Soon, three year old Angelica and her father, Drew, had arrived. She walked over to the playpen area. She saw Daria eye her suspiciously. “Hi, Daria,” she said.
Daria put the book she was reading aside. “Hi, Angelica. I'm going to make sure you don't bother the babies too much, especially on my brother's birthday.”
“I don't bother the babies.”
“I know you do. They clearly don't enjoy your company.”
“I don't know what you mean,” Angelica said innocently.
Daria was a little annoyed and glared at her. “You know exactly what I mean. Your 'I'm Drew and Charlotte's perfect princess' doesn't fool me. You can talk to the babies, but I will be listening.”
“Yes. I am their princess,” Angelica said as she did a pirouette. She then turned from Daria to where her younger cousin was waiting.
“Hi, Angelica!” Tommy said.
“Listen,” Angelica whispered, trying to not let Daria listen in. “This may be your birthday, but when the presents are opened, I get first dibs on the toys!”
“Angelica!” Daria said in a warning tone.
“Um, second dibs?” Angelica corrected.
Daria narrowed her eyes, but turned back to her book.
“Say, Angelica, do you know anything about... Dog food?” Tommy asked.
“What about dog food?” Angelica asked.
“Tommy thinks if you eat some, maybe you turn into a dog,” Chuckie answered.
“You mean I could wear a collar with spikes on it?” Angelica asked.
“And chase cats!” Phil said.
“And howl at the moon!” Lil added.
“Could I even bite the mailman?” Angelica asked quietly.
The twins nodded.
“Let's do it,” Angelica decided.
“Yeah, let's get some dog food,” Tommy said.
“What about Daria?” Chuckie asked.
“Let me think about that,” Tommy said as he grabbed a piece of paper. He then drew the plan.
Tommy threw something with a clatter.
“What was that?” Daria asked as she put her book aside. She looked around.
While Daria was looking around, Tommy used the opportunity to slip out of the playpen. Daria noticed that he had slipped out as she saw her maternal grandparents arrive.
“Hi, Mom. Hi Dad,” Didi said.
“And where is Tommy, may I ask?” Minka Kropotkin asked. She spotted him near the dog bowl. “There he is,” she said as he picked him up.
“Hela bobe,” It was Daria.
“Hela, Darya, ir vert beser,” she responded, saying that her Yiddish was getting better.
Daria gave a small smile.
“Aun du vaxt, kleyne,” she said to Tommy, noting that he was bigger than when she had last seen him. She handed him to Daria before following her daughter to the living room.
It was time to open the presents.
“Let's see. This one's from Drew,” Didi said.
After a short commotion, the present was opened. Stu turned to his brother. “Gee, Drew, do you really think this'll stimulate a small kid's imagination? I mean, what does it do? Heh! Where are the batteries?”
Tommy backed up as the twins ran up to the toy fire engine. Lil grabbed the front and her brother grabbed the back. There was a brief tug of war, before Angelica took it off them. Daria glared at her cousin before taking it in turn and giving it back to the twins.
“Hey, Tommy,” Stu said. “here's a present from your old dad! Watch this, Drew!" He opened the box revealing his invention, the Hoverama.
The other adults all stared in confusion.
“What is that thing?” Boris asked.
“This is the Hoverama,” Stu explained.
“Stu, are you off your nut? Tommy's not old enough for that gizmo! Heh, heck, I'm not even old enough for it!" Lou said.
“Anyone can work this thing, Pop! Here, let me show you!" He then played around with the remote before he realised that he forgot to put the batteries in it.
While the adults, and Daria, were occupied with one of the presents, Tommy wandered off, but Didi saw him before he got too far. "Oh, you still have all these wonderful presents to open!" She put him back next to the presents.
But Tommy didn't want to open the presents. He started crying.
Didi picked him up again. "Yes, sweetie, yes." She patted him on the back. She turned around. “This party's a disaster,” she cried out as she saw the Hoverama was embedded in the cake.
“I wouldn't say that,” Daria said.
“She's got a point,” Lou said.
“What point is that?” Didi asked.
“People are still here for his birthday,” Daria said.
“All they saw was a disaster,” Didi said.
“Great party, huh?” Stu said. “Too bad about the cake, huh?”
“Still edible!” Daria commented.
“She has a point,” her father said as he went up to the cake. He tasted it. “What kind of cake is this? It should have been chocolate! In the old country, you never had a carrot cake at a birthday party! “
Minka tasted the cake herself. “This isn't the old country, or haven't you noticed, Mr. Chocolate Cake?”
“For your information, Yenta, chocolate cake is international!” Boris said.
“Oh, suddenly, he’s Mr. International!”
Daria sighed as her maternal grandparents started arguing in Yiddish. ‘Why is it, that families argue at these times.’ She shook her head. She knew what happened when she thought about that for too long.
“Dad, you're right, we should have had a chocolate cake! Mom, you're right, it's none of his business!” her mother said.
Lou was exasperated. All this new stuff Stu and Didi were into was stuff he didn’t really understand. What he knew was that he had raised Drew and Stu well despite being old fashioned. He saw that Spike was hungry and grabbed some dog food for him and put it in his bowl. He then looked at where Daria was observing the chaos from the couch. ‘They have done well with her despite the nonsense,’ he thought.
The babies and Angelica went up to the dog food and all ate some of it. Only Phil liked the taste. “You know, I kind of like the taste.”
“When’s this stuff start working anyway?” Angelica asked.
“Maybe it takes a while,” Chuckie said.
“Wait a minute! I feel something,” Tommy said. “Woof Woof Woof.”
Daria looked as the babies and Angelica played around pretending to be dogs. ‘The usual antics,’ she thought. ‘At least the party wasn’t a total disaster.’
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