Latone Boys Gone Wild

One in a series of stories my friends and I were writing a while back. Louise takes the Latone kids for the day, and madness ensues. All characters except Louise & Rory were created by other writers.

Louise was in the car when she got the call. Her phone went off, a French song nearly startling her into the next lane. She reached one arm into the back seat, fumbling around for her Switchfoot bag, as she pulled to the side of the road and stopped the car. She dug out her phone, the music becoming even louder, blaring, “Pourquoi tu gaches ta vie?” at her for the third time. She pressed the green button and lifted the phone to her ear without looking at the screen.

“Rain?”

“Ransom,” he corrected. “Do me a favor?”

“I’ll meet you at my place in a bit,” she said, a smirk on her face. Ransom had his Come-Take-The-Kids-So-We-Can-Go-Out tone.

“Thanks,” he said, hanging up.

Louise tossed the phone to the back seat and turned the car around.

Fifteen minutes later, she walked back into her apartment, tossing the keys and her phone on the kitchen table. She started pulling out various baking pans and ingredients, starting the muffins and getting cookies ready to go in the oven. As she checked to see how the muffins were doing, she heard a car cut off in the parking lot. She closed the oven and glanced out the window before she opened the door to three small figures dragging her to the ground as they roared, “Aunt Lou!”

“Hey, guys,” she laughed, getting up. “Go inside and put your stuff down. I’ll be in in a minute.”

“Okay, Auntie,” William said, as all three Latone boys ran inside.

“Thanks, again,” Ransom said, watching them go.

“It’s no problem,” Louise assured. Catching the look on Rain’s face, she held up a piece of paper with squiggly lines drawn on it and said, “I am a mature and responsible adult.”

“Keep dreaming,” Rain said, sarcasm thick. “Be responsible. Watch them. Don’t give them too much sugar, and candy, soda, cake, cookies, and muffins is not a meal. Don’t forget to take them to Cassandra’s for school. Try to get them to church on time- wait, no, don’t take them to church. Don’t forget to take Caleb and Henry to practice-”

“Rain,” Louise interrupted, covering Rain’s mouth. “Chill. I got this.”

“I think we’ll get out of here now,” Ransom said, tapping Rain’s shoulder.

“Caleb, Will, Henry, come wave goodbye to your parents!” Louise said, waving as they backed out of the parking lot. The three boys came to the door, waved to their parents, and went back to wrestling on the kitchen floor. Louise turned, closing the door behind her, and was dragged into the wrestling match between Caleb and Henry. William was playing with the bin of legos Louise kept under the kitchen sink.

“Ouch! Caleb!” Henry said loudly, as Caleb pinned him to the floor, one knee on Henry’s chest.

“Auntie, what’s that smell?” William said, looking around. Louise stopped, smelled the air, and began to panic.

“The muffins!” she said, dashing across the room, trying not to step on legos or kids. “Caleb, be nice to your brother,” she added, taking the muffins out of the oven, “Henry, man up.”

“Auntie, I’m always nice,” Caleb said. “I can’t help it if Henry’s a wimp.”

“Well, then Henry shouldn’t be wrestling,” she replied, scanning the counters. “Where’d the pan of cookies go?”

“You mean, the gloppy stuff on the counter?” William asked, turning to look at her.

“Will!” she half-laughed, seeing that he’d covered himself in cookie batter. She picked up her phone and snapped a picture, Caleb and Henry back to wrestling in the background. She sent it to Rebekah, with the caption, ‘This kid’s adorable,’ and put the phone down on the counter. “Let’s get you cleaned up,” she said, smiling, as she picked him up.

“Can we not tell Mommy?” he asked, realizing he’d be in trouble if he’d done this at home.

“If you guys don’t tell, I won’t,” she said, carrying William to the bathroom and setting him down on the counter.

Caleb and Henry paused long enough to chorus, “What happens at Aunt Lou’s, stays at Aunt Lou’s.” Louise laughed, beginning to clean William off.

Half an hour later, Louise helped William off the counter.

“Alright, kiddo. Think you got this by yourself?” she asked, turning off the faucet in the bathtub.

“Yep,” he nodded, pulling his shirt over his head like Caleb had shown him a million times before. “I got this.”

“‘Kay. I gotta go check on Caleb and Henry, it sounds like they might have killed each other in there,” she laughed as she walked out and heard the door close behind her.

