Kee

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Rabb Residence

San Diego, California

10:47 HRS

Mac meets her neighbor from two doors down on the back-porch steps and eagerly takes the retired Navy pilot's daughter from her arms. "Hi Ellie. Do you want to come play at my house today? Shannon is waiting for you."

She turns her attention to Beth and smiles. "Good morning. The keys are on the bar. Come on in."

As Mac walks back up the stairs, The sandy-haired child in her arms points toward the back door. "Sha-sha."

Mac smiles and runs her fingers through the little girl's hair affectionately. "That's right, Ellie. You get to play with Sha-sha today, and speaking of, we better get back in there." Mac trots for the back door. "Shannon will behave herself left alone with Laura for 5 minutes – Noah – well, that boy can't help but find something to get into every two minutes even with both his parents in the house!"

Beth chuckles. "He's not bad, he's just – really curious."

Mac groans comically. "About everything!"

Skates asks, "The guys leave already?"

Mac nods. "Sturges is in town. Talking to Ellie she adds, "Daddy and Uncle Harm are going to meet him at the gym." She points at Ellie. "You know, Beth, if she gets anymore sun, she's going to go completely blonde."

"Yes, I know, and she hates putting on sunscreen. Yesterday afternoon when Keeter got home, she was screaming at the top of her lungs because I was putting sunscreen on her face and arms. He literally came through the door asking, "What the devil are you doing; killing her?" When I explained that I was only trying to keep her from getting sunburned, he declared, 'Well, stop that, Mama. She don't like it!' Then, he scooped her up… and, wouldn't you know it, the little stinker was all smiles!"

Mac allows Beth into the house ahead of her as Ellie says, "Kee?"

Stepping into the house behind the little girl's mother, Mac removes her key ring from the peg below the shelf beside the back door.

As the marine hands her keys over to the child, Beth smiles and shakes her head. "That's not what she's asking for."

"No?" Mac curiously makes eye contact with the child who promptly hands the keys back to her.

Beth shakes her head again as Mac returns her keys to their proper place. "She started doing that two nights ago. I wanted to call and tell you about it, but it was 03:00."

Mac chuckles. "You should've called, I was awake."

"What were you doing awake at that hour?"

"Not sleeping - and I can't even blame it on one of my kids. All three of them were out and down for the count. So, she's not asking for keys?"

"Nope. She woke me up saying that. Calling out from her crib."

Mac studies the girl. "Ellie, Kee?"

The child smiles brightly and nods her head. "Kee."

Mac squints. "Okay, I give. If she's not asking for keys, then what?"

"Hi Skates. Hello Ellie." Laura interrupts politely from her kitchen bar stool.

Beth waves in greeting. "Good morning, Laura." She turns her attention back to Mac but pauses again; interrupted by the aroma in the air. "Oh God! What smells so good?"

Mac chuckles and pats her friend's round belly as she says to the girl in her arms, "I think your little brother's hungry!"

Skates objects comically. "Hey, he might be another girl."

Still smiling, Mac crosses the room and lowers the girl into Noah's highchair since Noah is currently perched on the seat of Laura's walker. "Laura wanted french toast and bacon this morning. Harm made it for her. There's still plenty leftover and it should still be warm. Help yourself."

Noticing that his highchair has been commandeered by someone else, Noah tries to stand up on the seat of the walker and Laura is quick to reach over and grab him; slipping two fingers securely into the waistband of his denim shorts while he looks at his mother and makes a rude noise in complaint.

"Stop that, young man. You can share. I promise, it won't kill you, and sit down before you fall down!"

"I got him, Aunt Mac."

"I realize that, baby. Thank you, but he doesn't need to get into the habit of standing on the seat of your walker. That's just trouble looking for a place to happen."

Mac returns her attention to Skates and raises an eyebrow.

Understanding the prompt, Ellie's mother returns to the previous conversation with ease. As she quickly fixes herself a plate, she whispers, "Dad."

Mac's gaze slides to the little girl in Noah's highchair once again. For a time, she simply stares. However, after a careful moment's consideration, she shrugs. "Why not? Nearly everybody calls him Keeter."

Beth who is busy cutting a piece of dry french toast in half, groans in mild frustration before she picks up one of the halves of toast and wraps a piece of bacon in it. Taking a bite, she groans again, this time in satisfaction. Holding up a finger, she silently asks for patience as she quickly retrieves a drinking glass from the proper cabinet, pours herself some milk, and shuts the refrigerator door with a foot as she washes down the bite of food.

Mac chuckles. "Do you want some syrup to go with that?"

Beth shakes her head and talks around the hand shielding her mouth from view. "No, sorry. I don't need it. I don't need this." She holds up what's left of her impromptu sandwich. I've already had breakfast. It just smells so good. If I'm not careful, you're going to have to change my name to the Hindenburg. I'm not sick like I was with the girls, and Harm is a better chef than Keeter. If it's not something one commonly prepares on a barbecue grill, or in a chili pot, Keeter is clueless." She shrugs. "Harm's even better than me!"

