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"Sweetie, wake up." Mommy's hand on his shoulder is the first real thing he recognizes as he struggles up out of his dream. "We're going to the park this morning. It’ll be fun. We'll play a game."
"Mommy?" Loki's voice is a raspy, dry squeak. Thor can hear the springs creak as his brother sits up suddenly. Loki is still in his own bed, which isn't how mornings usually work out, and the light peeking between the curtains is barely pink. It's so early. "Mommy! What's wrong?"
"Shh," Frigga admonishes softly. She puts a finger to her lips. "I need you both to be very quiet. Very, very quiet. It's part of our game. Now up, both of you. It's going to be nice and warm outside; it’s a perfect park day."
Thor sits up and shoves the covers aside. Loki has already scrambled out of bed and hurried around to stand beside mommy. It’s not warm in here, not yet, and he's naked and shivering. There's a bruise on his side Thor doesn't remember seeing Sunday afternoon at bathtime. "Where's daddy," Loki asks, hopefully. "Isn't he coming with us?"
Mommy looks- almost scared for a second, or maybe it's just the light. "Daddy- daddy isn't feeling good this morning," she whispers. "He's going to stay here while we go to the park. Up," she orders, pulling Thor's arm straight and lifting him to standing. She shows him the tube in her other hand; it's blue and covered with greenish smiling fish Loki insists are doll fins. Whatever that means. His brother sometimes doesn't make sense; Thor’s used to it. "Let's get you both some sunscreen, shall we?"
They squirm and wiggle, Thor more than Loki, as she smoothes the cool, whitish goop up their arms and over their shoulders. "Careful," she warns as Thor reaches out to help do his brother's face. "Remember how much it hurts when it ends up in your eyes."
He does. It happens a lot when Loki does his face. Every time, really. Thor thinks his brother might be doing it on purpose, but mommy says Loki is just too young for such delicate work. Oddly enough, his brother is never too young to play carefully with the breakable toys, though.
Maybe this is another game? If so, Thor doesn’t like it.
"Turn around," mommy tells them, gesturing with one finger, "so I can do your backs." Thor tries to flip himself around in one quick move, like he's seen the snowboarders do on TV. It doesn't quite work and he lands heavily against the bed. Loki giggles. "Shh," Mommy tells them both again. "You're both princes," she says, pulling them close and whispering into the tiny space between them. "And you're being held prisoner in this tower. If you wake the monster that lives in the moat, he'll eat you… and me right along with you. Now be quiet so we can all sneak past him to safety together."
"Don't you mean troll, mommy," Thor asks, but he's careful to use his indoor voice this time.
"Trolls live under bridges," Loki scoffs. He, too, is talking quietly. "Moats are for monsters. Don't you know anything?"
"I know how to tickle you," Thor warns.
Mommy grabs him by the arm. "Oh no you don't! We'll all end up as the monster’s breakfast if you two don't settle down. Your back, please, Loki dear?"
Loki whirls around and around like a dancer, arms outstretched, his bare feet pitter-pattering over the wood floor. Thor watches, a little awed; his little brother is pretty and graceful, like a girl. It gives him an idea: "Can Loki be a princess instead," he asks mommy, "so I can rescue him?"
"No! I'm a prince," Loki insists. "I'm a boy, just like you." He looks over one shoulder at Thor, chewing his lip and considering. "But maybe I’ll let you rescue me anyway,"
Thor frowns at his brother. "But princes don't rescue other princes," he insists.
"Maybe this one does," mommy says quickly. She spreads around the last white blob of sunscreen across Loki’s back, just above his bottom. "Put on your shorts, please."
~
"Can I go say bye to daddy," Thor asks as they tiptoe out the bedroom door. Mommy is carrying their sandals for them, so they can hold hands as they sneak down the hall together.
"He's still sleeping, sweetie," mommy whispers. She grabs a couple of t-shirts from the laundry basket at the top of the staircase. "Let's go."
They sneak down the stairs, Loki nudging Thor just in time to remind him to stretch past the squeaky step, and then hurry right out through the kitchen. "Don't princes eat breakfast," he asks as mommy hands them their sandals and shoos them out the door.
"Of course they do," she tells him as she clips the buckles on Loki's car seat. "They have pancakes, at the diner."
