Child's Play
Rated G
Will Jr. and Kestra were now seven and were playing in there grandmother's backyard with a present their dad gave them from Earth. Their dad said it was a felis catus, other wise known as a cat to non-scientist. She was a calico about four months old and very playful.
"Oh, Willy!" Kestra exclaimed as she petted the purring kitten. "Isn't she so precious!"
"She bit me!" Will Jr exclaimed.
"Well, if you hadn't pulled her tail."
"I didn't!" Will Jr. retorted. "I was just playing with her tail."
"Even so, you should have listened to her." Kestra replied. "She warned you."
"How do you know? You're not telepathic, at least not yet."
"She cried and growled. That's how I know." Kestra said sticking her nose up in the air.
The kitten wiggled out of her arms and started chasing a green, hopping insect that looked similar to an Earth grasshopper. She pounced it and once she had sufficiently caught the insect it went into her mouth.
"Oh, no! Willy!" Kestra cried. "She ate it! She's gonna die!"
Then she ran toward the house shouting, "Grandmother! Grandmother!"
Lwaxana met her at the door. "Whatever is the matter, child?" Lwaxana asked with concern.
"Kitty ate a grasshopper and now she'll die!" Kestra cried.
Lwaxana hugged her granddaughter. "Oh, Precious. She'll be fine. It's just a harmless salatin. Cats eat things like that all the time and live, Dear."
"You sure?" Kestra sniffled.
"Yes, Precious." Lwaxana smiled and hugged her. "She'll be just fine." Then she took noticed of her grandson. "William Thomas Riker Jr! What are you doing?"
"It's hot, so I stripped off my shirt." He grinned. "I have pecs like my dad. See?"
Lwaxana was wided eyed. "A child of the Fifth House, stripping! Where did you get such ideas, much less the word?"
"Mama and Dad were playing around one night. I got up and caught 'em." He explained. "Mama teased him and told him to strip. So, he took off his shirt and then they saw me. I saw Daddy strip! I saw Daddy strip!"
Lwaxana was shocked as he continued. "Before they caught me, Mama told Daddy he had nice pecs."
Lwaxana made a mental note to talk to Deanna and Will about this behaviour and their son's imatation of Will's striptease act. "Well, put your shirt back on, now!" She scolded.
"Oh, OK." He said sadly. "I was just hot, like Daddy said. He took his off because he was hot. At least that was what he told me, but I heard Mama tell him to strip."
Lwaxana frowned. "Well, I'm sure he was, but you need to keep your shirt on as a child of the Fifth House."
"Daddy doesn't." He said as he pulled his shirt on backwards and wrong side out.
"I don't care. You leave your's on." Lwaxana saw his shirt and started fussing with over it. "Oh, honestly. Haven't your parents taught you the proper way to wear your shirt?"
She pulled it back off of him and turned it right side out and placed it back over his head. Then she heard the ringing sound of her Muktuk and looked in that direction.
"Get that cat out of my Muktuk!" She exclaimed. "She'll ruin it and I worked hard to grow one in the yard! Uh, it took me a long time to grow it and that cat is taking five seconds to destroy it!"
Kestra crawled into the ringing, flowering plant and grabbed Kitty. "Kestra, stop!" Lwaxana shouted. "You're worse than that cat!"
Kestra crawled back out with the cat, stood and looked down at the ground. "I'm sorry, Grandmother. I didn't mean to hurt it."
Lwaxana looked apologetically at her granddaughter. "I'm sorry, Precious. I shouldn't be scolding you. After all, I did tell you to get her out of the Muktuk. You were only following my orders."
Then Lwaxana patted Kestra on the back, then knelt down in front of her. "Why don't we go inside with the cat and have some chocolate milk and cookies."
"Can Kitty have some, too?" Kestra asked.
"Oh, no. Chocolate will make Kitty sick." Lwaxana thought for a moment and then said, "Why don't we give her a warm bowl of milk?"
"Yeah!" Kestra agreed with joy.
"Hey!" Will Jr. shouted with a pouty look on his face. "Can I have some, too?"
"Warm milk?" Kestra and Lwaxana asked at the same time.
"No, sillies." He laughed. "Chocolate milk and cookies."
Lwaxana was taken aback. "I'm not silly!"
"No, Grandmother, I mean you're funny." Will Jr. stated.
"Funny?" She asked.
"Grandmother?" Kestra asked. "Are the cookies chocolate, chocolate chip cookies?"
Lwaxana dismissed the funny remark and answered Kestra. "Oh, yes, Precious. Your mother always liked those cookies growing up and I have just kept them in supply. Believe it or not she still likes them."
"We know!" The twins said in unison with a big smile.
They all laughed and the four of them went into the house. Kitty was happily purring in Kestra's arms. Once Lwaxana had a bowl of warm milk set down on the floor, Kestra put her down to let her drink. Kitty lapped up the milk as the children and Lwaxana had their snack. All four were happy and content.
Lwaxana was the happiest, though. She had her grandchildren for a nice visit and for all the trouble, she was enjoying every minute of their visit. Then she looked down at the cat and thought with a smile, "Including the cute little kitten."
