Twisted Tails
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Wow! Leah and Zoot become a couple! I can't believe it, but it's still amazing. I love this fanfic. This is so cool! More please!
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Leah and Zoot Forever
- Thread starter Misskermie
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Zoot Fan 1981
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First of all before I start chapter 7, I want to thank you all for your kind words. I'm so glad you're enjoying what I have added to this story. You're probably curious about Lips. You'll find out soon enough where Lips has been which will be the start of this chapter 
By the way, Zoot is my favorite muppet too 
By the way, Zoot is my favorite muppet too
Zoot Fan 1981
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Chapter 7 - Zoot's family reunion
It was a rainy day. Lips with his trumpet and suitcase in hand stepped off the bus.
"Woo!" he exclaimed and tightened his coat to warm up. "It's really pouring." He had just come back from visiting his family in Texas and he was so glad to be back home. He had been gone for about 3 weeks. "I have to walk three blocks in this mess." he grumbled. "I hope the band has some gigs lined up for us. I really need to get back into the swing of things." Lips put his coat over his head and ran as fast as he could to the studio the live at. It was hard keeping his coat over his head to keep dry while carrying a suitcase and trumpet case but he somehow managed. He could hardly wait to tell the guys and girls about his three week vacation with his relatives.
"Hey, Floyd. Can you open the door and see how bad it is outside?" Janice asked.
"Sure, baby." Floyd said, opening the door. Lips took out his key and not paying any attention, jammed the key into Floyd's belly. "Hey, man! Watch what you're doing, I ain't no door knob!" he exclaimed as he rubbed his stomach. "That hurts, dude."
"Floyd!" Lips shouted.
"Lips, my man!" Floyd shouted. "Hey, everyone! Lips finally came back from his vacation!" Everyone rushed to greet him.
"Hey, Lips. You missed a very special moment." Janice told him. Leah and Zoot was standing behind her.
"What happened?" Lips asked.
"We're engaged!" Leah said excitedly. She showed him the sparkling heart shaped ruby.
"I can't believe it." Lips said. "I missed it. Congratulations, Zoot and Leah." He shook Zoot's hand and hugged Leah.
"Mail call!!" Dr. Teeth shouted, waving everyone's mail in his hand. He passed it out to everyone. Zoot got a letter and an invitation to his annual family reunion. Leah got a letter from her friends, Janice got a letter from her mom and sister, Floyd got a letter from his brother Lloyd and the good doctor just got a light bill.
"Geez. All I get are bills." Teeth complained. "I don't even hear from my old friends anymore."
Zoot opened his letter. It was from his younger sister Liza. It read
Dear Zephyr,
How are things? I haven't heard from you in a long time. Anyway, our family reunion is coming up and we hope that you'll be there this year. We miss you, Zeph. Give me a call when you have some time. Mom, Juruso, Jo, Ben, and Elise has been asking about you and so have your nieces nephews. We all love and miss you, big brother.
Love your little sis,
Liza
Zoot put the letter back in the envelope. He left.
"What's wrong?" Leah asked, concerned.
"Nothing." Zoot answered. "I gotta call my baby sister."
Zoot walked into his room and closed the door. He picked up the phone and punched in his sister's number. It rang 3 times.
"Hello." Liza answered.
"Hey, baby sis." Zoot said.
"Oh hi! How are you?"
"I'm not so bad. How about you?"
"Ugh.. wanna trade lives?" Liza joked. "Danny and Lily keep me very busy."
"I have some news for you" Zoot said happily. "but I want to wait until the reunion to tell you."
"So you're coming this year." Liza said. "Oh, Zephyr! We have been wanting to see you for some time now. How has the band been?"
"Lips just got back from his vacation this morning. Everyone is good. I have a girlfriend. Been with her for 2 years. I want her to meet the family."
"I'll tell you what. Maybe you two can come a week early so she can get to know all of us. I bet she's a nice girl."
"You'll love her." Zoot said with a smile but his smile suddenly disappeared. "I just don't know about mom."
"Yeah we know how she is. It took her a long while to accept my husband because he isn't jewish." Liza said.
"Mom! Mom! Is that Uncle Zeph?" Lily, her 4 year old tugged on her mom's shirt.
"Yes, honey. Mommy's talking to Uncle Zeph."
"Can I talk?" Before she had a chance to answer, Lily grabbed the phone. "Hi, uncle Zephyr."
"Hey, Lily. What's going on?" Zoot tried not to talk his hippie talk with his niece since she was too young to understand it.
"Nothing. Are you coming to see me?"
"Yes I am and I'm bringing a friend." Zoot said gently. "Let me talk to your mom."
Lily gave the phone back to her mom. Danny suddenly started crying. He woke up from his nap.
"Danny just woke up. I'll have to let you go. Let me know if you can come a little early. Talk to you later."
"Okay. Bye." They hung up. Zoot decided to talk to Leah about meeting his family.
"Hey, babe?" Zoot said. Leah and Janice were talking in Leah's room while listening to some Bon Jovi.
"Come in, Zoot." Leah said.
"I got something to talk to you about." Zoot told her. "How would you like to meet my family?"
"Of course I'd like to meet your family." Leah said. "Are they coming here to visit?" Zoot shook his head.
"There's a family reunion and my sister wants us to come early if we can make it in early." Zoot explained. "I'll have to talk to Dr. Teeth about us taking off early."
"Okay." Leah said. She turned to Janice and they started talking again. Zoot closed her door and left to find Dr. Teeth. He was on the stage jamming on his keyboards trying to write a solo song for himself.
"Dude! I need to talk with you." Zoot shouted. Dr. Teeth stopped playing.
"What's up, Zoot my man?"
"Do you have your schedule? Leah and I need to take a trip." Teeth looked at him. "My family is having a family reunion and they want to meet her."
"Well, let's see who's next on the vacation list." Dr. Teeth pulled out his vacation list. Everyone rotated their vacations and they had specific dates and could only be gone a total of 3 weeks at a time.
(I will finish this later. There is a tornado warning and when this mess lifts up, I will be back on here So until then . . . Rock on!)
Dr. Teeth studied the vacation list carefully. Zoot and Leah were next to take their vacation.
"When is your reunion?" Dr. Teeth asked.
"In a couple of weeks." Zoot answered.
"You and Leah are next to take your vacation. If you want to leave early, then go ahead."
"Okay, cool." Zoot said calmly and left.
The next week, the band loaded up the bus with 2 weeks' worth of Zoot and Leah's belongings. Leah was all nerves.
"What if they don't like me, Zoot?" she said nervously.
"I'm the one you have to live with. Not them." Zoot told her and kissed her. She felt a little better. They finally arrived at the bus station. Janice and Leah hugged and they all said their goodbyes.
"You two have a great time!" Floyd shouted as the bus pulled away. The rest of the band member piled back into the bus and drove back home. While on the bus, Zoot called Liza to let her know that they were on the bus and will see her in about 5 hours.
"5 hours is a long time." Leah said.
"Yeah it is." Zoot said, pulling his hat over his eyes. He laid his seat back and decided to get some sleep. He yawned and he was out. Leah sat back in her seat, took out her notebook and decided to start on the wedding plans.
Maybe we can get Rowlf to play the piano for us during our reception. Leah thought. She wrote down a reminder to call Rowlf as soon as they got back from their trip.
(In case you were all wondering what Rowlf has been up to these days, Ol' Brown ears has been lining up gigs to play at the finest restaurants. On occasion he still plays his piano with the Electric Mayhem but most of the time he plays solo. Now you know
)
The bus pulled into the bus terminal. Leah gently shook Zoot. He woke up, startled.
"Zoot. We're here." Leah said. He yawned and stretched. They stood up, grabbed their belongings and got off the bus. Zoot looked around for his sister's mustang.
"Look for a red mustang." he told Leah. She nodded. Everyone was pushing and shoving their way around. People are so rude! Leah couldn't wait to meet Zoot's family. Soon a red mustang pulled up to the curb and a short, slender woman got out.
"Zephyr!" she called and waved her arms, trying to get his attention. Zoot turned toward the voice.
"That's my sister." he said to Leah and they quickly walked toward her car as she popped the trunk. Zoot put their luggage into the trunk. "Hey, sis. I have someone I would like you to meet." Leah shyly waved to Liza.
"Hi." she blushed.
"Hi, Zephyr's girlfriend." she said. "Does she have a name, Zeph?"
"It's Leah." Leah said. "My name is Leah."
"My name is Liza. Nice to meet you, Leah." Liza glanced at her hand and gasped. "Oh what a beautiful ring! Where did you get it?"
"That's what I wanted to tell you, sis." Zoot said. "She's my fiance. We're engaged." They hugged.
"You're engaged?" Liza chuckled. "You always said you were never getting married." She imitated her older brother. "I'm never going to get married." she said and laughed. Leah laughed too. Zoot rolled his eyes and sighed.
"Let's get going." Zoot said. Liza and Leah agreed and they piled into her car.
"So, Leah. Where are you working?" Liza asked.
"Well, I used to be a waitress. Now I'm one of the lead singers for The Electric Mayhem." she answered.
"How did you two meet?"
"It was a funny story." Leah explained. "The band was sitting down to order their food and I was serving another table. I tripped and Zoot got food spilled all over him." Liza laughed. Leah could tell that she and Liza were going to be great friends.
"It's not that funny." Zoot said. "My suit was ruined. She spilled spaghetti on me."
"But you didn't care." Leah told him. "You were too busy making googly eyes at me. Besides, we had it dry cleaned and it looks good as new." Before they knew it, Liza pulled into the driveway to her house. Her husband Andrew was playing outside with their kids. Danny was in his playpen playing with his toys. Her dad was pushing Lily on her swing. When she saw her mom and uncle, she jumped off.
"Mama! Uncle Zoot!" she hollered, running toward them.
"Hi, Lily." Liza said, bending down to pick up her daughter. Lily saw Leah.
"Who is that?" she asked.
