“AH!”
“Hihihih, stop!”
“Lance, hehehe”
“Stacy” were the cries Diane heard downstairs.
‘What was going on?’ she hurried up the stairs and headed towards their rooms. First Lance’s since his room was closest to the stairs then to Stacy’s when there wasn’t anyone in Lance’s room. No one in Stacy’s room either.
‘Hmm, where could they be?’ she worriedly asked herself. She headed further down the hall anxious to see where the sounds came from. She passed the bathroom and froze. The sounds came from the bathroom but how could that be? They were playing in their room the last time she saw them. She turned back towards the door and till her amazement water peaked through from under the door. She pushed the door open in one movement and gasped at the sight in front of her.
‘Thank God they’re ok’ she thought but the scene in front of her aggravated her once her first worry was over. They were ok sure but they wouldn’t be when she was finished with them. The whole bathroom was wet. There was water covering the floor and the bath mat was soaked. Bubble bath soap splashed over the edge of the bathtub and even the curtain in front of the window on the other side of the bathroom hadn’t managed to escape the waterfall from the two children in the bathtub. There wasn’t one dry space in the whole bathroom and Diane was furious. She just cleaned here this morning. They were in for it now. Lance and Stacy both looked at their mom wide-eyed. They were in trouble now that was for sure. The look on their mother’s face said it all.
“Out now!” Diane said angrily to her two children, Lance 6 years old and Stacy 9. Both Lance and Stacy slowly rose out of the bathtub. Diane watched her children stumbling out of the bathtub. She gave them both a towel which hung on the towel rack. It was wet as well but she didn’t want to get them a dry towel after what they did. Stacy accepted the wet towel without protest but Lance didn’t really get it.
“But mommy this towel is wet” Lance complained gazing up at his mother when she handed him the towel.
“That’s your own fault now isn’t it?” she asked rhetorically. Lance ducked his head and wrapped the towel around his little body.
“Go to you rooms and put some clothes on” she instructed sternly. She watched her children stumble away to their rooms and both doors closed silently. She sighed heavily.
“Great, just great” she mumbled under her breath.
Ten minutes later, she called Lance and Stacy to come out of their rooms. They had had time to get dressed and she used the time to calm down, which she could definitely use. They slowly walked towards her, eyes focused on the floor.
“Alright. You made a mess and you’re going to clean it up. Look at me” she instructed. Two pair of eyes raised their glance from the floor to their mom’s eyes. A little fearful once they fully comprehended they were in trouble.
“Alright you two clean the bathroom first then we can talk about the rest so get to work” she instructed pointing to the cleaning items she collected for them. She left the two and headed downstairs thinking off a punishment for the two.
They got to work silently drying the bathroom. The floor, the curtains and the walls.
“It’s all your fault” Stacy accused her younger brother.
“It is not” Lance defended.
“Yes it is!”
“You wanted to go in the bathtub!”
“But you started splashing water!”
“No I didn’t!” Lance said angrily throwing his sponge towards his older sister.
“Lance!” she yelled at him while throwing back his sponge. Diane quickly went upstairs when she heard yelling coming from the bathroom.
“What are you two doing?” she asked angrily when they weren’t cleaning but throwing things at each other in stead. They stopped instantly.
“Um we… um …he” Stacey stumbled.
“She was mean” Lance said pouting while pointing the finger at his sister.
“No it was his fault!” she countered back.
“Was not!”
“Is too!” they yelled getting closer to on another with each word.
“Ok enough!” she said angrily resting her hands on her hips.
“Let’s go downstairs NOW” now she was really angry. She was angry already when she saw her newly cleaned bathroom in a total mess but now they were fooling around instead of cleaning their mess. Trying to control her anger she led the way downstairs.
“Sit” she ordered and Lance and Stacy sat down on the couch quickly. They slumped in their seat when their mother sat down across from them. She eyed them before speaking in a calm voice,
“You two want to say something before I do?”
“Sorry” Stacey mumbled.
“Sorry” Lance mimicked.
“It just kind of got out of hand” Stacey informed her.
“Yeah it did” Diane confirmed.
“Lance just started splashing water and I told him to stop but he didn’t and…”
“I did not!” Lance yelled indignantly.
“Yes you did, you started!”
“Ok! Quiet!” Diane yelled over the shouts of her children.
“Lance, did you start?” Lance ducked his head before whispering.
“Maybe”
“Why did you two get in the bathtub anyway?”
“We thought it would be fun” Stacy said in a small voice.
“And was it?” Diane asked.
“Yes” Lance said cautiously, smiling a little.
“You’re going to have some more fun” she said.
“Yeah?” Lance shrieked.
“Yeah” his mother confirmed.
“What are we going to do?” Stacy asked suspiciously.
“You’re going to finish cleaning the bathroom” they sighed dramatically. Their mother raised her eyebrows silencing the kids at once.
“Since you can’t do it without supervision. I’ll stay there. You two can stay home tomorrow, no going out of the house” Diane said firmly since they had vacation this week it would be a good punishment for them to not go anywhere.
“But mom! What are we gonna do all day?” Lance whined.
“Good you asked. You and your sister can spend your time cleaning the house. Since you think I like it so much you can see for yourself how much you like cleaning instead of playing when you have vacation” she said calmly.
“But mom!” Stacy exclaimed.
“Uh!” she warned not to protest. Stacey angrily crossed her arms over her chest.
“Ok move it up stairs now, get to work” Diane ordered ushering them up the stairs.
Lance and Stacy plumped down on the couch with a huge sigh. Exhausted from cleaning all day, their mom certainly taught them a lesson. But they were in for a last round of lecturing.
“You two gave your mom a hard time today?” Jim asked.
“No” Lance smiled mischievously. His dad smiled slightly and sat down in front of them with his wife.
“You two did very good today. Maybe we’ll reconsider about tomorrow but the most important thing is that you two have to understand that you can’t just make a mess and expect me to clean it up. I have a lot to do besides cleaning the house once. I don’t need you to make a mess so I can clean it again. I don’t enjoy cleaning so you’re not exactly doing me a favor understand?” both her children nodded in response.
“You learnt your lesson?” they nodded once again,
“Yes mom” they chimed.
“Good, no more splashing in the bathtub” she lectured. They nodded once again but Diane wasn’t completely sure they’d listen. Maybe they’d remembered it for a few weeks. She was sure this wouldn’t be the last time she’d lecture them about this.
*** 2 weeks later ***
“Want to go in the bathtub?” Stacy asked her brother with a twinkling in her eye.
“No” he stated firmly crossing his little arms over his chest.
“Ah common Lancy, it will be fun”
“No” he repeated his answer.
“We’ll get in trouble”
“No we won’t! It will be fun common. You can play with your snorkel mom got you” his eyebrows raised, his eyes widened and a huge smile appeared letting her know she convinced him.
“k!!” he said happily.
“Don’t push me k?” he asked cautiously. His sister was always teasing him and getting him into trouble and he didn’t want her to drown him when he was playing with his snorkel. He knew she wouldn’t actually drown him but he just had to make sure, he had to hear it from her.
“You go get towels and stuff…”
“And my snorkel!” he yelled.
“Yes and I’ll turn on the water. Go hurry up” she urged her younger brother to get the stuff they needed. He ran as fast as his little legs could carry him and returned several minutes later with his hands full.
“Good, now let’s dive in!”….
