Author's Note: Okay well I had a request for Vince and mini as kids getting into trouble and after tossing a few ideas around, this is the one I ran with! A bit silly. Enjoy!
A Diabolical Duo
It was a hot summer day only a few weeks after her third birthday and she was spending the day at Aunt Mia's house. Mami and Papi were taking a 'day trip' and she didn't really know what that meant except that whenever they did she'd go to sleep at night at Aunt Mia's house and wake up in her own bed at home the next morning. Mami and Papi would be back and everything would be back to normal.
Uncle Brian had set up the inflatable pool for her and Vince in the yard and Aunt Mia had helped her put on her swimsuit and brought out lemonade for everyone. Uncle Brian washed his car as she splashed her cousin happily, her aunt sitting nearby with a magazine and a drink.
Vince got out the pool toys, which included a little green ball and some snorkel masks, and they made funny faces at each other, giggling and having breath-holding competitions. They tossed the ball around and Vince showed her how he'd learned to swim at the classes he took at the pool, kicking his legs out until he splashed her so much that water went up her nose!
Aunt Mia stood up, disappearing into the house to answer the phone, hardly noticed by the two children as she aggressively splashed her cousin. Vince splashed her back until she tackled him into the pool, and they wrestled around, thrashing around and giggling until they had to come up for air, breathless and faces dripping with water.
Uncle Brian shook his head at them, smiling as he went back into the house. "You two better get out of there and dried off soon. I'm going to get lunch started."
"Okay!" they chorused, then went back to splashing as the screen door slammed shut behind him.
"Wait!" Vince ordered suddenly, holding his hands up.
She stilled, her eyes wide as she looked up at him, crouching in the water as if to scoop more up into the air towards him.
"I have an idea," he told her, clambering out of the pool.
She was quick to follow, scooting over the blow-up edge with a little bounce, the plastic squeaking against her bare legs. She giggled, curling her toes into the grass as she hurried after her cousin. He led her to the garage where an open paper bag was half full of something or other. Vince grabbed at it, hauling it backwards with effort.
"What's that?" she asked, moving to grab ahold of the side and help him, pulling backwards with a little grunt. "It's heavy!"
"It's play-doh!" Vince told her. "My daddy used it to make the path and I helped! You just add water and you make it into things!"
"Wo-ow," she breathed as they dragged the bag over to the pool.
Vince crouched down to lift up the bottom, emptying the white-powdery contents into the pool. She watched with wide-eyes as it spread through the water, at first a soupy white mixture like milk, then as she stuck her hand in it she realized it felt thicker, like oatmeal or paste. Giggling she stirred her arms through it and picked up handfuls, plopping them back into the pool where they hit with a loud smack. Vince clambered over the pool's edge and into the mixture, laughing.
"I'm gonna build a slide!" he announced, reaching down to scoop up some more of the paste-like stuff.
She watched him, rubbing her hands together to smear at the paste. It was starting to dry to coat her arms and it felt funny, so she reached into the pool to scoop up some more.
"I'm gonna make a car," she told him, dropping her pile of 'play-doh' to the grass and crouching down to pat at it with her hands.
She giggled at the plopping noise it made, and the weird squelching sounds of Vince moving around in the pool.
"Stop fawting!" she accused, then giggled uncontrollably.
Vince laughed too. "I'm not!" he insisted, piling his own mixture against the side of the pool.
She frowned, poking at her pile of doh that was hardening quickly, then reached into the pool to scoop up more.
"It's not squishy anymore!" she complained, molding the lumpy, grainy material between her hands.
"Get the hose!" Vince told her. "Maybe if we add more water."
She tossed her lump of yucky doh onto the ground and wiped her hands against her thighs with a grimace before scurrying towards the driveway where Uncle Brian had left the hose. Grabbing it she dragged it back towards the pool where Vince was waiting. He was groaning and wiggling around. She stared at him.
"Awe you doin' the potty dance?" she asked.
"No!" he groaned. "I'm stuck!"
