Backdated Log: Let Me See Your Easter Egg Roll (1/2)
Who: Abby Hudson, Altair Evans, Brittany Pierce, Cassie O’Malley, Colin O’Malley, Emma Rodriguez, Finn Hudson, Lily Chang, Mike Chang, Nolan O’Malley, Rowan O’Malley, Sam Evans, Sawyer Reid, Sophia Ben Israel, Tommy Chang
When: Sunday, April 24, 2019
Where: Lincoln Park
What: The Easter Festivities
Heading Out:
Mike was happy for the opportunity to take his niece out to the park for the Easter Eggstravaganza. He wanted to spend time with his Lil’ Lily so she wouldn’t be feeling neglected after the birth of her baby brother. Tommy would be tagging along as well. After the entire Chang clan had attended the 8 am mass at St. Rose and had brunch at Tommy’s, their mother insisted her eldest son get out of the house. Cory Chang would be fussing over her newest grandson while her daughter-in-law rested. And it was hard to say no to Cory Chang.
So the three of them were on their way.
Looking over at his brother sitting in the driver seat, Mike grinned. “When Nay said she could hold down the fort, you practically bolted for the car. Someone wants some sliders from Kewpee. Or is it those Mello-Creme donut holes you got your eyes on?”
“When Nay says ‘go’ there’s no question that I’m going,” Tommy smirked. “We both know that when she’s made up her mind that we’ll never change it. It’s useless! And to answer your question; sliders first then donut holes.”
Lily tugged at her uncle’s arm to get his attention, “C’mon Tito Mike! Papa says sliders first and I am hungry. I want one with cheese!”
“You want just one with cheese, Lils?” Mike laughed at his niece. “I’m gonna get like eight. Kewpee is the best in town. But don’t forget in all the excitement, we’re going to find Rowan.” A soft grin slipped onto his face. “She’ll be here with her nephews and niece.”
“Remember what I said about stuffing kids Migs?” his brother asked. “As much as we all love those sliders they came by that name honestly. We made sure she had a healthy breakfast so let’s not push our luck. Anyway, did Rowan say where she wanted to meet?”
“Okay, okay. Fine.” Mike drew out the last word. “Children puking is unpleasant. But you’ll hold my hair back if I get sick right, Kuya?” He batted his eye lashes. “And to answer your question, would you believe Rowan said that we should meet her by the food table? She knows me so well.”
Tommy chuckled softly as they finally reached their destination. They had gotten to the venue relatively early so finding a parking space was easy. He shifted the car into park then turned off the car.
“Okay Lily,” he began. “I need you to hold my hand or your Tito Migs’ hand while we’re in the park. We need to know where you are at all times, okay? All right. Let’s go have some fun!”
Arriving:
Rowan stood on the sidewalk in front of the park, sliding the passenger door of her cousin’s mini-van open. “Thanks again for taking them, Row,” her cousin was saying as he grabbed his briefcase from underneath one of the seats. “I really wish I could stay...”
“Don’t worry about it. Nolan and I can manage.” She smiled and gave him the keys to her own car so he could get to his real estate office. “Say goodbye to your dad, guys.” While a chorus of goodbye shrieks sounded from the backseat, Colin O’Malley simply gave a small wave. His dad reached over to ruffle his red hair before heading to where Rowan had parked her car.
Rowan turned back to the boys, watching as they unbuckled their seat belts and prepared to dash from the vehicle. “Okay. Remember, play nice with the other kids. Don’t push and don’t run.”
“But we’re at a park, Auntie Row. If we don’t run, we’ll die!”
Row bit back a laugh. She really didn’t mind babysitting. As rambunctious as her collection of nephews were, they were really great kids at heart. “Just be careful, okay? We don’t want a repeat of Halloween, do we?”
“It’s not our fault the stroller was in the way of the candy bowl!”
And other times she was sure they were demon children.
“Hey, listen to your aunt.” Nolan came trudging up to the mini van. He had driven separately to accommodate their niece's car seat and diaper bag. “Bumping into babies is a bad thing. Isn’t that right, Cassie?” He made a silly face at the toddler in his arms and was rewarded with a giggle.
Rowan shook her head and waved them off, stepping out of the way as the army of O’Malley children charged onto the field towards the festivities. As she locked the van and got ready to walk towards the middle of the park, she noticed Colin stayed behind with her.
“How come you’re the only one who doesn’t act like they’ve ingested pure sugar for breakfast?” When he didn’t answer, she looked over curiously to find him staring at the parking spot his father had departed from a few minutes ago. She frowned. She knew he was taking his parents’ divorce the hardest and he was still getting used to his dad’s longer shifts. “You okay, Buddy?”
“I’m fine.”
“Your friends are gonna be here, right?” He shrugged. “How about Abby?” A nervous flicker of a smile crossed his face at the mention of his crush before he shrugged again.
As Rowan opened her mouth to say something else--“Hey, look what I can do!” Her eyes snapped in the direction of the shout. Then she stared. “...Colin, please tell me your brother isn’t dancing on a tree branch. We just got here.”
“Wow,” Nolan laughed. Rowan aimed a glare at him and he shrugged. “What? I’m impressed. Kid’s got hops. He scaled up that thing like a ninja.”
“If you weren’t holding a small child, I’d hit you.”
“Chill, I’ll round ‘em up.” Nolan grinned, carefully handing their niece to Rowan before chasing after their nephews. “Hey!”
Through her amusement, Rowan sighed. It was going to be a long day. “C’mon, Bug.” She pat Colin on the back. “Let’s head over to the food tables. I think I see pie.”
----/----\----
Snack Time
With her niece back with Nolan and Colin wandering over to a friend from class, Row went to check out the spread of food the volunteers had set out. As she was passing an arrangement of pies, she looked up and noticed the familiar face on the other side of the table. “Hey, you.”
“Hey.” Mike greeted her warmly. “We’re always meeting over pie it seems.” He scanned the area around them. “So where’s the gang of hooligans at?”
“That’s because it’s the best way to meet.” She followed his gaze around the crowd. “Let’s see, Nolan’s over there with our niece.” She motioned over to where her brother was holding Cassie, chatting with a couple acquaintances. “And the boys are...” She took note of them at the playground, face paint station, and two of them fighting over which color of Peeps they wanted. “Everywhere.”
