“Oui, I do love what you’ve done with this place. I remember what it was like when you first bought it.” Sophie complemented her young friend. Anya and Dimitri have been living in the apartment for two years and loved it.

Nicole nodded her head in agreement, “I told that husband of mine to get furniture, but no. That would cost money. I swear he must be the cheapest man alive.”

Anya laughed “I don’t know! Dimitri is pretty cheap himself. Though I do admit he’s better than he used to be.”

Just then little Tasha toddled into the room. Dimitri and Anya were blessed two years ago with a little baby girl. Her chocolate brown hair and dark eyes matched Dimitri’s. Her personality matched her father’s too. There was always a plan up that little stinker’s sleeve. You never knew what she was going to think of doing next.

“Mama, can I go outside? I want to play with puppy.” Tasha asked looking over at Pooka, who was not a puppy anymore. He was full-grown and was as protective of Tasha as Anya was. And sometimes Anya would let Tasha outside and Pooka would watch over her.

“No Tasha, it’s nap time,” Anya got up and took Tasha by the hand and led her into the little bedroom.

“But I don’t want nap,” Tasha whimpered. “I’m big now.”

“Yes, you are bigger, but not big enough to go without a nap.” Anya scolded. She was sure Sophie and Nicole heard her from the other room. Anya had a lot of patience with Tasha, but sometimes she just felt like she wanted to get away. Finally Tasha dozed off and Anya tiptoed back over to the other room.

“You know Anya, it looks like you need a break.” Nicole commented after Anya sat down. Sophie wondered what Nicole was talking about. Lately the three talked a lot together. But sometimes Nicole just got down right annoying with all her little ideas and comments of the day.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, when I was young I had a daughter too. I loved her very much, but sometimes you need a break. Like a day off.” Nicole explained. “And when I got a day off I feel a hundred times better.

A day off! Wouldn’t that be fun? She could do what ever she wanted. She could go shopping and spend time with her friends. Or she could just do nothing and just relax. A day off! Anya loved the thought of a little vacation. Just one day would be all she needed.

“That’s a wonderful idea!” Anya agreed. “I could go anywhere and do anything. I love Tasha, but I’d just like a day to myself. It doesn’t even have to be a day. Just a few hours is all I need!”

“My goodness, you’re right Nicole. A day off is just what Anya needs. I mean she does everything around the house.” Sophie grinned from ear to ear. It’s been a while since she and Anya spent some good quality time together without Nicole.

“Wait,” Anya thought for a minute. “What about Tasha? I can’t just leave her? She’s only two.”

Nicole laughed, “Well, of course you wouldn’t leave her by herself. We’d leave her with our three favorite men. Francis, Dimitri, and Vlad.” Sophie’s head shot up. What did Nicole mean by “we’d”?

“Hey, how about this Saturday! I’m free.”

“Me too!”

“And Dimitri will have to watch Tasha because he gets Saturday off.”

“Good, then it’s agreed. Saturday is our day off and nothing is going to keep us home!”

Sophie sighed. Great! Nicole was coming alone. It’s not like she disliked Nicole. But she didn’t like the way Nicole just invited herself on their shopping spree. It sometimes felt like Nicole was taking away her best friend.

~*~

“But Anya, I was planning on doing something today.” Whined a very childish grown man. “Now I’ll have to cancel.”

Anya almost let out a laugh. When Dimitri pouted he looked so cute and funny. “I guess so. After all you owe me. Do you know all the times I had to cancel my plans? There was the time when Tasha was sick with a cold, and then there was the time you were sick with the cold…”

Anya walked over to the kitchen counter and Dimitri followed her like a very displeased child. This wasn’t fair!

Anya’s list went on and on. Dimitri’s mouth hung open ready to say something, but shut because he knew that if he interrupted he would just be scolded. Maybe she was right. Maybe she did deserve this. She was always there and ready to take care of Tasha. Plus, Dimitri would love to spend some time with Tasha. I mean children are only little for so long.

“Okay, I give.” Dimitri gave Anya a kiss on the cheek. “You deserve a vacation.”

