“Ok, baby, you do that,” Dabi said a little dismissively as he started rummaging through the fridge for food items.
“Daddy?” she asked.
“Yeah?” He stopped and looked at her.
“You need to listen when I’m talking,” she said in her most stern voice.
He stared at her and waited and she just stared back at him.
“Ok?” he replied, “you good?”
“Yes.” She stated with a firm head nod, then turned and walked off to go and set up the picnic.
Dabi watched her go, then cracked a half smile and shook his head.
“Only 2 years old but damn she’s like her mum,” he thought with amusement.
After making a very makeshift lunch, he placed the sandwiches and chopped up fruit on plates then called out for Koemi to come and help him.
“Baby, lunch is ready,” he hollered at the top of his lungs.
“Just wait!” her little voice screamed back, “I’m busy!”
“Busy?” he asked himself with surprise, “the fuck? She’s 2… what can she be busy with?”
Curiously, he approached the stairs with all the food and other things then started up, and from her room he could hear her jabbering away to someone.
“Baby?” he called again.
“Oh. I’ll be back,” she said to whoever she was talking to, and as he got to the top of the stairs she walked out of her room.
“Who you talking to?” he asked.
“My toys,” she replied nonchalantly.
“Your toys?”
“Mmhmm,” she hummed, turning around to walk back into the room with him behind, “everybody is ready on the picnic!”
Dabi looked up and there, on the floor, was a blanket set up with her tea cup set and wowowbow, two teddies, and a container of walnuts that he had been looking for for the past week and had blamed you for eating them all.
“Everyone is here!” she announced happily, spreading her arms wide to extend the happiness to the present company on the blanket.
“Are the, uh, walnuts, ready?” Dabi asked, jerking his chin towards the container.
“That’s Mrs Foods,” Koemi said, almost offended by the name that Dabi had called them by.
“Oh,” he replied.
“You need to say hello,” she then added, waiting for Dabi to greet the container of walnuts.
“Uh… Sup’ Mrs Food,” he said to the container of walnuts.
“She asked what you made for lunch,” Koemi said to Dabi, looking up at him expectantly with her large grey eyes.
“Huh? Oh…. Sandwiches and stuff,” Dabi said as he bent down and placed the tray of food in the middle of the blanket.
“Yummy,” Koemi said, and sat down happily between wowowbow and one of the teddies.
“You wanna hand the food out?” Dabi asked her as he sat down next to the container of walnuts and promptly bopped it on the head with his knee as he sat crossed legged.
“Daddy!” Koemi gasped with horror, “say sorry! You hurt Mrs Foods!”
“Sorry,” Dabi said blandly to the mute container of walnuts.
“No, daddy, you say sorry and then MEAN it,” she chided with one finger raises in warning.
“Sorry… and I mean it,” Dabi again said blandly to the walnut container.
“Good,” Koemi nodded her head at the satisfactory answer. “Now, Mrs Rainy, here is a bread for you.”
She picked up a sandwich with her fingers and plonked it down on the blanket in front of the bear beside her.
“Mrs Rainy?” Dabi asked curiously, “why is she Mrs Rainy.”
“Because mummy got her wet when she forgot’d her hamblawa.”
“Her what?” Dabi asked.
“Her Hamblewa.”
“What?”
“AMBLAWA!” Koemi shouted, starting to get annoyed that her daddy wasn’t getting it.
“What the f…. Fruit cake… is an amblawawa?”
“A HamBLEWAH. a HUMBLARRRRA!” Koemi tried and tried but the poor girl just couldn’t say it right.
“What colour is it?” Dabi asked, hoping the colour would help him understand what the fuck she was trying to say.
“It’s black, daddy. And you use it too. It’s the big one you open and it stops the rain from getting on us…”
“Umbrella?” Dabi offered.
“Yes! A hamblawa,” she replied.
“No baby… say ‘um’.”
“Ummm.”
“BR…”
“brrrrr.”
“Ella.” He finished.
“Ella.” She said firmly.
“Um… brrr… ella,” he said slowly.
“Ham… Blll…. Awa,” she said, messing it up and then bursting into tears.
“Baby,” he said with a chuckle.
“Don’t laugh on me!” she wailed, covering her face with her little hands while she cried.
“You know what? I prefer hamblawa. Umbrella is a stupid name anyway. I’m gonna call it a hamblawa,” he said firmly, “and I’m daddy so I can do what I like.”
She stopped crying and looked at him.
“Are you being true?” she asked, wiping her eyes quickly.
“Yeah, I’m being true,” he said back, “It’s now a hamblawa.”
She smiled and wiped her nose on her sleeve then reached for another sandwich with her hand and Dabi quickly removed the food.
“Hey woah, grubby hands, you just wiped boogers all over your hand! You better go wash them off!” he said, “come on, let’s wash them, then we can come back and eat.”
…………………………………
It had been a good day. You had missed your little girl at training but at the same time it was nice to be able to praise the other kids without feeling her jealous eyes on you.
She definitely had a personality about her and was quite the possessive type… which you blamed Dabi for… but maybe that was a little of you too.
So by the end of the day you were looking forward to spending some time with your little family at home.
“Hello?” you called out into the house as you pushed the front door open.
“Mummy!!” Koemi’s little voice screeched with excitement from her room and you grinned when you saw her run to the stairs and barrel her way down.
“Heyyy,” you chuckled as she threw herself into your arms, “how was your day? Did you have fun with daddy?”
“Daddy is in jail,” she said to you and you blinked at her a few times trying to figure out if this was just play… or had he actually been taken away… it wasn’t too far from something that could have actually happened so you weren’t sure.
“Is he in jail… in the house?” you asked.
“Uh ha, in my bed… that’s the jail,” she replied and took your hand in hers to lead you up to her room.
“Oh thank god,” you mumbled to yourself as you let her pull you along.
“Help,” Dabi’s apathetic voice called from the bed and you walked in to see him lying in the fetal position on her volleyball covers.
“Ummm?” You looked around the room at the ‘scene’ that had been set up then looked back at him for an explanation. “Why are you in ‘jail’ daddy, what did you do?”