Rowan fixed him with a grin as she walked around to his side of the table. “So where’s the Chang clan?”
Mike kissed Rowan in way of greeting, then put his arm around her. “Well. Liz is getting a much needed rest while Timothy is with my parents. So it’s just me, Tommy, and Lil Lily. We ran into Finn and Abby. Lily wanted to go with her big cousin to snag some sliders. Tommy went with. Thought I’d find you first.” He smiled suggestively.
“Aw, how thoughtful,” Rowan smirked. Leaning into his embrace, she tiptoed to place a kiss on his cheek, but he purposely turned his head so it would land on his lips. She pulled back, her admonishing gasp rendered ineffective by her grin. “Cheater.”
“Hey. I can’t help it. Your kisses are my favorite.” Mike smiled innocently. "Of course I'm going to use some cheat codes to get some from you.” He then wiggled his eyebrows up and down.
Rowan’s mouth twitched in a way that made it clear she was holding back a laugh. “Have I ever told you how attractive you look when you do that?”
“Maybe. But really never enough times. My self esteem needs the boost.” Mike grinned. He got an idea. He picked Rowan up. At her laughter, his grin got bigger. “I’m just going to bring you to a table. And grab us some grub. And pie. I won’t forget the pie. Unless you just want to bypass the table.”
“Hmm. As tempting as that sounds, I’ll take the table and pie.” Rowan grinned and leaned into him, winding an arm around his shoulder.
“Oh wow. That’s kinky.” Mike grinned. “Didn’t know you had it in you.” He chuckled as his girlfriend smacked him on the back.
“Put me down, you dork.” Rowan laughed as he pouted but complied and set her back on her feet. “We’ll save the kink for later. There are children present,” she teased, her grin widening at his surprise.
“Okay.” Mike laughed. “Here’s where I say something about me and you having our own private Easter egg hunt later. But I’m a gentleman, so I’ll refrain. Plus I need to get you that pie.” He hooked his thumb, pointing over shoulder at the food stall.
“Dirty. So very dirty,” she chided playfully, shaking her head. “But hey, I like that you’re remembering to get me pie. That kind of chivalry is admirable.”
“I’m getting pie for me too.” Mike winked, trying to play it off. But really he was happy to be able to do things for his girlfriend. Rowan was his girlfriend. And that made him the happiest guy in the world. He gave her a little salute before going to the snack table.
On the way to table with the baked goods, he grabbed some potato salad that those Korean church ladies made. They made the best potato salad he had ever tasted. Moving to the dessert table, Mike figured accompanying the potato salad with something sweet like a slice of pie would be a weird taste combination. The more he thought about it the more he wanted to try it out.
Mike bypassed the brownies, and went straight to the pie. He was browsing the selection and wondering what to get. Then he spotted Finn. “I take it you’re enjoying yourself. I’m tempted to just take an entire pie.”
Finn looked up from his third piece of pie and smiled sheepishly. “I probably should’ve just done that.” He looked down at his plate and grinned. “You know, who needs girls when you can have pie instead?”
Raising an eyebrow, Mike said, “That makes me think of American Pie. But you and your pie friend can do whatever you like. I won’t judge.” He chuckled. “So what have you left for the rest of us.” He scanned the pies. “Well, cherry. Chocolate cream. Strawberry Rhubarb. Okay. Those all sound like good bets. So I’ll go with three slices from each.”
Before taking a slice of goodness, Mike handed over his chits to the volunteer manning the dessert table. He bought the booklet earlier for the booths taking chits. Each chit was a dollar. It was for charity right?
“I wanted to thank you again for bringing Abby.” He had been hoping that Quinn and Rachel could come too. Even if Rachel didn’t celebrate the holiday. But things with the paparazzi were still heated. He was hoping to get used to shared holidays, all of them spending family time together. It was a lot of people to keep track of. “And to show how much I appreciate it. Have a slice on me.” He handed over one more chit.
Finn laughed, taking the chit from him. "Hey thanks, buddy. I would've brought her anyway, but there's no way I'm turning down free pie." He took another bite, then said, "But seriously, we wouldn't miss it. I know I've been super busy lately, and it's still a little... weird... but you're still my best bud even if I'm a sucky friend." He tapped his plastic fork against his chin. "Hey, we should do Fat Jack's again. You, me, and Drizzle. I bet they miss us," Finn grinned.
“Fat Jack’s would be great.” Mike smiled at his best friend. He missed those nights when the three of them just hung out at their favorite pizza joint in their usual booth. They would just talk about whatever Abby felt like, and the two of them would chime in. A lot of laughter due to cheesy jokes and extra cheesy slices. “Name the day and time.”
“Next Friday, the usual time?” Finn asked. He was already looking forward to it. “Drizzle’s gonna be so excited.”
“Yeah. Same booth and everything.” Mike looked back towards the table where Rowan was waiting for him. “So you want to come and hang out with me and Rowan? I’m sure she won’t mind.” Soon the three of them were laughing at something he said. He was glad that his best bud and girlfriend were getting along.
Face Painting:
Sophia smiled and said goodbye to the latest of the kids to turn up at the face painting booth. Luckily, the little girl had only wanted a bunny nose and whiskers. If anyone requested anything beyond that she was going to be pretty screwed, perhaps she should have mentioned that her artistic ability was basically zero when she had volunteered for this event.
Nolan carried Cassie through the crowd, navigating their way past the various activity booths. When they reached what appeared to be the face painting table, she tugged on his sleeve and pointed to a passing girl with whiskers painted across her cheeks. He smiled and looked down at her. “You wanna get your face painted too?” At her nodding, he brought them over to the teenager working the booth. “Hey,” he greeted with a smile. “She wanted to get her face painted.” The little girl in his arms gazed at the paint pallet with a bright grin.
“Okay.” Sophia nodded at the man before turning her attention to the little girl, smiling brightly. “Hi cutie.” She said kneeling down so that she was face to face with the child. “Would you like bunny ears and whiskers?”
Flustered by the attention of stranger, Cassie turned and hid her head against Nolan’s shoulder. “Sorry, she’s a little shy.” He pat her gently on the back and encouraged her to look at samples on the table. “Do you want bunny ears? She can paint them for you.” He looked back at the teenager. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name. I’m Nolan and this munchkin here is Cassie.” He tickled Cassie’s side and she giggled, picking her head back up.
