"Oh, hi, Shinju," murmured my father. He kept his eyes on the computer screen as he said, "Why don't you run and help your stepmother in the kitchen? I'm a bit busy right now, my pearl."
"Sure thing, Dad." I closed the door to his study. Poor old Dad. He was always run over with work, because he had opened a business he created himself and was so overworked trying to keep up with all the orders and keeping the business itself.
I trailed into the kitchen, where my mother was making lunch. The smell of burnt bread filled the room.
"Shinju Kobashigawa, where have you been?" She turned, facing me with that kindly look in her eyes that mothers always have.
"I just came back from shopping, Mama." I smiled at her.
"Then where is the shopping, Shinju?" Mama glanced at me, then turned to stir the soup boiling on the stove. "And who took my good bread rolls to eat?"
She looked at me. "It must have been Kiki," I said, quickly turning for the door.
Kiki is my three year old sister. She is very naughty sometimes, climbing onto the kitchen counter and grabbing the strawberry jam from the topmost cupboard. She loves strawberry jam.
"Oh, no you don't, dear," Mama turned. "You need to help me with the cooking."
"You told me to get the shopping, Mama."
"Alright, then. Run along. Come back in ten minutes. I need you to cook the bread and butter and stir the soup for another five minutes."
"Yes, Mama."
My slippers pounded against the concrete as I ran out to the grocery bags lying in my basket.
And when I rummaged in the basket, the three bags were gone.
"Kiki? Kiki! Where are you?" I ran into the garden. There was a big possibility that she had taken them.
Two reasons:
1. She loves food.
2. She always does this.
The long grass scratched my legs. Overgrown trees' leaves reached my head. I pulled apart some weeping willow leaves and there she was, eating peanut butter crackers.
"Kiki, you rascal!" I picked her up. She looked up at me with big brown eyes.
I picked up what was left from the groceries and dragged them into the house, Kiki on my hip, licking the remains of peanut butter from her face.
When Mama saw us, she shook her head, catching sight of the cracker crumbs on her lips. "What have you been up to now, Kiki baby?" She took Kiki from me and I set the bags down.
"She ate most of the shopping, Mama." I pinched Kiki's chubby cheeks and she squealed, trying to pinch me back.
"Oh, my! Kiki, you naughty cutie!" Mama tickled my sister on the tummy. She giggled and curled up, pushing our mama's hands away.
"Shinju, take Kiki to Akiko, please. Tell her I need her to take care of Kiki."
I tugged Kiki upstairs to my older sister's door. She is sixteen, and a math genius.
"Akiko?" I pushed her door open.
"Have you ever heard of knocking?" Akiko grumbled. She scooped up Kiki. "I guess this is Kiki? I need to take care of her?"
"Yes," I said. "I'll leave her to you."
I skipped down the stairs, wondering what adventures lay in wait in the hours that were to come.