"This is Leah. She's Uncle Zoot's friend."
"Are you in love with my uncle?" she asked quizzically. Leah blushed.
"Yes. Very much."
"Have you kissed him?"
"Okay, Lily that's enough." Liza said, putting her down. She ran back to her swing set and climbed the ladder to her slide.
"This is my husband Andrew." she said to Leah.
"Nice to meet you, Andrew." Leah said, blushing.
"You too." Andrew said. "Hey, Brother in law. How's it going?"
"Groovy." Zoot answered.
"Care to join me for some lemonade? Your woman can have some too if she wants."
"Yeah we'll have some." Zoot said.
"Help yourselves. The pitcher is on the picnic table." Andrew said. "I'll take your luggage."
"That's very nice of you." Leah said, pouring herself a glass of refreshing lemonade. Liza picked up her son from his playpen. He started crying.
"WOW!" she said and held him away. "I'll be back."
"Diaper change?" Zoot asked Andrew. He nodded. A few minutes later, Liza came back with Daniel who was happy and fresh.
"Leah, I'll show you where you and Zoot will be staying. Zoot already knows which room you two will be staying in." Liza said. She lead her into the house, through the kitchen and the living room and down the hallway. "Your room is at the end."
Leah opened the door. It was a huge room with a king sized bed and a couple of dressers. "Mom is going to be over later on this afternoon."
"Do you think she'll like me?" Leah asked nervously.
"I think she's going to adore you." Liza told her. "I know that the family is going to fall in love with you." With this coming from Zoot's sister, Leah felt better.
Later in the evening, Zoot's mother came over just as supper was getting prepared. Leah and Liza were in the kitchen sharing stories about Zoot and laughing. They were getting along so well. Zoot was in the living room playing his sax for his niece. She was listening to him attentively and Andrew was playing with Daniel.
"Zeph was so embarrassed!" Liza laughed as she finished her story. Leah had tears in her eyes and was flushed with laughter. "He didn't back to that girl's house for weeks! All because of our brother."
"It was Ben?" Leah asked between giggles. Liza nodded.
"He always embarrassed Zeph somehow."
*Flashback*
Zoot was about 15- 16 years old and a new girl moved into a house a few doors away from his. He really liked her but the problem was Ben did too. Zoot and this girl talked and hung out but he never got the courage to ask her out. That is until he saw his brother hitting on her.
"You don't have the guts, man." Ben said to Zoot. "She likes me anyway."
"I heard around school that she's crazy for me." Zoot argued.
"Who told you?"
"Floyd."
"Yeah? Well, Floyd don't know nothin'."
"I'm going to go to her house right now and tell her how I feel." Zoot said. Ben left a few minutes after his brother did. He knew a shortcut to her house and he got there a couple of minutes before Zoot. Ben had a plan. He was going to spray Zoot's pants so it looked like he wet them. He turned on the hose. After a long while of dawdling and thinking about what he was going to say without making himself look like a babbling idiot, he stepped onto the doorstep and rang the bell.
"Coming!" the girl called. Ben quickly sprayed Zoot's pants. Zoot felt a cold gush of water from the hose and next thing he knew, Zoot's pants were wet. He looked like he wet himself. She opened the door. "Hey, Zoot. Dude, did you wet yourself?"
"I. . . uh." he stammered, embarrassed and she started laughing really hard. The embarrassed Zoot ran home and stayed in his room the rest of the day. The next day at school, he saw her with his brother Ben.
"Sorry, bro," he said. "She doesn't date guys who wet their pants." He burst out laughing. Zoot clenched his teeth out of anger.
*end of flashback*
"Every time she came over to visit Ben, Zoot stayed in his room. He was too embarrassed to look at her in the face." Liza finished.
"Did she ever find out that he didn't really wet himself?" Leah asked.
"I told her." Liza said. "I told her everything and come to find out, she liked him too. They ended up moving before she and Zoot officially started dating."
"What about Ben?"
"She broke up with him when she found out the truth." Liza told her. "She said she didn't want to speak to him again and that was cruel and immature of him to do such a thing." The doorbell rang. Andrew got up and answered it.
"Hey, Ma's here!" he bellowed.
"Grandma!" squealed Lily. She got up and headed to the door. She wrapped her arms around her. "Hi, Grandma!"
"Hi, Sweetheart." Mrs. Simms said, hugging her granddaughter. Mrs. Simms was a tall, slender lady with long curly blue hair with green blue skin and a yellow tear drop shaped nose. She looked kind of like Zoot. She saw her son on the couch playing his sax. "Well, some things never change, do they." she said and smiled.
"Hi, mom." Zoot said and put down his sax. He gave her a hug.
"Hi, son. It's been a long time. How are things?"
"It's groovy." Zoot said. "I have someone I want you to meet." He motioned to Leah. She walked out of the kitchen, all nerves. "This lovely lady is Leah. She is my bride to be."
"Hello, Mrs. Simms." Leah said nervously.
"No need to be formal, dear." she said, hugging her. "Call me Martha."
"Okay, Martha." Leah said. "How are you?"
"I'm doing good. Zephyr, you picked a really nice lady." his mother said. Zoot smiled and hugged Leah. Before he could answer she announced that it was time to eat. Liza put the baby in his high chair and rounded up everybody at the table. They all exchanged stories and laughed and talked and had a great time. After Leah and Liza cleaned up the table, Andrew got out a deck of cards.
"Let me get the kids down for the night." Liza said.
"I'll help. " Leah offered. "I can bathe the baby for you while you get Lily ready for bed."
"It's okay, Leah." Liza said. "You hang out with mom and the guys. It won't take long to get Danny cleaned up and Lily can get herself ready for bed."
"I'm a big girl!" she said stretching out her arms to show everyone how big she is.
"Yes you are, honey." Liza said. "Say good night to everyone."
"Good night, everyone!" she hollered. "Good night, Uncle Zoot and Aunt Leah."
Leah, Liza, and Zoot were surprised she said Aunt Leah. Liza took the kids to the bathroom so she could get them cleaned up for bed.
Andrew got out the deck of cards and drinks for everyone. Martha took the cards and dealt them.
"So, Leah." she said. "How did you run into my handsome son?" Both Zoot and Leah blushed.
"Well, it's a funny story actually." Leah started to say. "I was serving a table their food,"
"Spaghetti actually." Zoot piped up.
"I tripped and spilled spaghetti all over Zoot but he didn't mind." Martha laughed.
"That is a funny way to meet someone. Zephyr was always easy going." she told Leah. "He was a very quiet kid."
"Really?" Leah asked.
"Oh yes. He stayed in his room most of the time and played that saxophone of his. His dad never liked it. He wanted him to become a doctor. You know, make something of himself."
"Where is he now?"
"We divorced, dear. I don't know where he's at now and don't care to know." Martha turned to Andrew and said, "I'll never know why you named my grandson after him." Liza walked into the dining room.
"I named him after dad because he's our dad, mom. Now please drop it." she said irritably. "Leah, Lily wants you to read her a story. She kept telling me she wants you to read to her."
"I don't mind." she said, getting up from the table. "Go ahead and play without me." She kissed Zoot and went to Lily's room. She was laying in bed, cuddling her teddy bear and had a book already picked out.
"Can you read this to me, Aunt Leah?" she asked. Leah smiled, picturing herself reading to her own child while rocking him or her to sleep.
"Okay, Lily." She looked at the book. It was a book about Kermit the frog.
"Kermit's my favorite but nobody tops my Uncle Zoot!"
"You know Zoot knows Kermit. They worked together." Leah told her.
"They did?"
"Uh huh but I'll let Zoot tell you that story." Leah said, grabbing the book. She opened it and started to read.
In the dining room, Liza, Zoot, Martha, and Andrew were talking about Leah.
"Son, you found yourself a nice lady." Martha said.
"You're not going to ask if she's Jewish, are you?" Zoot groaned. "She's not in case you do ask."
"Zephyr," Martha said. "I don't care about that anymore. I came to realize that religion doesn't matter as long as your significant other treats you good. Liza pointed that out to me a long time ago. She married a wonderful man."
"You did pick a good woman, Zeph and I'm happy for the both of you." Liza told him. "Why did you wait so long?"
"She was worth the wait."
"What about Janice?" Andrew asked him. "She was nice."
"She is a nice girl." Zoot said. "She just decided that Floyd was more her type of guy. That's all." Soon Leah walked back into the dining room.
"Liza, Lily is asleep."
"Thank you, Leah." Liza said. "I appreciate it." She sat down next to Zoot.
"Honey," Martha said. "I want to say that I'm really happy for you and Zephyr."
"Thank you." Leah said, blushing. "I never showed you the ring." She held out her hand and Martha's jaw dropped.
"That is a gorgeous ring! Zephyr sure knows how to pick them out. We should throw these two an engagement party."
"That's going to take awhile to plan isn't it?" Andrew asked.
"It will but it'll be worth it." Liza said.
"We haven't discussed wedding plans yet." Zoot told them.
"We can help with those too if you want us to."
(More to come . . .)
"We can always use suggestions." Zoot said, leaning back in his chair with his arm hanging over the back.
"Leah and I can go to the bridal shop and look around for dresses." Liza said excitedly. Martha looked at the clock. It was getting late.
"Goodness! I need to get home." Martha said. "I'll be by again tomorrow afternoon. It was lovely to meet you, Leah." They hugged. Martha said her goodbyes and left. Liza, Leah, and Andrew cleaned up while Zoot went to bed.
On his way to the guest bedroom, he heard Danny starting to wake up. Zoot walked in and picked up his crying nephew. He didn't have the baby smell he normally does. In fact, he smelled horrible! Zoot started to panic.
Oh man!" he said holding the crying infant away from him. He turned on the light so he could see better. "How does your mom deal with this?" Daniel's response was his screaming. "Ah, this must be where your mama changes you." he said as he spotted the changing table. Forgetting about his nasty diaper, Zoot put his hand on his bottom, supporting it. Danny let out a high pitched scream that could have shattered Zoot's ears. "Chill out, little man! Uncle Zoot has you." He laid his nephew down on the changing table. The smell was worse. Zoot stood arm's length as he took off the baby's pajamas.
