Meet The Carmichaels
"Look Randy, I think the neighbors are finally coming over to say hello!"
Randy Carmichael smiled. "At least they had the good sense to wait a few days for us to actually settle in." Some of the neighbors had barged in while they were still unpacking, being a major inconvenience. He walked over to the window where his wife was standing only to frown. "Oh lord, a Jell-O mold," he moaned.
"Be nice. They are thoughtful."
"At least it isn't some bland ass potato salad. But I swear if they ruined good Jell-O by stuffing unripe fruit in it…"
The doorbell rang and Lucy smiled as she went and opened the door. "Hi there," the neighbor said. "I'm Didi Pickles. This is my husband Stu and our son, Tommy." Stu made Tommy wave his hand, which cause the baby to look up at him, a bit confused but going with it. "We wanted to stop by and welcome you to the neighborhood."
"Lucy. And this is my husband Randy." Randy held out his hand and, to everyone's amusement, shook Tommy's hand instead of Stu's. "Come on in."
"Oh, such a lovely home," Didi said.
"And very cheap," Lucy admitted. "We were surprised such a home was going for such a low rate."
Stu chuckled as Lucy and Randy led them into the kitchen. "Some fools started a rumor the house was built on an Indian Burial Ground. Doesn't matter that it wasn't, that scared a lot of buyers off."
"We heard about that from the realtor. Thought it was a joke ourselves."
Didi laughed. "All mystical things are, honestly." She set Tommy down and the baby crawled over to a little girl, Susie, and began to babble and giggle. "I remember when I was pregnant with Tommy my mother went to a psychic and she claimed that Tommy was conceived under a wandering star and that meant he'd always be in danger. Which is just silly... we keep very careful eyes on Tommy."
Lucy laughed at that while Tommy introduced himself to Susie. "Anyone else fun I should know about?"
"Well… there is Phil and Lil. They like bugs and worms. And my cousin Angelica."
"Is she nice?"
"…and then there is Chuckie! He's my best friend…" Tommy's smile fell. "I think."
"What do you mean?"
Tommy explained what had happened a few days ago.
"Oh, that's easy to solve!" Susie said. "You need to show him that you are sorry."
"I told him I was."
"Not tell, show him!" Susie said.
"Huh?"
"Think of something Chuckie likes to do and do it with him! Even if you normally don't like doing it with him!"
"Hey… that might work!" Tommy smiled. "Thanks Susie."
"No problem. You can ask for my advice any time!"
"Okay. Bet I don't need to though."
Up in Heaven a jellybean-headed baby soul looked at a certain blonde creator.
"Yeah it's a lie," the creator said.
"Bllllup."