The footsteps stopped and Seri let out a giggle. “Severo…”
Skya squealed. “Bah ah!”
“There are no Severos here,” he hawed! “Only seahorses named James.”
“Oh, I see. Well, James. What are you doing in my house?”
Severo cleared his throat. “I’m here to tell a story, of course!”
“Ah, of course.”
“Oh-Oh!” Skya giggled, identifying him despite his attempt at changing his voice.
He sighed when Seri snickered.
“No Oh-Ohs, Skya. That is seahorse James.”
He heard the man take a seat on the couch.
“Oh-Oh,” Skya said fiercely, as if she was insulted her daddy would try to tell her she was wrong.
Severo chuckled. “Oh-Oh is telling a story through James the seahorse, gummy bear. Prepare to be entertained!”
“Oh-Oh!” Skya cheered.
He cleared his throat and went full crazy seahorse voice. “Once there was a Seahorse named James?—”
“James and Timothy,unsure who the mother was, decided it didn’t matter. The two went on their merry way, having more children…” Severo hesitated before saying, “No mother ever being named.”
Seri snorted. “They did, huh?”
“Yes, they did. Now, shh, I’m not finished.”
Severo cleared his throat and the weird horse-like voice returned. “‘OH, JAMES, HOW HAPPY I AM!’ Timothy cried. ‘Oh, Timothy! Let’s live the rest of our lives with our beautiful children. No worries or cares! Because, I mean, one of them is bound to get a high paying job eventually, right?!’”
“See-See!” Skya giggled when the seahorses began to smooch, Severo making loud kissing noises.
The puppets dropped off the stage, a curtain closing as the Dweller cleared his throat again. The next time he spoke, he was back to his narrator voice. “And so, our couple lived together with their many, many, many, many, many, many children until they were old and gray. Supported by their one overachiever child, as she was the only one who managed to get a high paying job. The end.”
Shaking his head, he clapped, causing Skya to clap too.
Wow, what a weird story of betrayal…questionable morals, and things that probably weren’t appropriate for a baby. At least Skya was too young to understand it. Well, Skya had enjoyed it, so he guessed that was all that mattered. Even if it had only been because of the voices and colorful puppets Severo used.
Seri looked up at the sound of the apartment door opening. His brow raised slightly in concern when Severo appeared in the hall, a large box in his hands, along with a wide smile on his face. “What did you buy? Or should I be asking how much did you buy?”
Skya had enough clothes to clothe three additional babies, at different ages as she was growing, and now had a whole pile of stuff she couldn’t fit into anymore.
“Don’t get that look! It’s something good, I promise! You’ll love it!”
“Oh-Oh,” Skya said happily.
“Oh-Oh bought you something amazing, Skya!” Severo cleared his throat. “But first, we need to move her playpen into another room, and push the coffee table and couch back.”
“Well…I guess that means it’s not clothes at least,” Seri drawled.
“No clothes…something better!” the man said as he set the box on the floor and started pushing the couch back to the wall with Seri still on it.
Rolling his eyes, he jumped up and moved around the coffee table to pick Skya up. He typed in the code on the panel on the upper right side of the pen to collapse it into a small, easily movable cube—which he picked up and set on the kitchen counter.
