Jill, what an amazing sense of creativity you have. This is just delightful. I am glad to see the cherubs are back. Jack is so fun here, not to forget to mention adorable, little Emma.

ok, "later on tonight" was almost 24 hours ago, in which time, I have re-read all the Cherub stories, (and copied to Word for later printing, 104 pages so far! ) but still no post!

OOH! Did I just hear someone say cereal? I'll have some Cocoa Puffs please!

I love your humour...that was awesome Jill!

I am hoping that your cherubs are cuter and more cherublike (its an adjective trust me) than the ones in the Shrek the Third. I did laugh out loud in the theater when the line "Enter cherubs" was shouted. My family just looked at me!

I hope you got your other duck leg even though you shot the duck!

Sorry Web. Got a little side-tracked last night.....
Haven't seen Shrek III yet, tho' my kids have. And no, Pam. Still only one duck leg. But on the bright side, I do have a post!

"Plume de canard! Qu'est-ce qui est arrivé a ses ailes? Your wings are soaked!!!" The chestnut-haired cherub quickly grabbed a blanket of fog and engulfed her feverish friend, attempting to blot soggy wings while settling her on a cloud bed.

Trecey snorted and headed for the arsenal cupboard. "'Duck feathers', nothin'! Only feathers out there gettin' wet were hers."

"Were you with Emma again?" Marene scolded, pressing her palm to Grace's forehead. "You know what Charlene told us about sorting humans!" She grabbed a tiny thermometer and shoved it into the pixie's mouth.

"Conthorting." At the confused look on the French-Canadian fairy's face, Grace whipped the interfering instrument out of her mouth and repeated, "Consorting. Consorting with humans. And it wasn't Emma's fault that I'm all wet. It's Jack's....and that yellow duck's."

Chuckling, Trecey pulled her head out of the cupboard and clarified, "She set sail in the bathtub, and ifin I say so myself, that duck wasn't much of a sailing vessel. I thought Pammie was setting her up with swimming lessons. Where is she, anyway? I could use a good cookie right about now, being as there are NO ARROWS in here."

"New York at the UN. She is a diploma at the convention for gnomes, leprechauns and fairy godmothers. " As Grace opened her mouth to correct her, Marene shoved the thermometer back into place and began to count, "Un, deux, trois, quatre...."

"Wrong end," Grace grumbled, rolling onto her side. She removed the tiny glass tube and held it out. "It won't read acurately when you have it in that way. And I'd like it dipped in chocolate, first, too."

"Grace!" Marene's face turned a brilliant crimnson as she glanced toward the chubby cheeked cherub's other chubby cheeks. "I haven't taken a temperature that way since....well, never!"

"You should try it some time." Grace wriggled her way out of her comfy cloud bed and dug for a container of chocolate dip. "Scrumptious," she sighed, chocolate tipped tube back in her mouth, correct end under her tongue. "What?" she exclaimed, catching the shocked looks of her companions. "Evewyting tases bedder wid docolwet."

hahaha! gotta love those gals!!

Poor Grace! That was wonderful!

Kim

Jill, you're a riot!!!




Are you getting back because I got Callabault chocolate???

There's a cherub after my own heart. I couldn't agree more.

Jill, this is hilarious!

Jill I just love the cherubs they are really very
funny and lovable more soon please
Lin

More please

*coaxing voice* I have lots of chocolate for the purposes of bribery....


Absolutely!

That was hilarious!

Love it!!!!

Em

A day without Jill's cherubs is a day without sunshine!! And, it's very sunny here today!!!

Chocolate definitely helps the medicine go down!!!

Joy

You know...that's a good point Joy...You know all those flavored medicines? What flavors are they in? Grape, cherry, fruity stuff like that, right?

Anyone here ever heard of Chocolate flavored cough syrup? Hmm......

Sorry Web but that thought made me shudder!

Maybe you could write your next story about the convention at the UN...

I figured that I needed to catch up on the cherubs antics, because I kind of felt a little out of the loop. So I read their previous appearances and I have to say they are a riot! I couldn't stop laughing and it was something I needed after a long night at work.

I love how you write their antics! They just make me laugh uncontrollably.

Slowly, he eased his arm from beneath her head, carefully replacing it with her pillow. Tear stains dampened the light blue cotton of his wrinkled shirt sleeve, and as he sat, he peeled it away from his arm. She had cried for nearly forty-five minutes....or an eternity, in Jack's mind. The hall light shown softly into the room, illuminating her face. He paused for a moment, gazing lovingly at his daughter. Lashes still clumped from fisted eye-rubbings fluttered part-way open and then, as if the weight were too much, slowly closed again. 11:00. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and wearily stood up, rubbing a hand over his face. "Emma Lee, what are we going to do with you?" he murmured softly, carefully tucking the blanket around her shoulders and placing a gentle kiss on her forehead.

