I’m not sure, Lev finding the cookie jar empty and then going around trying to find who’s responsible? Then they go out and buy more? Just something short.
i think i can manage that. (in case i successfully make a series out of this, let me be clear that this does not qualify as canon)
-----The Tale of the Empty Cookie Jar-----
Ah, morning! When the day is just getting started, the world is awakening, and the birds are twittering away! And no sane human is cheerful, Barbara Abulafia thought to herself.
Typically, she wouldn’t be getting up this early, especially not on a weekend. But Xiuying was coming back from– well, from wherever she’d gone off to this time, and Barbara had agreed to go pick her up since her driver’s license had yet to be returned to her.
It wasn’t the first time Barbara had found herself picking up the daughter of her old time friend Jian - Xiu was practically her own daughter as well, after all - but it was one of the earliest in recent memory. She would’ve asked the young woman to take a cab or something, but quite frankly taxi drivers had enough to deal with and didn’t need to add “met Xiuying Wen” to the list of reasons they needed a raise.
Barbara shook her head to clear her thoughts and headed to the kitchen to grab an energy bar. She’d have a real breakfast later, she decided. Cereal or something. Healthy cereal, of course, like grape nuts or muesli. Yum.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement. Blinking once, she turned to see Lev and Meiling sitting at the dining room table, looking somewhat guilty. Well, Lev looked guilty. Meiling looked exasperated.
“What did you do?” she asked, holding back a yawn.
“It wasn’t me!” her beautiful, wonderful, incredible son who could maybe apply himself in school a little more and be less of a disaster magnet, said instantly.
“Well, it wasn’t me,” Meiling sniffed. Not that she needed to. Meiling was uncomfortably well behaved. Frankly, Barbara was worried that the young girl tried too hard to be accepted, but that wasn’t a thought for - she checked her watch - 5:30 in the morning.
“Someone took the cookies from the cookie jar,” Lev told his mother, sticking his tongue out at his sister. For a moment, the three of them were silent, all refraining from singing the song about cookies being stolen from a cookie jar. But it was too early for a spontaneous musical number, and Barbara was short on time.
“We don’t have a cookie jar,” Meiling added. “But one showed up while we were all asleep and now it’s empty.”
“Maybe a passing deity decided to drop it off,” Barbara offered, starting to make herself a cup of coffee. She’d need it if she wanted to get to and from the airport without any casualities.
“Santa’s not allowed in the good Jewish household,” Lev declared, causing Meiling to snort. A meme, Barbara presumed, grateful that she didn’t get the joke. It was true, though. They had a good long tradition of warding off the Claus with their handy-dandy menorah, and Barbara doubted it would stop anytime soon.
“It’s June,” Meiling said flatly. Lev shrugged.
“He’s got the free time,” he argued. Barbara sighed.
“Kids, just make some cookies, okay? I have to go get Xiu from the airport while there’s still an airport to get her from.” In the back of Barbara’s mind, she wondered if her son and honorary daughter had just tricked her into letting them make cookies, but she quickly brushed the thought aside. They both knew perfectly well that she’d have no problem with it so long as they didn’t try to eat them all in one go and saved an equal portion for her (she had, after all, paid for the ingredients).
“What about the cookie jar?” Meiling asked seriously. “I’m a little worried about it. I– I don’t think inanimate objects are supposed to just– start existing out of nowhere.”
“Isn’t that how the universe was created?” Lev asked, hiding a grin as his sister glowered at him.
“We’ll deal with the jar when I get back,” Barbara said decisively. “You’ve clearly already opened it, so if it turns out to have been Pandora’s box or something, I expect you two to put those evils right back where you found them. No excuses.”
“Actually, it was–” Lev began, but his mother cut him off.
“Yes, yes, a jar, I know, kid.” She yawned. “Just– don’t touch the damn thing. If it’s evil, we’ll deal with it, but I’m not having my kids sucked into an alternate dimension while I’m out, understand?”
“Gotcha,” Meiling nodded seriously. “We’ll wait until you get back to get sucked into an alternate dimension, then.”
“Glad we’re clear on that.” Giving her kids a tired smile, Barbara headed for the garage. By the time she and Xiuying returned, the cookie jar had disappeared, presumably headed for a better place. They all agreed to smash it should they ever see it again, but otherwise were content to move on with their lives.