Downstairs, Liza heard loud screaming coming from her son's room. Liza dropped what she was doing and hurried upstairs. She stopped at Daniel's door and giggled quietly. She tiptoed downstairs and motioned for Leah.
"Girl, you gotta see this. Zephyr is attempting to change Daniel."
"What's so funny about that?" Leah curiously asked.
"He has never changed a diaper in his life! This is just too funny. You gotta see!" Curious, Leah followed behind Liza. The girls watched from the doorway as Zoot had out the diaper and wipes. Danny's pajamas were wet and smelled really bad so he threw them into the clothes bin. Danny kept kicking as Zoot opened the diaper. It was as if Daniel was trying to kick it off.
"Oh, man!" He wanted to stand back even further but he was already at arms length. He cleaned up the baby, and opened the new diaper. The ladies giggled as they watched Zoot's reactions to Danny's stinky diaper. Zoot powdered Danny's behind as the baby played with his toes, cooing happily. Zoot closely examined the clean diaper, trying to figure out how it's supposed to go on him. He slipped it under Daniel. "How does your mother do this, man?" he asked the baby. Danny just looked at him, cooed, and kicked his feet. He brought up the front of the diaper and undid the tab on the left. He secured it and did the same with the one on the right. Zoot examined the diaper. Danny kept cooing and kicking. He let out a happy squeal. As he kicked the diaper moved around loosely but Zoot thought it was tight enough to stay on. He picked up his nephew and the diaper slipped down his hips. Danny kicked and the diaper fell. Zoot frowned. "Kid, you gotta stop kicking or that thing won't stay on." Suddenly his shirt felt wet. Danny laughed. He looked down and saw the big wet spot on his shirt. "Aw, man!" Liza started laughing out loud and Zoot turned around. Leah was laughing right along with her future sister in law.
"Nice try, big brother." she said.
"Zeph, you did fine but you put his diaper on too loose." Liza told him as she took her son from him. "Let me show you." She laid him back down and quickly put the diaper on him, explaining how to do it. "If you can fit two fingers into the front, then it's tight enough. You don't need it so loose that it rubs against him as he's kicking. It can irritate his skin." Leah wrapped her arms around him and kissed him.
"At least you tried." she said, resting her chin on his shoulder.
"Babe, if we do have kids," Zoot said. "You can be the one to change them. I'm not touching another dirty diaper again." He shuddered as Leah grabbed his hand.
"Let's get ready for bed, honey." Leah said gently. The next few days were going to be busy for the family.
(Next the family reunion. So until tomorrow, Rock on!)
The next morning, everyone woke up early. Liza and Leah were going to have some girl time while Zoot and Andrew watched Daniel and Lily. Andrew got breakfast going and changed the baby. Zoot helped out by feeding him.
"So the wife tells me that you tried to change Danny." Andrew said with a laugh.
"It was a disaster." Zoot told him giving Daniel another spoonful of baby food. Daniel started fussing. "Chill out, Kid! I can't feed you that fast!"
"Yeah. You gotta be fast when you feed him. He can be a real porker. Have you and Leah talked about having kids?" Zoot shook his head.
"Subject hasn't come up." He shoved another spoonful of baby food into his nephew's mouth. Lily handed her uncle her brother's bottle. "What's this for?"
"He drinks out of it, silly." Lily said, giggling. "Uncle Zoot is silly!" Andrew served breakfast and sat down.
"Help yourself, bro." Zoot got up and served himself and the two guys ate in silence.
In the car, Liza and Leah were trying to decide what to do for the day.
"What was Zoot's childhood like?" Leah curiously asked. "He hardly talks about his past." Liza raised her eyebrow.
"Well, "she said, thinking. "he didn't have much of one. Our dad walked out on us when he was 15 or 16 years old leaving mom to take care of us. Zephyr was the man of the household."
"That's terrible!" Leah exclaimed.
"Well what do you do when you don't have many choices. Our mom worked 2 jobs to support us and on her nights off of work, he played his sax on the street corners to help out with bills. He always tried to get a gig at least 2 nights a week."
"Did he graduate?" Leah asked. Liza shook her head.
"No. He eventually dropped out. His grades were suffering and it was too much for him to go to school and take on the role of dad. Mom doesn't like to talk about it."
"Wow." Leah said. "He could have gone places with the way he plays the sax."
"You're telling me." Liza agreed. She pulled into the mall's parking lot. "There's a bridal shop here. Do you want to look around?" Leah nodded. They entered the bridal shop. Leah gasped.
"These dresses are just gorgeous!" she exclaimed.
Back at the house, Zoot got out his sax.
"Can I hold it?" Lily asked.
"It's kinda heavy." he told her. Daniel was on the floor on a blanket watching his uncle polish his instrument.
"Lily, leave your uncle alone." Andrew shouted.
"Can I? Please?" Lily pleaded.
"Lily, this thing is bigger than you are." Zoot told her. "I really don't think you should."
"Lily Marie!" Andrew boomed. She looked at her father and he pointed to her room and said, "Go play!" She obediently went to her room. Daniel stared at the shiny sax. He struggled to get up on his hands and knees. (Yes, he was at that age.)
"Mmmmmm!" he said and cooed. He was trying to figure out how to crawl and he really wanted that sax! He scooted across the floor. Zoot was too busy polishing to notice. He grabbed the bell of the instrument and pulled himself up. Daniel started tapping it and squealed with delight.
"When is the reunion?" Zoot asked.
"Tomorrow." Andrew answered. "Everyone will be there. Liza asked me to start making the dishes. We are all supposed to bring something."
"Leah and I don't have anything to bring."
"Don't worry about it." Daniel lost his balance and fell down. SPLAT! Suddenly the men started sniffing.
"Something smells disgusting." Zoot said, looking around. Daniel got back up. His diaper was smashed. "I think it's the kid."
Andrew scooped up the baby and checked him. "I'll be right back." Zoot sat back on the couch and started playing.
Now Leah and Liza were at the grocery store getting food to make for the reunion.
"Our family is going to love you." she told her. "Just watch out for Ben."
"Why?"
"He always tried to steal Zeph's crushes. You know about the one that lived a few houses away from us."
"Oh don't worry." Leah said. "I've handled men like him. I found the one I'm going to marry."
(Family reunion coming up tonight! Stay tuned and Rock on!)
The next morning, everyone woke up early to get ready for the family reunion. It was a big day. Zoot hadn't seen his cousins, aunts and uncles in a long time and Leah was a bit nervous. Liza got Daniel out of his crib and fed. Soon after he needed changed.
"Zeph, can you please change Daniel for me?" she asked as she handed the baby off to her older brother. "I have to get the food into the van."
"Uh I guess." Zoot said. "Come on, little guy." Daniel grabbed for Zoot's shades but he took his hand away. "No, Daniel. These are your uncle Zoot's." Once again, Zoot laid the baby down and unfastened his diaper. He held his breath and opened it. "Oh good." he said. "You're just wet." He got out a clean diaper and once again he put it on a bit too loose. It slipped a little off his hips. "It's good enough. Now to get you back to your mom." Zoot put his shorts back on him and carried him downstairs.
"Just put him into his car seat." Liza called. "It's in the van." Lily was sitting in the van waiting patiently for the others. Zoot buckled Daniel in while Leah and Liza secured everything as Andrew brought out the last dish. They were ready to leave.
An hour later, they arrived at the park the family reunion was taking place at. All of Zoot's relatives were there. They were sharing stories, hugging each other, talking, laughing, and having a good time. Ben was standing in the shelter talking to his cousin as he saw Liza's van pull up. Her family got out and Andrew got out the food.
"Hey, little sis!" Ben shouted and gave Liza a bear hug.
"Hi, Ben." Liza said. "Guess who we have." Zoot and Leah walked around the van hand in hand.
"Zephyr!" Ben said. "It's been too long! Who is this beautiful lady you have with you?" Leah blushed.
"Hey, man." Zoot said. "Don't get any ideas about this one. We're engaged and her name is Leah." Ben stuck his hand out to shake hers.
"Nice to meet you, Leah. I'm Ben. Your other half's younger brother."
"It's nice to meet you." Leah said. Ben didn't seem so bad.
"So what are you up to, Saxman?" Ben asked. "You decide to move back into the old neighborhood?"
"We're just visiting for 2 weeks." Zoot told him.
"So you're still with The Electric Mayhem." Ben guessed.
"Why wouldn't I be?" Zoot asked in a defensive tone. Ben laughed.
"Hey, no need to get on the defensive side." he said. "You're a very talented guy. You know how to make that sax talk. I figured you would be famous by now. Well, talk with you later, bro." Ben walked away. Jo, Zoot's baby brother, was talking to Liza and Andrew. Jo was shorter than Zoot but had more hair. He was an awkward guy when it came to talking to girls. Which explains why he doesn't have a girlfriend. Every time he tried to ask a girl out that he liked, he would get very nervous and wet himself. Zoot and Leah walked over to them.
"Hey, Jo. How's it going, man?"
"Zephyr!" Jo shouted and threw his arms around his older brother. "I'm doing good. How are things?"
"It's all good, man. I'm engaged to be married." Zoot turned to Leah. "This is my main squeeze Leah." Suddenly, Jo got very nervous.
"H - hi, L - Leah." he said nervously. He suddenly crossed his legs. Oh no! Not here, not now! he thought. "I gotta go!" He dashed to the bathroom as fast as he could run.
"Well hello to you too." Leah called to him as he ran off. She turned to Liza and Zoot. "What's with him?"
"Don't take it personally." Liza told her.
"He gets that way around beautiful girls." Zoot told her. "He's an awkward guy."
"Oh I see." Suddenly a tall man dressed like a cowboy walked over.
