#FlashFictionMagic: Double Trouble

Bleary-eyed, I stumble from my snug bed, down the steps toward the thumping noises. At the foot of the staircase a lamp is overturned, and several open books are strewn on the hardwood amidst pages that have been inexpertly wrenched out and crumpled. Beyond them lies a minefield of ice cubes released from the dispenser in the refrigerator door and left to melt into puddles that will be invisible until someone slips on them. 

In the living room, I grope the wall until my hand finds the light switch. The overhead lights are momentarily blinding. At first squint, it appears that the perpetrators have gone, but when I’m able to focus more clearly, the twitch of a blanket gives them away. 

“Who’s there?” I call. 

There is a giggle, then a rumpled blonde head and clear blue eyes pop up from the couch. With an impish smile, she pulls wet fingers from her mouth, wiping them on her pink sleeper.  “Mama! It’s morning!” 

Beside her appear her brother’s deep brown eyes, cheeky grin, and naked torso. When he jumps, his loose diaper detaches entirely and falls to the floor. “Twins are up!” he announces. He tosses a container of beads into the air, letting its contents fall like confetti. 

Defeated, I sit on the couch between them. These two are double trouble. Quadruple, even. I yawn. And half the sleep. But when they scramble into my lap, placing their bed heads against my shoulders, snuggling closer and sighing with contentment, I know without a doubt that I would do this again one hundred times over.