From: mriana  

Child's Play- Rated G  

Will Jr. and Kestra were now seven and were playing
in there grandmother's backyard with a present their
dad gave them from Earth.  Their dad said it was a
felis catus, other wise known as a cat to non-scientist.
She was a calico about four months old and very
playful.

"Oh, Willy!"  Kestra exclaimed as she petted the
purring kitten.  "Isn't she so precious!"

"She bit me!"  Will Jr exclaimed.

"Well, if you hadn't pulled her tail."

"I didn't!"  Will Jr. retorted.  "I was just playing with
her tail."

"Even so, you should have listened to her."  Kestra
replied.  "She warned you."

"How do you know?  You're not telepathic, at least not
yet."

"She cried and growled.  That's how I know."  Kestra
said sticking her nose up in the air.

The kitten wiggled out of her arms and started
chasing a green, hopping insect that looked similar to
an Earth grasshopper.  She pounced it and once she
had sufficiently caught the insect it went into her
mouth.

"Oh, no!  Willy!"  Kestra cried.  "She ate it!  She's
gonna die!"

Then she ran toward the house shouting,
"Grandmother!  Grandmother!"

Lwaxana met her at the door.  "Whatever is the
matter, child?"  Lwaxana asked with concern.

"Kitty ate a grasshopper and now she'll die!"  Kestra
cried.

Lwaxana hugged her granddaughter.  "Oh, Precious.
She'll be fine.  It's just a harmless salatin.  Cats eat
things like that all the time and live, Dear."

"You sure?"  Kestra sniffled.

"Yes, Precious."  Lwaxana smiled and hugged her.
"She'll be just fine."  Then she took noticed of her
grandson.  "William Thomas Riker Jr!  What are you
doing?"

"It's hot, so I stripped off my shirt."  He grinned.  "I
have pecs like my dad.  See?"

Lwaxana was wided eyed.  "A child of the Fifth
House, stripping!  Where did you get such ideas, much
less the word?"

"Mama and Dad were playing around one night.  I got
up and caught 'em."  He explained.  "Mama teased
him and told him to strip.  So, he took off his shirt
and then they saw me.  I saw Daddy strip!  I saw
Daddy strip!"

Lwaxana was shocked as he continued.  "Before they
caught me, Mama told Daddy he had nice pecs."

Lwaxana made a mental note to talk to Deanna and
Will about this behaviour and their son's imatation of
Will's striptease act.  "Well, put your shirt back on,
now!"  She scolded.

"Oh, OK."  He said sadly.  "I was just hot, like Daddy
said.  He took his off because he was hot.  At least
that was what he told me, but I heard Mama tell
him to strip."

Lwaxana frowned.  "Well, I'm sure he was, but you
need to keep your shirt on as a child of the Fifth
House."

"Daddy doesn't."  He said as he pulled his shirt on
backwards and wrong side out.

"I don't care.  You leave your's on."  Lwaxana saw his
shirt and started fussing with over it.  "Oh, honestly.
Haven't your parents taught you the proper way to
wear your shirt?"

She pulled it back off of him and turned it right
side out and placed it back over his head.  Then she
heard the ringing sound of her Muktuk and looked in
that direction.

"Get that cat out of my Muktuk!"  She exclaimed.
"She'll ruin it and I worked hard to grow one in the
yard!  Uh, it took me a long time to grow it and that
cat is taking five seconds to destroy it!"

Kestra crawled into the ringing, flowering plant and
grabbed Kitty.  "Kestra, stop!"  Lwaxana shouted.
"You're worse than that cat!"

Kestra crawled back out with the cat, stood and looked
down at the ground.  "I'm sorry, Grandmother.  I
didn't mean to hurt it."

Lwaxana looked apologetically at her granddaughter.
"I'm sorry, Precious.  I shouldn't be scolding you.
After all, I did tell you to get her out of the
Muktuk.  You were only following my orders."

Then Lwaxana patted Kestra on the back, then knelt
down in front of her.  "Why don't we go inside with
the cat and have some chocolate milk and cookies."

"Can Kitty have some, too?"  Kestra asked.

"Oh, no.  Chocolate will make Kitty sick."  Lwaxana
thought for a moment and then said,  "Why don't we
give her a warm bowl of milk?"

"Yeah!"  Kestra agreed with joy.

"Hey!"  Will Jr. shouted with a pouty look on his face.
"Can I have some, too?"

"Warm milk?"  Kestra and Lwaxana asked at the
same time.

"No, sillies."  He laughed.  "Chocolate milk and
cookies."

Lwaxana was taken aback.  "I'm not silly!"

"No, Grandmother, I mean you're funny."  Will Jr.
stated.

"Funny?"  She asked.

"Grandmother?"  Kestra asked.  "Are the cookies
chocolate, chocolate chip cookies?"

Lwaxana dismissed the funny remark and answered
Kestra.  "Oh, yes, Precious.  Your mother always liked
those cookies growing up and I have just kept them in
supply.  Believe it or not she still likes them."

"We know!"  The twins said in unison with a big smile.

They all laughed and the four of them went into the
house.  Kitty was happily purring in Kestra's arms.
Once Lwaxana had a bowl of warm milk set down on
the floor, Kestra put her down to let her drink.
Kitty lapped up the milk as the children and
Lwaxana had their snack.  All four were happy and
content.

Lwaxana was the happiest, though.  She had her
grandchildren for a nice visit and for all the trouble,
she was enjoying every minute of their visit.  Then
she looked down at the cat and thought with a smile,
"Including the cute little kitten."

End