LONDON CALLING

"Well, Abbey is moveable," Angus told her, "and she loves coming to our place, so don't let Abbey be a worry." He listened to Ruby talk about the baby name book and then heard her suggest Caprice. He looked at her for a moment. "Caprice? Really? You wouldn't mind? I would love that, and so would Edward. I think she would have been over the moon to see her great granddaughter carried her name. You know, it's a French name, and it means playful. I hope her world is a safer place than my grandmother's was, and I hope she is always surrounded by joy enough that she never tires of being playful. So if we do that, she'll need a middle name. My grandmother's middle name was Irene, but we should do something a little different."

Ruby looked at Abby and nodded " okay." she said then saw how he lit up at the name she had chosen " thats why I want our daughter to have it,  she will be a Donahue and  she would have been her grand mother." she said then listened what about simone's middle name whats that?" she asked " we could use that if its not too out there" she added as she moved to Abby " abby want to come to our place for a while you can come too Fudge if you want?" she asked scooping up the puzzle and palcing it back into the box " you can bring the puzzle too"

"Oh. Simone's...um...give me a second," he said, frowning. "Edward told me that. What the heck was it, now...Oh! I know. Noor. Her father was a diplomat, and he traveled the world. Noor is an Arabic name, and it means a beautiful light. There's apparently a tradition with the name Noor that says the name lets the baby's spirit shine right from day one. Caprice Noor Donohue? or maybe Caprice Simone Donohue? What do you think?"

"Yeah!" Abbey was excited about going to Ruby and Angus's house. "I take BooBoo too?"

"Where is BooBoo?" Angus asked.

"Gam gived him a swirly," Abbey nodded. Angus started to laugh out loud.

"She did? Did she put him in the dryer then?" he asked.

"I no know," she shrugged.

"I presume you know what a swirly really is, right?" Angus asked Ruby.

Ruby smiled " I like caprice simone, and drier , she said he was in the drier" she said walking over to fetch the stuffed cat from the drier before walking over to Abby " here he is, so I guess we're ready, shall we go?" she asked holding Abby on her hip and Fudge on her shoulder. " don't fall off fudge and hold tight okay." she moved to Angus and smiled as she moved to open the back door.

Opening teh front door of the duplex she moved to teh living room and placed Abby down by a low table. Placing the puzzle on it she then poked the fire to get some heat before throwing on a log. " do you want to call them or shall I?" she asked to Angus.

"You know, a real swirly is something a bully does. He drags his victim into the loo, shoves his head in the toilet and then flushes it. So, I have no idea where Abbey got that term, but I doubt Kate washed BooBoo Kitty in the loo." He followed Ruby and got into the outdoor chair and pushed it over to the duplex's front porch. He left the chair there and walked inside and over to his recliner while Ruby put Abbey at the coffee table with her puzzles and BooBoo Kitty and then stirred up the fire. The fire felt good, and Angus enjoyed being in their cabin in front of a fire. He didn't see either of the boys, but he felt they probably had retreated to their room. Angus didn't enjoy having to be a disciplinarian but that was just as much a part of parenting as all the fun stuff, and he knew it.

"Feel free," Angus told her. "They need to see that you and I mean business and that we will always agree, especially where safety issues are concerned. They might as well learn that right now."

Ruby nodded " I agree" she said then looke at the stairs " SAM, VICTOR CAN YOU COME HERE PLEASE" she called out as she smiled down at Abby placing a peice in the puzzle. She heard foot steps as sthe two boys walked down the stairs towards them. " your father and I would like a word regarding the incident in the tree."

Ruby stayed quiet letting Angus have the first word since he was put in danger buy the stunt. Ruby listened as she played with Abby but she did glance to both boys as he spoke to them.

Angus wasn't sure why she had yelled. He could have done that himself. He had thought she was going to go get them, but that hadn't been her choice. He watched the boys come downstairs.

"Sit," he told them quietly. They stood, unmoving. "Sit,' he told them again. "The last I knew, I do not resemble Reginald Tyler, so you don't need to cower here. We all make questionable choices from time to time, and when you do, we will discuss it accordingly. Sit." He waited, and it got awkward enough that they finally complied and sat down."

"I can't stop you from daring each other," Angus continued. "However, putting each other at any sort of unnecessary safety risk is completely unacceptable. It just is not something we are going to tolerate. This could have ended very, very badly for you, Sam, and for me. We cannot let it go without some discussion. So, here it is. Neither of you will be doing any climbing at all--period--until we give you permission to do so. You'll both have to have the right equipment and some lessons in safe climbing before you ever climb again. Is that understood?" The boys looked at him, and neither replied. He sighed, now starting to get angry.