"Zephyr?" a deep voice said. Zoot jumped.
"Wha-?" he started to say.
"You don't remember me?" Zoot shook his head.
"I'm your cousin Juruso!" the tall guy said. "We used to hang out alot when we were kids." Zoot searched his memory. That was years ago! "Who is this lovely lady?"
"I'm Leah."
"Hi, Leah. That's a beautiful name." My oldest daughter's name is Leah but we call her Lee for short."
"Oh, Juruso!" Zoot said. "Now I remember! My memory is fuzzy from those days."
"Oh it's okay." Juruso laughed. "We have a lot of catching up to do." He and Zoot went off together to talk for awhile. Leah sat down and helped herself to some food and a glass of pop. She watched Lily play with the other kids on the swing set. She started daydreaming about the day she and Zoot have their first child.
"Hey." Ben said making Leah snap back into reality.
"Hey." she said.
"Isn't it kind of rude of Zoot to just walk away from you like that?"
"He's a big boy, Ben and he hasn't seen his family in a long time. I don't need to be by his side all the time."
"You wanna get to know me?" he said smiling. Leah looked at him in disgust.
"Benjamin Simms! You don't talk to her like that!" someone yelled. It was Liza. "She's going to be your sister in law! Grow up and stop hitting on her." She shooed him away. "Leave her alone." Liza sat down. "Are you okay?"
"I just feel a bit out of place." she told her. "I'm just bored." Suddenly Lily ran up to Leah in tears.
"Aunt Leah! Aunt Leah!" she cried. "I scraped my knee!" Leah looked at Lily's boo boo.
"Is there a first aid kit?" she asked Liza.
"In the van. We never leave home without it." Liza told her. "Lily knows where it's at."
"Come on, sweetie." Leah said taking the sobbing Lily to the van. "Aunt Leah will fix it."
"Kay." Lily said wiping her tears. Andrew was standing in the back of the van. He was changing Daniel.
"She scraped her knee, Andy." Leah explained. Andrew gave her the cream and band-aids.
"Never leave home without them." He smiled. She bandaged up Lily's knee.
"Can you kiss it to make it better? It still hurts." Lily asked, standing on one leg.
"Sure, sweetie." Leah kissed it. Lily smiled and walked to the tables to eat.
"Leah," Zoot said. He was watching her the whole time. "You're going to make a groovy mom." Leah smiled. That evening, everyone said their goodbyes, exchanged numbers and emails and left for home. Both Leah and Zoot had an awesome time.
(More to come tomorrow! Rock on!)
It was a rainy day. Lips with his trumpet and suitcase in hand stepped off the bus.
"Woo!" he exclaimed and tightened his coat to warm up. "It's really pouring." He had just come back from visiting his family in Texas and he was so glad to be back home. He had been gone for about 3 weeks. "I have to walk three blocks in this mess." he grumbled. "I hope the band has some gigs lined up for us. I really need to get back into the swing of things." Lips put his coat over his head and ran as fast as he could to the studio the live at. It was hard keeping his coat over his head to keep dry while carrying a suitcase and trumpet case but he somehow managed. He could hardly wait to tell the guys and girls about his three week vacation with his relatives.
"Hey, Floyd. Can you open the door and see how bad it is outside?" Janice asked.
"Sure, baby." Floyd said, opening the door. Lips took out his key and not paying any attention, jammed the key into Floyd's belly. "Hey, man! Watch what you're doing, I ain't no door knob!" he exclaimed as he rubbed his stomach. "That hurts, dude."
"Floyd!" Lips shouted.
"Lips, my man!" Floyd shouted. "Hey, everyone! Lips finally came back from his vacation!" Everyone rushed to greet him.
"Hey, Lips. You missed a very special moment." Janice told him. Leah and Zoot was standing behind her.
"What happened?" Lips asked.
"We're engaged!" Leah said excitedly. She showed him the sparkling heart shaped ruby.
"I can't believe it." Lips said. "I missed it. Congratulations, Zoot and Leah." He shook Zoot's hand and hugged Leah.
"Mail call!!" Dr. Teeth shouted, waving everyone's mail in his hand. He passed it out to everyone. Zoot got a letter and an invitation to his annual family reunion. Leah got a letter from her friends, Janice got a letter from her mom and sister, Floyd got a letter from his brother Lloyd and the good doctor just got a light bill.
"Geez. All I get are bills." Teeth complained. "I don't even hear from my old friends anymore."
Zoot opened his letter. It was from his younger sister Liza. It read
Dear Zephyr,
How are things? I haven't heard from you in a long time. Anyway, our family reunion is coming up and we hope that you'll be there this year. We miss you, Zeph. Give me a call when you have some time. Mom, Juruso, Jo, Ben, and Elise has been asking about you and so have your nieces nephews. We all love and miss you, big brother.
Love your little sis,
Liza
Zoot put the letter back in the envelope. He left.
"What's wrong?" Leah asked, concerned.
"Nothing." Zoot answered. "I gotta call my baby sister."
Zoot walked into his room and closed the door. He picked up the phone and punched in his sister's number. It rang 3 times.
"Hello." Liza answered.
"Hey, baby sis." Zoot said.
"Oh hi! How are you?"
"I'm not so bad. How about you?"
"Ugh.. wanna trade lives?" Liza joked. "Danny and Lily keep me very busy."
"I have some news for you" Zoot said happily. "but I want to wait until the reunion to tell you."
"So you're coming this year." Liza said. "Oh, Zephyr! We have been wanting to see you for some time now. How has the band been?"
"Lips just got back from his vacation this morning. Everyone is good. I have a girlfriend. Been with her for 2 years. I want her to meet the family."
"I'll tell you what. Maybe you two can come a week early so she can get to know all of us. I bet she's a nice girl."
"You'll love her." Zoot said with a smile but his smile suddenly disappeared. "I just don't know about mom."
"Yeah we know how she is. It took her a long while to accept my husband because he isn't jewish." Liza said.
"Mom! Mom! Is that Uncle Zeph?" Lily, her 4 year old tugged on her mom's shirt.
"Yes, honey. Mommy's talking to Uncle Zeph."
"Can I talk?" Before she had a chance to answer, Lily grabbed the phone. "Hi, uncle Zephyr."
"Hey, Lily. What's going on?" Zoot tried not to talk his hippie talk with his niece since she was too young to understand it.
"Nothing. Are you coming to see me?"
"Yes I am and I'm bringing a friend." Zoot said gently. "Let me talk to your mom."
Lily gave the phone back to her mom. Danny suddenly started crying. He woke up from his nap.
"Danny just woke up. I'll have to let you go. Let me know if you can come a little early. Talk to you later."
"Okay. Bye." They hung up. Zoot decided to talk to Leah about meeting his family.
"Hey, babe?" Zoot said. Leah and Janice were talking in Leah's room while listening to some Bon Jovi.
"Come in, Zoot." Leah said.
"I got something to talk to you about." Zoot told her. "How would you like to meet my family?"
"Of course I'd like to meet your family." Leah said. "Are they coming here to visit?" Zoot shook his head.
"There's a family reunion and my sister wants us to come early if we can make it in early." Zoot explained. "I'll have to talk to Dr. Teeth about us taking off early."
"Okay." Leah said. She turned to Janice and they started talking again. Zoot closed her door and left to find Dr. Teeth. He was on the stage jamming on his keyboards trying to write a solo song for himself.
"Dude! I need to talk with you." Zoot shouted. Dr. Teeth stopped playing.
"What's up, Zoot my man?"
"Do you have your schedule? Leah and I need to take a trip." Teeth looked at him. "My family is having a family reunion and they want to meet her."
"Well, let's see who's next on the vacation list." Dr. Teeth pulled out his vacation list. Everyone rotated their vacations and they had specific dates and could only be gone a total of 3 weeks at a time.
(I will finish this later. There is a tornado warning and when this mess lifts up, I will be back on here
So until then . . . Rock on!)Dr. Teeth studied the vacation list carefully. Zoot and Leah were next to take their vacation.
"When is your reunion?" Dr. Teeth asked.
"In a couple of weeks." Zoot answered.
"You and Leah are next to take your vacation. If you want to leave early, then go ahead."
"Okay, cool." Zoot said calmly and left.
The next week, the band loaded up the bus with 2 weeks' worth of Zoot and Leah's belongings. Leah was all nerves.
"What if they don't like me, Zoot?" she said nervously.
"I'm the one you have to live with. Not them." Zoot told her and kissed her. She felt a little better. They finally arrived at the bus station. Janice and Leah hugged and they all said their goodbyes.
"You two have a great time!" Floyd shouted as the bus pulled away. The rest of the band member piled back into the bus and drove back home. While on the bus, Zoot called Liza to let her know that they were on the bus and will see her in about 5 hours.
"5 hours is a long time." Leah said.
"Yeah it is." Zoot said, pulling his hat over his eyes. He laid his seat back and decided to get some sleep. He yawned and he was out. Leah sat back in her seat, took out her notebook and decided to start on the wedding plans.
Maybe we can get Rowlf to play the piano for us during our reception. Leah thought. She wrote down a reminder to call Rowlf as soon as they got back from their trip.
(In case you were all wondering what Rowlf has been up to these days, Ol' Brown ears has been lining up gigs to play at the finest restaurants. On occasion he still plays his piano with the Electric Mayhem but most of the time he plays solo. Now you know
) The bus pulled into the bus terminal. Leah gently shook Zoot. He woke up, startled.
"Zoot. We're here." Leah said. He yawned and stretched. They stood up, grabbed their belongings and got off the bus. Zoot looked around for his sister's mustang.
"Look for a red mustang." he told Leah. She nodded. Everyone was pushing and shoving their way around. People are so rude! Leah couldn't wait to meet Zoot's family. Soon a red mustang pulled up to the curb and a short, slender woman got out.
"Zephyr!" she called and waved her arms, trying to get his attention. Zoot turned toward the voice.
