Notes: Thanks to Mari and Sammy for being their wonderful selves every day. Special thanks to Sammy for the title (again). And thanks to Mari for your help on the story I didn't end up writing yet, but will!
Readers and REAL McRollers - Thank you for your amazing support! I was so tickled how many of you knew and loved Baby Beluga!
Hope you enjoy!
Sweet Rewards (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)
"I can't believe you didn't get ice cream, Aunt Catherine!" Jacob exclaimed from his seat in the ice cream parlor. Cookie dough ice cream spotted his chin.
"Well, I did, kind of," she replied, motioning to the large glass in front of her. "My ice cream is just in milkshake form." She smiled. "I didn't have those nice 'free cone' coupons like you all did."
"This is, like, the best summer reading prize ever," Dylan said before taking another huge lick from his own chocolate peanut butter cone.
Casey snorted. "That's Jacob's line." She ate some of her own mint chip ice cream. "But you're right, this is pretty awesome."
"Mama!" Angie said from Catherine's lap and banged a hand on the table. "Ah bah ma!"
"I think she wants to try your milkshake, Aunt Catherine," Kaitlyn said, grinning at the baby around her snickerdoodle ice cream cone.
"I think she'd probably like a taste of everybody's," Catherine quipped, spooning a bit of the chocolate milkshake onto her plastic spoon. "Okay, here you go, honey."
Angie ate the offering eagerly and they all watched for her reaction. Almost immediately, her eyes lit up and she leaned forward, following the spoon. "Mmm! Ahh ee!" she exclaimed. She hit the table again for emphasis. "Mama!"
Catherine laughed. "Yeah, I thought you'd like that. Just a little more for now," she said, and fed Angie another small spoonful, avoiding her attempts to grab the actual spoon.
"She definitely has a sweet tooth," Jenna observed with a smile. She took a bite of her own strawberry ice cream that she'd elected to have in a cup.
"Definitely," Catherine agreed, chuckling as Angie licked her lips in search of more of the sweet treat. She looked around the table. "So since your ice cream cones are from the summer reading program, what's been everyone's favorite book that they've read so far this summer?"
"Stinkbomb and Ketchup-Face!" Jacob cried without hesitation.
"What?" Catherine asked, laughing.
"Stinkbomb and Ketchup-Face!" Jacob repeated. "It's so funny! They're brother and sister and they have to save their kingdom from the evil badgers but their kingdom is only, like, this tiny little place and they ride in a shopping cart and the king's name is King Toothbrush Weasel!"
Catherine chuckled. "That sounds … right up your alley, Jacob." She bounced Angie on her thigh to distract her from the milkshake and asked, "What about you, Kaitlyn?"
"I just finished a book called Wishtree," she said. "Every year, people in this neighborhood tie wishes onto a huge oak tree, and the tree loves being part of everyone's lives. But then a new family moves in, and this boy carves a mean word into the tree even though he doesn't know them. He does it just because they're a different religion. The girl in the family, Samar, she's really lonely and wants a friend, and the tree and the animals that live in it decide to help." She shrugged a little as she went on. "I know it seems a little weird at first that the tree tells the story and the animals talk, too, but it's a really good book about kindness and accepting people."
Jenna smiled proudly at her daughter's words.
"That sounds like a very powerful story," Catherine said.
Kaitlyn nodded emphatically. "It was really really good."
"Mama!" Angie said, lunging forward toward the milkshake glass.
Catherine shook her head, smiling. "Okay, honey, a little more." She gave Angie another small spoonful before drinking some from the straw herself. "Mmm, that is good." She leaned down to nuzzle Angie's cheek, causing her to giggle.
Jenna smiled warmly at the interaction then looked at Dylan across from her. "What about you, honey?"
He shrugged. "I don't think I really have a favorite."
"What about the zombie books?" Jacob asked, licking his ice cream cone and getting a bit on his nose. He wiped it off with his sleeve causing Jenna to sigh and shake her head in amused resignation.
"Oh yeah," Dylan said, the corner of his mouth lifting in a smile. "Those were pretty good."
Casey chuckled. "I'd say so. You read all three in a row."
Dylan ducked his head, smiling.
"What zombie books?" Catherine asked, shifting her milkshake glass out of Angie's reach.
"They're called the Last Kids on Earth," Dylan explained. "There was a zombie apocalypse and this kid, Jack, thinks he's the only actual person left and he lives in this awesome treehouse but then he figures out some of his friends are still alive, too, so they fight the zombies together. Oh, and there are monsters so they've gotta fight those, too."
Catherine quirks an eyebrow, smiling wryly. "Zombies and monsters? Sounds intense."
Dylan nodded absently, licking his ice cream cone. "They're so funny. And they've got really good drawings, too."
"Nice," Catherine said. "Casey, what you have you been–"
"Illuminae Files," Casey answered, even faster than Jacob had. "They are soooo good. Miss Kristin is the children's librarian, but she reads teen stuff, too, and she told me about them. She said to check out all three books because as soon as I finished the first one I'd want to start the next one and she was right. I'm in the middle of Gemina and it's amazing."
"What's the series about?" Catherine asked, smiling at her enthusiasm. Jenna, who had finished her ice cream, silently offered to take Angie so that Catherine could actually finish her own dessert.
