The next day.
"Mommy, mommy, mommy, today is Thursday!" Joy announced. She ran into Natasha's office.
Natasha looked up from her laptop, she knew exactly what Joy meant. She laughed before answering.
"Mommy, mommy, you said on Thursday I can start packing my things for our mini-vacation, can I go do it now?" Joy went straight to the point. Joy was so giddy that Natasha wished she herself could match her energy.
"I thought you would forget," Natasha laughed. She had only told Joy that she would start packing on Thursday because she believed by the time Thursday was here Joy would have forgotten all about packing.
"I don't forgot anything mommy, I don't, so can I go and pack?" she asked.
"Alright my darling, you can go and pack your things," She said.
"Yayyyyyyyyy, thank you mommy!" Joy said.
"You're welcome darling, just don't pack everything, remember to leave a few clothes for you to wear tomorrow.".
"Okay mommy, I will, thank you!!" Joy repeated once more before rushing out to her room.
Natasha laughed, Joy gave her so much joy. She could more than see that Joy was excited for their little trip and she was happy that was the case.
Joy entered into her room and pulled out her favourite pink suitcase from the closet. She carried the empty suitcase and placed it on the carpet before opening it up. She opened her closet and began to pack all her neatly folded clothes on her bed.
She was about to start picking out the clothes she wanted when she felt thirsty.
"Mommy, can I go and drink some grape juice?" she asked from her room. She knew her mother would hear her since the door to her office was open.
"No my darling, you had orange juice in the morning, drink water, it's hot," Natasha replied.
"Awww, fine mommy, but can I drink ice water from the fridge instead?".
"Sure darling, you can drink ice water, just don't add to many ice cubes before you get teeth freeze," Natasha warned.
"Okay mommy, I won't," Joy said.
She walked out of her room and down the stairs confidently. She entered the kitchen and pulled out the little, yellow stool and pushed it to the fridge. She opened the freezer side of the fridge and brought out the ice cube mould.
She set the mould on the kitchen counter and grabbed her favourite purple cup from the cupboard. She opened the tap and filled her cup with tap water. She put her hand under the running water and hissed.
"It is too hot, way too hot, I need more ice cubes," She said to herself. She closed the tap and removed five ice cubes from the ice cube mould. She put all the ice cubes into the cup, she watched them float and she giggled.
She put the ice cube mould back in the freezer. She was about to drink her water when she heard the landline ring.
She rushed to it and answered the call. "Hello," she said.
"Hello dummy, are you in the kitchen?" Ethan asked.
"Stop calling me dummy, and helloooo Ethan, yes, I am in the kitchen," She beamed.
"No wonder you answered so quickly," He said.
"Mhmm, I asked my mommy for some grape juice but she said no that I should drink water instead and then I said that I wanted to drink ice cold water and she allowed me so I put five ice cubes into my water and I was about to drink it when I heard the phone ringing," Joy said.
"Alright, alright, I don't need you to narrate the entire day you had before I called," Ethan said.
"Okay, so how are you Ethan?" Joy asked.
"I am good, just bored and hot as always," He said.
"Well it is really hot over here too, the water coming out of the tap is very, very, very hot," Joy said.
"Mhmm, anyway, what are you up to?" Ethan asked.
"Give me a moment Ethan, let me drink some of my water first before the ice cubes melt," She said before rushing to the counter, she picked up her cup and drank the water.
She hissed when she felt her teeth becoming cold. She did get a teeth freeze, maybe five ice cubes was a bit too much, she should have just added three cubes instead.
She drank half of the water and returned to the landline. "I'm back Ethan, what did you say before?" she asked.
"I said, what are you up to?" he asked.
"Well, I was upstairs packing my clothes because we are going to leave tomorrow evening for my grandparents house and we will have a mini-vacation," Joy beamed.
"Oh, yeah, I remember, so how is the packing going?" he asked.
"Well I haven't started yet, I just brought out my suitcase to start packing. I have many clothes to sort through, would you like to help me pack?" Joy asked. She picked up the landline and her glass of water and walked up the stairs carefully.
"I of course have much better things to do than to help you pack... but since you asked me so nicely, I will find some time out of my busy schedule to attend to you," Ethan said as Pluto barked in the background.
"Oh, hello Pluto," Joy giggled. "Yayyy, at least you said yes," Joy said entering her room.
Natasha smiled, she heard Joy talking to someone on the phone and she was sure that it was Ethan. He had been calling almost everyday. She found it very cute. He was the only one of her friends that called, but she was sure it had something to do with him being older.
"Pluto is being jumpy since we can't go outside, it's raining here, which is a good thing because of the heat but strange because it doesn't usually rain in June," He frowned.
"Ohhh, well, I love the rain," Joy said. She placed her cup on the floor and the phone on her bed where she had put all her clothes.
"I don't, anyway, how many clothes do you have to pack?" he asked.
"Well a few, my mommy said I should not pack all my clothes, I should leave some for me to wear tomorrow," Joy said.
"Well then, you need to pack the essentials like t-shirts, jeans and shorts," Ethan said. "That's what I packed when my mom told me to.".
"Good idea, how many t-shirts should I pack?".
"Well, how many days are you going to stay there?" he asked.
"A week.".
"Then pack fourteen t-shirts. You can never be too safe, especially not in this heat, it's better to have two of everything," Ethan said.
"You are very right Ethan, so which colours should I choose? I have pink shirts, yellow shirts, green, blue, purple, black, brown," Joy said.
"How would I know dummy? I don't have that many colours. I hate bright colours, I only have brown, white, black and a few reds in my closet," Ethan said.
"Well I don't, so which colours should I chose? My favourite colour is orange, so I am taking four orange shirts, what about the rest?".
"Well dummy, dark colours like black, brown and dark blue trap more heat and since it's already very hot, there's no need to add to the heat," He said.
"Okay, so I can take pink and purple and yellow," She said placing the shirts in her suitcase. She heard Pluto barking constantly in the background.
"Pluto really wants to go outside," Joy laughed.
"Yes, she does, but she can't because she will get all wet and dirty and she hates baths and the bathroom ends up a mess whenever I do give her one," Ethan said.
"Well Maggie is not like that, she loves baths," Joy giggled.
"Lucky you, moving on, make sure you remember to pack some flipflops," He said.
"Okay, I got them," Joy said as she walked from her closet and put the flipflops in her suitcase.
"And what about the shorts, how many should I take?" she asked.
"Well, seven," He said.
"I thought you would say fourteen like the shirts?" she asked.
"Well firstly, I don't think anyone has fourteen shorts, if they do, they have a problem, and secondly only a baby that pees and poops themselves will need many shorts," Ethan said.
"Got it, I will just pack seven then," Joy said. She paid no attention to Ethan's words, she was not going to be offended by it. By now she knew how he spoke and he was harsh, that was just how he was.
"And I am going to pack three jeans," Joy said.
"Pluto, behave, behave or else you are not getting any treats, I'm serious," Ethan turned to Pluto and warned. Her barking was starting to annoy him and if she continued he would lock her in the garage.
Pluto turned to him as if understanding him she stopped barking instantly.