Ortega Family Adventure: Part 6

Ortega Family Adventures
After The Race

                   

H

elena looked at the little bear and asked, "Banu, how do you feel about going again?"
         "OK," Banu said with a determined look.
         "OK, then step up to the starting line," Helena said.
         For the next hour the children raced around the course without interruption. The day was starting to warm up, and they ran out of water. The Hartnus and Classnus decided to retire to the Hartnu's apartment to discuss what to do next for the Classnu Clan.
         Everyone else also decided to head back to the apartment building. Helena and Harris lived on the first floor. Those apartments all had twelve-foot ceilings to accommodate Trolls. Yuri and the Hartnus and Classnus got off on the Second floor; the Ortega's got off on the third. Mrs. Lin and Issolya lived on the fifth floor, where the ceilings were ten feet high.
         Once home, after sending the children to get cleaned up, Mrs. Ortega paused by the dining table, took the small colored stone out of her purse. She looked at it for a moment then placed it in the center of the table, then continued on into her room.
         Banu was the last to use the bathroom, and while walking back to the living room, paused by the dining room table. He stared at the colorful stone then climbed up on a chair and put is hands out. He couldn't reach it, even when he stretched out both arms. He focused on the stone, and whispered, "Come."
         The stone rocked a little, then slid across the table to settle between his hands. The little bear stared at the stone with great intensity. It shimmered more then changed from a lumpy stone to look like a hen's egg.
         "Banu! What are you doing?" Mrs. Ortega asked with alarm in her voice.
         Banu immediately pulled his arms back, and stammered, "I ... I was ... I don't know. I just ... I heard it? I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
         Mrs. Ortega softened her tone and said, "No, I'm sorry. It's OK. You did nothing wrong. You just scared me a little. How did you know to do that?"
         The little bear relaxed, frowned, then said, "I don't know. When I walked by I could, I dunno, hear it? Kind of a purring noise, like a cat only higher."
         "And the changing of its shape?"
         "I just thought it looked kind of like a hen's egg, so I made it look like an egg."
         Mrs. Ortega stepped, and lifted the stone. It looked like a colorful silver hen's egg. She started to put it back in the center of the table but then put it up on a shelf.
         "I think we should leave this alone until papa comes home, OK?"
         "OK, I am sorry. I didn't mean to change it."
         She ran her fingers through the fur on his head, and said, "You aren't in trouble. Now go play in the living room while I get lunch ready."
         "OK," Banu said, then hopped off the chair, and walked into the living room.
         No more than ten minutes later there was a light knock at the door.
         "Banu, answer the door, please," Mrs. Ortega called out from the kitchen.
         "OK," Banu said.
         He walked past the kitchen and to the front door. He reached for the knob, then stopped, and asked, "Who is it?"
         A faint "Sheena Classnu" could be heard through the door.
         "It's Sheena, mom," Banu said over his shoulder.
         "Let her in."
         Banu opened the door, and said, "Hi, Sheena. Please come in."
         "Thank you, Banu," Sheena said as she stepped passed the little bear.
         Mrs. Ortega came to the kitchen door, and asked, "Hello, Sheena. What can we do for you?"
         The little Hare stepped from foot to foot for a moment then asked in a rush, "Could I borrow some of Selena's old clothes? We left in such a hurry I didn't bring any of mine."
         "Of course, Selena, come out here," Mrs. Ortega said, then added to the young Hare. "You are little smaller than her, so she will have some good clothes for you that she can no longer wear. Please feel free to take what you need."
         "Oh, thank you so much," Sheen replied.
         Selena came out of her room, looked at her mother, then at Sheena and said, "Hi Sheena."
         "Hi Selena," Sheena said as she stepped past Banu.
         Mrs. Ortega then asked Selena, "Sheena needs some clothes; can you go through your clothes we were giving to charity, see what fits, and she wants with her?"
         "Yes! That will be fun," Selena said to her mom, then to Sheena said, "Follow me to our room."
         "Oh, Sheena, would you like to take a bath while you're here?" Mrs. Ortega asked.
         "Oh yes. That would be great."
         "OK. First you and Selena pick out an outfit that you can wear when you get out of the bath, then you take your bath, then you and Selena can continue selecting your clothes. By the way, put her dirth clothes in the laundry hamper, Selena."
         "Yes mom."
         The two girls went into the children's room and closed the door.
         Banu stood for a moment then went back into the living room. Mrs. Ortega returned to the kitchen and finished preparing lunch. Selena and Sheena came out of the children's room. Selena went into the kitchen after she pointed out to Sheena where the bathroom was as she went into the kitchen to help her mother with getting lunch ready.
         "Mom," Selena said as she stepped into the kitchen, "I don't think the Hartnu's have enough food to feed both families. Can Sheena have lunch with us?"
         "You are a very smart girl. I hadn't thought of that," Mrs. Ortega said, paused, then added. "Yes, let's make enough for her too. Then we should pick out some food to have her take back."
         "Potty!" Max said as she stood in the kitchen doorway and danced from foot to foot.
         "OK, use my bathroom," Mrs. Ortega said.
         Max was gone in the blink of an eye. Selena pulled dishes out of the cupboard and took them to the dining table. When she returned her mother gave two bowls of celery slices and beets. She continued helping to put out lunch until Sheena came out of the bathroom. She was wearing a loose long sleeved pink blouse with a dark red skirt. She had a serious look on her face when she said, "Thank you, Mrs. Ortega. I have another request."
         "Yes?" Mrs. Ortega said.
         "May I stay in your living room through lunch. I don't think the Hartnu's have enough food for all of us. I want to just stay away until everyone else has eaten."
         "Sweet child, there is no need for that. Selena and I have prepared enough for all of us," Mrs. Ortega said with a smile then added. "Let's call the boys to the table, shall we?"
         A few minutes later all the children sat at the table laden with food. There was a salad of greens, tomatoes, and avocado, bowls of beets, celery, fried rice, and refried beans. There were fresh corn tortillas, grated cheese, and mild salsa. As she pointed, Mrs. Ortega explained what was in each dish to Sheena.
         "What are beets?" Banu asked as he eyed the bowl of purple disks.
         "They are a root vegetable, kind of like a carrot," Mrs. Ortega answered.
         Banu looked dubious, but he tried a disk, after eating it, he said, "I like them!"
         The children chatted about the race, the pixie, and the bullies while eating. Sheena tasted everything then filled her plate with refried beans, salad, and rice. She watched Selena take a tortilla and fill it with beans, rice, cheese, a little salad and a spoonful of salsa. She mimicked her except for the cheese, and they ate their tacos together.
         When they were full, Sheena said, "I have never eaten food like that, and I like it. Thank you."
         "You are welcome. It comes from where papa was born," Selena said.
         Mrs. Ortega left the table then returned with cut up watermelon slices and set those out.
         "Watermelon! I love watermelon," Banu said grabbing a wedge then added just before taking a bite. "Thank you!"
         "You are welcome," Mrs. Ortega said then had a wedge her self.
         Sheena sniffed a wedge and nibbled it, then her eyes got big, and she started eating it as fast as she could. Between mouthfuls, she said, "This is really good."
         The children finished the watermelon and Selena, Max, and Sheena left the table; Banu stayed, and helped Mrs. Ortega clear the table then went back into the living room. Selena and Sheena went back to Selena's room to find more clothes that Sheena could wear.
         Mrs. Ortega put the last dish from lunch in the draining rack when her phone rang.
         "Hello?" she answered, paused then exclaimed. "Mom!"
         She listened for a few minutes then said, "Yes, of course. Seven would be fine. Can't wait to see you guys. Selena will be so surprised."
         A long pause then just before she hung up the phone, she said, "OK, see you then, bye."
         She dialed a number and when it was answered said, "Honey, Mom and Pops are coming by after dinner tonight. They got back the day before yesterday. It's been an interesting day, we can talk about it after the kids go to sleep. Can you get home by 5:30 so we can have dinner before they get here at 7?"
         A short pause, she said, "Great! Love you, bye."
         She stood for a moment then dialed another number.
         "Hello Ecaterina? This is Teresa Ortega."
         She paused, then answered, "Things are fine with us. How are you?"
         After a much longer pause she said, "You are amazing. I wish I had half your talent. I wanted to ask if you have any spare, old clothes for Ioana, Iulia, and Irina? We found a small family of Hares in the orchard today. They have four daughters with them. Three are triplets and are about the size of your daughters last year."
         She listened to the phone for a few minutes, then said, "That is wonderful. I will send Selena by to pick any you can spare. Thanks, and take care."
         She hung up the phone, and went into her bedroom.


