Remember the Time

Chapter 55

"Who boils a baby bottle?" Pat spat.

Katherine shook her head. "No wonder that girl don't know what to do with these babies."

Pat was about to respond when Michael walked into the kitchen with a grocery bag in one hand, and Noelle in the other.

"Hi Mother!" Michael exclaimed, placing Noelle on the island. He didn't even look at Pat.

"Here dear let me put those up." Pat offered, reaching out her hand towards the grocery bag.

Michael walked right past her and started putting the baby food in the cabinet.

Pat raised an eyebrow at Michael and slowly backed out of the kitchen.

Those babies have turned his head into mush.

March 24th, 1998

Mariah had just finished painting her nails when she figured she'd get started on dinner.

She hopped up off the couch and slid into her flip flops, making her way into the kitchen. She opened up the cabinet and studied its contents.

Hmm.

She read some of the labels of the jars and boxes: Penne Rigate, Spaghetti, ...Bananas? When did the girls start eating baby food?

She pulled out the jar of smashed bananas. It looked so processed she wasn't sure she'd want to give it to the babies.

She moved to open the jar, then grabbed a small spoon out of the drawer. She scooped out some of the mushed bananas. After taking a moment to investigate it, she shoved the spoon in her mouth for quality assurance.

Oh- Damn.

She shoved another spoonful in her mouth, savoring the sweet, creamy taste.

Pretty soon, the entire jar was gone.

Shit.

She went back into the cabinet and pulled out another jar. She quickly twisted the cap off and dug into her sweet treat. She closed her eyes, chewing tiny bits of banana, when-

"Uhh..."

Mariah jumped, her eyes snapping wide open.

"Uhm-" She started, her mouth full with delicious banana goodness. "Hey baby."

She covered her mouth.

Michael stood on the other side of the island, eyebrows furrowed, a grin tugging at his lips. "Are you eating baby food?"

"No!" She shouted, swallowing down the mouthful of mushed bananas. "I was just, you know, making sure it was safe for the girls." She nervously replied.

Michael chuckled and reached over to the first empty jar on the island. "You needed to try two of them to be sure of that?"

"Well we got two babies, don't we?" Mariah asked, dead serious.

Michael howled laughing, clutching the sides of his stomach. "I'm pretty sure that's not how this works."

Mariah giggled, accidentally snorting banana mush through her nose.

"Oh my god!" Michael shouted, laughing even harder. "Baby you've eaten so much of that stuff your snot has become baby food."

Mariah put down the second small jar and went for a paper towel. "You can't tell anyone you saw this."

"Okay I will." Michael responded, cheekily.

"I'm serious Michael!" She joked, shaking her head at him.