The rubber ducky may have been yellow, but it was no coward.
Au Pair Work
The rubber ducky may have been yellow, but it was no coward. It quacked furious duck curses as it rode the whirlpool down toward the drain, where the water level had fallen to the point that the massive snapping fangs were visible. Chloris hung on my neck in terror, dripping bath water all over my good green polo shirt, but Coral scrambled after her endangered toy. I barely managed to snatch her away without dunking myself and her twin into the murderous bathtub.
The drain gave one especially vicious snap, and the rubber duck vanished with a surprised squawk. Chloris sobbed, Coral howled in anger, and the telephone rang. I tucked a naked, soapy twin under each arm and barreled down the hall. Who says high school football doesn’t give you job skills? However, Coach had never said anything about what to do if your smart phone was in your coat pocket and your arms were full of squalling toddlers.
Somehow I draped the little girls both over one arm long enough to dig out my phone and answer it.
“John!” my employer said. “I just wanted to check in and find out how your first day is going! Do you think you’ll like being our nanny?”
“Mrs. Matheson,” I said, and then had to pause because Chloris had decided to tie knots in her sister’s hair and I had to separate them. “Mrs. Matheson,” I began again, “is there anything you maybe forgot to tell me about your bathroom?”
“Why, no,” she said, “I don’t think so. It’s just like any other wizard’s bathroom pretty much anywhere, except… oh, did I forget to tell you to give the bathtub a treat before you bathed the twins? Well, I suppose I thought you’d just know.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I said, “I guess I should have. Anyway, I have to go now. It sounds like the teakettle is trying to kill the cat.”
“All right, dear,” she said. “Have a nice day, now!”