"That's my sister." he said to Leah and they quickly walked toward her car as she popped the trunk. Zoot put their luggage into the trunk. "Hey, sis. I have someone I would like you to meet." Leah shyly waved to Liza.
"Hi." she blushed.
"Hi, Zephyr's girlfriend." she said. "Does she have a name, Zeph?"
"It's Leah." Leah said. "My name is Leah."
"My name is Liza. Nice to meet you, Leah." Liza glanced at her hand and gasped. "Oh what a beautiful ring! Where did you get it?"
"That's what I wanted to tell you, sis." Zoot said. "She's my fiance. We're engaged." They hugged.
"You're engaged?" Liza chuckled. "You always said you were never getting married." She imitated her older brother. "I'm never going to get married." she said and laughed. Leah laughed too. Zoot rolled his eyes and sighed.
"Let's get going." Zoot said. Liza and Leah agreed and they piled into her car.
"So, Leah. Where are you working?" Liza asked.
"Well, I used to be a waitress. Now I'm one of the lead singers for The Electric Mayhem." she answered.
"How did you two meet?"
"It was a funny story." Leah explained. "The band was sitting down to order their food and I was serving another table. I tripped and Zoot got food spilled all over him." Liza laughed. Leah could tell that she and Liza were going to be great friends.
"It's not that funny." Zoot said. "My suit was ruined. She spilled spaghetti on me."
"But you didn't care." Leah told him. "You were too busy making googly eyes at me. Besides, we had it dry cleaned and it looks good as new." Before they knew it, Liza pulled into the driveway to her house. Her husband Andrew was playing outside with their kids. Danny was in his playpen playing with his toys. Her dad was pushing Lily on her swing. When she saw her mom and uncle, she jumped off.
"Mama! Uncle Zoot!" she hollered, running toward them.
"Hi, Lily." Liza said, bending down to pick up her daughter. Lily saw Leah.
"Who is that?" she asked.
"This is Leah. She's Uncle Zoot's friend."
"Are you in love with my uncle?" she asked quizzically. Leah blushed.
"Yes. Very much."
"Have you kissed him?"
"Okay, Lily that's enough." Liza said, putting her down. She ran back to her swing set and climbed the ladder to her slide.
"This is my husband Andrew." she said to Leah.
"Nice to meet you, Andrew." Leah said, blushing.
"You too." Andrew said. "Hey, Brother in law. How's it going?"
"Groovy." Zoot answered.
"Care to join me for some lemonade? Your woman can have some too if she wants."
"Yeah we'll have some." Zoot said.
"Help yourselves. The pitcher is on the picnic table." Andrew said. "I'll take your luggage."
"That's very nice of you." Leah said, pouring herself a glass of refreshing lemonade. Liza picked up her son from his playpen. He started crying.
"WOW!" she said and held him away. "I'll be back."
"Diaper change?" Zoot asked Andrew. He nodded. A few minutes later, Liza came back with Daniel who was happy and fresh.
"Leah, I'll show you where you and Zoot will be staying. Zoot already knows which room you two will be staying in." Liza said. She lead her into the house, through the kitchen and the living room and down the hallway. "Your room is at the end."
Leah opened the door. It was a huge room with a king sized bed and a couple of dressers. "Mom is going to be over later on this afternoon."
"Do you think she'll like me?" Leah asked nervously.
"I think she's going to adore you." Liza told her. "I know that the family is going to fall in love with you." With this coming from Zoot's sister, Leah felt better.
Later in the evening, Zoot's mother came over just as supper was getting prepared. Leah and Liza were in the kitchen sharing stories about Zoot and laughing. They were getting along so well. Zoot was in the living room playing his sax for his niece. She was listening to him attentively and Andrew was playing with Daniel.
"Zeph was so embarrassed!" Liza laughed as she finished her story. Leah had tears in her eyes and was flushed with laughter. "He didn't back to that girl's house for weeks! All because of our brother."
"It was Ben?" Leah asked between giggles. Liza nodded.
"He always embarrassed Zeph somehow."
*Flashback*
Zoot was about 15- 16 years old and a new girl moved into a house a few doors away from his. He really liked her but the problem was Ben did too. Zoot and this girl talked and hung out but he never got the courage to ask her out. That is until he saw his brother hitting on her.
"You don't have the guts, man." Ben said to Zoot. "She likes me anyway."
"I heard around school that she's crazy for me." Zoot argued.
"Who told you?"
"Floyd."
"Yeah? Well, Floyd don't know nothin'."
"I'm going to go to her house right now and tell her how I feel." Zoot said. Ben left a few minutes after his brother did. He knew a shortcut to her house and he got there a couple of minutes before Zoot. Ben had a plan. He was going to spray Zoot's pants so it looked like he wet them. He turned on the hose. After a long while of dawdling and thinking about what he was going to say without making himself look like a babbling idiot, he stepped onto the doorstep and rang the bell.
"Coming!" the girl called. Ben quickly sprayed Zoot's pants. Zoot felt a cold gush of water from the hose and next thing he knew, Zoot's pants were wet. He looked like he wet himself. She opened the door. "Hey, Zoot. Dude, did you wet yourself?"
"I. . . uh." he stammered, embarrassed and she started laughing really hard. The embarrassed Zoot ran home and stayed in his room the rest of the day. The next day at school, he saw her with his brother Ben.
"Sorry, bro," he said. "She doesn't date guys who wet their pants." He burst out laughing. Zoot clenched his teeth out of anger.
*end of flashback*
"Every time she came over to visit Ben, Zoot stayed in his room. He was too embarrassed to look at her in the face." Liza finished.
"Did she ever find out that he didn't really wet himself?" Leah asked.
"I told her." Liza said. "I told her everything and come to find out, she liked him too. They ended up moving before she and Zoot officially started dating."
"What about Ben?"
"She broke up with him when she found out the truth." Liza told her. "She said she didn't want to speak to him again and that was cruel and immature of him to do such a thing." The doorbell rang. Andrew got up and answered it.
"Hey, Ma's here!" he bellowed.
"Grandma!" squealed Lily. She got up and headed to the door. She wrapped her arms around her. "Hi, Grandma!"
"Hi, Sweetheart." Mrs. Simms said, hugging her granddaughter. Mrs. Simms was a tall, slender lady with long curly blue hair with green blue skin and a yellow tear drop shaped nose. She looked kind of like Zoot. She saw her son on the couch playing his sax. "Well, some things never change, do they." she said and smiled.
"Hi, mom." Zoot said and put down his sax. He gave her a hug.
"Hi, son. It's been a long time. How are things?"
"It's groovy." Zoot said. "I have someone I want you to meet." He motioned to Leah. She walked out of the kitchen, all nerves. "This lovely lady is Leah. She is my bride to be."
"Hello, Mrs. Simms." Leah said nervously.
"No need to be formal, dear." she said, hugging her. "Call me Martha."
"Okay, Martha." Leah said. "How are you?"
"I'm doing good. Zephyr, you picked a really nice lady." his mother said. Zoot smiled and hugged Leah. Before he could answer she announced that it was time to eat. Liza put the baby in his high chair and rounded up everybody at the table. They all exchanged stories and laughed and talked and had a great time. After Leah and Liza cleaned up the table, Andrew got out a deck of cards.
"Let me get the kids down for the night." Liza said.
"I'll help. " Leah offered. "I can bathe the baby for you while you get Lily ready for bed."
"It's okay, Leah." Liza said. "You hang out with mom and the guys. It won't take long to get Danny cleaned up and Lily can get herself ready for bed."
"I'm a big girl!" she said stretching out her arms to show everyone how big she is.
"Yes you are, honey." Liza said. "Say good night to everyone."
"Good night, everyone!" she hollered. "Good night, Uncle Zoot and Aunt Leah."
Leah, Liza, and Zoot were surprised she said Aunt Leah. Liza took the kids to the bathroom so she could get them cleaned up for bed.
Andrew got out the deck of cards and drinks for everyone. Martha took the cards and dealt them.
"So, Leah." she said. "How did you run into my handsome son?" Both Zoot and Leah blushed.
"Well, it's a funny story actually." Leah started to say. "I was serving a table their food,"
"Spaghetti actually." Zoot piped up.
"I tripped and spilled spaghetti all over Zoot but he didn't mind." Martha laughed.
"That is a funny way to meet someone. Zephyr was always easy going." she told Leah. "He was a very quiet kid."
"Really?" Leah asked.
"Oh yes. He stayed in his room most of the time and played that saxophone of his. His dad never liked it. He wanted him to become a doctor. You know, make something of himself."
"Where is he now?"
"We divorced, dear. I don't know where he's at now and don't care to know." Martha turned to Andrew and said, "I'll never know why you named my grandson after him." Liza walked into the dining room.
"I named him after dad because he's our dad, mom. Now please drop it." she said irritably. "Leah, Lily wants you to read her a story. She kept telling me she wants you to read to her."
"I don't mind." she said, getting up from the table. "Go ahead and play without me." She kissed Zoot and went to Lily's room. She was laying in bed, cuddling her teddy bear and had a book already picked out.
"Can you read this to me, Aunt Leah?" she asked. Leah smiled, picturing herself reading to her own child while rocking him or her to sleep.
"Okay, Lily." She looked at the book. It was a book about Kermit the frog.
"Kermit's my favorite but nobody tops my Uncle Zoot!"
"You know Zoot knows Kermit. They worked together." Leah told her.
"They did?"
"Uh huh but I'll let Zoot tell you that story." Leah said, grabbing the book. She opened it and started to read.
In the dining room, Liza, Zoot, Martha, and Andrew were talking about Leah.
"Son, you found yourself a nice lady." Martha said.
"You're not going to ask if she's Jewish, are you?" Zoot groaned. "She's not in case you do ask."
"Zephyr," Martha said. "I don't care about that anymore. I came to realize that religion doesn't matter as long as your significant other treats you good. Liza pointed that out to me a long time ago. She married a wonderful man."