"I am not talking to hear my head rattle. When I ask you a question, I expect you both to answer me. You heard what I said. No climbing until we say otherwise. Do you both understand that, yes or no? Answer me."

"Yes," Sam replied sheepishly. Victor just nodded.

"We think, since you cannot be responsible with your free time, you will have less free time for awhile. We will be assigning you other tasks and duties to actually be of benefit while you're here. It could be anywhere on the grounds, with anyone that needs your help, at any time. You will get free time only when you're with us and when we feel like giving it to you, after all your tasks are complete. Any questions?"

"No," Sam replied, looking at the floor. Victor didn't reply.

"You have til the count of three to answer me, Victor," Angus said, losing patience with him.

"Fine. I get it," Victor said sarcastically and angrily.

"And you're sure that's the tone you want to use with me, then, is it?"

"It's better than what I could have said," Victor spat out angrily at Angus.

"Go get the broom and sweep off our back deck, our balcony upstairs, our front porch, and Edward's back deck and front porch," Angus said to Victor firmly. "And it better be done right or you'll do it again. Get going right now." Victor got up and went to get the broom, knowing he would have to jockey the one crutch he was using and the broom. "Sam, have you finished your reading for Robert?"

"Almost," Sam said quietly.

"Go get it done--now," Angus told him. Sam got up and fairly ran back upstairs.

Ruby sat quiet but looking at both boys as Angus spoke to them, she was not happy with Victors tone but Angus addressed that quickly and she let him her expreshion leting them both know she was in agreement with Angus in everything he had said. Once they had left she sighed and shook her head " I think Victor will be the rebelious one" she said " but he suprised me with it" she smiled at Abby and placed Fudge down next to her " sorry fudge forgot you were on my shoulder." she told him then smiled to Abby. " hows the puzzle " she asked her hoping to show they were not mad at her for any reason and only some what at the boys for their behaviour. 

Standing she moved to teh kitchen where she switched on the kettle " tea or coffee" she asked Angus " and I know little miss wants berry squash" she said chukaling as she took out a sippy cup for Abby and made a drink for her.

"Yes, well, Victor can try that crap, and I'll nip it really quickly," Angus said. "I'm not having it." Angus heard a bang on the back deck and he glanced out to see Victor had hurled his crutch across the deck. "Well," Angus laughed, "that's not going to help him. Little idjit just had a temper tantrum and tossed his crutch clear across the deck. We are absolutely not rescuing him. He did it, he can figure out how he's going to either manage getting it or do without it."

"Stickee and I got a piece. Stickee smart," Abbey nodded, showing Ruby the piece that Fudge had largely put in by himself, trying to teach her how it was done.

"Good job," Angus told her. He saw Ruby get up to put the kettle on. "Either one is fine. Andrew said Robert has made a new fall tea flavor, and he's going to bring us some over later. Apparently it is a pumpkin sticky toffee tea flavor. I bet its lovely."

"Aggie, it no work," Abbey sighe, frustrated.

"What doesn't work?" he asked.

"Dis!" she pointed at a puzzle piece she was trying to fit into place. The problem was, it was the wrong piece. He took a moment with her to show her the picture of the cupcake puzzle and put it next to her puzzle with the center piece missing--the piece that would put the cherry on top of the cupcake. He had to work with her to get her to see that the cherry was what she was looking for. When she saw it, she found the right piece, and then Angus sat back and let Fudge and Abbey struggle to get it put in right. From where he sat, Angus could hear Victor shouting and venting, and Angus was going to give him about one more minute before he went outside to shush him. From what Angus could hear, Victor was mad now that his leg hurt, but if he hadn't chucked away his crutch, his leg wouldn't be hurting.

"Do not go out there," Angus told Ruby. "I'm not done letting him struggle." About thirty seconds later, Angus heard Sam shout down from the balcony in the master bedroom.

"Shut up, you little dork! You've caused enough crap today!" Sam shouted at Victor.

Ruby listened to Angus and smiled " oh is it spiced pumkin?" she asked but when he said it was pumpkin sticky toffee she beamed " that sounds hevenly" she said and made a cup of coffee for him , tea for herself and the sippy cup for Abby. When she heard the tud she looekd to Angus and shook her ehad " silly boy" she said "oh don't worry Im not" she said walking over with the drinks.

Hearing Victor curse she wanted to cover Abbys ears but then heard Sam call down to him to shut up. This made Ruby smirk " well they brought this on them selves." she said as she sat back and sipped her tea quietly watching Abby and Fudge put the puzzle together. " you think Kate will know to look over here for Abby?" she asked