"You can raid our fridge any time; day or night."

On the verge of helping herself to another bite, the expectant mother pauses. "Mac, you might want to rethink that invitation."

"Beth, you gave birth to my daughter. You can have anything in my house… except for my kids and my husband."

Laura giggles as Skates declares, "Good, because I don't want them! I've got my hands full with my own!" She tucks another piece of bacon into the scrap of sandwich she has left. "I do not want her calling him, Keeter. She's supposed to call him, Dad. He, on the other hand, doesn't seem to mind"

"That does not surprise me - not in the least!" Mac's gaze slides back to her son, who is still on his feet. "Noah, I said sit down, son."

When she raises an eyebrow, the dark-haired little boy slowly lowers his backside to the seat of Laura's walker once more."

"Thank you."

Noah points to Ellie in his highchair, and in response, Mac offers the girl a small piece of french toast.

Noah growls in irritation and, laughing at him, his mother growls back which causes him to squeal with laughter.

Mac picks the boy up and hugs him. "That's better. Stop being so selfish. It's okay if Ellie sits in your highchair. You aren't using it."

From the highchair beside Ellie, Shannon reaches out and flexes her little fingers; making her own noise.

When Beth raises an eyebrow, Laura supplies, "She wants bacon," When Beth reaches for platter on the kitchen counter, Laura adds, "but don't give her any."

Mac chimes in. "Not unless you want to do the Heimlich on a baby this morning. She chokes on it every time."

"Every time?"

Mac nods. "Don't ask me why. She doesn't choke on anything else. Only bacon. She begs for the stuff… and then chokes on it… Every time. It doesn't matter how big or how small the piece that you give her is."

Skates looks at the girl apologetically. "Sorry honey, Mama said no." She asks Mac, "Does Noah have trouble with it?"

Laura shakes her head. "Noah eats anything that won't eat him first… Except for pineapple. He does not like pineapple."

"Well, then he fits right in with the two of you."

Laura grins as if this is a source of great pride. "I know, right? Keeter's weird. How come he doesn't want Ellie to call him, Dad?"

Skates rolls her eyes. "I've told him that's the way it's supposed to be, but no matter how many times I say it, he just shrugs and says, 'She can call me anything she wants to, long as she says it would love."

Mac declares, "Oh, he is absolutely besotted."

Beth nods her head. "Who would've ever thought that the love of Jack Keeter's life would be, not only female, but also under two feet tall."

Because it's no surprise to her, Laura changes the subject slightly. "I'm trying to teach the baby's how to say 'mom' and 'dad' in different languages."

Skates squints. "That's good, but shouldn't they fully grasp the concept of mom and dad in English, first?"

Laura shrugs. "Uncle Harm said I could."

Mac nods. "And all the books say that it's easiest to become bilingual when you're young. Besides, before Laura can teach them anything, she first has to learn it herself. I think it's good for all of them."

Skates tilts her head to one side and looks at her daughter. "Mac, how many different languages do you speak?"

"Fluently? Four. With a handful of useful phrases in a few others."

"Laura, do you think you can get Ellie to say, 'Dad?"

Laura eyes the little girl with circumspect before she shrugs again. "I can try. But if she doesn't want to, she's not gonna. She's smart. She knows who her dad is… She just wants to call him something else."

Polishing off the last of her second breakfast, Beth picks up the key ring with a single key on it that's lying on top of the kitchen bar and lets it dangle from her middle finger. "The hangar?"

Mac nods. "The hangar."

"I can't believe he's letting me go fly Sarah by myself. He loves that plane."

"Harm trusts you."

"Would he let you?"

Abrupt laughter bursts out of Mac. "No! No, he most certainly would not – but, I'm just his wife! And, in all honesty, should I decided that I wanted to, his unwillingness to let me fly unsupervised likely has something to do with the fact that I would probably crash his precious plane into the Pacific. The odds of you doing that…"

Laura's gaze volleys between the two women. "Uncle Harm's letting you fly Sarah?"

Skates nods, her eyes going wide. "That's what he says. I didn't even ask. He offered."

This makes perfect sense to Laura, who says, "He knows you miss it. You don't get to fly Navy planes anymore, and he has one of his own. He wants to share with you. Can I come with you?"

Mildly surprised, Mac lectures quietly. "Laura, baby, it's rude to invite yourself."

"I'm not inviting myself. I'm only asking. She can say no." Laura turns her expectant gaze back to the pilot.

Beth purses her lips in thought for a moment. "It's okay with me as long as it's okay with your Aunt Mac. Except…" She turns her gaze to Mac. "Can she get herself into the plane. I can help her a little bit if she needs it, but the doctor said I should stop picking of anything that weighs more than 25 pounds."

Laura nods. "I can do it. There's a ladder. Uncle Harm just holds my hand; that's all. I won't hurt you or the baby."