"You did pick a good woman, Zeph and I'm happy for the both of you." Liza told him. "Why did you wait so long?"
"She was worth the wait."
"What about Janice?" Andrew asked him. "She was nice."
"She is a nice girl." Zoot said. "She just decided that Floyd was more her type of guy. That's all." Soon Leah walked back into the dining room.
"Liza, Lily is asleep."
"Thank you, Leah." Liza said. "I appreciate it." She sat down next to Zoot.
"Honey," Martha said. "I want to say that I'm really happy for you and Zephyr."
"Thank you." Leah said, blushing. "I never showed you the ring." She held out her hand and Martha's jaw dropped.
"That is a gorgeous ring! Zephyr sure knows how to pick them out. We should throw these two an engagement party."
"That's going to take awhile to plan isn't it?" Andrew asked.
"It will but it'll be worth it." Liza said.
"We haven't discussed wedding plans yet." Zoot told them.
"We can help with those too if you want us to."
(More to come . . .)
"We can always use suggestions." Zoot said, leaning back in his chair with his arm hanging over the back.
"Leah and I can go to the bridal shop and look around for dresses." Liza said excitedly. Martha looked at the clock. It was getting late.
"Goodness! I need to get home." Martha said. "I'll be by again tomorrow afternoon. It was lovely to meet you, Leah." They hugged. Martha said her goodbyes and left. Liza, Leah, and Andrew cleaned up while Zoot went to bed.
On his way to the guest bedroom, he heard Danny starting to wake up. Zoot walked in and picked up his crying nephew. He didn't have the baby smell he normally does. In fact, he smelled horrible! Zoot started to panic.
Oh man!" he said holding the crying infant away from him. He turned on the light so he could see better. "How does your mom deal with this?" Daniel's response was his screaming. "Ah, this must be where your mama changes you." he said as he spotted the changing table. Forgetting about his nasty diaper, Zoot put his hand on his bottom, supporting it. Danny let out a high pitched scream that could have shattered Zoot's ears. "Chill out, little man! Uncle Zoot has you." He laid his nephew down on the changing table. The smell was worse. Zoot stood arm's length as he took off the baby's pajamas.
Downstairs, Liza heard loud screaming coming from her son's room. Liza dropped what she was doing and hurried upstairs. She stopped at Daniel's door and giggled quietly. She tiptoed downstairs and motioned for Leah.
"Girl, you gotta see this. Zephyr is attempting to change Daniel."
"What's so funny about that?" Leah curiously asked.
"He has never changed a diaper in his life! This is just too funny. You gotta see!" Curious, Leah followed behind Liza. The girls watched from the doorway as Zoot had out the diaper and wipes. Danny's pajamas were wet and smelled really bad so he threw them into the clothes bin. Danny kept kicking as Zoot opened the diaper. It was as if Daniel was trying to kick it off.
"Oh, man!" He wanted to stand back even further but he was already at arms length. He cleaned up the baby, and opened the new diaper. The ladies giggled as they watched Zoot's reactions to Danny's stinky diaper. Zoot powdered Danny's behind as the baby played with his toes, cooing happily. Zoot closely examined the clean diaper, trying to figure out how it's supposed to go on him. He slipped it under Daniel. "How does your mother do this, man?" he asked the baby. Danny just looked at him, cooed, and kicked his feet. He brought up the front of the diaper and undid the tab on the left. He secured it and did the same with the one on the right. Zoot examined the diaper. Danny kept cooing and kicking. He let out a happy squeal. As he kicked the diaper moved around loosely but Zoot thought it was tight enough to stay on. He picked up his nephew and the diaper slipped down his hips. Danny kicked and the diaper fell. Zoot frowned. "Kid, you gotta stop kicking or that thing won't stay on." Suddenly his shirt felt wet. Danny laughed. He looked down and saw the big wet spot on his shirt. "Aw, man!" Liza started laughing out loud and Zoot turned around. Leah was laughing right along with her future sister in law.
"Nice try, big brother." she said.
"Zeph, you did fine but you put his diaper on too loose." Liza told him as she took her son from him. "Let me show you." She laid him back down and quickly put the diaper on him, explaining how to do it. "If you can fit two fingers into the front, then it's tight enough. You don't need it so loose that it rubs against him as he's kicking. It can irritate his skin." Leah wrapped her arms around him and kissed him.
"At least you tried." she said, resting her chin on his shoulder.
"Babe, if we do have kids," Zoot said. "You can be the one to change them. I'm not touching another dirty diaper again." He shuddered as Leah grabbed his hand.
"Let's get ready for bed, honey." Leah said gently. The next few days were going to be busy for the family.
(Next the family reunion. So until tomorrow, Rock on!)
The next morning, everyone woke up early. Liza and Leah were going to have some girl time while Zoot and Andrew watched Daniel and Lily. Andrew got breakfast going and changed the baby. Zoot helped out by feeding him.
"So the wife tells me that you tried to change Danny." Andrew said with a laugh.
"It was a disaster." Zoot told him giving Daniel another spoonful of baby food. Daniel started fussing. "Chill out, Kid! I can't feed you that fast!"
"Yeah. You gotta be fast when you feed him. He can be a real porker. Have you and Leah talked about having kids?" Zoot shook his head.
"Subject hasn't come up." He shoved another spoonful of baby food into his nephew's mouth. Lily handed her uncle her brother's bottle. "What's this for?"
"He drinks out of it, silly." Lily said, giggling. "Uncle Zoot is silly!" Andrew served breakfast and sat down.
"Help yourself, bro." Zoot got up and served himself and the two guys ate in silence.
In the car, Liza and Leah were trying to decide what to do for the day.
"What was Zoot's childhood like?" Leah curiously asked. "He hardly talks about his past." Liza raised her eyebrow.
"Well, "she said, thinking. "he didn't have much of one. Our dad walked out on us when he was 15 or 16 years old leaving mom to take care of us. Zephyr was the man of the household."
"That's terrible!" Leah exclaimed.
"Well what do you do when you don't have many choices. Our mom worked 2 jobs to support us and on her nights off of work, he played his sax on the street corners to help out with bills. He always tried to get a gig at least 2 nights a week."
"Did he graduate?" Leah asked. Liza shook her head.
"No. He eventually dropped out. His grades were suffering and it was too much for him to go to school and take on the role of dad. Mom doesn't like to talk about it."
"Wow." Leah said. "He could have gone places with the way he plays the sax."
"You're telling me." Liza agreed. She pulled into the mall's parking lot. "There's a bridal shop here. Do you want to look around?" Leah nodded. They entered the bridal shop. Leah gasped.
"These dresses are just gorgeous!" she exclaimed.
Back at the house, Zoot got out his sax.
"Can I hold it?" Lily asked.
"It's kinda heavy." he told her. Daniel was on the floor on a blanket watching his uncle polish his instrument.
"Lily, leave your uncle alone." Andrew shouted.
"Can I? Please?" Lily pleaded.
"Lily, this thing is bigger than you are." Zoot told her. "I really don't think you should."
"Lily Marie!" Andrew boomed. She looked at her father and he pointed to her room and said, "Go play!" She obediently went to her room. Daniel stared at the shiny sax. He struggled to get up on his hands and knees. (Yes, he was at that age.)
"Mmmmmm!" he said and cooed. He was trying to figure out how to crawl and he really wanted that sax! He scooted across the floor. Zoot was too busy polishing to notice. He grabbed the bell of the instrument and pulled himself up. Daniel started tapping it and squealed with delight.
"When is the reunion?" Zoot asked.
"Tomorrow." Andrew answered. "Everyone will be there. Liza asked me to start making the dishes. We are all supposed to bring something."
"Leah and I don't have anything to bring."
"Don't worry about it." Daniel lost his balance and fell down. SPLAT! Suddenly the men started sniffing.
"Something smells disgusting." Zoot said, looking around. Daniel got back up. His diaper was smashed. "I think it's the kid."
Andrew scooped up the baby and checked him. "I'll be right back." Zoot sat back on the couch and started playing.
Now Leah and Liza were at the grocery store getting food to make for the reunion.
"Our family is going to love you." she told her. "Just watch out for Ben."
"Why?"
"He always tried to steal Zeph's crushes. You know about the one that lived a few houses away from us."
"Oh don't worry." Leah said. "I've handled men like him. I found the one I'm going to marry."
(Family reunion coming up tonight! Stay tuned and Rock on!)
The next morning, everyone woke up early to get ready for the family reunion. It was a big day. Zoot hadn't seen his cousins, aunts and uncles in a long time and Leah was a bit nervous. Liza got Daniel out of his crib and fed. Soon after he needed changed.
"Zeph, can you please change Daniel for me?" she asked as she handed the baby off to her older brother. "I have to get the food into the van."
"Uh I guess." Zoot said. "Come on, little guy." Daniel grabbed for Zoot's shades but he took his hand away. "No, Daniel. These are your uncle Zoot's." Once again, Zoot laid the baby down and unfastened his diaper. He held his breath and opened it. "Oh good." he said. "You're just wet." He got out a clean diaper and once again he put it on a bit too loose. It slipped a little off his hips. "It's good enough. Now to get you back to your mom." Zoot put his shorts back on him and carried him downstairs.
"Just put him into his car seat." Liza called. "It's in the van." Lily was sitting in the van waiting patiently for the others. Zoot buckled Daniel in while Leah and Liza secured everything as Andrew brought out the last dish. They were ready to leave.
An hour later, they arrived at the park the family reunion was taking place at. All of Zoot's relatives were there. They were sharing stories, hugging each other, talking, laughing, and having a good time. Ben was standing in the shelter talking to his cousin as he saw Liza's van pull up. Her family got out and Andrew got out the food.
"Hey, little sis!" Ben shouted and gave Liza a bear hug.
"Hi, Ben." Liza said. "Guess who we have." Zoot and Leah walked around the van hand in hand.
"Zephyr!" Ben said. "It's been too long! Who is this beautiful lady you have with you?" Leah blushed.
