Suzie’s House 149: Ms Super Babysitter

“You really are like a housewife want-to-be.” Gene leaned back in his chair and tried to stare the babysitter down.

“I am not!” Diane tossed a narrow-eyed look his way, with her hands still in the fridge. Teasing her was way harder now. She wasn’t afraid of him anymore. He kind of liked that, and he kind of didn’t.

“Sure you are. You got the whole apron, skirt, cooking thing going like one of those ancient TV shows. Like from the 50’s.”

“He’s right,” Ben said, grinning.

She came out with a jar of green olives in one hand and a head of cabbage in the other. Next to the left over lasagna she’d already dug up, they didn’t seem so good. She dumped them all together on the counter then looked at it like a little bird eyes a berry.

“You aren’t really feeding us that, are you,” he asked cautiously.

“Yes. Maybe not the cabbage, but the Spanish olives could liven this up.”

“Nothing could liven that up,” Ben mumbled. When Diane gave him a teacher glare he said, “Don’t look at me. I didn’t cook it. It was Miranda.”

“Miranda? Oh Dear.”

“She’s not that bad anymore.” Ben shrugged.

“Are you sure?” Diane gave the lasagna the stink eye.

Ben nodded. “It’s kind of boring, but that’s all.”

“All right. We’ll trust her for today. Tomorrow I’ll go shopping.” The babysitter pulled out a paring knife and went away at the green olives, dumping them on top of the lasagna.

Ben gave her a funny look, but didn’t say anything. There was no way Gene was going to say anything. She got it all ready, and shoved it in the microwave.

“So, tell me a little about what’s been going on,”

Gene glanced over at Ben, not knowing what to say and thinking Ben ought to be the one talking. And there Ben was looking right back at him like he hadn’t a clue.

“Well, a lot has happened.” Ben said, scratching his head. “What part do you want to know?”

“Everything.” She sat at the table, right in the middle.

“You know my dad’s in jail now, right?”

Diane nodded.

“He tried to kill Mom’s lawyer.”

Her eyes got all big, but she didn’t say anything, so she was playing it cool.

“And I’m a writer now,” Ben went on like it was nothing. Course, he’d already said it a couple of times since she got here. “And crazy Mrs. D tried to get Gene and I locked up as nut jobs, and Drew got the guy who tried to kidnap me, and his brother, the one who shot Vin and now they’re in jail too, only I think they’re getting shipped to Ireland or something because that’s where they came from originally. I guess that’s about it.” Ben scratched his head again like a total dweeb.

“Oh. That’s all.” Diane went to the cupboard for plates, looking kind of stiff. “But how did Gene end up moving in here?”

Gene and Ben did that quick look thing again, like they had something to hide or something.

“He needed a place to stay, so we took him in,” Ben said. Gene could tell he wasn’t going to say anything else about it.

“Suzie said he was her foster son. Pretty serious kind of taking in.” She turned and started talking at Gene. “I understand why you’d want to leave, but didn’t your father argue?”

“I don’t think he’s noticed yet. I didn’t take much of my old stuff with me, and he’s mostly drunk. He probably doesn’t know.”

“Huh. Well, you be careful. When he finally notices, he could get ugly. I had a step father like that. Trust me, you don’t want his kind to pay attention.”

The microwave dinged. Diane ran over like Ms Super Babysitter and ran off to get it. “Here we go.” She cut out pieces and stuck them on their plates. It looked like some weird white cheesy alien with way too many green eyes. Gene kind of stared at it until Diane took a bite. She chewed thoughtfully for a minute, then nodded and put her eyebrows up, and said, “Not bad.”

She was right. It tasted fine.

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