“My name’s Sophia.” She answered him, smiling when the little girl giggled. “Maybe your...” Sophia trailed off, not actually knowing how this man was related to the child, “...dad can hold you while I paint your face? Would that make her feel more comfortable?” She addressed the last question to Nolan.
“Nice to meet you.” He smiled before regarding his niece again. “How does that sound, Cass?” She nodded and he moved to sit down on the chair provided, shifting Cassie so she was facing Sophia. “She’s my niece,” he corrected, not unkindly. “Dad? Man, I must be getting old.”
“Uhh...sorry?” Sophia grinned sheepishly. She should have gone with her first instinct and not made any assumptions. “and don’t worry I didn’t mean that you looked old, you look not old...” Not old? Sophia shook her head, she was starting to sound like a real idiot, time to shut up. “Okay so we’ve got blue, green, pink or purple. Do you have a favorite color or do we want to go all rainbow or something?”
Nolan grinned. “Don’t worry about it.” Cassie looked at the paints again before smiling. “Rainbow.”
“Good choice,” Sophia smiled back at the child. “Don’t tell anyone I said this but rainbow is way better than just one color. You’re the first one to pick it too, so you’re going to be the coolest, prettiest girl in this whole place.” She reached for the paints and painted on bunny whiskers in multiple colors before deciding to paint her nose in all four colors too, instead of the standard black. Hopefully, the kid’s uncle wouldn’t mind that it turned out a tad lopsided, a career as an artist definitely wasn’t in her future. “There you go, all done.”
Looking at her reflection in the mirror Sophia held up for her, Cassie beamed. “I look like a bunny.” Nolan laughed lightly. “That you do. Say thank you, Cass.”
“Thank you,” she said, still transfixed by the colors on her face.
“You’re welcome.” Sophia smiled in relief, apparently her artistic abilities passed the three year old test and that was good enough for her.
Nolan smiled, carefully shifting Cassie back in his arms as to not smudge the fresh paint. “Well, we’re gonna go check out what else they’ve got going on here. Thanks again.” Noticing they were leaving, Cassie waved at Sophia.
“No problemo, it’s like my job.” Sophia grinned, waving at Cassie as they retreated, cute kids like that made volunteering pretty awesome.
Lily started to jump and point at the face painting table the moment she saw it. She tugged at her father’s arm as she began to yell, “Papa! Please can I get a rainbow on my cheek? Please Papa?”
Tommy’s shoulder bobbed a few times before he answered, “Sure sweetpea. We’ll go over to ask the nice girl if she can paint a rainbow on your face. Can you please stop pulling on my arm now? It hurts, Lily.”
She stopped quickly as they made their way over to the table. Her father looked over the piece of paper with examples of what they could choose from.
“Aha! They do have a rainbow!” he enthused. He held the piece of paper up and pointed to the picture. “This one sweetie? You’d like a rainbow like this?”
Lily nodded her head as she sat down in the chair.
“Could we please have a rainbow on each cheek, please?” he asked.
“Sure.” Sophia smiled. Rainbow might be a little more challenging than the bunny face but she was pretty sure she could handle that and, well, if not she was pretty sure the stuff washed off. She reached for the paints and added. “My name is Sophia by the way and I think that rainbow is a pretty awesome choice.”
Lily giggled as she swung her legs in the chair. “I like ponies and rainbows and rainbows are awesome. You are a smart lady!”
Sophia couldn’t help the grin that spread on her face as the little girl giggled. Kids were so cute and being referred to as a lady was kind of hysterical. “I like ponies and rainbows too!” she told the child as she started to paint the first rainbow on her right cheek. She concentrated carefully on not screwing up and when she finished she titled her head to the side to look at it, not too shabby, she was getting better at this painting thing. “One down, one to go.” She said as she moved to the other side. “So have you seen the Easter Bunny yet? I’m really hoping I get to meet him but I haven’t had the chance yet.”
“Nuh uh,” Lily answered. “We had some of the yummy donut holeys and I had a little bitty cheeseburger. Papa said I can talk to him before we go.”
Tommy nodded, “That’s right sweetie. We’re going to have the Easter Egg hunt, prizes, and then the Easter Bunny. We’ll have a fun and busy day then go home and tell Mama and Timothy all about it.”
“Cool.” Sophia laughed as her stomach grumbled a bit at the mention of the food. She hadn’t actually hit the food table yet, mostly because she was pretty sure that those sliders and the donut holes both had wheat in them and, even though her family didn’t really go very traditional during Passover, it still felt sort of weird to eat chametz when technically she wasn’t supposed to. She finished up the second rainbow and held the mirror up for the little girl to look at herself. “There you go, all done.”
Lily looked at her reflection in the mirror and squealed. “It looks so pretty! Thank you!”
“Very nice, Bunny!” he enthused. “Thank you for doing such a great job with the face painting. I hope your shift is over soon so you can get something to eat.”
“You’re welcome. I’m glad you like it and you’re right, you do look pretty.” Sophia smiled, setting the mirror down. “My shift should be over in about a half an hour and I’ll for sure be heading to check out the food table.” It wouldn’t hurt to at least have a look at the food, she supposed. Actually, now that she thought about it, as long as they had a no-carb burger option she could just get the patty wrapped in lettuce or something. Ya, that sounded like a great idea because she was getting pretty hungry.
“Good to hear that!” Tommy replied. “The year I volunteered at this shindig I got stuck helping with the egg hunt for most of the day. I nearly passed out! Kewpee really outdid themselves today and they have half a dozen different toppings this year. The mini sundaes were a new addition this year so I can’t suggest enough that you try them. Thank you again.”
“Passing out would be bad,” Sophia laughed. “I didn’t know they had mini sundaes, those sound amazing! Pretty sure I might just skip everything else and just eat a bunch of those. I’m sure my parents would approve.” She winked at the little girl. “Have fun with the rest of your day.”
Lily waved at the lady who had painted her face, “Bye! Thank you for my rainbows.”
Easter Egg Hunt:
Abby was pretty excited. Not only did she get to celebrate two birthdays this year, but she got to celebrate Easter twice too. She thought about her painted eggys at Rachel’s house. That was fun. She’d have to tell Mike about her Karolina Dean and Nico eggs. None of the other adults got that. Mike was just cool. But she’d do that later because now she had to hunt some eggs.
