"No cursing, no alcohol, no movies rated above PG, no smoking—Sully, are you even listening to me?"
I sigh and rub my face. "Yes, Nate, I'm listening."
"Sully, this is serious. This is my little girl we're talking about and—"
"Kid, I've been doing this for the past few days and Lizzy's not dead yet. I think I know what I'm doing."
"I guess you're right…"
"Of course I'm right. Now, go to work. I've got this."
"Alright. Elizabeth!" he calls. She runs down the hallway and Nate scoops her into his arms. "You're gonna be good for your Uncle Sully, right?"
"Yes, Daddy," she says in her innocent toddler voice.
"All right, that's my girl. I love you."
"I love you, too."
"Me three, Daddy," I say, taking Elizabeth from him. "But, Daddy needs to get going or Daddy's going to be late for work."
Nate gives me a look, then bends down to grab his bag. "Bye, Lizzy. Have fun." He kisses her on the forehead and exits the house.
Usually, Elena works from home so she can stay with Elizabeth. But Elena's away for the week in New York for work, so they called me to watch over Elizabeth while Nate's teaching.
We wave to Nate as he pulls out of the driveway. I set Elizabeth on her feet and ask, "You hungry, sweetheart?"
"Cookies?" she asks.
"No, no cookies until you eat real food."
"But I want cookies!" She crosses her arms and sticks out her chin.
"You are just like your father. Stubborn little thing, aren't you? You can have cookies after you eat your breakfast."
"Cookies for breakfast! Cookies for breakfast!" Elizabeth jumps up and down excitedly.
"Are you deaf? Can you hear me?" I pretend to check her ears and she giggles. "I said no cookies, okay?" She starts to sniffle and rub her eyes. "Now, don't you start this again. It might work with your dad, but it's not gonna work with me." A pitiful sounding whining noise starts to come from the back of her throat. "Don't make me call Mommy." She stops fake crying immediately. Elena has a lower tolerance for this kind of behavior than Nate does. If it wasn't for her, Nate would let Elizabeth walk all over him. He doesn't know how to say no to her puppy-dog eyes and pouty lips.
I make Elizabeth breakfast and a coffee for myself. Nate has a list of foods that I'm allowed to feed her. Nothing with too much sugar or artificial ingredients. But I feel bad for the girl. No one can live on this crap. I give her the oatmeal Nate laid out for me, but I mix in a ton of maple syrup to sweeten it up. Elizabeth puts a spoonful in her mouth and smiles at me. "It's good, huh?" I say.
"You make it yummy."
"Yummier than Daddy's?"
She nods her head and scoops up more. "Eat." She pushes the spoon towards me.
"No, it's okay, Lizzy. I know what it tastes like."
"Eat," she insists. Oatmeal drips onto the table.
"Lizzy, I said no. You 'eat'." I guide her hand back to her mouth. Once the food's in her mouth, I stand up and get a napkin to clean up the mess.
After she's done, Elizabeth wants to watch a movie. She picks out Frozen, but I tell myself it's better than playing dress up. I'm so glad I found Nate, not a little girl. I don't think I could handle all the princesses and spontaneous musical numbers. Elizabeth loves it, though. She has all the songs and dance choreography memorized. I have the feeling that Elizabeth's going to take after her parents in the sense that she's going to do whatever she sets her mind to, regardless of the obstacles in her way. I smile as she sings about a snowman, but then I doze off around the twenty minute mark. "Uncle Suwy?" Elizabeth shakes my arm to wake me up. When I don't respond fast enough, she jumps onto my lap. "Uncle Suwy!"
"What, Lizzy?"
"Skip it!"
"Skip what, kiddo?"
"Skip the scawy!" She buries her face into my chest.
"Oh, right." I remember Nate telling me she doesn't like sad or scary parts of movies. I guess this is one of them.
I fast forward the movie until she yells at me to stop. She hops off my lap and starts singing that infernal "Let It Go" song. I fall asleep again and when I wake up, the song is still playing. It takes me a second to realize that the movie's over and I'm just watching the credits. It takes me another second to realize I don't hear Elizabeth singing along. She's gone. I press the pause button and stand up. "Elizabeth?" No answer. "Elizabeth?" I check her room, the attic, and, finally, the kitchen. "Oh my god…" The cookie jar is dumped out on the ground. She must have gotten bored and found a way to climb up to the top of the fridge. There's a trail of crumbs marking her path down into the basement. "Nate's gonna kill me," I whisper to myself. I run down the stairs, heart thumping. The basement isn't finished, so the door remains locked to keep Elizabeth from venturing down there. She's curious to a fault. How the hell did she get the door unlocked? "Elizabeth!" I call into the dark. "Lizzy, where are you? This isn't funny!"
"Uncle Suwy!" she yells. "Help me!"
I follow her voice into boiler room. "Oh, crap," I say when I see her wedged in between an air duct and the ceiling.
"Help me!" she repeats.
"How'd you get up there?" She shrugs and starts to sniffle. I need to get her down before she totally freaks out. "Hey, it's okay, it's okay. I need you to let go and I'll catch you." Elizabeth shakes her head no, dark curls bobbing all around her head. "I'll catch you, I promise."
"I'm scared!" she says, one tear silently rolling down her cheek.
"Lizzy, you have to let go. Jump to me on three. One. Two. Three!" To my surprise, she actually jumps and lands in my arms. "Atta girl. Atta girl," I say soothingly while rubbing her back. Elizabeth curls up and shoves her face into my shirt. "I've got you now. It's okay. How 'bout we go upstairs, yeah?" She nods, resting her head on my shoulder. As we walk up the stairs, I tell her, "You're a very brave little girl. That took a lot of courage. But we can avoid this in the future, right? No more climbing things we're not supposed to be on."
"Okay," she sighs. Elizabeth calms down considerably once we reach the light of the kitchen and I sit her on the counter.
"We're not gonna tell Daddy about this little adventure, are we?" She shakes her head no. "Good, now let's get you cleaned up." I wipe her clean of dirt and cookie remains then lead her to her room. The sugar rush and adventure is over, so she's ready for a nap. I help her climb up the side of her bed and then tuck her in. "Get some rest, okay?" I mess with her hair like I used to do with Nate's.
"Stowy," she yawns.
"A story? Which one?" I ask, referencing her expansive collection of books, ranging from preschool board books to college level textbooks. Nate and Elena claim it's all for Elizabeth, but I know they love them, too.
"No book stowy. Daddy says Uncle Suwy has stowies." She grabs my arm and pulls me down to sit next to her.
"Uh, okay…" I try to think of one that doesn't involve alcohol or women. The only one I can think of is… "Have you ever heard the story of how your parents met?" Elizabeth shakes her head no. "Well, it all started on a sunny day in the Caribbean. Your Mommy and Daddy were on a boat together. They had just found the lost coffin of legendary explorer Sir Francis Drake."
"Hey, that's my name!" she interjects.
"Yeah, that's right. Elizabeth Drake. Do you know why you're named that?" She says no. "It's because you're related to Sir Francis Drake. How cool is that?"
Elizabeth shrugs her shoulders. "Was he cool?"
"I don't know, maybe. He lived a very long time ago."
"Was he famoose?"
"Your dad is more of an expert on this kind of stuff. Ask him when he gets home." She nods. "Okay, back to the story. The expedition was going just fine and dandy when suddenly pirates…"