21.12.12

I Duel Five-Year Olds Before Breakfast

   I wake to the sound of excited voices and happy laughter.  I smile. It's pleasant to wake to the fact that faraway cousins have gotten up at an unearthly hour for a Saturday, drove a long time, and are at this moment downstairs eating pancakes. 
   After getting ready to face the day, I meander downstairs to greet them, and to claim my share of the coffee before it's slurked down by everyone else. (Only one person out of the thirteen of our combined families doesn't like coffee. This means one has to be Prompt.)   At the foot of the staircase I say hello to the littlest one, a brown-eyed boy of five. 
  "Hey," he says back, in his high, little-kid voice.  He is holding a sword my brother whittled out of wood.  I watch him swing it around. "Shing!" he cries, drawing it from an imaginary scabbard.  He draws another one. "Shiiiiing!"   
  "Those are pretty cool," I grin at him. 
  "Here," he says, and hands me one.   He put one hand up in the air, "En garde!"  
  I raise my sword, and he whacks away, simultaneously supplying the sound effects of clashing metal. Meanwhile, I'm not keeping the properly straight face that befits a serious sword fighter.
  I go offensive, and force him backward away from his mom. (So that he doesn't accidentally hit her.) He breaks away and runs through the living room in fine style. I run the other way and cut him off. 
  "Hah!" I cry, "Gotcha!"  
  "Huh-uh!" he grunts, eyes twinkling defiantly. 
  We fight all around the living room, even a little on the stairs. Eventually I am getting the worst of it *ahem*, so we stop and I finally get my coffee. I stand in the kitchen, chatting with my aunt and my mom. Suddenly he pops through the door, brandishing his weapon.  
  "Hiiiiiiiiii-yah!" 
  I put my hands in the air (yes, very carefully, so as not to spill the coffee) and say in mock terror, "Oh no! It's a stick-up!"  
  We resume our clashing. 
  
  Because really, how many chances does one get in a lifetime to have an indoor duel before breakfast?


2 comments:

  1. This is awesome *grins broadly*
    Merry Christmas.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, it was.
      Merry Christmas to you as well. :)

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