She had told Colin to come join her and the Little Lily and be on their team. The three of them would get a bunch of eggs through teamwork. She wanted Lily to have fun and get a lot of candy. She was going to look out for the younger girl because she was family. No one would mess with anyone she was taking care of. She really hoped Colin would come. “I’m really excited. How about you Lillo?”
“Yes, yes Abby!” Lily giggled as she bounced. “I haven’t seen you in a long time and today we get to play together and we get candy too!” She hugged Abby close before releasing her to hold the older girl’s hand.
“My friend Colin is supposed to come help us. He’s really nice so he won’t steal any candy for you. I call him Kid Robot ‘cause he’s really smart. Even if he is a boy.” Abby just wanted Colin to feel welcomed and not left out. He wasn’t like his crazy brothers. She smiled down at the younger girl.
Colin trudged his way over to where the egg hunt was supposed to take place, passing where two of his brothers were currently wrestling on the grass. He’d been kinda nervous when Abby asked him if he wanted to use their combined genius powers to collect the most eggs. He liked Abby. She wasn’t like the other girls in his class; she liked to play Beatles songs and her comic book collection was even bigger than his. He spotted her with a smaller girl and headed over, his hands in his pockets and a small smile on his face as he greeted them. “Hey.”
“Kid Robot! You came.” Abby beamed. “You ready to win! Oh yeah this is Lily. She may look small but don’t let that fool you. Say hi Lily.”
Lily gave the nervous boy a crooked grin, “Hi Kid Robot! My name is Liliana Chang and I am three and a half and I like ponies.”
“Hi, Liliana.” Colin’s sheepish smile grew into a grin as he was greeted by the little girl. “You know, I have a sister whose three and likes ponies too. Her name is Cassie. But I dunno where she is right now...” He looked around, glancing over where his other brothers had apparently joined in the wrestling match, before looking back at Abby and Lily. He shrugged.
“I have a twin sister and a baby brother,” Lily replied. “He is still very small and doesn’t know how to play yet but he is cute. My sister Ellie isn’t here today. She is in Heaven. Can we go find some candy and eggs now?”
“Uh...” Not knowing what to say, Colin looked back at Abby.
“Yeah. Sure.” Abby smirked at Colin. Lily was very honest and took a while to get used to. “It’s okay, Kid Robot. She’s just happy to have someone new to show off to.”
Colin gave her an uncertain smile. He was glad it looked like the egg hunt was about to start so he was spared from having to respond. The three of them walked to where a tall blonde lady with a bright smile was beckoning the rest of the kids over to explain the game. Abby seemed to know her because she smiled and waved.
Brittany clapped her hands to get the attention of the mass of kids and grinned. “Does everyone have their baskets?” she asked loudly, holding up her example basket. She smiled as they nodded. “Good! Now, the Easter Bunny and I hid a bunch of eggs around the park, but they’re all only around here, so don’t go outside of the places where we put the signs. If an adult can’t see you clearly from where you are, you’ve gone too far, okay?” She paused to wait for some sort of acknowledgement from the kids. “Good. All the eggs have numbers, so be careful not to lose your eggs or the numbers on them. The numbers are how we’re going to pick who gets what prize, so make sure you keep them safe!” She raised her voice for the last bit. “To recap! Three big rules you have to remember! Stay inside the lines, keep your numbers with your eggs, and have fun! Oh! And be back here in an hour, and the Easter Bunny and I will be here to say hello and hand out the prizes! Now go find those eggs!”
“Ready rocket!” Abby shouted with a fist pump before running off to get eggs. She was practically jumping out of her shoes when her Aunt Brit was ‘splaining the rules. The rules were for babies that never did an egg hunt. She had done lots so she was like... an eggspert. Briefly, she wondered what type of new prizes there were. Last year it was for free frozen yogurt or pizza. She scanned the grassy area. “Lily! There’s an eggy for you to grab. It’s yours!” She looked for an Easter egg. She found a brightly colored one, and put it in her basket.
Lily saw the purple egg that her cousin was pointing to and ran quickly to collect it. Before she could reach it a bigger kid shoved her out of the way to take it for himself. She started to whimper a little as she called for the older girl, “That big kid took it, Abby! He was mean to me!”
At hearing the smaller girl’s cry, Abby turned around. Lily stood watching a boy running away from her. But as it turned out, the boy was running in her direction. She soon realized that it was Sawyer from her class. Of course it was. He was such a bully to everyone, she wasn’t surprised. “Hey! You give back that egg.” Abby marched up to him and grabbed his basket by the handle.
Sawyer yanked his basket back with a snarl on his face, “Whatever Hudson. I got to it first so it’s mine. It’s not my fault that little kid was too slow. Losers weepers.” He stuck out his tongue at both of the annoying girls.
Colin was a little ways ahead of the girls when he heard Sawyer. His jaw set. He long since decided Sawyer was just another jerkwad who liked to pick on other kids to make himself feel better. Plus he smelled like bad eggs. Colin may not but much for confrontation, but he wasn’t all for doing nothing. He quickly looked around and found what he was looking for. Three of his younger brothers were running nearby and he discreetly signaled them over. He whispered instructions and watched as three identical grins appeared on their faces.
Sawyer was still leering at the two girls when he saw the O’Malley boys fly at him. “O’Malley pile!” one of them yelled as he started to run. He knew that if one of them could catch him the rest would be all over him in no time. Before he knew it, he had been tackled to the ground with three little kids sitting on his back and beaming in accomplishment.
"Get off me!" he grunted. "I had it first."
With a nod of his head, Colin’s brothers scrambled off of Sawyer and ran away whooping some sort of battle cry. Then he simply walked over, picked up the egg Sawyer had taken from Liliana, and handed it back to her.
Lily hugged him tightly as she thanked him over and over again. "You saved my egg Kid Robot! You are my hero!"
“Mine too.” Abby grinned as she watched Lily hug Colin. “I knew I could count on you. That’s why you’re on my team.” She walked over to him and held her hand up for a fist bump.
Colin tapped his knuckles against hers. “It was nothing.” He gave them a reserved little smile before shrugging it off. “We should probably keep moving.”
