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‘Time to do your homework, Mia.’ Dani came into the front room and turned off the television.
‘Can’t I play a bit more instead?’ Mia asked. ‘I can go upstairs with Gracie and colour with her.’
‘No, it’s homework time.’
Mia sighed, ‘Fine. Can I do it in the front room?’
‘Wouldn’t you be more comfortable here at the table?’
‘I can do it on the floor.’
‘You’re not getting the television on.’
‘No, mommy. No television.’
‘Alright then.’ Dani finally agreed and Mia grabbed her school bag off the floor and went to the front room. Pulling out her books she spread them on the floor. It took her a bit of time to get through her maths work.
‘Mommy.’ Gracie’s voice came from the stairs. ‘Where Mia?’
‘Mia’s doing her homework in the front room.’
The toddler made her way to the front room. ‘Mia.’ She walked over to Mia’s side and plopped down on the floor. Gracie grabbed for Mia’s pencil case and began to try and open it without success. Instead she shook it and smacked it against the floor. When Mia laid down one pencil and picked up one of her other colored pencils to circle answers on a homework page, Gracie grabbed it and began to draw on one of the other pages of Mia’s homework that was on the floor. After a quick scribble, Gracie picked up the page in her hand, crumpling it in her fist. ‘For you, Mia.’ She held it out to her sister.
‘Aw, thank you, Gracie!’ Mia smiled at her sister and took the picture from her. ‘You’re getting better.’ The fact that one page of her homework was now covered in a scribbled picture that could have passed either for a smiling face or a puppy dog. ‘I’ll put it right here to keep it safe.’
‘Mia love.’ Gracie beamed at her sister and giggled when Mia gave her a little kiss.
The older girl went back to her homework, opening up her reading. Gracie got up and toddled out of the room. She wound up wandering into Malcolm’s office where her parents were working on paying bills and updating their filing. ‘Mommy. Daddy.’
‘Hey, little lady.’ Malcolm bent to pick up his daughter and set her on his lap. ‘What are you up to?’
‘Play!’
‘Daddy can’t play right now. Daddy has to finish up this paperwork.’
‘No, play!’ Gracie smacked her hands on his desk.
‘No no, Gracie.’ He cuddled her close. ‘I’ll play soon. Promise.’
She pouted. ‘Mommy?’
‘Soon, darling. Go play in the front room. When we’re done here I’ll give you a bath.’
‘Okay.’ Gracie slipped down off Malcolm’s lap and headed back to the front room like her mother told her to. Mia was still engrossed in her reading homework. ‘Mia, play.’
‘I have to read, Gracie.’ Mia barely looked up.
Gracie thumped onto the floor with a pout on her face. No one was playing with her. When Mia didn’t stop her reading to play with her, Gracie got up and went over to the bookcase and pulled out one of her play books. Opening it up, she began to whack against the buttons that set off animal noises.
Mia didn’t react but just kept doing her homework.
Another book, this time with assorted car horn noises, became Gracie’s weapon of choice to get her sister to play. That didn’t work either so she let it drop to the floor with a thump and she got out her blocks. At first she just bashed them together. There was still no reaction from her sister. She threw one at Mia in frustration but came nowhere near to hitting her. The block just clattered on the floor and rolled noisily past Mia.
Getting even more frustrated, Gracie got up and toddled over to Mia. She thumped down onto the floor beside Mia. Her hand grabbed Mia’s shirt to stop herself toppling backwards. ‘Want play.’
‘Sh, Gracie. Reading time.’ Mia told her.
Gracie wrinkled up her nose. She sat and waited, expecting her sister to stop reading and play with her. When Mia didn’t do that, Gracie got up and stood beside her and began to smack Mia’s backside with her hands. Even that got no reaction. Mia continued to remain focused on her homework. Even more frustrated now, Gracie got up on top of Mia, sitting right on her sister’s back. She clapped her hands to a mystery song in her own head, occasionally thwacking Mia with her hands. Gracie was amusing herself and began laughing loudly.
Dani came to the front room at the noise. ‘How’s the homework coming, Mia?’
‘Be done soon, mommy.’
‘Gracie? Are you bothering your sister?’
Gracie just toppled to one side until she was lying down on Mia’s back. ‘Play wif Mia.’
‘Mia?’
‘I won’t play til I finish.’
Dani just shook her head and went back to the office. ‘I hope that Mia still has the same patience with Gracie when she’s a teenager.’
‘Don’t invite it any sooner than necessary, love.’ Malcolm smiled at her, grabbed Dani’s hand and pulled her onto his lap. ‘As the girls are a bit distracted at the moment.’ He took advantage of the quiet and got in a good long kiss.
‘Keep up with this, Mr. Tucker and it’s going to be hard for us to behave before the girls get to bed.’
‘Not sorry at all.’ He grinned and got another kiss in.