Milk, Messes, and Morning Gymnastics
A New Year's ritual—whir, whir. The loud hum of the hairdryer drying my damp hair completely drowned out the television. I couldn't hear a single sound from the anime, puffing my cheeks out in sheer discontent. But as Amy's gentle touch stroked my hair, my eyelids grew heavy and I began to doze. The pout on my face melted away in an instant.
"Jeff, stay still." My head wobbled back and forth, but Amy's hands firmly yet gently held me in place.
"Mmm..." The moment I slipped out of Amy's embrace, my body collapsed onto the bed like a ragdoll. My vision blurred as sleep threatened to take over. Through my half-closed eyes, I saw Shine, who had been lying on the bed, get dragged over by Amy. She, too, could not escape Amy's clutches. Watching her get her hair dried just like me brought a silly smile to my face. Shine squirmed in Amy's arms for a moment before giving up and going completely limp.
"Amy sure has her hands full," Rain said, stepping out of the bathroom after finishing her shower and towel-drying her hair.
"Should I do yours next?" Amy asked, offering Rain a subtle, knowing smile. Rain's face flushed bright red in an instant. Her lips parted, stammering as if she wanted to say something, but only shallow breaths escaped her lips.
"No...!" Rain vigorously shook her head and pointed a finger toward the ceiling. Before we could even wonder what she was doing, droplets of water began to rise from her damp hair. The droplets floated up into the air, gathering at the tip of her finger.
"Whoa..." As I watched in awe, she must have felt my gaze because she flashed a smug, confident grin.
"How's that?"
"Must be nice..." Rain's hair now looked perfectly fluffy and dry, as if it had been professionally blow-dried. She threw her towel over the sphere of water hovering in the air. The towel absorbed the moisture in an instant and dropped to the floor.
"Rain."
"Yeah?" Amy, who was still drying Shine's hair, asked, "Could you help the kids with their studies?"
"Studies?"
"Yes." Hearing their conversation, I instantly shook my head to chase away the sleepiness. Slipping out from under the blanket wrapped around me, I crept toward where my workbook was kept. Shine was half-asleep, dozing off, while Rain and Amy were too engrossed in their conversation to pay attention to me.
"Do you think I can do it? It's been so long since I touched a textbook, I barely remember anything."
"Don't worry too much. You just need to grade their workbooks."
"Okay..." Rain slowly nodded at Amy's request. Seizing the moment, I leaped up and snatched the workbook resting on the high shelf. Its heavy weight pressed against my fingertips. I immediately spun my body. The centrifugal force of a half-turn traveled down to my hands. *Whoosh! Thud!* At the peak of the spin, I let go of the workbook. It sailed through the air and crashed right into the corner of the room, buried deep under a pile of plushies.
"Jeff?"
"Yes...?" Amy's voice suddenly rang out. I stiffly turned my head and squeaked out a reply.
"What are you doing over there?" *Thump-thump.* My heart began to race. Wiggling my toes in panic, I desperately racked my brain for an excuse. "Uh... I was going to get some milk." It was a decent excuse. I nodded to myself and walked toward the refrigerator, my stiff movements gradually smoothing out.
"Me too. I want some too." Shine, who had been fast asleep, suddenly bolted upright and ran over to me. Her fluttering white hair wafted a strong scent of shampoo. Reaching the fridge, I pulled out a large, chilled carton of milk. Shine, with practiced familiarity, dashed to the kitchen and returned with cups. But the number of cups was different than usual. She was holding three.
"Rain should drink some too," Shine answered, noticing my puzzled look. I nodded in agreement. Rain was short, after all. If you wanted to grow tall, you had to drink milk, so it only made sense to look out for the vertically challenged Rain.
"Me...?"
"Yeah." Looking bewildered, Rain got up and approached us. Jeff, Shine, and Rain. The three of us stood facing each other as we began to pour the milk. I licked my lips at the sight of the brim-full cup, unable to resist the rich, savory aroma of the milk. Holding our cups, we began to chug without a second thought. *Gulp, gulp.* The only sound in the room was the rhythmic swallowing of milk. Shine, finishing first, set her cup down. Licking a smudge of milk from her upper lip, she asked, "Do you think I grew taller just now?"
"If drinking milk made you grow instantly, Rain would be as tall as Amy by now." At my reply, Rain flinched. She slammed her cup down and glared at the milk carton on the counter. "I'm... I'm going to drink more!" She snatched the carton and began chugging straight from it. Shine and I could only stare blankly at her sudden outburst. The contents of the massive milk carton emptied entirely into her stomach. Her belly began to swell, visibly rounder. I reached out a finger and poked her tummy.
"Eek!" Startled by the sudden sensation, Rain jumped back in shock. In that split second, the milk carton slipped from her hands and sailed through the air. White milk sprayed in every direction, and Rain spat out the mouthful she had been holding.