“Yeah. We can still find some eggys.” Abby jumped forward, ever ready to continue the hunt. “Ready to go, Lily?” The younger girl was already bouncing up and down, excited. “That’s a yes then.” She grinned. “Boom go!”
When: Sunday, April 24, 2019
Where: Lincoln Park
What: The Easter Festivities
Heading Out:
Mike was happy for the opportunity to take his niece out to the park for the Easter Eggstravaganza. He wanted to spend time with his Lil’ Lily so she wouldn’t be feeling neglected after the birth of her baby brother. Tommy would be tagging along as well. After the entire Chang clan had attended the 8 am mass at St. Rose and had brunch at Tommy’s, their mother insisted her eldest son get out of the house. Cory Chang would be fussing over her newest grandson while her daughter-in-law rested. And it was hard to say no to Cory Chang.
So the three of them were on their way.
Looking over at his brother sitting in the driver seat, Mike grinned. “When Nay said she could hold down the fort, you practically bolted for the car. Someone wants some sliders from Kewpee. Or is it those Mello-Creme donut holes you got your eyes on?”
“When Nay says ‘go’ there’s no question that I’m going,” Tommy smirked. “We both know that when she’s made up her mind that we’ll never change it. It’s useless! And to answer your question; sliders first then donut holes.”
Lily tugged at her uncle’s arm to get his attention, “C’mon Tito Mike! Papa says sliders first and I am hungry. I want one with cheese!”
“You want just one with cheese, Lils?” Mike laughed at his niece. “I’m gonna get like eight. Kewpee is the best in town. But don’t forget in all the excitement, we’re going to find Rowan.” A soft grin slipped onto his face. “She’ll be here with her nephews and niece.”
“Remember what I said about stuffing kids Migs?” his brother asked. “As much as we all love those sliders they came by that name honestly. We made sure she had a healthy breakfast so let’s not push our luck. Anyway, did Rowan say where she wanted to meet?”
“Okay, okay. Fine.” Mike drew out the last word. “Children puking is unpleasant. But you’ll hold my hair back if I get sick right, Kuya?” He batted his eye lashes. “And to answer your question, would you believe Rowan said that we should meet her by the food table? She knows me so well.”
Tommy chuckled softly as they finally reached their destination. They had gotten to the venue relatively early so finding a parking space was easy. He shifted the car into park then turned off the car.
“Okay Lily,” he began. “I need you to hold my hand or your Tito Migs’ hand while we’re in the park. We need to know where you are at all times, okay? All right. Let’s go have some fun!”
Arriving:
Rowan stood on the sidewalk in front of the park, sliding the passenger door of her cousin’s mini-van open. “Thanks again for taking them, Row,” her cousin was saying as he grabbed his briefcase from underneath one of the seats. “I really wish I could stay...”
“Don’t worry about it. Nolan and I can manage.” She smiled and gave him the keys to her own car so he could get to his real estate office. “Say goodbye to your dad, guys.” While a chorus of goodbye shrieks sounded from the backseat, Colin O’Malley simply gave a small wave. His dad reached over to ruffle his red hair before heading to where Rowan had parked her car.
Rowan turned back to the boys, watching as they unbuckled their seat belts and prepared to dash from the vehicle. “Okay. Remember, play nice with the other kids. Don’t push and don’t run.”
“But we’re at a park, Auntie Row. If we don’t run, we’ll die!”
Row bit back a laugh. She really didn’t mind babysitting. As rambunctious as her collection of nephews were, they were really great kids at heart. “Just be careful, okay? We don’t want a repeat of Halloween, do we?”
“It’s not our fault the stroller was in the way of the candy bowl!”
And other times she was sure they were demon children.
“Hey, listen to your aunt.” Nolan came trudging up to the mini van. He had driven separately to accommodate their niece's car seat and diaper bag. “Bumping into babies is a bad thing. Isn’t that right, Cassie?” He made a silly face at the toddler in his arms and was rewarded with a giggle.
Rowan shook her head and waved them off, stepping out of the way as the army of O’Malley children charged onto the field towards the festivities. As she locked the van and got ready to walk towards the middle of the park, she noticed Colin stayed behind with her.
“How come you’re the only one who doesn’t act like they’ve ingested pure sugar for breakfast?” When he didn’t answer, she looked over curiously to find him staring at the parking spot his father had departed from a few minutes ago. She frowned. She knew he was taking his parents’ divorce the hardest and he was still getting used to his dad’s longer shifts. “You okay, Buddy?”
“I’m fine.”
“Your friends are gonna be here, right?” He shrugged. “How about Abby?” A nervous flicker of a smile crossed his face at the mention of his crush before he shrugged again.
As Rowan opened her mouth to say something else--“Hey, look what I can do!” Her eyes snapped in the direction of the shout. Then she stared. “...Colin, please tell me your brother isn’t dancing on a tree branch. We just got here.”
“Wow,” Nolan laughed. Rowan aimed a glare at him and he shrugged. “What? I’m impressed. Kid’s got hops. He scaled up that thing like a ninja.”
“If you weren’t holding a small child, I’d hit you.”
“Chill, I’ll round ‘em up.” Nolan grinned, carefully handing their niece to Rowan before chasing after their nephews. “Hey!”
Through her amusement, Rowan sighed. It was going to be a long day. “C’mon, Bug.” She pat Colin on the back. “Let’s head over to the food tables. I think I see pie.”
----/----\----
Snack Time
With her niece back with Nolan and Colin wandering over to a friend from class, Row went to check out the spread of food the volunteers had set out. As she was passing an arrangement of pies, she looked up and noticed the familiar face on the other side of the table. “Hey, you.”
“Hey.” Mike greeted her warmly. “We’re always meeting over pie it seems.” He scanned the area around them. “So where’s the gang of hooligans at?”
“That’s because it’s the best way to meet.” She followed his gaze around the crowd. “Let’s see, Nolan’s over there with our niece.” She motioned over to where her brother was holding Cassie, chatting with a couple acquaintances. “And the boys are...” She took note of them at the playground, face paint station, and two of them fighting over which color of Peeps they wanted. “Everywhere.”
Rowan fixed him with a grin as she walked around to his side of the table. “So where’s the Chang clan?”
