Unfortunately for Peter and Davy, May was becoming more of a handful. She steadfastly refused to take her bath thanks to her newly acquired fear of water. No amount of toys, coaxing, begging, pleading, etc. could convince her otherwise.
"I never know how much strength a two year old had." Peter said as her screams became louder.
"Nothing is going to get her into that bath tub" Davy said shaking his head.
May's screams of "Mommy!" became relentless. "Maybe one of us can put on a wig and a dress" Peter suggested.
"Don't get any ideas" Davy said calmly as he tried desperately to console her. "Let's go to the kitchen and get a snack" he said to her. Leading the little girl out of the bathroom and into the kitchen, Davy offered her a chocolate chip cookie, but she refused it. "You don't want a cookie?!" Davy asked her in a gentle, yet surprised tone.
"Did you try a fortune cookie?" Mike asked with a mischievous grin.
"MYYY-KEL" Peter said in a mockingly corrective tone.
May toddled out of the kitchen as quickly as her two little legs could take her and climbed onto the sofa. Now engrossed in her favorite book, it seemed all was well in her world.
"It's more than an hour past her bed time" Peter said looking at his watch.
"Did she take her bath, yet?" Micky asked.
"Due to circumstances beyond our control, her bath was canceled" Peter said doing his best imitation of a newscaster.
"That's not good" Mike said.
"She's afraid of water" Davy said.
"That's not a good reason" Mike reminded them.
"Well, it's good enough for her" Peter shot back glancing at her with a smile
The quiet discussion was interrupted by the telephone ring.
"Dum, dee, dumm, dumm" Micky mumbled as Mike went to pick up the phone.
"Oh hi, Kait" Mike said. "Yeah, yeah everything is fine. Kevin is asleep and May is toying with her book" (He caught himself too late). "I know she should be in bed, we were just getting her ready."
(Kait puts Liu on the phone)
"Oh, her bath, we had to skip that. She was afraid of the water. Do you have any suggestions?" Mike asked him.
(Mike pauses)
"Well, I was hoping for something far less drastic." Mike said with an eye roll.
"Yeah, ok. We'll get her in bed right away." Mike ended the conversation with the girl's father.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back at the hotel, Kait expressed her apprehension. "I think we should check out tomorrow and bring them home."
Liu: (shaking his head) Nah, they're ok, I don't think so."
Kait: Let's see, you've been to a few conferences that really amounted to nothing. And the most fun you've had was walking through the hotel fountains with your buddies singing "It's a Long way to Tipperary". Let's just say something came up and leave.
Liu paced somewhat nervously as he looked at his watch. "I kinda miss the children myself" he said smiling.
"I know they're in good hands." Kait said
"But..." "They're not in our hands" Liu finished the sentence for her. Kait smiled in agreement.
Chapter 4
Chapter 6
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