"It takes place way in the future with spaceships and other planets and stuff. Huge companies have their own armies and this one company tries to destroy the mining operation on a far off planet, but it doesn't want anyone else in the universe to know so it's chasing down the survivors. The main character in the first book is Kady and she's this awesome hacker, and in the second book there's Hanna, and she is the coolest ever. The whole thing is told in, like, emails and chats and redacted files and video transcripts and stuff like that."
"Sounds like an unusual way to tell a story," Catherine said.
"Yeah, I've never read anything like it."
"Well, I'm glad you all have been reading such awesome books this summer," Catherine said just as the ice cream parlor door opened and Steve and Cody walked in.
"Hey, sorry we're late," Steve said, approaching the table.
Angie, already smiling, brightened visibly at the sight of him. "Dada!" she called, reaching in his direction.
Jenna lifted her and Steve scooped her up. "How's my baby girl?"
"Ah ee ga bah!" she said, pointing toward the table with one hand as she gripped his t-shirt with the other.
"Looks like everyone's enjoying their ice cream," Steve said. He chuckled, brushing a thumb at the corner of Angie's mouth. "And I do mean everyone."
"Cody, you could have the rest of my cone," Jacob offered, holding it out. "Remember how you always used to eat it for me when I was little."
Cody smiled at his brother. "Yeah, I do."
Jenna looked at them fondly, smiling at the memory. "I always tried to convince you to get a cup, but since Cody and Casey and Dylan had cones, you had to have a cone."
"And you didn't like trying to bite it when there was still ice cream in it," Casey added. "You said it made your teeth cold."
Jacob nodded. "So Cody ate it instead."
"Aww," said Catherine.
"I'm sure getting extra ice cream had nothing to do with it," Steve teased.
Cody grinned at him. "Not at all." He looked back at his brother and the proffered cone. Ruffling the younger boy's hair, he said, "Thanks, Jake, but I know you can eat them yourself now. And actually, that milkshake looks pretty good," he added, nodding to the nearly empty glass in front of Catherine.
"It is," she said, smiling and taking another sip.
"You want anything?" Cody asked Steve as he moved toward the counter.
"I'm good, thanks." As Cody went up to place his order, Steve looked at Catherine and smiled. "Chocolate milkshake, I should've known."
She smiled at him around her straw.
"You know, the first time I met Aunt Catherine, that's what she was doing," Steve said, nodding to indicate her sipping her milkshake.
"Grace told me that!" Kaitlyn exclaimed. "In Annapolis!"
"That's right," Steve said. He reached in the diaper bag hanging on Catherine's chair for a wipe. "Like mother, like daughter," he said, wiping the chocolate from Angie's face.
"Hey, that was barbecue sauce on my cheek that day, not milkshake," Catherine protested with a smile.
He grinned. "Oh, my mistake."
Cody returned with his own chocolate milkshake, popping the maraschino cherry in his mouth.
"Ah bah!" Angie said, leaning toward him and pointing. "Bah ee!"
Kaitlyn giggled. "She wants your milkshake, Cody."
"Co eee."
"Hey, did you–" Cody began, surprised. "Was that my name?"
"Co eee!" Angie repeated, pointing more emphatically.
"It was," Steve said, grinning. He bounced Angie happily against his side. "Good job, Angie. That's Cody."
"Aww, that's so awesome," Casey said, uncharacteristically effusive. "She said your name."
Angie continued to reach for Cody so he put his milkshake down to take her.
"Co eee," she said again, reaching toward the glass.
He laughed. "It is my milkshake you're after." He looked at Steve and Catherine. "Can she have a little?"
Catherine chuckled, shaking her head. "Just a little more, and then you're done, sweetheart."
Cody carefully scooped a little milkshake onto his plastic spoon and fed it to an eager Angie.
"Mmm," she said immediately, bouncing happily. "Co eee."
"Can you say 'Jacob,' Angie?" Jacob asked. He stretched out the syllables. " 'Jayyy cup.' "
Angie beamed at him, then pointed at the milkshake again. "Co eee!"
Jacob sighed, slumping in his chair, and Dylan patted his shoulder in mock sympathy. "Next time, order a milkshake."
Hope you enjoyed!
Note: If you'd like the banana oatmeal cookie recipe from Mari's story on Monday (Patience Is Baked In), check our Tumblr: mcrollintherealworld dot tumblr dot com
Books mentioned - all librarian-recommended, of course :-)
Stinkbomb and Ketchup-Face and the Badness of Badgers (and sequel), by John Dougherty, illustrated by Sam Ricks (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2017) (ages 8-11)
Wishtree, by Katherine Applegate (Feiwel & Friends, 2017) (ages 9-12)
The Last Kids on Earth (and sequels) by Max Brallier, illustrated by Douglas Holgate (Viking, 2015) (ages 10-14)
Illuminae (and sequels) by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (Knopf, 2015) (ages 14 and up)
Find all our stories (in chronological order!) on our website: marirealmcroll dot wixsite dot com backslash real-mcroll
Or in the McRoll in the REAL World community here on fanfiction dot net
Find us on Tumblr: mcrollintherealworld dot tumblr dot com
You can still join our mailing list by emailing us realmcroll at yahoo dot com with Add me, please! in the subject line.
And find Mari on Twitter asking your opinions on all things McRoll in the REAL World! at Mari21763 and add #REALMcRoller