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The engine of the little car hummed as it idled in the parking lot of the Malo-Mart. Link slumped and slouched in the drivers' seat with his elbow on the car door and his cheek resting on his knuckles, looking aimlessly about the busy lot. Lasli sat in the passenger seat, thumbing through tabs in the web browser on her HyPhone™.
"She should have been here by now, right?" said Lasli with a sigh.
"Probably got caught up in a meeting again or something," replied Link.
"Does she frequently drag your daughter to these meetings?" asked Lasli with a roll of her eyes.
"Mhm," hummed Link, shifting in his seat. "That's why we're taking Glenda for the week, isn't it?"
"Right," said Lasli, absently looking back to her phone. "But it's still unlike her to be this delayed."
The child in the carseat at the rear of the car piped up. "I'm hungry," he complained.
Link adjusted the rearview mirror to look back at him. "I know, I know — but we have to wait for Glenda and Auntie Zelda to get here before we go for food."
"But I'm sta-a-arving!" whined the child.
"We have to be patient, Rian," said Link in a calm voice.
"Listen to your father," added Lasli. She chuckled a bit and said, "He definitely gets that from you, only being motivated by food."
Link looked over at her. "Hey now — food isn't the only thing that motivates me," he said, winking and squeezing her thigh with his free hand.
Lasli rolled her eyes and brushed his hand away. "Come on, now," she whispered. "Not in front of the kid."
"My apologies," said Link, turning his eyes back out towards the lot. The relative silence returned momentarily, antagonised only by the hum of the idling engine. Link took the scarce opportunity to close his eyes for a moment while they waited.
Their son spoke up again. "How much longer?"
"Until Auntie Zelda and your sister get here," replied Link, not opening his eyes.
"How long is that?"
"No way of knowing," said Link.
"Can't you call them?" reasoned the child.
"Don't want to call if Auntie's in a meeting," explained Link.
"I'm thirsty."
"You have water back there."
"I'm not thirsty for water," Rian whined.
"Then, what are you thirsty for?"
"Juice."
"We don't have any juice," said Link. "Just drink some water and you'll be fine."
"We're right in front of the store, can't we get some there?"
"We're not getting juice from the store," said Link. "Once Auntie and Glenda get here we're going for food, and you can get some juice then. Until then, drink some water and you'll be fine."
Rian crossed his arms and pouted, but said nothing more.
"He's about as finicky as you are," said Link, taking Lasli's hand.
"Yeah nah, he certainly didn't get that from you," said Lasli with a chuckle.
A car came rolling into the lot and parked near their own. Link couldn't see through its tinted windows, but he recognised the State Use ONLY plates on it. Out of the car popped Zelda, followed shortly by their daughter Glenda. It was always surreal to see them next to one another — Link might have mistaken Glenda for a clone of Zelda if not for the blue eyes he'd given her.
Link rolled down his window as Zelda approached. "Running late?" he asked rhetorically.
"Sorry," Zelda huffed. "It's been something of a day. Thanks for doing this on short notice."
"Of course," said Link. "Meetings all day?"
"Of course," Zelda replied. "And I have yet another in 25 minutes; hope you don't mind if I drop Glenda with you and run?"
"Not a problem," said Link. He turned back to where his son sat and said, "Say Hello to Auntie; she can't stay long."
"Hi, Auntie!" the boy called out from the back seat.
"Hello, Rian! Sorry I can't stay to chat, but it's good seeing you!" She noticed that Lasli had never even looked up from her phone to acknowledge her presence — a slight she was not about to let slide. "And it's always lovely to see you too, Lasli," she added.
"The pleasure is all yours," said Lasli, never making eye contact.
"Not in front of the kids, please," Link pleaded. He leant out the window and looked over at Glenda, and continued: "Well, hop in; we'll head over and get some food so your brother doesn't starve and waste away."
Glenda opened the car door. "I take it he's been nagging about food?"
"Nuh-uh," said Rian indignantly.
"You probably were, you naggy gnat," teased Glenda as she sat into the car.
"Nuh-uh!" Rian repeated. "I am not!"
"Thanks again," said Zelda as she turned to return to her car. "I'll pick her up on Friday evening," she added.
"No worries," said Link. "We'll see you then."