“Mwahahahaha!” she could hear Henry’s evil laugh.

“Guys,” she called. “What’cha doin’?”

“... Making cookies...” they called back as she walked into the room. She stopped dead, taking in the scene- the two boys, wearing aprons as capes and plastic cups and string as Batman ears, sword fighting with giant sticks of French bread, using cookie pans and tin foil as shields, both of them, and the entire room, covered in flour, eggs, milk, and sugar, and various cooking utensils strewn about the room- and burst out laughing.

“You definitely learned your cooking skills from me,” she said, still laughing.

“Auntie,” William came sliding into the room, sopping wet, clothes and all.

“What’d you do, Will, go swimming?” Caleb joked.

“No, I was-” William started, when Louise’s phone went off, blaring, “There was a moment when I thought our love was strong,” as she pushed a mostly empty bag of flower off the counter to reveal the egg-covered phone.

“Heylo, Rachet speaking,” she said, as normally as she could.

“Hey, it’s Rain. And Ran.” Louise could hear a rather Ransom-like, “Hey” in the background.

“And how are the lovebirds?” she teased, as if she had nothing better to say.

“Just shut up and put the kids on the phone.”

“Alright, fine,” Louise said, snapping at the boys to stop wrestling in the catastrophic mess of the room. “Caleb! Henry! William! It’s your mom and dad.” Caleb took the phone, putting on his Nope-Nothing’s-Wrong voice.

“Hi!”

“Hey, Caleb. What’s up? Is Aunt Lou treating you good?”

“Oh, yeah, she's great! She lets us do whatever we want! And she's nice and she gives us a lot of soda and stuff!” Caleb laughed, seeing Louise’s face. Henry and William were wrestling again, deciding who would get the phone next.

Henry won, yelling at Caleb, “Give it!” and then, “Yeah! Aunt Lou’s awesome! Can we stay here longer?” into the phone, which he was holding upside down.

“Um, no. But I'm glad you're having a good time. Daddy and I are enjoying ourselves as well. Can I talk to William?” Henry turned the phone around, realizing he’d had it upside down.

“Yeah, here he is!” he handed the phone to his little brother, and went back to wrestling with Caleb.

“Hi,” William said.

“Hey, Will! Holding up the fort okay? Making sure your brothers behave?” Ransom asked.

“Yeah, Daddy! I be good!”

“Am good,” the scholarly mother corrected.

“That, too.” He’d moved to the window, which Louise almost always kept open during the day.

“Will, give it to me! I want to talk to Daddy!” Caleb demanded, trying to take the phone.

“Noooo!” William moaned, the phone slipping from his hands as he fell backwards, hitting his head on the windowsill. He abruptly began wailing, as Louise was trying to start cleaning up the mess in the kitchen.

“Oh, are you okay?” Caleb said.

“Ran... Ran...” Rain began to panic on the other end.

“It’s fine,” Ransom assured.

“Did you hit your head?” Henry said, playing Doctor. “I don’t feel a bump.”

“Don’t touch it!” William sobbed, clutching his head.

“Where’s Lou?” Rain hissed into the phone.

“I don’t know!” Ransom sighed.

After a few more minutes, the child doctors had come to the conclusion that William had a concussion and had fifteen minutes to live. Louise walked into the room, finally having her hands free, now covered in cookie ingredients herself.

“Awww, it’s alright, Will,” she said, pulling him into her lap and cuddling him. “Did you hit your head? Let me kiss it and make it better.” William nodded, sniffling. “There, better?” Lou asked, glancing at Caleb, who was still holding the phone. “Oh crap,” she said, as she realized that Rain and Ransom would still be on the other end. She took the phone, holding it between her ear and her shoulder, as she picked up William as well. “Hey, sorry about that. It’s really nothing, I promise.”

“Louise Tayce,” Rain said, obviously furious.

“I’ll take them to Bekah’s...” Louise sighed.

“Yes, yes you will.” Rain hung up, and Louise slid the still-egg-covered phone in her back pocket.

“Okay, guys, time to go to Auntie Bekah’s,” she said. “Mommy says. I won’t make you wash up first, though.”

“Okay,” the three Latones chorused, giggling at the thought of making their Aunt Bekah make faces as she opened her door.

