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Linda heard Bob's little character voice coming from the living room. It was the voice he'd give inanimate objects when he wanted to have conversations with them. A habit he developed from being an only child.
One day Linda had commented that he was pretty good at giving potatoes personalities and he shrugged and said he'd been doing it since he was little. It broke and melted her heart all in one.
Linda got a little concerned though, mainly because him doing his voices usually meant he wasn't paying attention to Tina. She was still too small to be left unsupervised for too long. Linda stepped away from preparing the meatloaf they were having for dinner. She gave Gene a glance to account for him too. He was making a mess of his mashed bananas on the tray of his high chair. Perfectly normal and safe.
She peaked in the living room to get a look at them and heard Tina's little 3 year old voice taking turns with Bob.
"Do you like this dress Tina?" Bob asked holding up a doll in a glittery skirt.
"Yes." Tina nodded "But remember," she said patiently "We going horseback riding before the party. So we need to dress app'opiately." she explained, her baby accent still lingering a bit.
"Oh right sorry," Bob said, switching to object/doll voice to say "I just hope Ken will notice me tonight."
"Ken won't be there Kelly." Tina said gesturing with a doll who must have been the one talking "We trying to get Devon to notice us."
"Oh yeah," Bob continues as Kelly "it's been pretty hard to get my mind off of Ken, ya know, since the break up."
"I's okay Kelly," Tina's doll consoles Kelly "We all been there. But you are strong." Tina adjusted her doll's arm to extend her hand and pat Kelly on her Doll head "This too shall pass."
Linda smiled and pulled herself back to the kitchen before she could be spotted. Hearing Kelly say "Thanks Tina, you're a really good friend." Before she went back to making supper. Gene drumming along to the sound of the burner ticking back on.