A love-ly coincidence. (ON HOLD)

Side effects (1)

"Tanya!", her mother shouted from downstairs "we're leaving for church in 30 minutes!"

Tanya groaned and hid her face in her pillow, then she reached for her phone to check the time, her battery was flat. How did that happen?

"25 minutes Tanya!" her mother shouted.

Tanya dragged herself out of bed and went to bath. When she came back to get dressed her mind was revived and she remembered last night with a smile.
She and Workaholic had talked until her battery died.
What had they been on about?
Animals.
It all started when he asked if she had been born an animal what would she be and she said a Parrot because it had the ability to hold conversations - and as an added bonus it was pretty.
He had laughed and said in that case he would be a wild cat and live to chase her with the ultimate aim of making a meal out of her.
The rest of the conversation had built up on that and was filled with much humor.
Tanya laughed out loud as she remembered some of the things Workaholic had said.
*
The morning sped by and before long it was 12pm and the church service was over. Tanya couldn't wait to get back home and chat with Workaholic, she had left her phone on the charger for that very reason.
After church she greeted a few elders and some of her peers then she proceeded to wait for her parents outside their car.
She hadn't waited long when one of her two younger brothers ran up to her. 8 year old Thomas was his sister's favorite while the youngest, 7 year old Theodore was their mother's favorite.
As such, Thomas was always on the look out for Tanya, giving her hints, warnings and gossips whenever he heard anything that would interest her.

"Tanya you forgot today is our turn" said Tom when he'd reached his sister.

"What?" She asked.

Tom linked his small arm with his sister's wrist, "today is our turn to help out at the Home"

"Really?!" Tanya appeared surprised "it completely slipped my mind"

"Strange, you're usually  the one who reminds us" said Tom "mom, dad and Theo are already there, when I couldn't see you I decided to come and look for you."

Tanya smiled and ruffled his hair "awwww thank you buddy, you're my hero"

Tom gave a lil bow and said "at your service m'lady, shall we now depart?"

Tanya laughed, "yes kind sir, lead the way"

As they walked Tom kept checking his  sister's face till she asked, "is there something wrong with my face?"

"No but you do look different - unusual" replied Tom.

"How so?"

"You appear tired, did you sleep well?"

Tanya smiled "wouldn't you like to know"

"What does that mean?" asked Tom.

"Last one to the home is a toad!" Tanya shouted as she broke into a run.

Tom followed her and raced his sister to the home, not wanting to spend the rest of the day as the family toad.

Tanya and her family attended church every Sunday. Their church had also built a children's home on another part of the church grounds, it gave a home to about two hundred girls and boys from the ages of 0-21 years.
All the workers at the home were voluntary and mostly church members. Due to the high turn out of helpers, the church administrators had to put people on roosters and give them specific dates of when they could come and help.
Tanya and her family were grouped with four other families and they would help the younger children by cleaning their rooms, doing their laundry and playing with them if they needed company.
This activity was enjoyable to Tanya and she always felt that it was an act of service to God.
Usually, helping out never took more than 2 hours but today it was taking forever, Tanya thought to herself.
By the time Mrs Stevens called her family to say they were done for the day, and could leave, it was way past 3pm.