Eager Beaver

Chapter Seven - Daycare

The first thing I noticed as the five of us entered the familiar scouting lodge was the excitable clamor of children’s voices. It wasn’t the regular boisterous countertenor of pre-adolescent scouts however, but rather the excitable sugary soprano of tiny toddlers. It was the middle of the day, and the community center was busy serving its other purpose as Welton’s volunteer-run daycare service. 

“So…what are we doing here?” I asked Alex for what seemed like the millionth time. 

“Volunteering.” she said simply “To help the community.” 

“Doing what?” I pursued. 

“Helping with the daycare.” she answered, rapping on the door to the preschool classroom that was usually our Beaver meeting room “Duh!” 

I looked to the other Kindies for support, suddenly feeling strangely frightened. Zach looked just as skeptical as I was, though his face seemed to portray something closer to pouty teenaged pique than fear; Charlie looked rather non-committal, perhaps even a little tired; Laurie however looked positively delighted! “Cool!” he enthused. “Can we play with the toys?” 

Charlie let out an amused guffaw. “They probably want us to help, not play.” 

I gulped, searching for any excuse to back out. I couldn’t volunteer at a daycare! I was terrible with kids. Well, really they just made me uncomfortable. It was bad enough hanging out with the Kindies, but somehow whenever I was around toddlers I felt even littler than I was - like a total baby! It was stupid, but even as big as I was I still somehow felt that I might be mistaken for one of their number. It was like baby cooties - as if by mere proximity I thought I might contract some of their babyishness. There wasn’t any time to make excuses however before the door flung open to reveal none other than Bradley’s mom, my next door neighbor. She was all business, her graying brown hair tied back in a tight bun and her arms resting authoritatively on her hips. 

“Hi Mrs Warren!” Alex chimed, taking charge. “We’re the beavers!” 

The woman chuckled, “I can see that. Taylor said you might be swinging by.” She stepped to the side, allowing us to file into the room.

It was the same room we used for the Beaver colony meetings, but it felt totally different now. All the toys that were usually stored safely in bins and boxes were sprawled out on the carpet; there was cheery nursery rhyme style music playing from a small outdated stereo; and there were at least six kids running around and jumping off of furniture. I tried to size up the kids, deciding that they both looked and acted even smaller than Leo. Not one of them could be older than four.

Mrs. Warren led us to the front of the room and paused the music, a couple kids turning to watch with fascinated eyes as we followed her in our beaver uniforms. She clapped twice and then three times rapidly. Immediately the kids all stopped what they were doing,  dutifully copying her and rushing to sit down quietly on the carpet. “I want everyone to give a special welcome to the Beaver Scouts who have volunteered to help us today!” She announced.  The reaction was rather mixed -  some of the toddlers turned to look at us with ravenous excitement, while others just had confused glares. “Please introduce yourselves.” She instructed us.

Charlie broke the ice. “My name is Charlie.” He declared. “I’m a white tail in Beaver Scouts - which means I’m the oldest.” 

Alex had a wide grin on her face, ready for her turn. “I’m Ringtail, I’m a blue tail in our colony and it’s my seventh birthday today.” She said quickly with excitement, the mention of her birthday prompting more than a few excitable wide eyed stares from the toddlers. She placed a hand on Laurie’s shoulder, prompting him to go next.