She frowned, peering into the pool. The pasty grey goo was lighter in color now, and only dark in the very center of the pool. Poking at the surface she found it solid and her eyes widened.
"It's a rock!"
"Add the water!" Vince cried.
She nodded, and sprayed the hose into the pool, but it only slapped against the now hardened material and splashed back. She let go of the trigger.
"It's not wowking!"
"Try again!" Vince ordered, squirming around more. He looked scared and like he was about to cry, so she nodded hastily and sprayed the hose all over the pool. Vince got soaking wet again, but the rock did not turn back into goo.
"What are you two do-" Uncle Brian's statement was half cut off and she looked up with wide eyes to see him standing at the back door with a plate full of uncooked hamburgers.
"Shit," he muttered, and she knew it was a bad word but she didn't say anything because she had a feeling they were in trouble. Vince was crying now and Aunt Mia came out the door as well, standing in shock before she shoved Uncle Brian back into the house.
"Call the fire department!" Aunt Mia ordered.
She was confused because no one was on fire, but she didn't say anything to that either. Aunt Mia was already across the lawn towards them, her face fixed in a careful calm expression. Vince was reaching up for her and she leaned down to wrap her arms around him.
"It's okay," she soothed, stroking his hair. "You're not hurt. It's fine. We're going to get you out of there."
"Mommy it turned to stone!" he wailed.
"It's cement, Vince. Didn't Daddy tell you that when you helped him lay the walkway? Remember, it starts out like a paste but it hardens to stone."
He sniffled, looking down at the pool full of stone around his legs. "I don't know…"
His cousin watched on with huge dark eyes when the firemen arrived. The brought sharp looking axes and big heavy hammers and Vince was scared. He didn't want them to break him out because he was afraid of getting hurt.
But Aunt Mia explained that firemen know how to do these sorts of things and that they wouldn't hurt him. That all they were going to do was get him out. The firemen said that if he was a big brave boy for them, then they would take him out front to go on the fire truck! She was jealous and pouted a little bit, shuffling her feet.
"Can I go too?" she asked.
One of the firemen assured her that there was plenty of room on the fire truck and they could both get a tour once Vince was freed.
So she sat with Uncle Brian on the back steps, wrapped in a Batman towel as Aunt Mia held Vince's hand and told him stories and the firemen broke up all the rock in the pool. Luckily, because Vince had been wiggling around, it wasn't suctioned tight to his legs, so once it was broken into pieces the firemen lifted them away and freed her cousin. He jumped up into Aunt Mia's arms and she hugged him tightly, thanking the firemen over and over.
Then Vince asked about the truck and the firemen took them out front where it was parked, all big and red and shiny in the middle of the street. The lights were off and so were the sirens, but there was a big metal ladder on the top. A fireman lifted her in and Vince climbed up after her. They each got a turn in the big driver's seat, pretending to steer the wheel and they let her honk the horn just a little.
The firemen gave them the tour, letting them turn on the lights and watch the way it made everything outside the windows flash and flicker. She tried on one of the firemen's hats, grinning wide as she looped her arm around Vince and Aunt Mia took a picture.
"Okay guys," her aunt said. "Thank the nice men. I think it's time we let them get back to work. And I bet you're really hungry now since it's almost dinner time!"
As if on cue, her stomach rumbled loudly and she gasped, passing the helmet back to the fireman with a toothy grin.
"Thank you! Gracias!" she said, hopping down from the truck and running for the back yard, Vince hot on her heels.
Uncle Brian had already started up the grill and all the stone from the pool was now stacked next to the garage in big pieces. The pool itself was empty and partially deflated and she poked it with her toe idly.
"Is it broken?"
"A few leaks now," Aunt Mia said with a nod. "We'll have to buy a new one."
She and Vince both whined at the lack of a place to swim.
"I guess that will teach you not to pour cement into the next pool, huh?" Uncle Brian asked.
They nodded solemnly, and while it seemed they'd definitely learned their lesson in this case, there was no doubt that the two could find themselves in more trouble in no time at all.