“Wait, you never said anything.” Betsy stared down at the small girl in shock. “I don’t think I have any vegetarian food.”
“What about the vegetarian patties and hotdogs in the fridge?” Ink asked as he set Betsy down on the counter and stood between her open legs.
“Those are for Millie,” Betsy replied.
“Millie is going to eat five vegetarian patties, five vegetarian hotdogs and all of the salads?” Ink asked, his eyebrows rising.
“Don’t worry, Mama,” Zippy told her. “I don’t need any special food. I’m just gonna eat chips and dip.”
Betsy ran her hand over her face. Chips and dip? She couldn’t just live on chips and dip.
Ink leaned in to whisper. “Don’t worry, this is probably just a phase. Just like when she decided she only wanted to eat green things. That stopped pretty quickly.”
“That’s because most green things are vegetables. And she doesn’t like vegetables,” Betsy whispered back.
“You know it’s rude to whisper in front of people. Isn’t it, brother?” Baron told them.
Royal nodded. “Very rude.”
“Just like it’s rude to talk with your mouth full?” Betsy asked dryly.
“That’s definitely rude,” Zippy said before she took a bite of her ham sandwich.
“You know that you’re eating meat right now, don’t you?” Betsy asked her.
“Oh yeah, this is my last piece of meat and then I’m going vegetarian,” Zippy replied.
“You also know you can’t live on just chips and dip? Right?”
“I can’t?” Zippy asked.
“You need good food so you can be big and strong like us, Zippy,” Baron replied, flexing his arm. “See? You don’t get muscles like this from eating just chips and dip.”
Royal nodded.
“Oh, okay, I’ll eat other stuff. But you can eat whatever you like on the Fourth of July, I figure.”
Baron and Royal nodded in agreement. As usual the three of them were all sticking together.
“I’m pretty sure it’s a rule or something,” Baron told her.
“Absolutely,” Royal added.
Betsy gave up. What did it matter if she wanted to eat chips and dip for the day?
It really wouldn’t cause any harm.
“Now that we’ve got that settled, why were you running through the house like you were? You’re going to slip and hurt yourself.” Ink gave her a stern look as he placed his hands on either side of her, resting them on the countertop. Her legs parted further as he stepped closer toward her.
“Yeah, Ma, you shouldn’t be running through the house,” Baron said, pointing his finger at her. “Naughty.”
Betsy gave Ink a quelling look. Then she turned to Baron. “I’m still the mom here, and don’t any of you forget it.”
They all just grinned back at her angelically.
Lord help her.
“We know that, Ma,” Royal told her, wiping his hands on a napkin.
