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“3…2…1”
“The floor is lava!” Both Philip and Angie yelled at the top of their lungs as they both leapt to the closet piece of furniture in the living room. Philip grinned from his spot on the couch as he looked over at his four-year-old sister who was standing on the armchair.
“Now what?” Angie asked as she glanced over at her brother.
A small pause as Philip grabbed some pillows and threw them on the ground. “We trade spots, but it’s going to be tricky.” A small pause as he looked back over at his sister. “Are you ready?”
She puffed out her chest nodding. “Ready!”
The two of them jumped onto the pillows on the floor right as the front door open. Eliza pushed the stroller in with James inside, frowning as she saw her two eldest children standing on the pillows in the middle of the living room floor. “What are you doing?” She asked, shutting the door behind her.
“Playing,” Philip said as he then stood on the arm chair his sister had been on before him.
Angie grinning as she bounced up and down on the couch. “The floor is lava, Mama! The lava is burning you!”
Shaking her head, she removed James from the stroller. “Good thing I have my special Mom powers that save me and the baby from lava.” A small pause as she looked around the living room and down the hall. “Where’s your father and brother?”
Angie shrugged as she jumped off the couch and onto the pillow once more.
“I think they’re in the baby’s room.” Philip said as he watched his sister jump from pillow to pillow before landing on the couch once more.
Without saying a word, Eliza started down the hall to the baby’s room, still cradling James in her arms. “Watch out for lava sharks, Mama!” Angie called after her as it was Philip’s turn to jump from pillow to pillow.
Eliza stopped outside the nursery that also doubled as Alexander’s office. It worked well at nights when he was still up and either James or Junior needed something, and he was still in there.
“Come in,” Alexander’s voice answered her knock and she stepped inside his office. Frowning as she saw him sitting on his desk. Junior on one knee and his laptop in the other.
“Alexander, what are you doing?” Eliza asked, shifting James from her arms to her hip.
Looking up from his laptop, Alexander shrugged. “They did yell the floor is lava and I’m sure they told you when you came in.”
“Mama in lava!” Junior said as he bounced on Alexander’s knee, pointing at Eliza.
Alexander closed his laptop as he nodded. “I know, I’m surprised too. Your mother is still standing in the lava!”
Eliza rolled her eyes as she made her way across the room to the crib, setting James down inside. She glanced over at her husband, a small sigh escaping her lips. “Real mature, Alexander.”
An eyebrow rose. “Brave words from the woman still standing in lava.”
“I was holding a baby!”
Alexander shrugged. “Fine, you get a pass because you had James but now you set James down and you’re still in lava.”
Eliza glanced around the room, looking for a spot to go to. There wasn’t really an open spot, other than the chair she sat into nurse James, but that was hardly a good spot to be as her feet would still be touching the floor. She glanced back over at her husband and saw an open spot on his desk. “Scoot over, I’m coming.”
Just as she was about to take a step, Alexander held up his hand, shaking his head. “Nope, you’re coming over here playing along.”
“Alexander! How am I supposed to do that?”
“You’re a smart woman. I have faith in you.” He grinned as he bounced Junior on his knee as Junior clapped his hands.
“Go, Mama!”
Eliza looked around the nursery to survey her surroundings. Just next to the crib was the dresser with a blanket sitting on top of it. She bent over, reaching over grasping the blanket to the middle of the floor when she threw it next to her chair. She glanced up at Alexander who was watching her as she jumped from her spot and landed on the blanket.
Next, she spotted a pair of slippers and a throw pillow next to the chair. Picking up the three items she made a small trail to Alexander’s chair. She sat on the chair on her knees as reached out to Alexander. There was a little bit to go before she felt comfortable moving from the chair to the desk. “Can you at least help me move closer?”
“I could but nah.”
Eliza made a face at him as she scrunched up her nose. “You’re an ass, Alexander.”
Alexander gasped as he covered Junior’s ears. “Eliza, there is a child present!”
“Please, we both know he’s heard worse from you.” Without saying a word, Alexander lifted his foot and placed it on the seat of the chair. Eliza’s brown eyes watched him and looked her gaze to his foot as he pushed the chair further away from the desk. “Hey!”
Before Alexander could say anything in response the door to the room opened. Philip and Angie stood there in the doorway, looking back and forth between the desk and the chair. “Uh, what are you guys doing?” Philip asked after a moment of silence.
“You did say the floor is lava.” Eliza spoke from her place on the chair.
“Oh, yeah, we’re done. The floor is no longer lava. We’re hungry.”
Alexander hopped off the desk, setting Junior down on the floor. “Yeah, I was getting hungry too.”
Eliza only nodded as she followed her family out of the room and into the living room where Philip and Angie sat with Junior building blocks, Alexander wasn’t far from them choosing the floor as a place to sit rather than the chair or the couch.
She was at the counter in the kitchen and brought the plates to the table as she looked at them all, not telling them it was ready yet. “Before we eat,” she began as she leaned against the countertop next to the fridge. “I have one thing to say to all of you?”
“What’s that?” Alexander asked, looking over his shoulder at her.
“The floor is lava.”
She let out a laugh as she hopped up onto the counter, watching the rest of them scramble to find something to stand on.