Click here to start from the beginning!
Nim watched Leonard twirl around the tree with a sad sigh. Santa told them that the giraffalopes knew their fate, but was it polite to talk about it?
“Hey, Leonard?”
“Hmm?”
“Santa said…he told us…that is…”.
“You know.”
Nim nodded.
“Well, good!” Leonard jumped up. “I always thought it was silly to keep it a secret from you, but you know the Big Guy…”.
Nim was starting to think he didn’t know the big guy at all, actually. “Aren’t you sad, Leonard?”
“Sad?”
“Yeah. After this year you won’t be around to…help me.”
“Pah! That is not at all true!”
Nim eyed Leonard, suddenly worried that Santa hadn’t really explained the situation to the giraffalopes.
“I mean, I may not be able to help you, but I’ll be around. Those boys love me and there is no way they are getting rid of me after this season.”
Nim smiled. “Of course they love you, Leonard. Of course they do.”
Leonard gave a brief nod. “So, what’s on the agenda tonight?”
“Fun with fruit.” Nim held up a bag of oranges and a bag of assorted googly eyes.
“Huh?”
“I heard Joe’s mom saying she had ‘eyes everywhere’ so they’d better behave, so I thought…let’s put eyes everywhere.”
Nim and Leonard got to work. By the time they were through the bag of googly eyes, they’d eyed up all the oranges, bananas, apples, and pears in the house.
“Hm,” said Nim as they stood back to admire their work.
“It’s a little…”
“Too much?” finished Nim.
“Over the top,” said Leonard.
Nim tilted his head, taking in the fruit army staring back at them. He started laughing—a full, belly-deep laugh that made his pointy ears wiggle. “Over the top is kind of the point, isn’t it?”
Leonard joined in, chuckling. “You’re right. We’ve created an army of fruit that’s ready to shame anyone sneaking a cookie before dinner.”
“Perfect,” Nim said, grinning. “But I think we can go further.”
Leonard raised an eyebrow. “Further? We’re out of fruit and out of eyes.”
Nim rummaged through a drawer and pulled out a roll of tape. “Who said anything about stopping with fruit? What about the cereal boxes? The milk jug? Oh, and the sugar container!”
Leonard’s eyes widened.
Nim grinned. “Now, let’s get to work.”
For the next hour, the two of them added googly eyes to every possible surface in the kitchen. By the time they were done, everything from the salt shaker to the toaster glared back at them with wide, wobbly eyes.
Leonard wiped his brow dramatically. “Well, I’m officially exhausted. Do you think this will actually work?”
Nim shrugged. “If nothing else, it’ll give the boys something to think about. And maybe it’ll make them laugh.”
“Or scream,” Leonard added, smirking.
Nim chuckled. “Either way, mission accomplished.”
Just as they were about head to their spots for the night, Nim stopped and glanced back at the googly-eyed chaos. He turned to Leonard with a mischievous grin. “You know…we could always do the bathroom next.”
a pinch of homestead 