Mike kissed Rowan in way of greeting, then put his arm around her. “Well. Liz is getting a much needed rest while Timothy is with my parents. So it’s just me, Tommy, and Lil Lily. We ran into Finn and Abby. Lily wanted to go with her big cousin to snag some sliders. Tommy went with. Thought I’d find you first.” He smiled suggestively.
“Aw, how thoughtful,” Rowan smirked. Leaning into his embrace, she tiptoed to place a kiss on his cheek, but he purposely turned his head so it would land on his lips. She pulled back, her admonishing gasp rendered ineffective by her grin. “Cheater.”
“Hey. I can’t help it. Your kisses are my favorite.” Mike smiled innocently. "Of course I'm going to use some cheat codes to get some from you.” He then wiggled his eyebrows up and down.
Rowan’s mouth twitched in a way that made it clear she was holding back a laugh. “Have I ever told you how attractive you look when you do that?”
“Maybe. But really never enough times. My self esteem needs the boost.” Mike grinned. He got an idea. He picked Rowan up. At her laughter, his grin got bigger. “I’m just going to bring you to a table. And grab us some grub. And pie. I won’t forget the pie. Unless you just want to bypass the table.”
“Hmm. As tempting as that sounds, I’ll take the table and pie.” Rowan grinned and leaned into him, winding an arm around his shoulder.
“Oh wow. That’s kinky.” Mike grinned. “Didn’t know you had it in you.” He chuckled as his girlfriend smacked him on the back.
“Put me down, you dork.” Rowan laughed as he pouted but complied and set her back on her feet. “We’ll save the kink for later. There are children present,” she teased, her grin widening at his surprise.
“Okay.” Mike laughed. “Here’s where I say something about me and you having our own private Easter egg hunt later. But I’m a gentleman, so I’ll refrain. Plus I need to get you that pie.” He hooked his thumb, pointing over shoulder at the food stall.
“Dirty. So very dirty,” she chided playfully, shaking her head. “But hey, I like that you’re remembering to get me pie. That kind of chivalry is admirable.”
“I’m getting pie for me too.” Mike winked, trying to play it off. But really he was happy to be able to do things for his girlfriend. Rowan was his girlfriend. And that made him the happiest guy in the world. He gave her a little salute before going to the snack table.
On the way to table with the baked goods, he grabbed some potato salad that those Korean church ladies made. They made the best potato salad he had ever tasted. Moving to the dessert table, Mike figured accompanying the potato salad with something sweet like a slice of pie would be a weird taste combination. The more he thought about it the more he wanted to try it out.
Mike bypassed the brownies, and went straight to the pie. He was browsing the selection and wondering what to get. Then he spotted Finn. “I take it you’re enjoying yourself. I’m tempted to just take an entire pie.”
Finn looked up from his third piece of pie and smiled sheepishly. “I probably should’ve just done that.” He looked down at his plate and grinned. “You know, who needs girls when you can have pie instead?”
Raising an eyebrow, Mike said, “That makes me think of American Pie. But you and your pie friend can do whatever you like. I won’t judge.” He chuckled. “So what have you left for the rest of us.” He scanned the pies. “Well, cherry. Chocolate cream. Strawberry Rhubarb. Okay. Those all sound like good bets. So I’ll go with three slices from each.”
Before taking a slice of goodness, Mike handed over his chits to the volunteer manning the dessert table. He bought the booklet earlier for the booths taking chits. Each chit was a dollar. It was for charity right?
“I wanted to thank you again for bringing Abby.” He had been hoping that Quinn and Rachel could come too. Even if Rachel didn’t celebrate the holiday. But things with the paparazzi were still heated. He was hoping to get used to shared holidays, all of them spending family time together. It was a lot of people to keep track of. “And to show how much I appreciate it. Have a slice on me.” He handed over one more chit.
Finn laughed, taking the chit from him. "Hey thanks, buddy. I would've brought her anyway, but there's no way I'm turning down free pie." He took another bite, then said, "But seriously, we wouldn't miss it. I know I've been super busy lately, and it's still a little... weird... but you're still my best bud even if I'm a sucky friend." He tapped his plastic fork against his chin. "Hey, we should do Fat Jack's again. You, me, and Drizzle. I bet they miss us," Finn grinned.
“Fat Jack’s would be great.” Mike smiled at his best friend. He missed those nights when the three of them just hung out at their favorite pizza joint in their usual booth. They would just talk about whatever Abby felt like, and the two of them would chime in. A lot of laughter due to cheesy jokes and extra cheesy slices. “Name the day and time.”
“Next Friday, the usual time?” Finn asked. He was already looking forward to it. “Drizzle’s gonna be so excited.”
“Yeah. Same booth and everything.” Mike looked back towards the table where Rowan was waiting for him. “So you want to come and hang out with me and Rowan? I’m sure she won’t mind.” Soon the three of them were laughing at something he said. He was glad that his best bud and girlfriend were getting along.
Face Painting:
Sophia smiled and said goodbye to the latest of the kids to turn up at the face painting booth. Luckily, the little girl had only wanted a bunny nose and whiskers. If anyone requested anything beyond that she was going to be pretty screwed, perhaps she should have mentioned that her artistic ability was basically zero when she had volunteered for this event.
Nolan carried Cassie through the crowd, navigating their way past the various activity booths. When they reached what appeared to be the face painting table, she tugged on his sleeve and pointed to a passing girl with whiskers painted across her cheeks. He smiled and looked down at her. “You wanna get your face painted too?” At her nodding, he brought them over to the teenager working the booth. “Hey,” he greeted with a smile. “She wanted to get her face painted.” The little girl in his arms gazed at the paint pallet with a bright grin.
“Okay.” Sophia nodded at the man before turning her attention to the little girl, smiling brightly. “Hi cutie.” She said kneeling down so that she was face to face with the child. “Would you like bunny ears and whiskers?”
Flustered by the attention of stranger, Cassie turned and hid her head against Nolan’s shoulder. “Sorry, she’s a little shy.” He pat her gently on the back and encouraged her to look at samples on the table. “Do you want bunny ears? She can paint them for you.” He looked back at the teenager. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name. I’m Nolan and this munchkin here is Cassie.” He tickled Cassie’s side and she giggled, picking her head back up.
