Colonel William Lennox was enjoying the mouth watering scent of the smoked ribs that Epps was cooking. The man flat refused to say what seasonings he used, but Will could not deny that they smelled good! Everyone seemed to be having a good time at this celebration. Even the bots were having a good time. Then he spotted Chromia with a frown on her face as she looked at something.
"Hey Chromia… what's up?" Will asked after walking over to her.
"I am trying to understand the point of 'I Spy', but I seem to be missing something." Chromia answered confused.
"Well it's a game where you pick out something you see and state the color of whatever it is, then who ever else is playing has to try and guess what it is. Why?"
"Because Stephanie and Annabelle have been playing that game for forty-seven and a half minutes now." Chromia answered now really confused.
Will was very confused as he looked over at the two girls who seemed to be chatting away quite happily. He didn't understand how a blind girl could play 'I Spy', and he wasn't sure why she would play to begin with. He shook his head in confusion before walking towards the two girls.
"I spy with my blind eye… something black!"
"Everything!" Annabelle exclaimed happily.
Will's mouth fell open in stunned surprise when he heard that. He just could not believe what he had just heard! It was one of those situations where he really didn't want to know anymore, but was too morbidly curious to walk away. Almost of their own volition, his feet carried him closer to the two girls.
"Yep! Your turn."
"I spy wif my widdle eye something… blue!"
"You dress!" Stephanie blurted out.
"I not wearin a dwess... member?" Annabelle answered.
"Okay then… your pants."
"Nope."
"Your top."
"Nuh unh." Annabelle answered with a giggle.
"Uhm… a car!"
"No."
"A truck?"
"Nope!"
"Somebody's bluejeans?" Stephanie asked.
"Not that eider."
"Now wait a minute Annabelle. If your mom or dad is wearing bluejeans, or someone else is wearing them, then I guessed it because I can't see to point out who is wearing the bluejeans, okay?" Stephanie said reasonably
"Tha's twue. I didn't think about tha. But it's is not someone's bwuejeans."
"Okay then… let's see…" Stephanie said with a sigh as she racked her brain to remember all the things that could be blue. "Is it the sky?"
"Yes! You gots it! Yay!" Annabelle cheered happily. "Yous turn now."
"I spy with my blind eye… something… black!"
Will finally realized what was actually going on here. Stephanie was basically forced to say the same thing every time, while Annabelle chose different things and Stephanie tried to guess what they were. He couldn't say that it was anything even close to being fair, but the two girls actually seemed to be enjoying the game anyway.
"Everything!" Annabelle called out cheerily.
"Yep! Your turn. So what are you going to pick this time?"
"I not gonna tell you! You has ta guess!" Annabelle scolded playfully.
"Well I can't see where you're looking, so that was the only thing I could think of to try." Stephanie said in wry humor.
Annabelle laughed. William Lennox was somewhat surprised. He knew good and well that though there were a large amount of soldiers housed on base, there were hardly any children at all, and none who were Annabelle's age. The fact that his daughter was obviously glad for the company of someone who was somewhat close to her in age wasn't at all surprising, but what was surprising, was the fact that Stephanie also seemed to be enjoying herself while spending time with Annabelle.
"I spy wif my widdle eye something… blue!"
"The sky?"
"Nope!" Annabelle answered immediately.
"Someone's bluejeans?"
"Nuh unh!" Annabelle retorted happily.
"Umm… your eyes?"
"No, but I do has blue eyes. Mommy and Daddy telled me they pwetty!" Annabelle exclaimed.
"I can believe that, but are you sure your eyes aren't green?" Stephanie asked with a mischievous grin.
"Yep!" Annabelle answered without hesitation.
"Really? How are you sure? Can you prove it?" Stephanie asked with a grin.
Will had to put his hand over his mouth to keep from laughing. He had to give the girl credit where it was clearly due. She was keeping his daughter occupied, out of trouble, and out of everyone's hair so that she wasn't bothering anyone. He knew that she hadn't been asked to do such a thing either, and that was the strange part because usually people didn't really spend time with someone as young as Annabelle unless they were related to the child or were being paid to watch them. He knew for a fact that Stephanie had turned down thirty dollars for watching Annabelle the day before, and now here she was spending more time with his daughter when no one had asked her to.
"Ewerybody telled me tha my eyes is blue!" Annabelle said in a huff.
"Well, I guess I'll just have to take your word for it." Stephanie said agreeably.
Will saw Prowl approaching and wondered if Stephanie was about to leave.
"Now… where were we?"
"You has to guess wha I saw. An it's blue!" Annabelle said firmly.
"Okay… is it … one of the bots?"
"Yes! It's is Chomia!" Annabelle cheered.
"Okay, my turn. I spy with my blind eye… something… black!"
No sooner did she finish speaking, than Stephanie heard a loud noise from nearby. She jumped as the loud crash sounded like something very heavy falling to the ground.
"What was that?" Stephanie asked almost immediately.
"That was Prowl falling over because he glitched." Chromia answered as she approached.
