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“Er, what are you doing, Pepper?” Lucile the Giraffolope stood silently at the bathroom door watching Pepper as she shook, and shook, and shook a bottle green liquid over the toilet.
“Creating Christmas Cheer-Water!” Pepper chirped.
“Christmas…what?”
“Cheer-water, Lucile. You know, green water, red water, sparkly water.”
“Um…what is in that bottle?” Lucile pointed to the bright green, almost empty, bottle in Pepper’s hands.
“Food coloring!”
Lucile stilled, momentarily speechless. Then, swiftly twirled around and raced to the kitchen. Pepper turned back to the toilet, shrugged, and continued shaking the bottle until every last drop of food coloring stained the toilet water a bright, Christmas green.
“Hear me out, Pepper.” Lucile stood at the door again, holding a bottle of blue food coloring. “Swamp vs Lagoon.”
Pepper’s eyebrows creeped to her hairline. “I don’t know, Lucile. That doesn’t sound very Christmas-y.”
“Then we’ll make it a Christmas Lagoon! Ornaments, tiny Christmas trees, glitter, reindeer…the works!”
As she rattled off the list of items, Lucile pulled each one into the small bathroom and began running the tub water and dumping the blue food coloring in the bubbling water. “Uh oh! I’m out of blue, can you go to the kitchen and see if there is more?”
Pepper nodded uncertainly and flew to the kitchen, shaking her head uneasily. She searched through the cabinets but couldn’t find another bottle of blue food coloring…just red and yellow and…”Mmmm, Amber maple syrup. Maybe just a little taste…”.
Pepper found a straw and stuck it in the bottle.
SLURP! SLURP! SLUUUURP!
“What is that sound?” asked Lucile, peeking out of the bathroom.
Pepper glanced guiltily at the giraffalope. “Just a little snack.” She pointed to the now, nearly empty bottle.
Lucile shuffled over and peered at the label. “Maple Syrup? Is it good?”
Pepper’s jaw dropped. “You’ve never had maple syrup?!”
“Well…no. I haven’t been ali–around for very long.”
Pepper looked at Lucile quizicaly. “But I thought–.”
“Can I have a sip?” interrupted Lucile.
“Absolutely!” Pepper held the bottle while Lucile took her first-ever slurp of maple syrup.
Slurp. SLURP. SLUUUUUUURPPPP!
Eyes wide, mouth smiling, Lucile smacked her lips. “That was delicious!”
Pepper looked in horror at the now-empty bottle. “Uh-oh.”
Lucile smiled. “Don’t worry. They keep a ton of canned goods stocked downstairs. I bet there is more.”
The two friends crept quietly to the basement store room where they found not one or two more bottles of maple syrup. But an ENTIRE box of bottles of maple syrup.
“This is different,” said Pepper. “It’s Golden rather than Amber. Not as good, but still pretty tasty. I’ll bring a bottle from the North Pole tomorrow to replace the one we drank.”
Lucile eyed the bottle. “Maybe we should try it. Just to make sure it’s really maple syrup.”
Pepper smiled. “What else would be in a bottle labeled ‘maple syrup’. Lucile?”
Lucile grinned and opened the bottle. Then another. Hours later, by the third bottle, Pepper was zipping and zooming around the basement singing Christmas carols and Lucile lay on the floor in a pure sugar coma.
Landing next to the drowsy giraffalope, Pepper frowned. “Did we forget something, Lucile?”
Splish. Splash. Splosh.
Drops of water fell from the ceiling and dripped on Lucile’s head. She sat up, stretched, and yawned. “I don’t know—THE SWAMP!”
Racing up the stairs, the elf and giraffalope gasped in horror as they watched gallons and gallons of blue-dyed water whoosh into the hall.
“Uh oh,” said Lucile.
Pepper sobbed. “I guess this is my first entry into The Book.”
“When creating a swamp vs lagoon in the bathroom, don’t drink maple syrup!”
a pinch of homestead 