         "What do you think about this?" Selena asked while she held up a green and white blouse with a yellow butterfly on the front.
         "Oh nice, I love flutterbys," Sheena said, as she took the blouse from Selena and tried it on.
         "We call them butterflys."
         "Do they eat butter here?"
         "No ... maybe ... I don't know. I think they only eat plants and, maybe, some really small bugs? I don't really know."
         "It fits. So we have three skirts, four leggings, and six blouses. I think that is enough," Sheena said, then added. "I need something to carry this stuff in."
         "I don't have any shoes that would fit you. Maybe mom has some shoes that would work, and an extra backpack or sack or something," Selena said then lead Sheena out of the bedroom and into the living room.
         Max and Banu were having a sword fight. They arrived at the dramatic conclusion when Max fake stabbed Banu who fell back on the couch and sighed. Max jumped to the floor and waved his hands above his head in triumph.
         "Why aren't they making any noise?" Sheena asked.
         "Oh, mom, doesn't like them playing sword fight, so they do it without making any noise now, so she won't know," Selena said to Sheena, then to her brothers she said, "I am going to talk to mom now."
         "OK," the boys said in unison.
         Selena led Sheena past the living room to the door to her parents room. She knocked and called out, "Mom."
         The door opened a minute later.
         "We picked out clothes. Now she needs something to carry them in," Selena said then added. "Oh, and none of my old shoes fit her. Do you have any she could have?"
         Mrs. Ortega nodded thoughtfully for a moment then said, "Let me see what I have. I will meet you in the living room in a few minutes," then she shut the door.
         Selena and Sheena went back to the living room where Max and Banu had hidden the swords and were sitting on the floor pushing small cars and trucks around.
         "You guys want to play Fruit Salad?" Selena asked.
         "OK," they replied in unison.
         After clearing all the toys away, all four settled down to play the card game on the floor.
         "So, there are two decks of cards," Selena began explained the game to Sheena. "One deck is fruit. See, like this one has blueberries on it. This one has cherries on it. The other deck has a fruit salad on it with all the fruit in it shown. It's also written out along the bottom of the card.
         "When we start, we each get three cards from the fruit deck, then we draw a card from the fruit salad deck and lay it down face up. Then we take turns drawing and discarding fruit cards until one of us has all the fruit to make the fruit salad."
         "Neat!" Sheena said.
         They played two hands, one Banu won and one Selena won. Sheena asked, "Why does Max just collect the fruit cards?"
         "Oh, Max just collects the fruits he likes. He doesn't care about the salad or winning," Selena answered.
         "I like watermelon!" Max stated.
         "I do too," Sheena agreed.
         They continued to play until they heard Mrs. Ortega come out of her room.