“Great, I’ll see you at five.” Anya went over to Tasha and gave her a kiss on top of her head. “Bye bye Tasha. Mama will be back soon. You will be with Daddy and Uncle Vladdy and Mr. Francis today. Now be good.”

“I will Mama.” Tasha gave her most innocent smile. Dimitri knew that little smile was just a cover up. Those eyes told the truth. This was not going to be easy.

~*~

“I don’t know where she is! I’m your landlord, not your co-babysitter.” Francis complained back. Dimitri, Vlad and Francis turned their backs one-minute and Tasha went somewhere.

“Does she do this to Anya when she’s watching her?” Vlad questioned looking under the couch.

“I doubt it. She’s just trying our patience.” Dimitri yelled “Tasha! I know you’re here. Come out and I promise you won’t be in any trouble!”

Francis rolled his eyes, “Dimitri, kids aren’t stupid. They know when they are in trouble.”

“Oh and I suppose you know so much about kids, right? After all you had children that just makes you the world’s most perfect Dad.” Dimitri popped off. What gave this guy the right to tell Dimitri about kids?

“Hey, I’m not the one who lost my daughter 15 minutes after my wife left.” France replied saucily. Dimitri squinted at Francis. He had just about enough of him. No one invited him over; he just came. Assuming that he was wanted. Ha!

“Listen,” Vlad began to get up. “Arguing over who’s fault it is won’t help. Tasha is just being a little stinker.”

“What’s a tinker?” asked a little voice. The three men turned to see a little girl walking into the living room. Tasha had mud covering her and Pooka.

“TASHA!”

“Yes?”

Dimtiri rushed over to her and knelt down. “Tasha, honey, where were you?”

Tasha giggled. “Outside with puppy.”

~*~

“Hold still Tasha!” Dimtiri said trying to give her a quick bath. How did Anya get Tasha to mind? It was so hard for him.

“Vlad, hand me another washcloth. This kid is caked with soap.” Francis ordered and Vlad obeyed. The water, which was one clean, was now full of mud. And the wash cloths were stained with clumps of mud in them.

“It looks like she is pretty clean,” Vlad observed. “What should we do now? We have a whole two hours until lunch.”

The three musketeers thought for a moment. “Well,” Dimitri began “Let’s take her to the park.

They all agreed on that. They didn’t realize that when she got home they’d just have to clean her up again. So they got her dressed and took her two a park, which was three blocks away.

~*~

“Oh Tasha, those were my new shoes.” Vlad cried out when he saw that Tasha had just pored a bunch of mud on his shoes. Those shoes were very expensive too.

“Uncle Vladdy looks mad.” Tasha pouted giving him a little guilt trip. She was young but she knew that the jolly count’s heart would just melt if she gave him her famous little pout.

“No, I’m not mad.” Vlad said trying to make things better. “Here let’s go play on the slides.”

“Hide and seek.” Tasha counterdicted.

Vlad shook his head; “No I don’t think that would be such a good idea. You could get lost.”

Then Dimitri piped up. “What harm could it do? Listen we’ll all play.”

So the three “mature” men played hide and seek with the little two-year-old. Dimtiri thought he got the best hiding place when he crawled into the bush. But Francis knew better. His hiding place was the best. Francis’ was behind the slide. And even though you could see him, the plump Vlad was hiding behind a thin tree.

Tasha thought this was going to be tons of fun. But then she saw that there was something else 10 times interesting then some game. So she followed the butterfly over to the heavily traveled street.

~*~

“I wonder how the boys are doing.” Sophie wondered as the three women sat in the beauty parlor. Sophie had just changed the subject, because she got tired of Nicole babbling on and on about her stupid connections.

Anya wished Sophie hadn’t brought that up. Even though it’s not like Anya stopped thinking about them. That’s all she had been thinking about. She wondered if Tasha had a good breakfast, and she wondered if Dimitri was watching her. He better be. If he wasn’t he’d be in so much trouble when she got home.

“I must say that I had a pretty good idea. It’s been awhile since I been anywhere with you two. I am so glad that you wanted me to come along.” Nicole gabbed on again.