“My name’s Sophia.” She answered him, smiling when the little girl giggled. “Maybe your...” Sophia trailed off, not actually knowing how this man was related to the child, “...dad can hold you while I paint your face? Would that make her feel more comfortable?” She addressed the last question to Nolan.
“Nice to meet you.” He smiled before regarding his niece again. “How does that sound, Cass?” She nodded and he moved to sit down on the chair provided, shifting Cassie so she was facing Sophia. “She’s my niece,” he corrected, not unkindly. “Dad? Man, I must be getting old.”
“Uhh...sorry?” Sophia grinned sheepishly. She should have gone with her first instinct and not made any assumptions. “and don’t worry I didn’t mean that you looked old, you look not old...” Not old? Sophia shook her head, she was starting to sound like a real idiot, time to shut up. “Okay so we’ve got blue, green, pink or purple. Do you have a favorite color or do we want to go all rainbow or something?”
Nolan grinned. “Don’t worry about it.” Cassie looked at the paints again before smiling. “Rainbow.”
“Good choice,” Sophia smiled back at the child. “Don’t tell anyone I said this but rainbow is way better than just one color. You’re the first one to pick it too, so you’re going to be the coolest, prettiest girl in this whole place.” She reached for the paints and painted on bunny whiskers in multiple colors before deciding to paint her nose in all four colors too, instead of the standard black. Hopefully, the kid’s uncle wouldn’t mind that it turned out a tad lopsided, a career as an artist definitely wasn’t in her future. “There you go, all done.”
Looking at her reflection in the mirror Sophia held up for her, Cassie beamed. “I look like a bunny.” Nolan laughed lightly. “That you do. Say thank you, Cass.”
“Thank you,” she said, still transfixed by the colors on her face.
“You’re welcome.” Sophia smiled in relief, apparently her artistic abilities passed the three year old test and that was good enough for her.
Nolan smiled, carefully shifting Cassie back in his arms as to not smudge the fresh paint. “Well, we’re gonna go check out what else they’ve got going on here. Thanks again.” Noticing they were leaving, Cassie waved at Sophia.
“No problemo, it’s like my job.” Sophia grinned, waving at Cassie as they retreated, cute kids like that made volunteering pretty awesome.
Lily started to jump and point at the face painting table the moment she saw it. She tugged at her father’s arm as she began to yell, “Papa! Please can I get a rainbow on my cheek? Please Papa?”
Tommy’s shoulder bobbed a few times before he answered, “Sure sweetpea. We’ll go over to ask the nice girl if she can paint a rainbow on your face. Can you please stop pulling on my arm now? It hurts, Lily.”
She stopped quickly as they made their way over to the table. Her father looked over the piece of paper with examples of what they could choose from.
“Aha! They do have a rainbow!” he enthused. He held the piece of paper up and pointed to the picture. “This one sweetie? You’d like a rainbow like this?”
Lily nodded her head as she sat down in the chair.
“Could we please have a rainbow on each cheek, please?” he asked.
“Sure.” Sophia smiled. Rainbow might be a little more challenging than the bunny face but she was pretty sure she could handle that and, well, if not she was pretty sure the stuff washed off. She reached for the paints and added. “My name is Sophia by the way and I think that rainbow is a pretty awesome choice.”
Lily giggled as she swung her legs in the chair. “I like ponies and rainbows and rainbows are awesome. You are a smart lady!”
Sophia couldn’t help the grin that spread on her face as the little girl giggled. Kids were so cute and being referred to as a lady was kind of hysterical. “I like ponies and rainbows too!” she told the child as she started to paint the first rainbow on her right cheek. She concentrated carefully on not screwing up and when she finished she titled her head to the side to look at it, not too shabby, she was getting better at this painting thing. “One down, one to go.” She said as she moved to the other side. “So have you seen the Easter Bunny yet? I’m really hoping I get to meet him but I haven’t had the chance yet.”
“Nuh uh,” Lily answered. “We had some of the yummy donut holeys and I had a little bitty cheeseburger. Papa said I can talk to him before we go.”
Tommy nodded, “That’s right sweetie. We’re going to have the Easter Egg hunt, prizes, and then the Easter Bunny. We’ll have a fun and busy day then go home and tell Mama and Timothy all about it.”
“Cool.” Sophia laughed as her stomach grumbled a bit at the mention of the food. She hadn’t actually hit the food table yet, mostly because she was pretty sure that those sliders and the donut holes both had wheat in them and, even though her family didn’t really go very traditional during Passover, it still felt sort of weird to eat chametz when technically she wasn’t supposed to. She finished up the second rainbow and held the mirror up for the little girl to look at herself. “There you go, all done.”
Lily looked at her reflection in the mirror and squealed. “It looks so pretty! Thank you!”
“Very nice, Bunny!” he enthused. “Thank you for doing such a great job with the face painting. I hope your shift is over soon so you can get something to eat.”
“You’re welcome. I’m glad you like it and you’re right, you do look pretty.” Sophia smiled, setting the mirror down. “My shift should be over in about a half an hour and I’ll for sure be heading to check out the food table.” It wouldn’t hurt to at least have a look at the food, she supposed. Actually, now that she thought about it, as long as they had a no-carb burger option she could just get the patty wrapped in lettuce or something. Ya, that sounded like a great idea because she was getting pretty hungry.
“Good to hear that!” Tommy replied. “The year I volunteered at this shindig I got stuck helping with the egg hunt for most of the day. I nearly passed out! Kewpee really outdid themselves today and they have half a dozen different toppings this year. The mini sundaes were a new addition this year so I can’t suggest enough that you try them. Thank you again.”
“Passing out would be bad,” Sophia laughed. “I didn’t know they had mini sundaes, those sound amazing! Pretty sure I might just skip everything else and just eat a bunch of those. I’m sure my parents would approve.” She winked at the little girl. “Have fun with the rest of your day.”
Lily waved at the lady who had painted her face, “Bye! Thank you for my rainbows.”
Easter Egg Hunt:
Abby was pretty excited. Not only did she get to celebrate two birthdays this year, but she got to celebrate Easter twice too. She thought about her painted eggys at Rachel’s house. That was fun. She’d have to tell Mike about her Karolina Dean and Nico eggs. None of the other adults got that. Mike was just cool. But she’d do that later because now she had to hunt some eggs.
