YAY! Christmas Day, and it's done!!!! ;D MERRY CHRISTMAS, CARINA! ARE YOU HAPPY?! (I get the laptop now *does her happy dance*) Shannon smiled at Keith and Rebecca. “Hey, kids. I’m here to babysit you.”
“You talk funny,” Keith said matter-of-factly.
“Thanks. Your voice is funny, too.” Shannon grinned. “I’m from America. I moved here last month, but I’ve known your mom for longer than that. So, what do we want to do?”
Rebecca turned around and lay down. “I’m tired,” she said.
“Don’t listen to her,” Keith said. “She always says that. It’s her way of getting the babysitter to leave her alone in her room so that she can do whatever she wants. It usually works, too. But not today.”
“Aw, Keith, how can you say that about your sweet little sister?” Shannon demanded. “Look at her. She looks so tired.”
Keith scoffed. “Whatever.”
“Rebecca, do you want to lie down?”
She nodded. “Pwease.” Her large eyes looked so innocent. Maybe Keith was right, Shannon thought. But even if he was, she couldn’t really resist Rebecca’s eyes. They were simply... cute and innocent.
“Well, I suppose you can lie down. But you have to get up in an hour, okay? So that we can spend some time together?”
Rebecca nodded and, getting up, went to her room and shut the door. The creak of her bed showed a second later that she truly was lying down. Shannon turned to Keith triumphantly. “See, she’s really in bed.”
“Yeah. Just wait for her to get up a few minutes later when she knows you’re not listening anymore.” Keith folded his arms across his chest. “I’m serious!”
Shannon nodded. “I believe you. Now, what do you want to do?”
He raised his eyebrows incredulously. “You think I’m gonna hang out with the babysitter?”
Shannon’s eyes widened. “What happened to the sweet, innocent, ‘Becca boo took me toys’ a couple of minutes ago?”
Keith shrugged. “That was for Ma and Da’s benefit. I don’t actually talk like that in real life.”
“So...” Shannon said after an awkward pause. “What do you do in your spare time?”
Keith’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Well, I play guitar...”
“Really?” Shannon asked, excited. “I do, too! I love the guitar. And all music, for that matter. Are you any good?”
“Yes!” Keith exclaimed. “Do you think I wouldn’t be any good? Come on.”
Shannon could tell she had wounded his pride. “Well, could I hear you play?”
Keith sighed dramatically. “Sure.” He walked off into a room and came back a few moments later with a guitar in hand. “This is Bessie.” He rubbed the wood happily. “She’s my favorite.”
Shannon blinked, surprised. “Well then. Play. Please?”
Keith tuned the instrument expertly before starting to play. Shannon was surprised. The kid had talent. He couldn’t be any more than twelve years old, and here he was playing so much better than she did at sixteen years. When he was done, she was silent for a moment. “You... are incredible,” she finally said.
“Thanks...” Keith said, smiling slightly. “I’ve been playing for a long time.”
“I’ve never heard that song before,” Shannon said, tilting her head. “Is it an old Irish song that I’ve never heard?”
“No, I wrote it,” Keith said. “Still working on words, though.”
Shannon shook her head, amazed. “Wow.”
“Yep. And while I was playing, Becca boo got off her bed and is now playing with her dolls, I’ll bet you.” Keith put his guitar down and went to Rebecca’s room.
Shannon overtook him. “What if she’s sleeping?” she hissed.
He shrugged. “She’ll get over it.”
“But I won’t.” Shannon crossed her arms. “How about we just play a game?”
He smiled. “Okay. I think I like that idea. What do you want to play?”
Shannon glanced at her watch and opened her eyes wide. They had been playing a board game that Keith had introduced to her for two hours. “Keith, you should go to bed,” she whispered to the sleepy boy. “It’s really late.”
He dragged himself into a standing position. “But I’m not tired,” he groaned. With that, he lay down on the couch and promptly fell asleep.
Shannon smiled and put on her favorite movie, sighing at all the ‘cute parts.’ “I could babysit the Harkins anytime,” she decided.
Ryan frowned at his cousins. “What do you think you’re doing?!” he yelled at them, his hands on his hips angrily. “You know you can die when you do that, right?”
His cousins turned to look at him with angelic smiles on his face. The two boys were attempting to rewire the television set, and the girl was climbing the blinds, trying to see if she could touch the ceiling. She started slipping and Ryan ran to catch her.
He set her down and wiped his brow. “You kids are in so much trouble,” he hissed at the boys.
