✅2️⃣ Testing the Babysitter

Sixth Test: Testing Boundaries

Adam headed down to the lounge, with Lorelei following close behind him. He wished he could have said something to Claudia, but he had to do what she'd told him. If she'd told him that Lorelei was in the lounge, and told him to play with her, then he might have been able to find some leeway. He didn't know how the drugs in his system would interact with an instruction that didn't make sense, or that included incorrect facts. But all she'd told him to do was go to the lounge and keep Lorelei company, which was still possible because she was going downstairs with him.

They took the front stairs this time, which seemed to be used by most of the family. The back staircase went from the back door straight up to Claudia's room, and required squeezing past a shelf unit full of ornaments if you wanted to go somewhere on the level between. The first time he'd been here, Adam had speculated that it was like the older daughter was in some way isolating herself from the rest of the house, but he hadn't thought about it in too much detail. He didn't really care about the psychology behind someone else's home, and he'd had much more important things to think about.

Now, however, he had to hope that Claudia would notice one thing. He had been in her room, but now he was going to the lounge down the other staircase, which must imply that he had taken the awkward route across the landing. If he'd gone straight down the stairs he was on, he would have reached the front room just as quickly, but would have had an opportunity to see Claudia briefly on his way through the kitchen. So coming down this way was out of character; something that only made sense if he'd already walked along the landing when Lorelei had called him. Would Claudia be able to figure out that something was wrong? Would she realise that Lorelei had already been talking to him?

He didn't see Claudia until he got to the lounge, with Lorelei hot on his heels. He wished he could have had a moment to speak to her, and he probably could have done if he'd thought quicker. She'd told him to go to the lounge, but hadn't insisted on him taking the quickest route. But it was too late now; he was there, and the little brat needed some entertainment.

"Okay kid," he said through a forced smile. "What do you want to do now?"

He cursed himself immediately, but tried to hide his feelings. He could have just laid down the law; picked some activity to entertain her with. Giving her the choice could only give her more ideas, or more opportunities to give him instructions he would hate following. He told himself that it hadn't been a lapse in judgement; that he thought if she added more rules, Claudia would be more likely to notice. But he couldn't lie to himself, he knew that he just hadn't thought quickly enough.

Lorelei ran over to a toy chest in the corner of the room, and started rummaging around inside. She grabbed a couple of dolls and sat back with them on the floor, and Adam moved over to sit beside her. He didn't know what he could do to help, but she seemed content now. There was no sign of the devil child that he'd expected; she just wanted to introduce him to some of her dolls.

The toys themselves were an odd assortment. They didn't all seem to be made to the same scale, and one of them had a blue head that looked like it could have come from a completely different toy. Was Action Man fighting aliens now? Adam didn't know, but it was his first thought when he saw the mismatched pieces. He tried to remember the names of the different dolls as Lorelei held them up and made them talk to him. She didn't seem to care that they weren't a set, and seemed as happy as ever once Adam started playing, so he didn't say anything.

Before long the kid was reaching into the toybox again, and Adam was about to help her get her dolls' house out, but she surprised him by getting a train instead. It ran on a wooden track with two grooves, but there didn't seem to be enough pieces of track to make a complete loop. Lorelei didn't mind; she just sat her dolls on the train and pushed them round, throwing the train across a gap a foot wide and then returning it to the track on the other side. After all his worries, it was relaxing to see her having so much fun, and before long he felt like it wouldn't be too bad being called upon to babysit again. She was just like a normal child now.

He might even have paid so much attention to the trains that he didn't notice Claudia enter the room. She was standing by the kitchen door, and he didn't notice her presence until she started to speak.

"Pizza should be ready in five minutes," she said. "Lori, can you show us what a good girl you are and put away your toys? And would you like a drink, Adam? We–"

"Milk!" Lorelei interrupted.

"I'll get you a glass of milk," Claudia smiled. "But I was asking Adam what he wants."

"Drink milk!" Lorelei repeated. "Get big and strong. We all got to have milk."

"Milk's fine with me," Adam said with a forced smile. "Unless you want me to have something else." It was all he could think of to say, and he could only hope that Claudia would realise she needed to countermand her little sister's instruction so that he could answer freely. As much as he wanted to, he knew that he still wasn't allowed to ask her directly, but he hoped that she knew him well enough to realise what was wrong.