No! Leave those alone!"

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Little by little, guests arrived, I helped out with the host duties. The backyard looked incredible, with lots of tables with pink tableclothes and white chairs, rosy cardboard houses made for toddlers to stand in, two blue tunnels to crawl in, large fake roses, two people dressed like a dodo bird, and two 'pixies' with fake wings, and brightly colored costumes that went from head to toe and were one piece. They had games for the little kids, or interacted with the adults. It felt like a nursery school with all the toddlers. Things were going great, with everyone having a good time. Yet again, I went to check on the kid's area. To my surprise and annoyance, a boy older than Rach was writing on a paper house with crayon.

Grabbing the crayon from him, I firmly said. "No!" Damn it! These things were rented and now I was gonna have to pay for the damage.

"No!" he stomped his foot. "Gimme!"

"No!" I walked away. The stupid kid ran off.

Before I could do anything else, I had to intervene in a couple of fights where hair was being pulled. Suddenly, I head a familiar cry. It was Rachael!

TBC