Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Kendrick drove the Guard’s van over to Athena’s place in West Hollywood with Isaiah riding shotgun.
Normally, he would have taken a smaller vehicle, but the mansion’s four Littles—Iris, Cami, Lana, and Annika—wanted to tag along to play.
Arriving, Kendrick said, “You girls heard your Daddies. Y’all have fun, but behave today.”
“Yes, Uncle Kendrick,” they all said as they ran toward the front gate.
The black iron gate was set into an arch that stood in the center of the white stucco wall that bracketed in the property.
Beyond that gate, The Nursery looked like a lot of other Southern California homes, with white stucco walls and a red tile roof.
The grass was lush and green, while the flowers in the bed on either side of the arched wooden front door were colorful and immaculate.
Kendrick had heard that the old house had, like the Guard’s mansion, at one time belonged to a silent movie star. Such was not uncommon for historic homes in that area. Those old movie stars were the ones who’d built the area up.
Auntie Athena—a full-figured, slightly vampish-looking woman—was standing on the front steps, awaiting their arrival. She must have been alerted to their presence, thanks to the multiple security cameras that were positioned inconspicuously around the property.
“My goodness! You cuties get over here and give your Auntie a hug right now!” Athena commanded.
The girls happily obeyed, running into the woman’s open arms.
“Hi, Auntie! Are you still making Christmas cookies today?” Iris asked.
“Yep. Getting ready to now,” Athena answered.
“And we have frosting, sprinkles, and candy to put on top of them. Come on inside. Some of the other Littles are just about to start.” Athena stopped before heading in through the front yard and cast a serious glance back over her shoulder.
“But just a word of warning: Tonya is here.”
Kendrick wasn’t sure who Tonya was, but based on the stiffened posture and looks of disgust from the Littles, she certainly wasn’t one of their friends.
“Who is that again?” Isaiah asked, voicing what Kendrick was wondering. “The name sounds familiar, but I can’t place her.”
Auntie Athena turned fully around to face the group once more. “Remember the bratty—eh, I mean challenging Little—who caused some trouble around Halloween?”
Kendrick opened his eyes wide and nodded. “Yeah! She was being snobby to everyone. So the girls here pulled a Halloween prank on her.”
“That’s right,” Athena said. “And Tonya responded by going to the mansion and throwing eggs at the girls.”
That had been a very eventful Halloween night, and in all the commotion, it turned out the egging was the least of the trouble. But now Kendrick remembered it all.
“I thought she got kicked out of here,” he noted, recalling some of the conversations he’d had with Athena in the past.
“She apologized to everyone. Including them.” Her eyes fell on Iris. “The Littles voted to give her one more shot.”
Iris and the others nodded.
“She’s snobby,” Iris admitted. “But we don’t want a couple of bad decisions to banish her forever.”
Kendrick smiled. “That’s sweet, honey.”
“Everyone deserves a second chance.”
“That’s a good way of looking at things.”
“I agree,” Athena said. “But don’t let her bully you all. If she starts any trouble, let me know. Understand?”
A chorus of Littles rang out. “Yes, Ma’am.”
The group filed into the house. Inside, Kendrick found a tastefully decorated and very clean space. However, there were some telltale signs that this was no ordinary Hollywood mansion.
A few adult-sized colorful plastic easels were in one of the front parlors with art supplies orderly arranged around them. White sheets were spread out beneath them, ready to catch any paint that fell.
The parlor across had an adult-sized playpen filled with colorful plastic balls.
Three Littles ran through, each one holding a Nerf gun, firing foam darts at each other.
“Slow down! And the Nerf guns are outside toys!” Auntie Athena called out.
The Littles wisely slowed down. Kendrick had seen Athena take her paddle to more than a few Littles’ bottoms over the course of the past several years. They were smart to heed her warning.
“Daddy!” Cami said, turning to Isaiah as they all continued to walk through the house, “Want to come see how high I can jump on the trampoline?”
“I’d love to, babydoll,” her Daddy said.
“You wanna come, too, Uncle Kendrick?”
“You bet,” he answered. “I’ll watch for a few minutes and then I’ll sort of patrol around here and make sure everything is okay.”
Kendrick liked to check behind the house, on the other side of the back fence, every now and then. It hadn’t happened so far, but if word got out as to what kind of establishment Auntie Athena ran, there might be peeping toms hiding in the trees that dotted the property line.
Athena said, “If you want to decorate cookies, you better hurry. Just jump for a few minutes.”
“Yes, Auntie,” Cami said.
Athena broke off and went into the kitchen while the rest of the group kept going to the rear of the house and out the back door.
