As soon as Abuela Labiba completes two of her books, Dexter and Tangerine awake from their slumber and make a beeline for the twins' rooms. Noticing that Lilac, Lavender, Judith and Judah aren't home anymore, they both walk outside to their customized bathroom area in the backyard. Once the two bury the natural fertilizer and wipe off their paws, they lie in front of Abuela Labiba waiting for her eyes to meet their view.
"Oh! Dexter! Tangerine! Good Morning! My two best buddies in the whole world are now awake! Hold on, let me go pour your food!", Abuela Labiba exclaims with her beaming smile. She bookmarks her third book and extends her legs from the stiff position immediately heading towards the pantry, as the clock strikes 9:45 am.
"Oh wow. We're playing favoritism, huh?", Ricky squawks begrudgingly with a stuffed face.
"You hate me. I hate you. We're even.", Abuela Labiba glares, passing off an aura of hostility, holding Dexter and Tangerine's food pouch.
Ricky, silently agreeing to these words, gets back to satisfying his appetite. Abuela Labiba scavenges for Dexter and Tangerine's bowls to finally feed the compliant two. After tidying up the kitchen a little more, she spends the rest of her spare time reading. She wearily rocks back and forth before her daily alarm goes off at 10:00 am, the alarm to exercise with the dogs and take the children their lunches.
"Oh? Already? I guess it can't be helped. Well I made a pretty good accomplishment, finally completing three postponed, oh so boring, books.", Abuela Labiba walks over to the kitchen to cook eight lunches for her grandchildren, promptly turning on the stove, filling a midsized pot with purified water.
As she boils water for rice, the dame prepares stripped chicken. Abuela Labiba pours at least two cups of vinegar in a large bowl, soaking the cut strips in vinegar encased in a glass bowl for fifteen minutes in the family dining room; before rinsing them, she combines honey, paprika, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper for a marinade. While waiting for the chicken strips to finish soaking in the vinegar, she pours rice in the medium sized boiling pot of water. Abuela Labiba then sets a broad frying pan on top of the stove, turning on medium heat. She walks toward the sink, rinsing a rag with warm water to clean the counter from a mess of spices she's wasted, before tossing it back into the empty sink.
Abuela Labiba places drained pre-soaked black beans in the pan; after five minutes, she adds olive oil, lime juice, chili powder and cumin. The loving grandmother finely chops a toddler's handful of coriander, before stirring it into the pan. She oils another vast pan beginning to heat it, previously turning off the heat under the rice. Abuela Labiba realizes that the chicken strips are still soaking on the dining table and rushes to the dining area, coming into contact with nearly everything she crosses paths with.
"What the heck?!", Zuri's clay flower vase falls on her foot.
Once she arrives, Abuela Labiba snatches the lid off of the bowl while another fact crosses her mind. So, sprinting towards the kitchen, she drowns the chicken, letting it revive, only to drench it in the marinade inside of a large container in the refrigerator for twenty minutes. The anxious woman immediately turns down the heat for the black beans, whilst stirring them. Afterwards, she speeds back upstairs beginning to separate the giant heap of laundry into eleven various wardrobes.
Abuela Labiba sighs, "Glad I got that out of the way.", walking downstairs to an herby atmosphere.
Relieved, Abuela Labiba takes the seasoned meat out of the refrigerator, setting it down by the stove, oils and heats an additional vast pan. The now satisfied woman, then takes a spatula to pan-fry her handmade strips on the already hot skillet. After twenty minutes of flipping and pressing, she completes the components of the lunches for her daughters' children.
She sets all of the factors into large bowls, opens the pantry and pulls out the tortillas to lightly toast them. However, Abuela Labiba has a last-minute decision to make sweet corn, which only takes another ten minutes. She lets the beans release more of its' heat more before touching them. The caring elder mother positions eight lunch containers on the countertop, instantly dicing up lettuce along with two tomatoes and four avocados.
"There we go. Now all I have to do is assemble them.", Abuela Labiba ponders, gathering all of the prepped ingredients. She makes the burritos and aligns them alongside the interior of the children's lunchboxes.
"Hmm. I could make some cookies too.", she thinks, gearing up her equipment, grabbing a pan, a bowl, and a whisk, with yet another last-minute plan. Abuela Labiba combines ingredients for the chocolate chip cookies before separating them in the oven. Soon as they start baking, she walks up to her room and wears a pair of black sweat pants over her shorts.
Abuela Labiba comes back down with two tote bags, "Alright! Tangerine, Dexter! Get ready! We're going to bring the kids their lunches!", she commands the dogs in encouragement as they walk in the kitchen.
Once the cookies are done, Abuela Labiba adds some to the children's lunches. She arranges the lunch boxes in the tote bags, one is carried by Dexter, a Bouvier Des Flandres, and the other by Abuela Labiba, since Tangerine is classified as a Yorkshire Terrier.
"Alright! Don't do anything stupid while we're gone annoying avian!", Abuela shouts at Ricky.
Ricky squawks, "What?! As if you could do anything! I'd kill a thousand men if I wanted to!", sardonically.
Abuela Labiba scoffs, makes sure that Ricky's cage is secure and locks up the house. She briskly puts a leash on the dogs, held around her wrist, and starts jogging, as it is now 11:30 am.
"Okay so, the twins' school is about ten minutes away. That middle school will take about another twenty minutes to get to. Then a couple blocks from there will be their high school.", Abuela Labiba mumbles to herself, quite a distance away from the house, "Which is probably only five minutes."
"Labiba! Hey! Getting involved in some...illegal activities?", an old friend of Abuela Labiba approaches her.
"Hey!", Abuela Labiba chuckles, "Nothing like that! I'm bringing my grandkids their lunches!" jogging in place as Dexter and Tangerine wonder around.
"Ah, I see!", Abuela Labiba's best companion laughs, "Why not give them their lunches before they go to school, though?", they start to stretch out their appendages.
"I really need some exercise, and without a motive, I wouldn't be able to step a foot outside that house.", Abuela Labiba jokes breathlessly, still trotting in the same position.
"Oh ok! I get it!", Abuela Labiba's long term friend gives a thumbs up.
"Say Fred. Why are you running? You don't usually exercise outside.", Abuela Labiba invests in the situation, still running lightly.
"Oh! My wife forgot to bring her cup to work. She just called, so, I'm bringing it to her. I lost my car keys so let's just hope that this old man doesn't pull a muscle. I haven't run a long distance in a while.", Fred chortles, displaying his wife's tall insulated steal teal bottle.
"Yeah! Have a nice day then!", Abuela Labiba laughs.
"You too!", Fred chuckles as he starts to jog off.
"We're almost there! Dexter, Tangerine, let's go!", she begins running rapidly.
Within five minutes Abuela Labiba reaches the twins' school.
YOU ARE READING
The Incidental Extraterrestrial War
FantasyA family lives a peaceful and content life, however, that peace is interrupted when they get involved in a war their kindred incidentally started. With their supernatural abilities, hidden strengths, and quirky features it is impossible to tell how...