"Uh-oh..." The fallen milk carton glugged on the floor, continuing to spill its contents. Stepping back to avoid the white puddle creeping toward our feet, the three of us cautiously glanced at Amy. Amy was just staring at us in silence.
"Rain did it..." I grabbed Shine's hand and began to back away slowly. Rain's eyes shook violently as she stared at me. Ignoring her pleading gaze, I sat back down in front of the TV with Shine, acting as if we hadn't even touched the milk in the first place. Amy looked back and forth between the three of us, let out a deep sigh, and began to clean up the mess.
"Anyway, I have to step out for a bit. Please make sure they study." Amy spoke to Rain before heading toward the front door. Rain puffed out her chest and nodded confidently, as if to say, leave it to me. "I'll be back before lunchtime." With those final words, Amy left the apartment. Now, only the three of us remained in the room, the sound of the television echoing in the quiet space.
"Alright, shall we study?" I kept my mouth shut and didn't say a word. "Where are the workbooks?" Shine answered Rain's question by pointing to the high shelf. Rain looked up at the height of the shelf, dragged a chair over from the table, and stepped up onto it. "Is it really up here?" Rain began to search the shelf thoroughly. But of course, there was no way she would find it. Because I had hidden it!
"It's not here." "It should be there," Shine insisted as Rain stepped down from the chair. Hearing this, Shine jumped up and scurried over to Rain's side. She climbed onto the chair herself to check the shelf. But even if Shine looked, she wouldn't find a thing.
"Jeff~" Shine called out to me while still standing on the chair. "Yeah?" "Have you seen the workbook?" "Nope. Haven't seen it." "Really?" Shine actually liked studying. Feeling a pang of guilt, I avoided her gaze as I replied, "Uh... yeah. Haven't seen it at all today." "Is that so?" Shine's voice was laced with suspicion. With a small sigh, she hopped down from the chair.
"What should we do?" Rain and Shine fell into deep thought. After putting their heads together for a while, they began searching every nook and cranny of the room. "Jeff, help us look," Shine said to me as I sat there staring blankly at them. Startled, I jumped up and began pretending to search for the workbook just like them. Cold sweat dripped down my back. My mind raced. How can I safely get through today without studying? As I paced around, thinking hard, I noticed a drawer left slightly ajar.
"Drawing...!" "Huh?" "Drawing practice!" I quickly reached out and pulled the drawer wide open. Inside was a large sketchbook. I pulled out the sketchbook, crayons, and various colored pencils, spreading them all over the floor.
"Drawing practice?" Shine asked, looking puzzled. I nodded vigorously. I had heard that schools had art classes. Not that I had ever actually attended one. "Rain, let's do drawing practice." Rain made a complicated face at my suggestion. "Well, there is an art class, but..." I reached out and guided Shine and Rain to sit down. Though Rain had been reluctant at first, the moment I slipped a crayon into her hand, she excitedly began to draw. Shine also lay flat on her stomach and started drawing. After moving her hand for a while, she turned to ask me a question.
"Jeff." "Yeah?" "Do you really hate studying?" "Yeah. It's too hard." "Was it really that hard?" "Yep." "I see." Shine's hand stopped mid-stroke. She lifted her head, looked at me, and asked, "If it were a bit easier, do you think you'd like studying?" It was a sudden question. Lying on my stomach, I slowly pushed myself up. "Well... I'd probably like it more than I do now." Shine nodded slowly at my response.
The drawing the three of us made together was an absolute mess. Water pouring from the sky. A massive mountain of trash. A pretty house with a red roof. Countless people scattered all over the streets. "What is this even supposed to be?" I muttered, staring at the finished drawing. It was completely chaotic. But hey, at least studying was over. "Study time is over!" I jumped up from my spot.
"It's over already?" Rain, sitting blankly, looked at Shine as if to ask if this was really okay. But Shine only nodded in agreement. I was about to dash straight to the computer when Shine grabbed my arm, stopping me in my tracks. "What's wrong?" "There's something we haven't done today." I racked my brain at her words. Something we haven't done today? We just finished studying, and we already did our training. What was left? "Gymnastics." "Ah...!" Rain and I let our mouths hang open at Shine's reminder. We had completely forgotten.
"Gymnastics are very important." Rain and I nodded blankly. Just as Shine said, gymnastics were crucial. If we wanted to grow tall like Amy, stretching was absolutely essential. "Let's begin." We moved to an open space and started our routine. One, two. One, two. Spinning around, stretching our arms and legs as far as they could go. But relying purely on memory, our routine seemed to have drifted quite far from the original YouTube video.
"Wait, this isn't right," I said, stopping mid-stretch. Rain and Shine stopped as well. "It's not?" "Yeah." I immediately marched over to the computer and pressed the power button. After a brief moment, the computer booted up. I navigated to YouTube with practiced ease and clicked on our subscribed channel. I played the gymnastics video. Sure enough, our routine was vastly different from the one on screen. "Let's do it again." Rewinding the video, we started our gymnastics all over from the beginning.