Earthborne

3

Year: About 1,000 years Later

   BOOMF. Then came the crying wails of a 7-year-old boy.

   "Augh, Jason!" The hero of the household, Nick Waterman, shot up like a jack-in-the-box from the dining chair and rushed to his one and only child, "How in the world did you hurt yourself this time?"  

   "A-A little... I was looking for my shoes." Jason mumbled. His fat cheeks twitched as he rubbed his forehead. The tot had been running about looking for his sneakers when all of a sudden his limbs turned to spaghetti and knocked his body into the barstool.  

   A woman popped her head out of the kitchen in worry as she grasped a wooden spoon with both her pale hands, "Oh dear, is Jason alright?" 

   "Yes he is, Nina. He just knocked himself like the clutz he is." He said, nudging his knuckles in his cheek, lightening his son's mood. He grinned, "He'll be fine. I'm going to drop him off to school in a bit." 

   "Okay, be good, Jason!" Nina walked to her son and kissed his crown of chocolate hair. She then placed the same prize on her husband's cheek before returning to the kitchen. 

~~~

   Twenty minutes later, Nick entered their one-story house and into the kitchen where Nina was finishing off the frosting on a sweet, vanilla cake, "That smells great, honey. Just as sweet as you~" Nick complimented in a cheesy manner, poking one of his right index fingers into the creamy edge of the round dessert. 

   Nina playfully swatted the pesky finger, "You'll get some cake in time, Nick. Plus, you'll end up eating the frosting, too." With a laugh, Nick watched on with happy, endearing eyes as she finished creating a scarlet rose in the middle of the dessert, "I'm done! How does it look?" 

   "It looks... uh..." Nick faked a thinking pose as he pretended to criticize the cake. He nearly burst into laughter when Nina suddenly looked worried, "It looks like something out of the Heavens." He dropped the act and grinned mischievously. 

   Nina dropped a great sigh of relief, "Oh my goodness, you nearly frightened me!" Then the young couple broke into a fit of giggles, and soon Nina interjected, "Haha, anyway, I hear you got a promotion today!" 

   "Yeah! You know, I'm thinking about becoming a lifeguard sooner or later. I can't let these muscles hang loose if I'm behind a cash register all day." Nick said, flexing his arms that weren't so buff and belonged to the average man's physique. Then again, Nina would never complain as long as it was Nick's body. 

   She chuckled, "That sounds fun! Now Jason can see his daddy be a superhero! Ooh, speaking of Jason, I made the family favorite!" She turned towards the fridge behind her and pulled out a glass pitcher filled with a yellow-pink thirst quencher. Nick knew the juice was at its coolest when condensation pooled around the bottom, "Drink up! We've had the ripest oranges this year!" 

   Nick poured himself a glass of the fruity citrus concoction and drank, "Mmm, you have this magic touch, I swear! See, I knew it was a good idea to move to California!" 

   "I know, right? I can't believe I could actually grow trees in our small backyard!" Nina suddenly became preoccupied with an immediate thought before she changed the topic, "How must I have forgotten, I forgot to tell you: I got my dream job!" 

   "Congratulations, Nina!" Nick put the glass down and bear-hugged his wife, "my proud and freaking adorable cake master~!" 

   "Yes! And I got hired just in time because now we have to create this big order for an engagement party! That impeccable timing!" Nina pouted, "but let me tell you more..." And that's how we spent the rest of that morning just catching up on our daily lives. Our beautiful son was happily learning at his elementary school, and we couldn't ask for more in our little world of perfection.