"What do you mean, 'he fell over'? Is something wrong with him? What happened, and what's a glitch?" Stephanie demanded in a near panic.
"Prowl has a particular processor configuration that relies very heavily on logic. Anything he encounters that is very illogical causes him to glitch or crash. It's not fatal, or actually harmful, just very annoying to the rest of us, and incredibly irritating to him. What caused it this time was him hearing you say that that you see something, when he knows that you can't see anything." Chromia explained patiently.
"I did that to him?" Stephanie asked worriedly as tears formed in her grey eyes.
"Yes, you did, but I know it wasn't intentional, and no harm has been done. Ratchet is already on his way over here and he'll have Prowl back on his feet in a moment or two." Chromia answered quickly in an attempt to allay the girl's fears.
"Are you sure?" Stephanie asked in a near wail of sorrow.
It was clear to her that Stephanie actually liked Prowl, and was quickly becoming upset over the possibility of hurting the mech. Chromia knew that Prowl wasn't actually hurt, although he'd probably suffer a processor ache later.
"Yes Stephanie, I'm very sure! In just a few moments Prowl will be perfectly fine. You will be able to speak with him and you can ask him yourself." Chromia said in a reassuring tone.
"Hey Stephanie… take it easy and relax. Chromia's telling you the truth on that one. The same thing happened the first time he saw a Skittles commercial… you know 'taste the rainbow'. Well the same thing happened then too." Will said as he walked over to the pair.
"So it's not just something I did?" Stephanie asked worriedly with hope in her voice.
"No it isn't. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe are notorious for causing this, because they enjoy doing it." Ratchet explained as he walked up.
"They like making Prowl fall over?" Stephanie demanded in disbelief.
"Yes, they do! They have done it often enough that it's become annoying to me! Because I'm the one who has to stop what I'm doing to get him online again." Ratchet complained irritably as he tapped into Prowl's helm.
"Sounds like you and me are going to have something in common Humbug!" Stephanie stated firmly.
"Well, no matter how much you gripe at them, they'll keep doing it. So don't get any ideas of stopping them." Ratchet groused as he brought the mech back online.
Ratchet quickly closed up Prowl's helm and stepped back as the mech sat up, before climbing to his pedes.
"Stephanie, correct me if I'm wrong, but I am positive that I heard you proclaim that you saw something." Prowl asked patiently.
"Well I said I see something black… because everything is black. I can't see, so that's all I do see, is black." Stephanie answered honestly. "Belle and me were playing 'I Spy'. It's a game where you pick out something and then say what color it is. The other person tries to guess what you picked. If someone guesses right, then it's their turn."
"If all you can see is black, then would that not encompass everything?" Prowl asked as he tried to understand Stephanie's explanation.
"Yep! Tha's why I keeped on guesseding it!" Annabelle answered happily.
"Despite appearing otherwise, what you say is actually quite logical. Would either of you have any objections to my participation in this game?" Prowl asked interestedly.
"Huh?" Annabelle asked in confusion as she turned to face Stephanie. "Wha's is he sayin?"
"He wants to know if he can play too." Stephanie translated after thinking about it for a moment. "It's up to you, since it's your game."
"Yay! Now we gots more peoples to pway! Tha makes it bunches of more funner!" Annabelle exclaimed while clapping her hands.
"Okay then, since it's my turn… I spy with my blind eye… something… black!"
"Everything!" Annabelle called out happily.
"It would appear that it is now your turn according to the rules that Stephanie has explained." Prowl stated.
"Okay. I spy wif my widdle eye something… bwue!"
Stephanie turned her head towards Annabelle with an exasperated look on her face. "Everything!"
"Nope!" Annabelle replied in confusion. "Why you say tha? Ony some things is bwue."
"Well everything you've called since we started playing has been blue, so what's the difference?" Stephanie said in a slight huff of annoyance.
"Well… you aways call 'black' so I'a aways call 'bwue'." Annabelle answered cheerily.
"That actually makes quite a bit of sense Annabelle. Eventually one would find it difficult to locate an object of that particular color that has not previously been used. Excellent reasoning." Prowl interjected.
Stephanie turned her head towards Prowl's voice, before turning back to Annabelle. "Well that just makes it hard for me 'cause I have to try an remember everything that can be blue!"
"What you are stating Stephanie, is also quite logical. However, being that you are at a severe disadvantage to begin with, I might illustrate that it will be significantly easier to recall objects of a particular color, rather than objects of variable colors." Prowl pointed out calmly.
"I guess you're right Prowl, but it is hard." Stephanie said with a slight pout.
"That does seem to be one of the primary objectives in this game." Prowl stated.
"The sky!" Stephanie grated in a huff.
"Nope! You gots to try again Stephy."
"I would surmise from the rather swift glance at her frame, that you have chosen Chromia since she is mostly blue." Prowl said cautiously.
"Wow! He gots it on tha first try." Annabelle said in quiet awe.
"Yeah, I think we're both going to lose now." Stephanie whispered as she leaned closer to Annabelle. "He's good!"
"Uh huh." Annabelle said as she nodded with wide eyes.