Mommy shuts the car doors very quietly, because they aren’t across the moat yet and the monster can still get them. She lets the car roll backwards out into the street, turning the wheel in big, hard pulls. They keep rolling, forwards now, down the gentle hill in front of their house. The roll past Mr. Walter’s house, and then the empty lot. Finally, when they pass Mrs. Steven’s house, mommy shifts into gear and the car jerks as the engine roars to life.
“Are we safe now,” Loki whispers. His eyes are big and round, and Thor’s heart is pounding.
Mommy turns left at the bottom of the hill without stopping at the big red sign. She checks her mirrors hurriedly and then stretches just a little until they can see her face in the tiny slice of glass. “We are,” she says, her voice bright and excited. “Let’s go get you two something to eat.”
~
Daddy must be really sick this time, sicker than usual, because the three of them play in the park all day. Mommy lets them strip off their shirts and race around shrieking. She lets them roll in the grass and blow dandelion puffs. She even lets Thor push Loki down the slide - with his feet hooked over his brother’s legs and his arms wrapped tight around Loki’s middle - until they’re so tired they can hardly stand.
They take a breather. She buys them water from the man with the bright red cart, and some of those sour lemon things that make your whole face pucker.
The cold wet sweet-sourness is wonderful. “Slow down,” she warns them as they both tuck into their ices with gusto. “Even princes get brain freeze.”
She’s right. Thor does. Loki doesn’t; for once, he’s actually decided to listen.
~
“Are these your boys,” a lady walking towards them stops to ask mommy. “They’re adorable.” She’s in a bright blue suit, with a little hat, and Thor thinks she looks like a fairy godmother. Maybe she can play with them too.
Mommy thanks the lady, quickly stepping in front of Loki.
“My daddy’s not with us because he’s sick,” Thor volunteers when the grown-ups stop talking.
Mommy squats down between them. “Let’s not bother the nice lady with that,” she warns quietly, looking from Loki to Thor. Her face is very serious, so much so that Thor wonders suddenly if maybe the lady is a friend of the monster. “I’m sorry,” mommy tells the lady. “They can be awfully chatty. If you’ll excuse us…”
She tugs both their hands, a little too hard, to get them back underway. Loki stumbles. “Is that lady bad,” he asks as mommy helps right him.
“No, of course not,” she says. Her voice sounds funny, though, and Thor is still frightened. “Let’s put your shirts back on and go play by the pond.”
~
It’s nearly sunset when the three of them finally head back to the car. Thor is starting to hope against hope that they’ll spend the night in the park, lying on their backs in the grass as mommy points out the stars and planets… just the way she used to do at Papa Bor’s house. “What a good idea, sweetie,” she exclaims when he suggests it, “but we didn’t bring our pajamas.”
They don’t wear pajamas, which Loki points out. Thor’s heart soars.
It doesn’t work, though. “Sorry, boys,” mommy says. “I’m afraid we can’t sleep in the park without them. It’s a rule.”
“Someday I’m going to,” Loki says proudly.
Thor’s a little hurt when mommy doesn’t argue with his brother.
~
“Are you feeling better, daddy,” Thor asks nicely when they get home. Daddy has one of the big, heavy-bottomed glasses – the ones the boys know they’re not allowed to touch, ever – dangling between thumb and fingers. He’s barefoot, in old jeans and a wrinkled t-shirt. He doesn’t look sick, exactly. Just tired, and maybe a little puzzled.
Mommy and daddy exchange a long look. She shakes her head no with a sharp little jerk. It’s such a small movement that Thor isn’t sure it actually even happened.
Daddy takes a mouthful of his drink, one of those big, noisy gulps mommy always tells Thor and Loki not to do because it’s rude. “Uh, I’m fine, buddy,” daddy says, ruffling Thor’s hair. His fingers smell like medicine. “Much better. Thanks for asking.”
“Let’s go wash up,” mommy suggests, steering them both around daddy and back towards the stairs, “and then you can help mommy make dinner. How does that sound?”
“Princes don’t make dinner,” Loki says in his best haughty voice. Behind them, Thor hears daddy snort.
“You know what,” mommy says. She sounds tired, like the game is done and they’d better not push her. “These two princes do.”