“So you two fought,” Nan stated.
“Yes, we argued, and I demanded he drop me off. And with a huge bruise on the side of my cheek, I couldn’t very well go to school.” Mina paced her small bedroom and kept passing her bedroom mirror to look at the bruise.
“So in other words, he hasn’t called you, spoken to you, or seen you since the attack.” Nan ticked off the words on her hands. “That definitely explains why he has been out of sorts. MINA, CALL HIM! Let him know that you are still alive.”
>“Nan, that’s disgusting,” Mina laughed.
“Tell me about it. I’m the one who actually had to taste the thing. I don’t think I’ll be able to eat cottage cheese again.” She gargled orange juice.
“What possessed you to put cottage cheese in the cereal?”
“When I saw what Charlie what he was eating I challenged him to a contest. Winner gets to pick out a movie and make the loser watch it. Believe me, I had no idea he added caramel to his cereal. Blech!” Nan shuddered dramatically.
Mina had forgotten that Nan hated caramel almost as much as Charlie hated cottage cheese. “So you thought you would cover the taste of caramel with something else you liked?”
Nan bobbed her head. “Yeah, I actually love cottage cheese and thought it was a great idea, and would surely make your brother freak out and I would win. The only problem was that when I added the cheese to the cereal and put it in my mouth, it took every ounce of strength not to immediately eject it out. My mind thought the milk had gone bad. But I did it, I won.” Nan began to do a victory dance around the kitchen.
Sara walked in and looked at the bowl in front of Nan, turning her nose up. “Okay, Charlie has taken it too far, he’s wasting cereal. I paid good money for those boxes.”
Nan looked sheepish and grabbed the bowl away from Sara. “No Mrs. Grime, that’s actually my cereal. I’m having breakfast with Charlie.”
Sara raised one eyebrow at Nan.
Feeling pressured to prove her point, Nan took the spoon and shoveled another gross spoonful into her mouth, screwing her face into a big fake grin.
Satisfied, Sara busied herself in the kitchen while the girls hid their laughter. “Where is Charlie, anyway?”
“Bathroom,” Mina answered quickly. When Sara went back to her bedroom to grab her keys and wallet, Nan spat the cereal out into the garbage and began the sink and orange juice routine all over again.
Mina took the bowl of cereal away and dumped it down the garbage disposal, removing any hint of Nan’s stupidity. “So now that you won, what are you going to make Charlie watch?”
“I don’t know, I was thinking of something really horrible like the whole first season of Power Puff Girls, something completely girly and embarrassing.” Nan’s face lit up with the prospect of torturing Charlie. “Or maybe, I could find a documentary on the making of cottage cheese.”
“You do realize that you would have to sit through it as well.”
“Hmmm, then that won’t do. What do you suggest?”
“Why don’t you pick something you‘ll both like?”
“What?” she squealed. “That takes away the whole fun of the competition! NO! He must suffer.” Nan pointed her finger in the air dramatically.
Mina thought Nan would have made a great sibling if her parents hadn’t divorced when she was young. Neither one remarried, making Nan the quintessential only child; loved, spoiled and a little lonely, which is why she enjoyed hanging out with Charlie. Nan always said if she had a younger sibling she would want a brother, because then she wouldn’t have to share her clothes.
“Don’t you mean YOU must suffer?” Mina conjectured.
“Meh, whatever.” After Nan had finished with her tirade, she directed her radar Mina’s way. “So dish.”
“About what?” Mina asked casually.
“About WHAT? I can’t believe you. I didn’t drive all this way for nothing on a Saturday morning, I have cartoons to watch. Dish about what happened two days ago that made you miss school and send Brody into a coma.”
“He’s in a coma?” Mina panicked.
“No, not literally. Yeesh. He’s been walking around the school like some sort of zombie, not talking, just completely withdrawn. Something happen between you two?”
“You promise it’s not going to show up on any web page, interview, tweet or text?” Mina knew when dishing important info to Nan that she had to cover all of her bases.
Nan rolled her eyes and held up two fingers. “Boy Scouts honor.”