Sophie glanced over at Anya and rolled her eyes. Anya wished Sophie liked Nicole. Anya liked Sophie very much, but she wasn’t going to have one person hate the other.

~*~

Dimitri thought he had waited enough for Tasha to find him, so he peeked out of his little bush to see a toddling Tasha toddling in the middle of the street. Dimitri was sure his heart jump up into his throat as he dashed over to his little girl. He just had to make it in time.

Dimitri zigged and zagged around the cars hoping to make it before… Maybe Tasha wouldn’t see him coming and she’d stay put. But then Dimitri saw that Tasha noticed him.

“Daddy!” Tasha toddled over to him.

“Tasha, you stay right there! Don’t move!” Dimitri warned running as fast as he could. He needed to get there, but he couldn’t allow his self to get hit either. What if a car hit him? Then who would save Tasha?

Just then, Vlad and Francis heard Dimitri’s voice and saw that he was chasing after Tasha. The two bumbling friends exchanged a quick glance before sprinting off towards Tasha themselves. The two had just got to the curb when they saw Dimitri picking up Tasha and running off to the other side of the street.

Dimitri collapsed on the sidewalk and Tasha sat beside him. Dimtiri felt a tad overwhelmed and very dizzy. He hoped he wouldn’t faint. Well, all the hoping in the world didn’t do anything. Dimitri fainted.

~*~

“Wakie, Wakie, Dimitri.” Francis said patting Dimitri on the cheek. Dimitri’s eyes flew open. Did he save Tasha? He couldn’t remember.

“Where is she?” Dimitri sat up looking around. She had to be here somewhere! “Where am I?” then he glanced around and saw he was in his bedroom.

Dimitri’s eyes squinted trying to remember. “I’m in my bedroom. Why are you here? You aren’t my wife.”

“No, thank God for that. Nicole would have my head if that were true.” Francis teased, but Dimitri’s response was a simple eye roll. “You fainted after saving your daughter’s life. She is downstairs eating with Vlad.”

Dimitri jumped out of bed and ran out of the bedroom and into the little kitchen. Tasha looked just fine. There was no scratch to be found on her, thank goodness.

“Tasha, thank God you’re all right!” Dimtiri said running over to her. “Now, you listen. No going out into the street anymore, okay?! All right?”

Tasha shrugged, “Okay Daddy.”

“Good.”

“Now lets go take a nap.” Dimitri smiled. This was going to work out just fine. They went to the park, ate lunch and now she would take a nap.

“NO!”

And that was when her tantrum began. A chase around the house was followed. And another game of hide and go seek was played (which was more like, Tasha hiding in the closet and three silly men going crazy looking for her).

Dimitri, Francis and Vlad collapsed on the couch. They hadn’t found Tasha yet and it was 3:00pm and Anya would be home in two hours. They needed to find her and get her to take her nap.

“I give up!” Dimitri threw his hands in the air. “I’ll do anything to make her mind!”

Francis’ eyes lit up. He had an idea! “Anything you say?” Dimitri nodded absently. “Well, in that case I know exactly what you should do.”

“What?” Vlad and Dimitri said at the exact same time.

“This is going to sound stupid and dumb, but it works. When my little girl was young she was such and imp. She never did a thing I told her. Well, one time an old man told me to dress up like my wife and then said that the child would mind me.

“I thought he was just teasing, but then one time I tried it and it worked.” Francis said with a straight face. Dimitri didn’t know that Francis was feeding him a lie, but wise old Vlad did. And it surprised Francis that Vlad didn’t say anything.

“Are you serious?”

“Yes, I am. Vlad you heard of this before, haven’t you?”

The count pursed his mouth trying to hold in a laugh, “Yes, I heard of it. And it works. So Dimitri if I were you I’d do it.”

Dimitri must have been smart enough not to do it. It was so obvious that the two were lying. And Dimitri should know when people lie; after all he was a pretty good liar himself a few years back. But Dimitri changed a lot and didn’t lie so much now.

Dimitri thought for a moment and then said, “All right I’ll do it.”

© 1999 - 2001 AnyaMuse@aol.com
© 1999 - 2001 AnyaCI@aol.com