He padded softly down the hall, stopping at the mess called a bathroom. More like a swimming pool locker room. Wet clothes, towels and toys were strewn throughout the shiny room. The tub remained full, the surface of the water eerily still. A twinge of anger set his jaw. A wave of regret slackened it. A humerous thought almost brought a smile. She had been nearly hysterical by the time he had reached the bathroom, frantically searching the water, running her hands along the hard bottom, soaking her pastel pink pajamas in the process. Jack rubbed his arm where furious fingers had gripped skin and hair in an attempt to stop him from emptying the tub. "She'll go down the drain!" she had screammed, and no amount of reasoning could change her mind. With a waterlogged duck clutched to her chest, further soaking her, she stubbornly stood in the center of the tub, refusing to move until she found her Grace. "There is no Grace!" he had finally shouted, hauling her out of the water. It had taken close to an hour of pleading, prodding, pulling and promising to wrest the duck out of her hands and get her into dry clothes. The promise: to leave the water in the tub and let it seep out through a barely open drain. Remembering his vow, Jack rolled up his sleeve and reached deep into the tepid water, jiggling the drain cap enough for water to begin to seep from the tub as he began the task of cleaning up the room. A started load of laundry later, he returned with a mop. A quick glance in the tub showed an inch of water remaining...and no cherub.

Poor Emma!

Em

Poor Jack ... left alone, without backup, to deal with a missing cherub ... gotta feel sorry for the guy

Poor Jack - there is no reasoning with a determined child... and with Sue as Emma's mom, they probably don't come more determined!

I love the way he kept his promise about the bathwater, and... he really must be stressed if he has started actually looking for the cherubs!

reading this has cheered my day! More please!

Excellent job, as always!

Poor Emma!! I'm proud of Jack for the way he handled the crisis!! Maybe Grace can visit tomorrow and let Emma see she's okay!!!

Joy

You're right, gotta feel sorry for him...what a night.

Poor Jack. I think Sue is going to owe him an extra kiss or two when she gets back.

Kim

poor emma and poor daddy sue really is going to owe
jack big time
Lin

I feel bad for both of them. Emma thinks she's lost a good friend and Jack thinks his little girl's gone crazy. Of course, imaginary friends as a child lead to grwat imaginations as adults. That's where great writers come from.

I agree with Joy. Maybe Grace can visit Emma tomorrow to show that she's okay. As long as the poor thing hasn't caught pneumonia.

Cherubs can be such illusive folk. It seems that you just never know when they will be around and when they won't. Poor Jack. He has had quite a night trying to console his daughter.

Poor Emma

I really feel sorry for JAck tho...I have a four year old who has an imaginary friend named Emily and somedays are really interesting!

Well Sue...hopefully a couple kisses from you will make Jack feel better.

Then I was over poor Emman's tragic night. Couldn't those little cherubs let her know that Grace came out of her ordeal unscathed?...more or less?

kav

Catching up on two great posts. Absolutely loved this:

QUOTE

I'll never look at a thermometer again without thinking of these little cherubs"Wrong end," Grace grumbled, rolling onto her side. She removed the tiny glass tube and held it out. "It won't read acurately when you have it in that way. And I'd like it dipped in chocolate, first, too."

. and I'll have to ask my Dr's nurse the next time I'm there for some chocolate with her thermometer!

I discovered Nutella last summer and it is sooooo scrumpicious....I can just taste it on that little tube!

Hey, I'm with you Pam....the UN convention would be a heavenly setting for those cherubs!

Poor Jack...he just doesn't have a clue how real these little cherubs are to Emma...and she is probably clinging to them more deeply b/c of Sue not being there, understanding her and them. So traumatic for her to think of one of them going down the drain. I, too, am glad he relented and agreed to let the water out slowly and then actually did it. Maybe he was afraid she might wake up and go in and see the water swirling down the drain! Amazing what a child sobbing for 45 minutes will get us to do!

Lynn

I am feeling so sorry for Emma. How will the cherubs let her know that Grace is okay?

Kudos to Jack for not renigging on his promise to only empty the drain a little at time and for checking to see if there really was a cherub there. You just never know.

Loved your descriptions here of the bathroom. Reminds me of my own Emma's aftermath.

Emma needs to know Grace is ok

I love Jack looking for the cherub! Sue you better hurry home!

I just got all caught up! This is such a cute story!!

A quick glance in the tub showed an inch of water remaining...and no cherub.


He couldn't believe he actually looked. "Pppfftt. Cherubs." With an air of finality, Jack flipped off the light, turning his back on the nightmare of the evening....almost. His next step sent a webbed-footed waterfowl flying out the door, where it landed with a lame thud against the hallway wall. He almost bypassed it, the memory of Emma's frenzied fit when he had wrenched the waterlogged toy from her clutches still a little too fresh in his mind for him to care to pick it up. After all, it was the duck's fault. If it hadn't sunk... "Why did you sink?" When he had carted Emma off to bed the first time, the little beast had been bobbing along in the wake of him heave-ho-ing her out of the tub. He reached down and flipped the molded plastic toy into the air, spattering himself in the face with water droplets as it landed in his hand.