“Let’s go,” she said, grabbing the keys and marching the boys out the door like little flour-covered penguins. As she helped the boys into her pickup, she couldn’t help but feel like she was forgetting something. She walked around the car, got in, cranked it, and opened the little flap with the mirror on it, checking to make sure she didn’t look like the Loch Ness Monster- and then she remembered.

A little green Post-It fluttered into her lap, with the words, ‘CGA, 2:00’ on it in big, bold letters. “Crap. Rory,” she mumbled, slamming her head on the steering wheel.

“What’d you do that for?” William asked.

“You know what, guys, we’re gonna go pick someone up on our way to your Aunt Bekah’s,” she replied, grabbing her phone as she backed out of the driveway. She sent a text to Rory- ‘SORRY! Be there in fifteen minutes.’

“Who are you talking tooooo?” Henry asked, reading the message from the reflection on the window.

“Somebody,” she said, tossing the Post-It out of her lap and replacing it with her phone.

“I bet it’s Rory,” Caleb said, teasing.

“What do you know about Rory?” she asked, slightly surprised.

“I listen when Mommy’s on the phone,” he said. “I bet you looooooovvvvveeeee himmmm!”

“Auntie Lou and Rory, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G,” Henry started.

“Where’d you get that song from, Henry?” she asked him, trying to concentrate on not wrecking the car.

“I heard it on tv,” he said, nonchalantly.

“Who’s Rory, Auntie Lou? Is he gonna be our uncle?” William chimed in.

“Mommy says you love him,” Caleb said.

“First comes love... Uh,” Henry added, forgetting the next part.

“Who’s Rory, Auntie Lou?” William asked again.

“Do you love Rory, Auntie Lou?” Caleb asked.

“Guys, I need you to be quiet for a bit,” she said, turning on the radio and putting in a VeggieTales CD. “I need to concentrate on driving.”

Ten minutes later, as she pulled into the parking lot of the hospital where Rory worked, she couldn’t wait to see his face. She picked up the phone, which had fallen to the floor, and sent a message- ‘I’M HERE. So sorry!’

“It’s Rory,” Caleb said, smirking. “Mommy says he’s a doctor.”

“Guys,” she said, before the other two could edge in. “Be nice.” As she saw Rory walk out of the front door of the building, she got out, followed by the kids.

“She looooovvvvvveeesssss him,” Henry whispered, making the other two crack up.

“Uh,” Rory said, taking in the four of them. “I guess you had a fun day.”

“Something like that,” Louise smiled, hugging him and turning to walk back toward the car. She looked at the boys, who were staring up at her innocently. “Fine, we’ll stop for ice cream,” she said, pulling at Caleb’s Bat Ears, patting Henry on the back, and picking William up.

“Yayyy!” they chorused, William hugged her, she let him go, and the three of them went running back to the car.

“Should I even ask where you got kids from?” Rory asked when the boys were a little ways away. Louise was silent until they all reached the car, and slid into the middle, with William on her lap. Rory slid in beside her, and Henry and Caleb on the other side.

“Boys, this is Rory. Rory, meet my nephews,” she said, gesturing to the boys. Rory leaned over and whispered in her ear as he started the car and turned on the radio.

“The Latone Terrors?” he quoted Rebekah’s name for them.

“Just wait until you see my apartment,” she whispered back, smiling. “To Bekah’s,” she said as Rory pulled out of the parking lot.

Half an hour later, Louise, William, Caleb, and Henry stood outside Rebekah’s door, knocking. Rory had opted to stay in the car as Louise and the three boys stood at the door, still covered in cookie ingredients, Caleb and Henry still wearing their apron-capes and plastic cup-Bat Ears. Just as Louise was considering taking the boys back to her apartment and making them clean up, Rebekah opened the door and groaned.

“This is what I get for thinking I dodged a bullet when she called you,” she said.

“Rain made me,” she said, ushering the boys past Rebekah.

“And you wonder why I call them the Latone Terrors,” she whispered.

“Actually, you should see my apartment right now. You’d come up with a much worse name,” Louise whispered back.

FIN.

Author's Note

I wrote this a while back, so my current writing style is a little different. If you happen to notice that Louise's name doesn't fit the character- I didn't want the original name going up, so I quickly went through and changed it before posting.

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[Chiradeep Patra]

Welcome to WC, keep writing...