Babysitting

Welcome to the Spot Writers. This month's prompt is to write using the following words: Jeep, marathon, pizza, wealthy, bedroom.

Today's tale comes to us from Val Muller, author of the kidlit series Corgi Capers.

 

Babysitting

by Val Muller

 

"Wait, what?" Genevieve knew she should stop zoning out, but this time she really thought she had been paying attention, as she usually did when starting a babysitting gig.

"I know it sounds weird, but our backs can't take it. We're not young anymore." The frazzled dad rubbed the back of his neck, then handed the baby to Genevieve.

She bounced the child and looked back at Mr. Andrews. "So you're saying you really want us to--"

"Yes, eat dinner on the bed, watch a movie on the bed, get the kids to have a jumping marathon on the bed..."

"Anything to break in that mattress," Mrs. Andrews said, coming up the stairs with a handwritten list of instructions and phone numbers for Genevieve. 

"Who knew they had to be broken in? I thought they felt the same way they do in the store..." Mr. Andrews stretched his back by placing one arm against the hallway wall and twisting, muttering, "30 to 90 days to break in. They don't tell you that at the mattress store until you call in with an aching back. You go home thinking you’ll have the best sleep of your life, but you end up with a 30-day backache."

The baby bopped Genevieve on the head, and she shivered with the sudden realization that being a grownup was a lot more difficult and boring than she had imagined. She watched the Jeep pull away, and a part of her reveled in being sixteen and relatively carefree for now.

When the doorbell rang with the pizza the Andrews had ordered for the kids, it was easy to convince Ryan and Sara to eat it in their parents' bed. All Genevieve had to do was tell them that tonight, pizza was allowed in the bedroom, and the kids agreed to a movie. Every kid loves breaking a rule, after all. No food in the bedroom—but not tonight.

But intentions are often better than executions, and soon it was apparent that eating pizza on a mattress, and a stiff one at that, was less than ideal. There was nowhere to put the drinks, so the kids had to keep jumping off the mattress, and every time they did, the plates and pizza would shift, and the baby in Genevieve's arms would fuss. 

 And to be fair to the Andrews and their aching backs, sitting on that stiff mattress was not comfortable at all, and the movie quickly turned into the first fifteen minutes of Moana followed by a lot of complaining. 

"How about we jump?" Genevieve asked, clearing the pizza box while the baby sat fussing in her Pac N Play. 

The jumping started well but then turned into a bumped head, a bag of ice, and a broken lamp. Genevieve finally got the kids to bed and waited eagerly to be able to return to her own carefree life. As the Andrews’ Jeep pulled into the driveway, Genevieve got ready to explain the injuries and accidents and hoped the mattress was at least a little softer after all that. 

 

The Spot Writers—Our Members: 

Val Muller: http://valmuller.com/blog/

Catherine A. MacKenzie: https://writingwicket.wordpress.com/wicker-chitter/

Phil Yeats: https://alankemisterauthor.wordpress.com

Chiara De Giorgi: https://chiaradegiorgi.blogspot.com/