"Not a duck outta water," Trecey chuckled, fluttering to the left of the agent. "She got him good."

"She?" Marene edged closer, peering over Jack's shoulder. "I thought it was a he."

"Let's take a look..." Jack flipped the toy over, staring closely at its tail end.

Marene moved in closer, lips pursed in concentration. "I'm not sure that I remember how to tell..."

He gave the bird a hefty squeeze, wheezing water and air from the wound in the plastic poultry's posterier. "Now what could have made that hole?"

Caught in the crossfire, Marene came up sputtering, spectacles spotted from the spray. "Boy...girl...I think it doesn't matter," she muttered, wiping her glasses on her wings. "The arrow...it did disappear, didn't it?" She flew a little higher, not wishing to be whooshed upon for a second time.

"Prolly. Think so. Dunno." Trecey shrugged and followed the agent down the hall and into the den, where he began to rummage through his desk. "Better go and check on Emma while I ride shotgun over Hudson. Let her know Gracie's gunna be okay."

Glasses back in place, the spritzed cherub nodded and quickly flitted down the hall, following the light path through the slightly opened second door on the right. "Awww. So sweet." Noiselessly setting down on Emma's plump pillow, she whispered softly in the sleeping child's ear. "Chérie. Are you awake? Réveille-toi, chérie." Emma groaned under her breath, murmuring something unitelligible before tossing her head in the other direction. "Maybe this ear works better. Wake up, Emma." She brushed a wing softly across a rosy cheek and waited. "Grace wants you to know that she's okay. Trecey came down and got her. She's going to be fine. She's a little damp, and has a cold, but we're taking good care of her."

Emma's eyes barely opened. "That's good. I was so worried," she sighed, before instantly returning to a deep slumber.

"Sweet dreams, Emma." Blowing her a fairy kiss, Marene turned and happily lilted back to the den. She found Trecey perched on a pale green desk lamp, not unlike the likes they had previously encountered in the Hoover building. "These must have been on special somewhere." She parked herself next to the taller pixie and joined her in watching the agent at work. "What's he doing?"

"Body piercing. Hole number five."

"Jack?" she gasped, as the dark haired man held a diamond stud in his hand. "I could see him in an earring, maybe, but body piercing? Where?"

"Purdy much all over. Veritable pincushion."

"What will Sue say?" Marene couldn't hide the horror in her voice.

"That he'd better buy Emma a new duck."

Marene gasped a second time as the diamond stud punctured the plastic exterior. "Ouch! And with no amnesia! That poor duck!"

"Ah, don't worry your wings. She won't remember a thing," Trecey laughed, swatting her comrade on the back. "Let's go home."

Jack! Are you torturing the poor rubber ducky???

I'm so glad Emma knows Grace is fine. Now she'll have sweet dreams instead of night terror.




I must be tired, because that line just got me

That was absolutely marvelous...

I thought for a minute there they were going to reveal themselves to Jack and he'd faint dead away! Then the next minute he's puncturing holes in ducky!

Glad Marene told Emma Gracie is okay.

More soon, please! I'm addicted!

Lynn

I'm not overly tired and that line got me too.

I wonder what Jack would say if Emma learned French from the cherubs.

I really love emma and very pleased that she knows
grace is ok and only has A cold
Lin

Marene gasped a second time as the diamond stud punctured the plastic exterior. "Ouch! And with no amnesia! That poor duck!"

"Ah, don't worry your wings. She won't remember a thing," that was just to funny! I love this Jill.

So... um... why is Jack taking a diamond earring to the poor rubber ducky's behind? I might not get it because I just woke up, but I'm not getting it.

Jack on a cherub hunt... come back soon, Sue - your husband is losing it!







Why the amateur acupuncture, Jack? what has the duck done?

Wonderful - more please!

amateur acupuncture...... Thats a good one, Eclipsse!!! Might have to use that phrase somewhere along the line (ifn you don't mind!)


Off with my daughter to register for her college classes, dorm and whatnot today. I'll see ya'll this evening!

Jill

Phew! Now Emma can rest peacefully

Em

Sweet dreams Emma!

that was awesome!

Of course I don't mind!

Have fun at college

S

I think Jack, the F.B.I. agent has surfaced - "the mystery of the hole in the duck"!!!

I'm glad Emma now knows that Grace is fine!! I had to laugh when Marene got sprayed by the water in the duck while trying to find out if the duck is a girl or a boy!! And, I have to agree, the comment about the lamps is hilarious!!!

Joy

Jill, you rock! I'm so glad to read another one of your stories, and a cherub story, at that! It's wonderful so far, and I can only imagine the conversation Jack is going to have with Sue about their daughter's friends.

I don't think I can compose myself to give a proper response. Your slapstick comedy is perfection!

kav