“Ryan,” said the older one calmly, “we were just attempting to reset the television set. You see, we were having difficulties in our signal strength. We decided that changing the settings would let the signal come through stronger. And we would get a better selection of movies.”
“Bunch of geniuses ye are,” Ryan muttered. “Come on, if you’re so smart, why didn’t you just bounce the signal off the satellite? Then you could have movies ahead of time.” When his cousins gave each other significant looks, he slapped his forehead. “That’s not what I meant! Come on, look to your sister. She was climbing the blinds.”
“Oh, you know you can’t do that,” said his younger cousin, worried. He picked up his little sister. “Mum says that you’re not supposed to climb anything. Go play in your pen.” He put her inside his play pen. “Ryan, will you help us put the television set back together?”
Ryan walked around to the back of the set and sighed. “No problem. I can do that.” He rolled his eyes and started putting wires back in the appropriate spots.
“Lindsay?” Mrs. McGinty quietly called.
Lindsay came out from the boys’ play room. “Hi,” she said. “They finally fell asleep. Do they usually stay up past eleven o’clock?”
She sighed. “They’re nocturnal when we have babysitters. Darling,” this was to Damian, Sr., “do you think...?”
“Definitely,” he said, pulling out his wallet. “Thank you. I trust they didn’t kill each other or attempt to?”
“Well, I dunna know about attempts...” she said slowly. “I mean, Damian did lock Conor in the bathroom with an agenda in mind... I don’t know what that agenda was, though. And they did try to play steamroller. I’m afraid Conor got the worst of it.”
Mrs. McGinty rolled her eyes. “They love that game.”
Mr. McGinty extended his hand. “Thank you so much,” he said earnestly. “You did a much better job than some of our recent babysitters. I usually come home to find that Conor killed Damian. Or the other way around. But you did an excellent job.” He paid her and then said, “Now go home and get some rest. You deserve it.”
Lindsay smiled. “Thank you so much.” She walked out the door and breathed a sigh of relief. She really did need that rest. She groaned when she realized she’d have to walk and began walking slowly.
Shannon turned off the movie and glanced at the clock. “Goodness, they’re still gone,” she muttered. She yawned and jumped when the door opened. “Oh, hello.”
Mr. and Mrs. Harkin walked in. “So, how was it?”
“Oh, they were excellent. You might want to check on Rebecca, though. She was sleeping the whole time.” Shannon shrugged. “And Keith played the guitar for me and then we played a game.”
“Keith played the guitar for you?” Mrs. Harkin asked, surprised. “He must really like you.”
“Yeah, it was his song that he wrote. It was beautiful.” Shannon shrugged on her coat.
Mr. Harkin was staring with wide eyes. “He played you this song without words?”
“Yes...” Shannon said slowly. “Now, I should get home. My mom just called a few minutes ago, wondering when I’d be back.”
“I wonder if he’ll name his song after you,” Mr. Harkin murmured. “He said he was looking for the perfect girl’s name. And it had to have two syllables.” He hummed the song to himself. “It’d work.”
“No, honey, he’ll probably choose a silly name like Lauren or something,” Mrs. Harkin laughed. “Now, Shannon, thank you so much. You did a great job.” She handed her the payment and asked, “Is your mom coming to pick you up?”
Shannon shook her head. “My car is parked down the street.”
“Okay.” Mrs. Harkin smiled. “Thanks again, and good night.”
Shannon smiled and walked out the door and to her car.
“Ryan! Will you help me with—”
“Ryan? Come here, I want somebody to have a tea party with me!”
“Ryan, I need someone to help me with my legos. Now, just hold here, and we’ll be able to do it together. Okay?”
Ryan held his head and prayed very earnestly. A moment later, the door opened and his eyes popped open. “Thank you, Jesus,” he whispered. “Hi, sis!”
His sister surveyed the room. “Hi. What happened in here?”
“Oh, we just did a little electrical work,” Ryan said sheepishly. “And I have to leave. Now.”
He escaped quickly and ran to his car. He was driving when he saw his friend Lindsay. He pulled over. “Hey, Lindsay,” he said in a surprised voice.
“Oh, Ryan! Hi.” She looked beat.
“What are you doing walking home right now?” he asked.
“Oh, I was babysitting the McGinty’s. Never do it.” She sighed.
“Do you want a ride home?” he asked, smiling slightly.
“Yes!” she yelled, instantly getting in. “Thank you so much!” She leaned back against the seat and sighed.
Ryan smiled. It may have been a long night, but it was time to go home.
If the babysitters could have read minds, they would have all cheered at that thought.
And yes, I realize that there is no way Lindsay and Ryan could have met up. But it's possible in this story.