Waterworks (H2O Just Add Water) 🌊

19. Hurricane Angela

I met up with Emma, Rikki, and Lewis at the Sertori house on the way to school. After greeting Mr. Sertori after entering, I could hear Cleo and Kim yelling at each other.

"Hey, guys," Cleo turned to us after calming down a little, "I'll be ready in a minute. Just one thing I've got to take care of."

She went over to the kitchen entry and discreetly raised her hand. I noticed Kim was at the sink filling up a water bottle. The water from the sink shot up like a geyser and squirted Kim.

"The water in the basin-- it jumped up at me," she exclaimed.

Cleo turned to us with a smile after she got her revenge, "All right. All set." She headed out the door. The rest of us followed suit.

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"So, what happened to not using our powers unless we absolutely had to?" Rikki wondered as we arrived at the school grounds.

"I did absolutely have to," Cleo remarked, "You know my sister. Ok, you guys don't know what it's like. You don't have little sisters."

"Well, I've got a little brother," Emma spoke up referring to Elliot, "And he can be pretty annoying sometimes."

"Like the time that he almost accidentally forgot that it was his turn to set the table," Rikki stated.

"Exactly. But we sat down and talked about it openly and honestly."

"It actually works?"

"Both times we've had a fight."

"I can imagine it all," I nodded, "Even though I don't have any younger siblings, I've got a few younger third cousins down in Adelaide who can be extremely rambunctious."

The cousins from Grandpa's side of the family can be wild at times. Darren, one of Dad's cousins, who had three kids, often visited us during their school holiday breaks and yearly family reunions. The little ones, or ankle biters, as Grandpa calls them have this weird tendency to bring in small lizards and snakes that they find in the backyard. One time, they found a goanna in the mango tree. Darren and his wife, Kristi had to pull them back into the house before the huge lizard could attack any one of the kids.

Whenever Darren and his family visited, I usually got stuck with entertaining the kids and trying to keep them out of trouble, especially when we were outside in the backyard. I often worry about the kids coming across the northern tree-dwelling funnel web that is often found in the fruit trees. Grandma and I found a couple of them after it rained while gardening and managed to trap them and get the spiders to the reptile zoo. Since we had a few neighbors who had small children, Grandma feared for their well-being whenever we find a funnel web in the yard.

"How rambunctious?" Rikki wondered turning to me.

"They at times are like gremlins," I replied referencing the 80s movie.

Rikki nodded at me understanding the reference.

"I don't think Kimmy really responds to reason," Cleo stated.

"So a jet of water up her nose was the obvious alternative," Rikki shrugged.

"I think the best method is self-control, Cleo," I suggested, "When Kim sees that you're not bothered by her and not negatively reacting to her, perhaps she might come to respect you in time."

"Zoey has a point there," Emma agreed turning to her.

"How do you react around your little cousins whenever they get into mischief?" Cleo wondered as she glanced at me.

"I try to keep calm," I answered, "I worry that one of them might get hurt under my watch. Though I try to warn them of what could potentially happen. Usually, their parents are around whenever something was about to happen, like aggravating a goanna in the mango tree or trying to poke at a funnel web in the garden."