Annabelle was watching Prowl closely to see where he looked, but the mech never looked away from her and her new friend.
"I spy, with my Cybertronian eye, something silver." Prowl said in a smug tone.
Annabelle started looking around rather quickly as she tried to figure out what Prowl had chosen, while Stephanie racked her brain trying to recall anything that was silver.
Earrings, necklace, bracelets, rings, belt buckles, watches… she knew that there were all kinds of things that could be made of silver. That didn't even come close to including all the things that could be colored silver; like shoes, shirts, cars, trucks…
"Jazz!" Stephanie blurted in a near shout.
"Very good Stephanie!"
"Ah coulda sworn Ah heard ya call mah name Steph." Jazz said as he strolled over.
"That's 'cause I did." Stephanie said before she explained what was going on. Within moments both Jazz and Chromia had also joined in the game while Ratchet simply observed.
Will shook his head in amazement. He knew that Chromia was fond of his daughter; just as he knew that none of the bots would allow her to be harmed. But to see several of them spending their time with her in such a manner was very surprising. What was even more surprising was that even though she was now at a severe disadvantage, Stephanie kept right on playing and guessing at things. He could see that there were now others to keep Annabelle occupied but Stephanie was staying right there, when she could easily go and do something else. The only thing that could explain the situation was that Stephanie actually liked spending time with Annabelle.
"Okay Ladies… the hot dogs are ready!"
Will was pulled from his ruminations by the loud call from Epps. He watched as Annabelle squealed in delight before grabbing Stephanie's right hand and pulled her towards the BBQ pits. Instantly forgotten were the bots and even the game they had been playing. Annabelle was all about the food now.
Stephanie was doing her best to keep up with the young girl who was pulling her by the hand. Even as she was being pulled along at a running pace, she was fervently hoping that she wouldn't trip on anything. With Annabelle having a tight grip on her right hand, she knew that she'd probably stick her left arm out to catch herself without even thinking about it. Instantly, she knew what the result of that would be; tearing of the scar tissue covering her arm, a lot of blood, and a lot more pain. Before Stephanie could say anything to Annabelle, she was pulled to a stop.
"Hey Annie! How many hot dogs do you want and what do you want on em?" Asked a man's voice that Stephanie hadn't met.
"I want three! Wif ketchup, pwease." Annabelle exclaimed happily. "Hey Stephy… is you gonna get hot dogs too?"
"Sure… I guess." Stephanie answered hesitantly.
"Okay, how many dogs ya want?" The same man asked in a friendly manner.
"How many can I have and still leave plenty for other people?" Stephanie asked.
Sgt. Epps couldn't help it. He began to chuckle in surprise. "Listen, I got plenty for everybody. There's three hundred dogs ready to eat, an I got two hundred more waitin to go on the pit."
Stephanie's sightless eyes shot wide as she heard that. "That's five hundred hot dogs! Just how many people are here?"
Epps looked at the girl a bit strangely. A quick glance around and he could see dozens, if not hundreds of uniformed soldiers scattered around in various groups eating, talking, and generally cutting up.
"There's is lots, and lots of peoples here Stephy!" Annabelle said happily.
Stephanie turned her head down and to her right where she knew Annabelle was standing. "Well, if I wasn't blind then I could see all the people here, now couldn't I?"
"Unh-huh." Annabelle answered seriously.
"Sorry Miss. Couldn't tell you're blind without the shades and cane. I'm Master Technical Sergeant Robert Epps… everybody just calls me 'Epps' though." Epps stated with a grin.
"I'm Stephanie Harrington. I had a regular cane, but it got broke, so I was using an old fishing pole till someone stopped a car on it, now I got a bamboo pole for a cane, but that's still on the picnic table where we were sitting." Stephanie explained.
"Nice to meet you Stephanie. Now, how many dogs do ya want, and what do you want on em?" Epps asked.
"What all do you have to put on them?" Stephanie asked curiously.
"Mustard, ketchup, mayo, relish, fresh onions, grilled onions, pickled jalapeños, grilled jalapeños, picante salsa, Tabasco sauce, sour kraut, chili, and cheese. So, take your pick, how many, and what do you want?" Epps asked congenially.
"I'd like four please, with mustard, ketchup, relish, and picante sauce." Stephanie said as her mouth started to water at the thought of them.
"We can do that." Epps said with a grin.
Once Annabelle returned to the table with the food before sitting down to eat, Stephanie dug in. Annabelle had proven to be a big help by leading her back to the table and then going back to get both plates. They were both having an animated discussion on the quality of the food while they ate.
Stephanie couldn't have cared less about what other people might think. She would freely admit that she liked Annabelle or Belle as she'd started calling the girl. Annabelle reminded her so strongly of Celeste, that it was almost like having her little sister back. Oh she knew good and well that her sister and her parents were dead. Just as she didn't know where they might be buried because she'd never even been told which cemetery they were buried in. On the other hand, Annabelle's voice, age, and even the way she talked reminded Stephanie of her little sister. She wanted her family so much that it actually hurt sometimes, and even though she couldn't ever get them back, she could still be friends with Belle.