"Hey, man." Zoot said. "Don't get any ideas about this one. We're engaged and her name is Leah." Ben stuck his hand out to shake hers.
"Nice to meet you, Leah. I'm Ben. Your other half's younger brother."
"It's nice to meet you." Leah said. Ben didn't seem so bad.
"So what are you up to, Saxman?" Ben asked. "You decide to move back into the old neighborhood?"
"We're just visiting for 2 weeks." Zoot told him.
"So you're still with The Electric Mayhem." Ben guessed.
"Why wouldn't I be?" Zoot asked in a defensive tone. Ben laughed.
"Hey, no need to get on the defensive side." he said. "You're a very talented guy. You know how to make that sax talk. I figured you would be famous by now. Well, talk with you later, bro." Ben walked away. Jo, Zoot's baby brother, was talking to Liza and Andrew. Jo was shorter than Zoot but had more hair. He was an awkward guy when it came to talking to girls. Which explains why he doesn't have a girlfriend. Every time he tried to ask a girl out that he liked, he would get very nervous and wet himself. Zoot and Leah walked over to them.
"Hey, Jo. How's it going, man?"
"Zephyr!" Jo shouted and threw his arms around his older brother. "I'm doing good. How are things?"
"It's all good, man. I'm engaged to be married." Zoot turned to Leah. "This is my main squeeze Leah." Suddenly, Jo got very nervous.
"H - hi, L - Leah." he said nervously. He suddenly crossed his legs. Oh no! Not here, not now! he thought. "I gotta go!" He dashed to the bathroom as fast as he could run.
"Well hello to you too." Leah called to him as he ran off. She turned to Liza and Zoot. "What's with him?"
"Don't take it personally." Liza told her.
"He gets that way around beautiful girls." Zoot told her. "He's an awkward guy."
"Oh I see." Suddenly a tall man dressed like a cowboy walked over.
"Zephyr?" a deep voice said. Zoot jumped.
"Wha-?" he started to say.
"You don't remember me?" Zoot shook his head.
"I'm your cousin Juruso!" the tall guy said. "We used to hang out alot when we were kids." Zoot searched his memory. That was years ago! "Who is this lovely lady?"
"I'm Leah."
"Hi, Leah. That's a beautiful name." My oldest daughter's name is Leah but we call her Lee for short."
"Oh, Juruso!" Zoot said. "Now I remember! My memory is fuzzy from those days."
"Oh it's okay." Juruso laughed. "We have a lot of catching up to do." He and Zoot went off together to talk for awhile. Leah sat down and helped herself to some food and a glass of pop. She watched Lily play with the other kids on the swing set. She started daydreaming about the day she and Zoot have their first child.
"Hey." Ben said making Leah snap back into reality.
"Hey." she said.
"Isn't it kind of rude of Zoot to just walk away from you like that?"
"He's a big boy, Ben and he hasn't seen his family in a long time. I don't need to be by his side all the time."
"You wanna get to know me?" he said smiling. Leah looked at him in disgust.
"Benjamin Simms! You don't talk to her like that!" someone yelled. It was Liza. "She's going to be your sister in law! Grow up and stop hitting on her." She shooed him away. "Leave her alone." Liza sat down. "Are you okay?"
"I just feel a bit out of place." she told her. "I'm just bored." Suddenly Lily ran up to Leah in tears.
"Aunt Leah! Aunt Leah!" she cried. "I scraped my knee!" Leah looked at Lily's boo boo.
"Is there a first aid kit?" she asked Liza.
"In the van. We never leave home without it." Liza told her. "Lily knows where it's at."
"Come on, sweetie." Leah said taking the sobbing Lily to the van. "Aunt Leah will fix it."
"Kay." Lily said wiping her tears. Andrew was standing in the back of the van. He was changing Daniel.
"She scraped her knee, Andy." Leah explained. Andrew gave her the cream and band-aids.
"Never leave home without them." He smiled. She bandaged up Lily's knee.
"Can you kiss it to make it better? It still hurts." Lily asked, standing on one leg.
"Sure, sweetie." Leah kissed it. Lily smiled and walked to the tables to eat.
"Leah," Zoot said. He was watching her the whole time. "You're going to make a groovy mom." Leah smiled. That evening, everyone said their goodbyes, exchanged numbers and emails and left for home. Both Leah and Zoot had an awesome time.
(More to come tomorrow! Rock on!)
Twisted Tails
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FANTASTIC! FANTASTIC! MORE! MORE!
EDIT - I absolutely love this chapter. Leah should visit Leah's story. Animal must of been trying to eat my keyboard, instead BIG words while I was asleep for too lon. Hopefully, Floyd found him before he made too many BIG words. (sighs)
EDIT - I absolutely love this chapter. Leah should visit Leah's story. Animal must of been trying to eat my keyboard, instead BIG words while I was asleep for too lon. Hopefully, Floyd found him before he made too many BIG words. (sighs)
Twisted Tails
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I am a huge fan of fanfics. The first I read them, I was like, "Eh, they could of been better." I was so wrong and every single fanfic writer has a different style to it. I am also sure they are much better at Muppet Central than what I read at Fanfiction. Ha! I cannot wait for more chapters.
Misskermie
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*bows down to Zoot Fan*
I am not worthy.
I am not worthy.
Zoot Fan 1981
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You are worthy! You did good starting this story*bows down to Zoot Fan*
I am not worthy.
I'm glad you all are enjoying what I've written.
Zoot Fan 1981
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Chapter 8: The last week at Liza's
Very early, while everyone was asleep, Lily decided to sneak into the guest room. She was determined to borrow her uncle Zoot's saxophone. For a 4 year old little girl, she was very bright. She thought that if her uncle Zoot was musically gifted, maybe she is too. She cuddled her teddy bear and told him, "My Uncle Zoot is a natural sax player. I think I am too." She put her bear down on her bed and found a sheet. "I can use this to drag Uncle Zoot's sax into my room in case I can't carry it." she told herself. She placed a pillow on top of the sheet and quietly carried them to Leah and Zoot's room. The door was slightly open. She could see the sun start to peek through the window. Leah was on her side holding Zoot. He was on his back with one hand behind his balding head and his other arm hanging over the mattress. His foot was hanging off the bed too. She opened the door just enough to slip into the room. The door creaked. She held her breath and looked at her uncle. He hadn't moved. He just groaned softly. In the corner was his shiny sax. It looked inviting to her. Again she looked up at her sleeping uncle. The bed looked very tall to her. Zoot smacked his lips. She thought, good he's still sleeping. The room was slowly getting brighter with each passing minute. She very quietly walked over to the shiny brass instrument and tried to pick it up. It was too heavy for her to lift. She had to act fast. She laid her sheet and pillow on the floor in front of the instrument, looked at Zoot and Leah one more time to make sure they were sleeping. Nobody moved or made a sound. She pushed her uncle's instrument on the pillow. It made a soft thud when it landed on her pillow. A smile came across her face. She couldn't wait to show everyone her talent just like her uncle's! Lily quickly gathered the corners of the sheet, wrapping up her uncle's shiny prized possession so it doesn't get scratched or banged up on her way back into her room. She quietly opened the door even wider so she could fit the sheet and instrument through it. Soon she was in her bedroom again and just in time. Daniel woke up and started crying waking up Zoot.
"Wha-?" Zoot stammered as he woke up. He sat up and smacked his lips. He heard his nephew crying. Daniel's diaper probably needs changing. he thought. He walked in and Daniel was standing up. He saw his uncle and held his arms out.
"Yeah yeah, kid." Zoot said. "Let's get this over with." Of course, Zoot wasn't all the way awake yet but he made a good attempt to change him. Zoot laid him on the changing table and took off the diaper. Daniel kicked him. He cleaned him up and powdered him then put on the clean diaper. "How tight is this thing supposed to be?" he asked Daniel. Of course the baby responded by cooing. "Man, I wish you could talk." He fastened the diaper but it was too loose. He tightened it a little bit. Still too loose. He tightened it a little more. Not as loose. Zoot picked him up and it slipped just a little bit. "Much better than the first time, huh little guy." Zoot placed his nephew back into his crib and went back into his bedroom. Daniel rolled over and got up on his hands and knees.
Back in the bedroom, Zoot laid back down and fell asleep. He didn't notice the sax wasn't in the corner of the room where he left it. In her bedroom, Lily grunted as she pulled the heavy sax onto her bed.
"How does he carry it?" she wondered. "It's heavy." She gave up putting it on her bed. She decided to sit in her chair and hold it that way. She leaned the sax on the side of her bed and pulled up her chair. She examined the instrument closely, studying the keys. "Uncle Zoot blows in this piece," she told her bear. "and he pushes these things as he blows into the black thing with the wooden thingy." Her fingers were just long enough to reach the keys. She pressed them like Zoot does as he plays. That was easy. "I know I can play this." Lily insisted."If my uncle can, I can too." She blew into the mouthpiece and out came a loud sound. It made her jump. She listened. No sounds of anyone moving around outside her door. She smiled. "I'm gonna be just like my uncle Zoot!" She blew into the mouthpiece and held down a key. It played a different note. She pushed the keys individually on the instrument to hear the notes it plays.
In their room, Liza was awakened by her daughter's sax playing. At first she thought nothing of it. She shook her husband.
"It's probably Zoot just messing around." Andy told her. "Go back to sleep."
"That isn't my brother." Liza said. "Besides he wouldn't be playing it at 3:30 in the morning." The noise stopped. Liza dozed off.
Lily was getting frustrated. As she blew and held down the keys, the woodwind squeaked. Her little hands weren't strong enough to hold the keys down firmly. "Uncle Zoot doesn't squeak when he plays." she said to herself. She decided to give it her best effort anyway in spite of the squeaks. Sometimes the notes came out clean, others squeaked. She decided to try Body and Soul, one of her favorite clips from the Muppet show. As she played, the notes were squeaky and it was way off key but she was so proud of herself. She was into playing her uncle's sax that she didn't notice that her mom had woken up.