She had told Colin to come join her and the Little Lily and be on their team. The three of them would get a bunch of eggs through teamwork. She wanted Lily to have fun and get a lot of candy. She was going to look out for the younger girl because she was family. No one would mess with anyone she was taking care of. She really hoped Colin would come. “I’m really excited. How about you Lillo?”
“Yes, yes Abby!” Lily giggled as she bounced. “I haven’t seen you in a long time and today we get to play together and we get candy too!” She hugged Abby close before releasing her to hold the older girl’s hand.
“My friend Colin is supposed to come help us. He’s really nice so he won’t steal any candy for you. I call him Kid Robot ‘cause he’s really smart. Even if he is a boy.” Abby just wanted Colin to feel welcomed and not left out. He wasn’t like his crazy brothers. She smiled down at the younger girl.
Colin trudged his way over to where the egg hunt was supposed to take place, passing where two of his brothers were currently wrestling on the grass. He’d been kinda nervous when Abby asked him if he wanted to use their combined genius powers to collect the most eggs. He liked Abby. She wasn’t like the other girls in his class; she liked to play Beatles songs and her comic book collection was even bigger than his. He spotted her with a smaller girl and headed over, his hands in his pockets and a small smile on his face as he greeted them. “Hey.”
“Kid Robot! You came.” Abby beamed. “You ready to win! Oh yeah this is Lily. She may look small but don’t let that fool you. Say hi Lily.”
Lily gave the nervous boy a crooked grin, “Hi Kid Robot! My name is Liliana Chang and I am three and a half and I like ponies.”
“Hi, Liliana.” Colin’s sheepish smile grew into a grin as he was greeted by the little girl. “You know, I have a sister whose three and likes ponies too. Her name is Cassie. But I dunno where she is right now...” He looked around, glancing over where his other brothers had apparently joined in the wrestling match, before looking back at Abby and Lily. He shrugged.
“I have a twin sister and a baby brother,” Lily replied. “He is still very small and doesn’t know how to play yet but he is cute. My sister Ellie isn’t here today. She is in Heaven. Can we go find some candy and eggs now?”
“Uh...” Not knowing what to say, Colin looked back at Abby.
“Yeah. Sure.” Abby smirked at Colin. Lily was very honest and took a while to get used to. “It’s okay, Kid Robot. She’s just happy to have someone new to show off to.”
Colin gave her an uncertain smile. He was glad it looked like the egg hunt was about to start so he was spared from having to respond. The three of them walked to where a tall blonde lady with a bright smile was beckoning the rest of the kids over to explain the game. Abby seemed to know her because she smiled and waved.
Brittany clapped her hands to get the attention of the mass of kids and grinned. “Does everyone have their baskets?” she asked loudly, holding up her example basket. She smiled as they nodded. “Good! Now, the Easter Bunny and I hid a bunch of eggs around the park, but they’re all only around here, so don’t go outside of the places where we put the signs. If an adult can’t see you clearly from where you are, you’ve gone too far, okay?” She paused to wait for some sort of acknowledgement from the kids. “Good. All the eggs have numbers, so be careful not to lose your eggs or the numbers on them. The numbers are how we’re going to pick who gets what prize, so make sure you keep them safe!” She raised her voice for the last bit. “To recap! Three big rules you have to remember! Stay inside the lines, keep your numbers with your eggs, and have fun! Oh! And be back here in an hour, and the Easter Bunny and I will be here to say hello and hand out the prizes! Now go find those eggs!”
“Ready rocket!” Abby shouted with a fist pump before running off to get eggs. She was practically jumping out of her shoes when her Aunt Brit was ‘splaining the rules. The rules were for babies that never did an egg hunt. She had done lots so she was like... an eggspert. Briefly, she wondered what type of new prizes there were. Last year it was for free frozen yogurt or pizza. She scanned the grassy area. “Lily! There’s an eggy for you to grab. It’s yours!” She looked for an Easter egg. She found a brightly colored one, and put it in her basket.
Lily saw the purple egg that her cousin was pointing to and ran quickly to collect it. Before she could reach it a bigger kid shoved her out of the way to take it for himself. She started to whimper a little as she called for the older girl, “That big kid took it, Abby! He was mean to me!”
At hearing the smaller girl’s cry, Abby turned around. Lily stood watching a boy running away from her. But as it turned out, the boy was running in her direction. She soon realized that it was Sawyer from her class. Of course it was. He was such a bully to everyone, she wasn’t surprised. “Hey! You give back that egg.” Abby marched up to him and grabbed his basket by the handle.
Sawyer yanked his basket back with a snarl on his face, “Whatever Hudson. I got to it first so it’s mine. It’s not my fault that little kid was too slow. Losers weepers.” He stuck out his tongue at both of the annoying girls.
Colin was a little ways ahead of the girls when he heard Sawyer. His jaw set. He long since decided Sawyer was just another jerkwad who liked to pick on other kids to make himself feel better. Plus he smelled like bad eggs. Colin may not but much for confrontation, but he wasn’t all for doing nothing. He quickly looked around and found what he was looking for. Three of his younger brothers were running nearby and he discreetly signaled them over. He whispered instructions and watched as three identical grins appeared on their faces.
Sawyer was still leering at the two girls when he saw the O’Malley boys fly at him. “O’Malley pile!” one of them yelled as he started to run. He knew that if one of them could catch him the rest would be all over him in no time. Before he knew it, he had been tackled to the ground with three little kids sitting on his back and beaming in accomplishment.
"Get off me!" he grunted. "I had it first."
With a nod of his head, Colin’s brothers scrambled off of Sawyer and ran away whooping some sort of battle cry. Then he simply walked over, picked up the egg Sawyer had taken from Liliana, and handed it back to her.
Lily hugged him tightly as she thanked him over and over again. "You saved my egg Kid Robot! You are my hero!"
“Mine too.” Abby grinned as she watched Lily hug Colin. “I knew I could count on you. That’s why you’re on my team.” She walked over to him and held her hand up for a fist bump.
Colin tapped his knuckles against hers. “It was nothing.” He gave them a reserved little smile before shrugging it off. “We should probably keep moving.”
“Yeah. We can still find some eggys.” Abby jumped forward, ever ready to continue the hunt. “Ready to go, Lily?” The younger girl was already bouncing up and down, excited. “That’s a yes then.” She grinned. “Boom go!”