guppy_sandhu | Guppy's 30th Birthday Party

Having collected everyone from the bar, Guppy leads them back through to the house, where they enter through the kitchen.

The living room furniture has been mostly moved out of the way, and that's where the most of the party has been set up. The sofa and some chairs are around the edge of the room, and there's music playing. The kitchen is a bit small so the food is being taken through into the dining room. Also a little on the small side, but enough for purpose. All of the baby gates are open on the ground floor, but not on the stairs.

Upstairs, the spare bedroom has been set aside for any little people at the party. It's a bit quieter, with baby-sized food, some toys, and a DVD of Pingu playing.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

guppy_sandhu

"Dr Sharpe. He's a..."

"Meenee." Alex puts in.

"Yes, he's a meanie."

From:

a1enzo

Enzo relaxes, and tries to stifle a laugh at his own contribution to Alex's vocabulary.

From:

guppy_sandhu

"Yes, I don't know who taught him that word, but I caught him saying it to Granny the other day. She wasn't very pleased."

"Granny meenee."

From:

a1enzo

"Eh heh heh. I bet."

Enzo does not have the very best innocent look.

From:

guppy_sandhu

"Eh, she deserved it, but don't tell him that."

Alex crawls over to Enzo, wipes the crumbs off his hand down Enzo's trousers, then goes back for more biscuit.

"Alex, dirty! Sorry Enzo."

From:

a1enzo

Enzo grins in relief.

"Don't worry about it, User clothes need to be washed all the time anyway."

From:

guppy_sandhu

"BOGIES!" Alex suddenly shouts, putting his finger up his nose.

"No! Ew! No bogies!" Frogspawn says, but in a gentle way. "Bogies are icky!"

From:

a1enzo

"What is it with little kids and bogies?"

As a worldly-wise twelve-year-old, Enzo knows that for nasal secretions to be the height of hilarity requires the proper context.

From:

guppy_sandhu

"That one is cousin Megan's fault." Frogspawn says, with an eye roll.

She gets a tissue and holds it out to Alex.

"Wipe it on the tissue please."

Alex does so.

"Good boy. Now don't do it again."

From:

a1enzo

"Yeah, Guppy told me about that." See, that one was funny.

From:

guppy_sandhu

"I don't think he understands the differences in context."

From:

a1enzo

"He'll learn."

And then, code help us all.

From:

guppy_sandhu

Frogspawn laughs.

"He's good at learning."

Alex gets up and goes to the door.

"Woop?" he asks.

"What's that?" Frogspawn asks him.

"Woop!"

"Hm. We can't let him go downstairs, we've moved the furniture."

From:

a1enzo

"He doesn't like that?"

From:

guppy_sandhu

"No, he'll completely freak out, that's partly why we've kept him up here." Frogspawn says. "They moved the furniture at nursery once before we knew it upset him, and he cried continuously for four hours."

"Woop!" Alex requests again.

From:

a1enzo

"Ouch. Are you gonna put it back after the party?"

From:

guppy_sandhu

"Of course. We were hoping we could keep him away from the room for just two hours."

Frogspawn gets some picture cards and goes over to Alex.

"Fry, now is the party." She shows him a picture of some balloons. "We will play in here. At ten o'clock, it's bath time." She shows him a picture of a bath, and a card with a clock with little moveable hands on shaped like ten o'clock. He can't tell the time, but he can match the picture.

From:

a1enzo

"You know, I brought him a present. It's in the box with one of Guppy's, but I could bring it up here if you think it'd help keep him busy."

From:

guppy_sandhu

"That's a good idea, thanks Enzo."

From:

a1enzo

"Just a nano."

He hustles back down to the party, and returns with a triple-sized gift box.

From:

guppy_sandhu

As Enzo opens the door to come back in, Alex escapes.

From:

a1enzo

"Ahh!" Enzo drops the box, then hesitates. Should he catch him? Would that be worse?

"Alex, come back! I've got a new penguin for you!"

From:

guppy_sandhu

"Pegwin?"

Alex stops, and looks around.

"Good work Enzo." Frogspawn says, impressed. She darts out and closes the stair gate so he can't go downstairs.

From:

a1enzo

He smiles oh-so-modestly. "You have to think fast in Games. I guess it's good practice for real life. Come on, Fry. You can have your penguin, but you have to come back inside."