There is an old saying that “patience is a virtue”. Right now Shanya wasn’t feeling very virtuous. It had been half an hour since the kids she was babysitting had said they would be back in a few minutes and now Shanya was beyond impatient and rapidly approaching angry. They had gone to treat themselves to some cookies and should have been back by now. As the one charged with their care Shanya should have known where they were and what they were doing but she didn’t and it was troubling her.
An hour ago Shanya had been introduced to two darling little girls by their parents who were going out for the evening. Midori who was 11 and Lui who was 12 could have been twins except for Lui being slightly taller. The girls were quite excited to meet their new babysitter and made Shanya feel welcome. That all changed as soon as the parents were gone.
Once the door was closed and mom and dad were gone the girls began to whine that they didn’t want to do their homework which was the one thing that mom said had to be done before they could play any games. Shanya had no choice but to insist they that they go to their room and get started.
Ten minutes later Shanya checked in and Lui was on her phone and Midori was playing a game on her computer. Shanya didn’t want to be the villain but she had to confiscate the phone and shut off the computer. The two sat at their desks and opened their books but as Shanya left Lui asked for a glass of water.
Shanya knew that she was being tested, she had done the same sort of things when she was that age but what could she do, arguing would just waste more time. She went to the kitchen and then brought back a glass for each of them. Both were working so rather than be a distraction she quickly left.
Five minutes later she tried to peek in again to see if they were still doing their school assignments. The door squeaked and two heads turned, Shanya was caught.
‘I’m hungry’ whined Midori. ‘Me too’ added Lui. Shanya who was getting frustrated wanted to scream and shout at them but she knew that it wouldn’t help with brats like this and if anything it would probably make matters worse. It was time to negotiate.
Shanya checked their assignments, Lui had a math quiz and Midori had a science lab to write up. Shanya said she would be back in five minutes with a snack but they couldn’t have it unless progress had been made. Her trick seemed to work as the pencils began to scribble rapidly.
She went back to the kitchen and spotted the cookie jar. Inside were some homemade peanut butter cookies. Shanya had one for herself and took one for each of the girls. When she went back both girls had actually done some work and Shanya gave them the reward she promised.
‘Only one’ complained Lui. ‘Mom always gives us two’ said Midori. ‘No, she gives us three’ corrected Lui. Shanya expected this and had a counter offer ready. ‘One for now and another one in five minutes if more work is done. Then you can have two when it’s all done. Do we have a deal?’
Ponytails bobbed as both heads nodded in agreement and the girls went back to work with smiles on their faces. Shanya was smiling too. She hated to bribe children but these two were going to be nothing but trouble if she couldn’t keep them happy so if it was going to cost a few cookies that was the price of some peace of mind.
As she walked out she left the door slightly open so that it wouldn’t squeak the next time she came back to check up on them.
Ten minutes expired and Shanya returned to look in. Lui was busy but Midori’s chair was empty. Shanya looked down the hall and the bathroom door was open and no one was in there. She stepped into the room to investigate.
Midori came from behind the door where she had been hiding and had two loops of jump rope wrapped around Shanya’s chest and arms before Shanya could react. Midori shot out a foot and tripped her as she pushed Shanya to the floor. Midori then sat on her back and pinned Shanya’s arms to the floor with her knees. She knotted the rope and then used the ends to box tie Shanya’s wrists.
While this was going on Lui sat on Shanya’s legs and Shanya could feel another jump rope being tied tightly around her ankles.
‘Stop this’ Shanya demanded ‘you’re going to get into big trouble, I’ll tell your parents!’
‘No you won’t’ said Lui who had finished with Shanya’s ankles ‘that would mean admitting that you couldn’t handle us.’ Before Shanya could reply Lui stuffed a scarf into her mouth and then Midori used another to cleave gag her.
‘We’re going to get more cookies’ bragged Lui ‘and you can’t stop us.’ ‘We’ll be back in a few minutes’ said Midori ‘and maybe we’ll let you go then.’
Shanya could not see a clock but was sure they had been gone at least half an hour when she heard their footsteps coming down the hall. Not a word was said as they sat down and started to do homework again leaving her bound helplessly on the floor. Shanya “mmphed” a few times but they ignored her.
After a period of time, Shanya had no idea how long, the doorbell rang and both girls jumped up and raced out of the room. It was at least fifteen minutes before they returned. They helped Shanya to sit up, leaning her against the foot of the bed. Midori took out her gag.
‘We finished all the cookies’ she said ‘so now we’re going to finish our homework. You can talk now but if you’re annoying I’ll gag you again.’
‘You ate all of those cookies’ exclaimed Shanya ‘the jar was full!’ Then she noticed something, the girls had traces of chocolate around their mouths. ‘What’s going on here, there weren’t any chocolate cookies in that jar?’
‘Oh we ate those the first time we left you’ said Lui ‘we had to get more.’
‘What do you mean you had to get more?’ said Shanya in a shrill voice as her anger level rose.
‘We called a taxi and had him pick up some Oreos for us’ said Midori ‘you had just enough money in your purse to pay him.’
After a very short outburst, which she didn’t get to finish, Shanya found herself gagged again.