A couple of other Littles were making use of the trampoline that was in the center of the grassy yard. Kendrick didn’t recognize them, but apparently they were regulars because they called out to Cami, Iris, Lana, and Annika by name.
“Go jump,” Isaiah told Cami. “But you heard Auntie. If you want to decorate Christmas cookies, don’t stay out here too long.”
Kendrick watched as the Little hugged her Daddy.
Would he ever have that?
Perhaps with the waitress at the diner…
That didn’t even make sense, he told himself. The odds of her being a Little were slim to none. And he wasn’t sure he could be with a woman who didn’t have that Little nature. Being a Daddy was just essential to who he was.
His thoughts were interrupted when he heard someone saying, “I’m glad I got here in time to decorate the cookies.
I was having lunch at Musso and Frank’s and I kept getting stopped by people wanting to talk!
It’s so nice being there and not, you know, out among the gross people right outside on Hollywood Boulevard. ”
He turned to see the source of the statement.
Oh, that has to be Tonya, he thought with a slight shake of his head.
Tonya was tall, tan, had obviously bleached-blonde hair, and wore the type of oversized sunglasses movie stars wear when they don’t want to be recognized in public.
She instantly annoyed him.
Two other women were walking on either side of her as they came toward the oversized swing set to the right.
“Did you see anyone famous this time?” one of the ladies asked.
Tonya scoffed. “Just Leo. Of course he asked me out. Again.”
“What did you tell him?” the other woman asked.
“No!” Tonya said with a laugh. “We tried it once. It was fun. But just a fling. We want different things. It would never work.”
Kendrick couldn’t believe it. This was perhaps the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard.
Someone needed to tell her, too.
He’d heard too many stories about Tonya’s reign of terror. Did she not have a Daddy—or Mommy—to take her down a peg or two?
She needed a good spanking.
It wasn’t his place to give her one, of course, but that didn’t mean he had to just stand there and listen to her brag.
And lie.
“Excuse me, ma’am. Did you just say you were at Musso and Frank’s for lunch?” he asked loud enough to catch her attention.
The Little looked incensed that someone would dare speak to her without first being spoken to. But she bobbed her head and said, “Uh, yes.” She sighed a little and looked at her friends, as if asking, “What is this guy’s problem?”
“You mean right before you came here?” Kendrick asked, stepping closer.
“I just said that.”
“And I assume when you said Leo you were referring to DiCaprio.”
Again, the Little offered a quick, exasperated laugh and looked briefly to each of her friends. Once her eyes were back on Kendrick, she said, “Of course. What other Leo would I be talking about?”
Kendrick shrugged. “I was just making sure I heard right. Because… Musso and Frank’s isn’t open for lunch.”
The woman stiffened. Her smug smile waned for the briefest of moments. She cleared her throat. “Did I say Musso and Frank’s? I meant Dan Tana’s. Leo loves that place.” She flipped her blonde hair back. “I eat at both of them so much that I often get them confused.”
“I gotcha,” Kendrick said. “An honest mistake. And I’ve heard Leo does like Dan Tana’s. But you see, they’re only open for dinner, too. No lunch.”
Kendrick saw it in her eyes. She knew she was busted.
Part of him felt bad. Maybe he shouldn’t have publicly humiliated her like that. He’d just heard so many horror stories of what an absolute terror she’d been around the nursery. She was a bully, plain and simple.
“What’s your deal?” she asked, her tone incredulous, as if she couldn’t comprehend actually being called out for her lies.
“My deal?” he said. “I’m just wondering why you’re lying? And being so snobby. The people on the Boulevard aren’t gross. Most of them are just tourists seeing the sites or vendors trying to get by, make a few dollars to survive on.”
This time it was Tonya who stepped closer. “That’s what this is about? You’re upset because I said the people on Hollywood Boulevard are gross?” She scoffed and then threw her head back, laughing. “You can have them. And their ratty clothes.”
Kendrick thought about pointing out the fact that movie premieres were regularly held on Hollywood Boulevard and one was nearly as likely to see a celebrity as they were the so-called “gross” people. But why bother? He wasn’t going to change her mind.
Not with words, at least.
“Do you have a Big?”
She studied him for a minute. “Like a Daddy or Mommy?”
“That’s what I’m asking.”
“No. Why?”
“Huh. I was just wondering if there’s anyone to take you over their knee and redden your bottom. Because that’s what you need, little girl. A good, sound spanking.”
She gasped, covering her mouth and taking a step back. “You wouldn’t!”
He thought about it. Finally, he shook his head. “No. I won’t. It’s not my place. But someone ought to. And the sooner the better.”
With that, he left the stunned woman standing there, clearly struggling with how to process what had just happened.
Kendrick thought it was hilarious.