Our Little VIP

Four

TOP

"Baby girl, are you done in there?"

"Not yet Appa!" She yelled over the sound of the water hitting the shower floor.

I leaned against the door.

"Well let me know when you're done."
The water turned off and I heard small, wet footsteps walk across the bathroom floor.

The door swung open and I nearly lost my balance.

There stood Zozi soaking wet and wrapped up in a large towel. Her afro was poofy and wet.

"I'm done!" She skipped to her room. I walked into her closet and picked out some pikachu footies for her.

"Do you want to wear these?" I asked.

"Yes, it's Pikachu!" She beamed. "I wanna wear it."

She jumped up and down excited to put it on. Her towel began to slip from her body. "Uh, oh" she grabbed it. "You have to get out so I can change TOP Appa!"

"OK, I'll leave" I threw up my hands surrendering.

"Out now!" She pushed me out of her room and closed the door.

While she was putting on her pajamas, I popped popcorn and searched for the gummy worms. But, there were no more gummy worms just bears instead.

"Here I am!" She ran into the living room and plopped down in a chair. "Don't start without me!"

"I won't" I answered. "What movie do you want to see?"

She looked up in the air, searching for her answer. "Hmm... Alvin and the Chipmunks!"

"No, we've watched that movie a billion times"

"But I like Alvin and the chipmunks"

"Baby girl, pick something else. There are thousands of other movies out there" I said.

"OK" she looked around and rubbed her chin as if she had a beard. "Alvin and the chipmunks 2!" She exclaimed and held up three fingers.

"You mean two" I pushed down her third finger. "And no."

"Why not?!" She furrowed her eyebrows.

"Because if I hear another talking chipmunk, I'll run away screaming if I see one in real life."

She laughed. Her giggles were music to my ears.

"TOP Appa! You're so funny!" She giggled. "Are you going to scream really loud and high like a girl?"

"Yes" I smiled. "And it'll be all your fault, because you made me watch the stupid Alvin and the chipmunks movie."

She rolled over laughing.

"OK let's watch something else then" she sighed after laughing herself tired.

"What?"

"Trolls!" She beamed.

That's only her second most watched movie.

"Alright" I gave in. "At least trolls aren't real." I put the DVD in the DVD player.

I sat in the chair beside her and our snacks sat in between us.

"What's this?" She asked picking up a yellow gummy bear.

"Its a gummy bear of course."

"I don't eat gummy bears, I only eat gummy worms."

"What are you? A gummy bird?" I joked.

"No!" She giggled.

"Eat the bears. They taste the same."

"But they're not wiggly and slimy" she said. "I don't want it, if it's not wiggly and slimy."

"You know what you can do?"

"What?"

"Pretend."

"OK," she shoved her hands into the bowl. "Squishy squishy squishy" she chanted. "TOP Appa, look at all the worms I caught!"

She held one handful up to my face and shoved the other into her mouth.

She suddenly stopped. "If birds eat worms what animal eats bears?"

"Bears" I stated.

"No they don't" she beamed. "That's cannibbbrr. Canniblllll. Canibe... Ism."

"You mean cannibalism."

"Yes!"

"Where'd you learn that word from?" I asked.

"I was watching animal planet at Daesung Appa's house and there was a dead lion and other lions were eating it and then-"

"Ew, why does he let you watch things like that? You're only seven."

"Its edumacational Appa" she continued to eat her bears.

Throughout the movie, she sang all of the songs and said just about every line there was in the movie. She could have be in the movie.

Halfway through the movie we both fell asleep.