Returning with a Vengeance

It was the first day after the end of spring break, and Sofia was excited to be back. While waking up early had been a bit of a struggle, she was eager to see her friends again. She had so much to share, and she could barely wait; Sofia was bursting with anticipation and could hardly contain herself.

“Guess what I did over spring break!” Sofia cheerfully chirped as she entered the cafeteria for before care.

“Hmm… I bet you created art and worked on writing your stories,” Serena ventured, knowing Sofia’s passion for all things creative.

“Well, I did, but that’s not what I meant,” Sofia replied. “I went to the new cat café, and I went to the Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate factory! It was so much fun!”

“It does sound like lots of fun,” Serena agreed; cuddly kitties were always fun to be around, and it never hurt to have tasty treats, either.

Sofia suddenly turned serious. “Do you know why it’s named Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate?” she inquired.

Serena scrunched her face in thought, wracking her brain for the reason. “Because… they liked chocolate so much they had to say it three times?” she speculated.

“Actually, it’s because the founder had three kids,” Sofia remarked matter-of-factly. She giggled to herself before continuing, “Imagine if all the kids were named ‘Chocolate.’ It’d be so funny!”

“That would definitely be interesting if they all were named Chocolate, but I imagine it’d be awfully confusing if they all shared the same name,” Serena returned with a smile.

“True…” Sofia began, grasping her chin as she thought. “They’d just have to have nicknames. One would go by ‘Chocolate,’ another would be ‘Marshmallow,’ and the last would be….”

Seeing Sofia’s struggle in determining the final nickname, Serena decided to help, rattling out the first thing that came to mind. “Armadillo,” she joked.

Sofia burst out into laughter, clutching her sides and gasping for air at the absurdity of being named “Armadillo.”

“Yes, unusual, sure, but ‘Armadillo’ would definitely never get confused and mistaken for the others,” Serena pointed out.

Shaking off her giggles, Sofia declared, “The last one will be ‘Graham Cracker,’ and together they would make S’mores!”

Serena chuckled. The set of names did make sense, but she preferred Armadillo just for the peculiarity factor. While she doubted she’d come across a Chocolate, Marshmallow, or Graham Cracker (at least in terms of humans), Armadillo was unusual and unexpected.

Grabbing Serena’s hand to obtain her attention, Sofia announced, “Did you know that there’s a factory here in the cafeteria that makes nothing but armadillos?”

“Well, that’s certainly different. I was unaware we had that,” Serena answered, playing along and curious to see where Sofia would take this. The first grader was brimming with creativity and imagination.

“Yep! Well, they’re actually all zombie armadillos,” Sofia corrected. “They’re going to take over the world.”

“Oh my. That’s sounds serious. What should we do about that?”

“I don’t have to worry about them,” Sofia divulged, “because I’m a chicken—the only chicken in the entire universe known as Mega Ultra Chicken!”

Giggling Serena remarked, “I’ve never knew there was only one chicken in the universe. Mega Ultra Chicken is quite the title. Should I be worried about the zombie armadillos scheming for world domination?”

“No, you should be good. You’re a cat!”

“I’m fine with that; I love cats!” Serena replied enthusiastically.

Sofia grew serious. “You know, all cats turn into witches, so you’re actually a witch, too.”

“That’s news to me. Do I get to use magic?” asked Serena.

“You get to transform everyone else into animals.”

Serena considered this before deciding that others might not desire to be animals. “What if they don’t want to be an animal?”

Sofia snickered before revealing, “That’s too bad because I was the real witch all along! And now you’re Mega Ultra Chicken!”

“I don’t particularly feel like a chicken, Mega Ultra or of the normal variety,” Serena mused. Although, I didn’t particularly feel like a witch, either, she reckoned.

Grabbing Serena’s arm, Sofia pulled her along and guided her to a display board. “This is my witch’s cave,” Sofia informed. “You have to stay here so the bats can suck your blood.”

“But I don’t want to be feasted upon,” Serena feigned a whine.

“Too bad,” Sofia proclaimed, determined to keep Serena in the “cave.”

When Sofia wasn’t looking, Serena snuck out of the cave. Bats can’t feast upon my blood if I’m not in the cave. She crept along the lines of cafeteria tables in hopes of reaching a safe distance from Sofia’s witch cave.

Noticing Serena had snuck out and foiled her plans, Sofia grew irritated. “Hey! You were supposed to stay.”

“I didn’t feel like becoming bat food,” Serena stated, unperturbed.

“In that case…” Sofia began before waving her hands around. “I turn you into dust!”

Serena blinked, surprised at the sudden development. That certainly escalated quickly. “Well, that’s unfortunate. Do I just float around? Am I magic dust? Do I stay dust forever?”

Sofia mulled the questions over, reaching a decision. “You’re a magic dust that turns everyone into zombie armadillos.”

“So, I’m an unwilling participant in the factory? That’s a shame. I’d rather not turn people into zombies, armadillo or otherwise,” Serena commented, intrigued by the twist in the story’s development.

Sofia waved her hands again, signaling the use of magic. “Now you’re a chicken again,” she declared before waving her hands over herself. “And I just turned myself into a chicken-eating tiger!” A mischievous grin lined her face as she crept closer.

Serena laughed at the next sudden twist in the story. “I just can’t catch a break, can I?” she wryly remarked.

“Nope,” Sofia declared before pretending to chomp on her arm. Sofia was dedicated to her craft, ensuring that Serena was completely “devoured.” She took pretend eating quite seriously.

Serena chuckled at the day’s unusual and somewhat absurd turn of events. It was most definitely a lively first day back. While spring break had been quite relaxing, kids prevented days from ever getting dull. She had definitely missed her small crew from before care, and from the looks of it, Sofia had missed before care, too.