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Scott had forgotten what it was like to have two kids under the age of eleven in the house. It was one of those rare occasions when John and Amelia came down from Thunderbird 5, and for there only being two children on the island, Aiden and Amelia somehow managed to get into enough trouble for double.
Scott and John were sitting out on the porch, quietly enjoying their morning coffee. The sliding glass door was open, letting in the ocean breeze and the gremlins out.
They were halfway through a conversation when the sound of yelling drifted from inside.
John sighed. “EOS, show us what they’re doing.”
A holo-feed flickered to life, showing Aiden and Amelia up near the bedrooms. Amelia was riding on Aiden’s back, the pair of them shouting, “Dad! Dad!” switching which one said it every few seconds.
Scott couldn’t help but laugh. Then, on the feed, Aiden suddenly stopped and looked up at Amelia.
“Wait,” he said, dead serious. “Are we calling my dad or your dad?” The 10 year old asked the 8 year old.
Amelia paused, considering it like it was a matter of life and death.
“My dad,” she decided.
Aiden nodded on board with the answer. “Ah. Okay. Dad!”
Both men burst out laughing on the porch. John shut the feed.
A moment later, the kids came running out covered head to toe in dirt, splashes of paint, and something neither man could identify.
“Oh dear,” Scott muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose.
John just shook his head. “With these two as each other’s only company, this was bound to happen.”
The pair of pint-sized troublemakers beamed up at their dads. “Can we have a snack?”
Of course, they got their snack. And a bath. And a lecture that went in one ear and out the other.
Later, as the kids tore off again toward some new adventure, John leaned back in his chair.
“I worry when they get older,” he said dryly.
Scott took a long sip of coffee and nodded. “Oh yeah. We’re gonna be in for it big time.”
Both men winced when a loud bang! and crash! echoed from the other room. They exchanged a look, set their mugs down, and stood. Then when to find their gremlins and whatever they had broke.