Odd One Out

Chapter Three - Her Stomach

"Theo, so help me, if you don't put that stapler down, there will be hell to pay!" I scolded the three year old as he held a stapler on his face, trying to balance the object on his nose.

He frowned and slowly gave the stapler back to me.

"Thank you. Now sit down and eat your lunch, or I'll be eating it for you. What is that, chicken nuggets? That's my favourite," I stated as I tucked his chair in and he started chowing down before I could take a piece from him.

Connie nudged me, "I'm pretty sure it's frowned upon to threaten a child with his lunch."

I shrugged, "The punk better get to eating it then." I did have a bottomless pit for a stomach after all.

Connie worked at this daycare every morning and did her classes in the afternoons. I helped out a couple mornings a week. The kids were pretty cute if I was being honest.

"Don't forget!" Connie announced, "We'll be headed on our field trip to the fire station as soon as you're finished with lunch! So eat up!"

Connie nudged me, "That's called 'effective teaching,' Mabel." She was such a mom. Connie was a couple years away from becoming a teacher and doing these kinds of jobs at daycares did a lot to boost her experience with kids along with her odds of getting into a good grad school.

I tagged along because it meant I could hang out with Connie and get a little extra cash on the side.

Theo started laughing maniacally all of a sudden, "Matt has a booger!"

That was a sufficient enough summary of my morning.

The kids finished their lunches quickly and lined up at the door for the field trip to the fire station next door.

We walked, hand in hand to the arched brick building right next to us, getting the kids to line up against the wall and plop down on their bottoms as we entered.

Just then, a friendly looking face popped out of the office. "Why, hello there! I'm Captain John. I'm so glad you could make it!"

He stepped out of his office in a t-shirt and jeans. "Are you kids ready to learn all about firefighters?" He asked excitedly.

The kids began to scream. I'm assuming he took that as a yes as he continued, "Great! In that case, we have our bravest - and newest," he whispered to Connie and I, "Firefighter Garcia!"

The kids waited in anticipation but Firefighter Garcia didn't show up.

We looked at Captain John in curiosity.

He cleared his throat loudly, "Firefighter, Garcia!" He repeated louder.

"Goddamnit," He muttered walking over to the silver pole hanging from the ceiling and hitting it twice with his palm, "Garcia! Get your butt down here!"

"You gave me five minutes notice to put on a show for some snotty kids. Give me a second to pull my pants up!" Firefighter Garcia retorted, clearly annoyed.

There was something else. I recognized that deep, silky voice. Call it a hunch or call it eavesdropping on my neighbour for over a month, but that sounded exactly like Marcus to me.

Not a minute later, a large muscular man slid down the silver pole next to the fire truck. Like a stripper.

Get your mind out of the gutter.

"Hey," he grinned at the crowd of kids now oohing at his (possibly inappropriate) entrance.

He wore firefighter pants with suspenders and a snug, blue t-shirt. He did a quick bow before his eyes connected with mine and his smile widened, "Hey, Mabie."

"Uh, Mabel," I corrected.

He waved his hand, "Minor detail."

"Well, it's my name so not so minor."

"Well, maybe this is the wrong venue to argue about a nickname," he forced a smile at me.

"Well, maybe you should have thought about the venue before you decided to give me a cringe-y nickname, Marco."

"Marco?!" He threw his hands up in exasperation.

"Ahem," Connie cleared her throat. "Sort of a field trip going on here."

Marcus shook his head and turned to the kids again, "Well, let me start with the suit. The pants are fireproof and help keep us dry," His large hands trailed to the suspenders, "these suspenders help keep our pants from falling down," he grinned at the kids while tugging the straps off his chest and letting them smack back down.

The kids started giggling uncontrollably.

He pulled a jacket from a hook next to him and tugged it on, "This is a fireproof jacket we wear to protect ourselves from fire."

He grabbed a mask from the fire truck next to him and held it in front of his face, "Now, this is going to make me sound a little different, but it's still me under the mask." His gaze met mine and he smiled teasingly, "Some of you might be into this because it makes me sound like Darth Vader. For those Star Wars nerds among you, who will remain nameless. Mabie."

I rolled my eyes at him as he slipped the mask on his smiling face. "Luke, I am your father." His voice did sound like Darth Vader but there was no way I was going to give him the satisfaction of admitting that. "Cool, right?" He asked the kids as they looked on with wonder.

He took the mask off and put it back where it belonged. "Come on, I'll show you where we spend most of our time."

He entered further into the building and showed us the bedrooms before leading us into the kitchen.

"This is where we just ate lunch before you guys got here," Marcus explained as he stood in the doorway.

"We ate lunch, too!" Theo exclaimed excitedly.

"Ah the ties the bind us, bud." Marcus smiled at the boy.

"I hope you didn't have chicken nuggets or Ms. Mabel will eat it for you," Theo frowned and I stared in annoyance at the traitorous three year old. How dare he divulge my teaching techniques to a stranger he just met? Loyalty was lost on children.

Marcus laughed, "Are you threatening to eat kids lunches?"

"Only when I'm hungry," I retorted.