"I'm going to see what's going on." Liza told her husband. He responded by snoring. She kicked off her blankets and walked down the hall, bumping into her brother.
"Have you seen my sax?" he asked her. "I noticed it's missing."
"No but I think I have a good idea of who does." she said. The two walked down the hallway toward Lily's room. The sounds and squeaks got louder as they approached her bedroom door. Liza put her finger up to her lips and quietly opened her daughter's bedroom door. The little girl didn't realize her mom and uncle standing at the door. Both of them furious with her for taking her uncle's saxophone.
"LIZA MARIE LOEFFELHOLZ!" Liza yelled. Lily jumped and looked at where the voice came from. Zoot had his arms crossed and Liza had her hands on her hips. Lily knew she was in for it. She dropped the sax in alarm but it was too late. Zoot and Liza saw she had it. "What are you doing with Uncle Zephyr's saxophone?" Her little heart started pounding hard.
"I'm sorry, mama." she said, looking at the floor. "I wanted to be like Uncle Zoot and play the sax." She looked at him. "It's harder than it looks." Zoot's expression softened as he walked over to his sax and picked it up off the floor. He examined it for scratches and dents.
"How did you get it out of my bedroom? It's very heavy."
"I used a pillow and sheet." Lily explained. "Please don't be mad at me." She started to cry. "I didn't mean to cause any trouble." Liza knelt on the floor and hugged her daughter.
"You're still going to get a time out in the corner." she told her daughter. "You know better than to mess with Uncle Zephyr's things." she turned to her brother. "How's the sax looking?"
"No harm done." he said, putting the strap on. "She looks good. No dents, nicks, or scratches." He knelt by his niece. "You want to learn how to play?"
She wiped her nose and tear stricken face and nodded. "I'll tell you what, Lily. Me and Aunt Leah will take you to the music shop tomorrow and you can pick out a sax if it's okay with your mama."
"Can I, mama?" Lily asked her mom excitedly.
"Yeah you can." At least she will leave her uncle's sax alone. After her 4 minute time out, Lily was made to get back to sleep. Daniel was standing in his crib with his diaper slowly slipping off with every bounce he was making. "Well hello, baby!" Liza said cheerfully to the bouncing baby. He grinned and drool oozed from his mouth. "I see uncle Zoot changed your diaper."
"Yeah, I did." Zoot said. "He just won't stop moving while I put it on him."
"You just work around it." Liza said. "He does get pretty squirmy sometimes." She picked him up. The diaper slipped some more. "He's a kicker. Always has been." She tightened it. Zoot yawned and followed his sister downstairs.
(more to come either tomorrow or Monday)
Liza plunked her son in his highchair while Zoot sat down on the couch with his sax in hand. He leaned back on the arm and started to jam. Soon, Lily woke up and got dressed. Zoot didn't notice his niece standing beside him watching him.
"Uncle Zeph?" she said. He didn't hear her. "Uncle ZEPH??" He still didn't pay any attention. "UNCLE ZEPH!!" she screamed.
"Whoa!" Zoot exclaimed as he fell off the couch. "Geez, man. Do you have to be so loud?"
"I wanted to tell you how sorry I am for taking your saxophone without your permission." Lily told him.
"No harm done, kiddo." he said, scruffing her hair. "Just don't take anything without asking." She hugged her uncle and he hugged her back. Soon Leah came downstairs. Zoot started playing his sax again.
"Hey, Leah!" Liza said. "Did you sleep well?"
"Yeah I did. I slept like a log." she said. "I heard some noises last night but I didn't wake up. I didn't think anything of it."
"It was my daughter. She wanted to play Zephyr's sax." Liza told her. Zoot stopped playing and lowered his sax.
"By the way, babe." he said. "I told the little one that you and I are going to take her to the store to buy her own sax today."
"Oh okay." Leah said. She was happy to be able to spend some quality time with her soon to be niece. "Oh now that I'm thinking of it, I want to ask you something, Liza."
"What's that?" Liza replied as she gave Daniel the last spoonful of baby food into his mouth. Daniel was grunting. Zoot decided to get a glass of water so he walked into the kitchen and grabbed a glass.
"Will you be part of the wedding party?" Leah asked. Zoot looked at Daniel funny.
"Why is he grunting?" he asked. Liza chuckled then turned her attention to Leah.
"Of course I'll be part of the wedding party, Leah!" Liza said, hugging her. Leah hugged her back. "I wouldn't miss my brother's special day for the world!"
"Oh good. Now onto my next question." Leah continued. "How would Lily like to be flower girl?"
"I WANNA BE THE FLOWER GIRL! I WANNA BE A FLOWER GIRL!!" Lily shouted in excitement. It was settled. They have Liza and Lily in the wedding party. Zoot leaned toward his grunting nephew.
"What are you doing, little man?" Then he got a good whiff. "Oh, geez! Liza! The kid needs a new diaper and I'm NOT doing it." Liza picked up the baby. He seemed to want his uncle. He reached towards him with outstretched arms. Zoot backed away. "I'll hold you once you're clean. Uncle Zoot ain't changing you this time." Daniel started to scream bloody murder as Zoot disappeared out of his sight. A few minutes later he was changed.
"Really, Zeph?" Liza said. "You're still scared of changing diapers?"
"I'm not scared of it." Zoot said, taking his nephew from Liza. "I just don't like it. He's very squirmy."
"I don't like doing it either but it needs to be done." Liza told him. Daniel started cooing happily.
At the music store, Lily was fascinated with all the shiny brass instruments but her favorite was of course the sax. They looked at all of them and were trying to find a sax that she can play. They looked around the whole store. Soon they heard beautiful piano music coming from the piano and keyboard sections. Leah and Liza saw Rowlf playing a baby grand piano with a chihuahua sitting next to him, listening. The chihuahua was a female. She was brown with a white muzzle and had beauty marks on her cheeks. She had on a pink dress. Leah peeked around the corner.
"Rowlf?" she said. Startled, Rowlf stopped playing and looked around. He didn't see anyone so he shrugged and started to play again. "Ol' Brown Ears!" Rowlf saw Leah this time.
"Hey, Leah!" he said. "How are things?"
"Groovy!" Leah replied. "Zoot and I are engaged. He's here in the store with us."
"Oh is he looking for a new sax?"
"Not for himself. For his niece." Zoot spotted his old furry friend.
"Hey, ol' brown ears!" he said. He and Lily walked over to him together.
"Who's this?" Lily asked Zoot. He smiled.
"This is my old friend Rowlf. We played together in The Muppet Show sometimes."
"Yup. Sure did." Rowlf said. "You want to play a number? For old times sake." Zoot had his sax strapped to him.
"Got her right here." Zoot said. "Who is the girl with you?"
"Oh this is my girlfriend Yasmin." Rowlf said.
"Nice to meet you." Yasmin said quietly.
"What do you want to play?" Rowlf asked as he positioned his hands on the piano keys.
"How about Theme from love story?" Leah suggested.
"Ready when you are." Zoot said. Zoot nodded at Rowlf and they started playing the song. When they were done, Lily clapped and Daniel cooed with excitement.
"Can you play another one?" Lily asked.
"Sure!" Rowlf said. They got into playing position once again and played Body and Soul. After the little jam session, Rowlf and Zoot exchanged addresses and phone numbers. Rowlf even gave Lily and autographed picture and Rowlf showed them where the child size saxes were and Lily picked out her saxophone. She couldn't believe it. Her own saxophone.
"My very own saxophone!" she said excitedly as they walked out the store. "I have my very own saxophone and I got to meet Rowlf!" She couldn't wait for Zoot to give her her first lessons.
That evening, Lily had her brand new sax in hand and was watching Zoot play.
"Uncle Zoot?" she tugged on his shirt to get his attention. "Will you teach me how to play?"
"I've never taught anyone how to play a sax before." he said. "I guess I can." The lesson took an hour. He showed her the parts and taught her the notes and how to read them. She asked millions of questions. Some of which he didn't know how to answer. After everyone else went to bed, Zoot and Leah were along in their room.
"I have to ask you, Zoot." Leah said.
"Ask me anything." Zoot said, sitting on the bed.
"Why did you say at one time you didn't want to get married?" Zoot bit his lip. He figured this question would come up sooner or later. "The truth."
"I had my reasons. Some of it had to do with my childhood."
"Liza told me about you dropping out to take on the role of dad." Leah told him. Zoot nodded.
"It wasn't easy with me being 15 years old." he told her. "I don't know why dad decided to take off the way he did."
"Is this the only reason?" Leah sensed there was something else behind it.
"I've always been afraid that I wouldn't make a good husband or a dad." he confessed. "Staying out of a serious relationship was easiest for me at the time. I didn't want to get serious - "
"because of what you went through as a child." Leah finished for him. He nodded.
"I don't want to be like my dad." he admitted. Leah took his hands in hers.
"You're not him, Zoot." she said. "You're a great boyfriend. I know you'll make a great husband and dad." Zoot felt a lot better. He pushed Leah's long blue bangs out of her face and lovingly put his hand on Leah's cheek and they both leaned in for a kiss. Their lips locked. He pulled her very close to him. They kept kissing and hugged tightly. Leah didn't want this moment to end. They fell back onto the bed. Zoot let her go and stared into her big beautiful eyes and smiled.
"I love you, Leah Simms." he said, trying out his last name with hers.
"I love you too, Zoot Simms." she responded. They held each other for a long time and fell asleep.
(More to come! Rock on! Soon Leah and Zoot will be leaving their hometown to return home. Where is the wedding going to take place? Is The Electric Mayhem, Zoot and Leah going to move close to Liza's house? So many questions! Keep reading for the answers.)
Early the next morning, Liza and Leah got up. The ladies went downstairs and put on a pot of coffee to help them wake up. While they were waiting on their coffee, they started talking.
"How do you like being in my brother's band?" Liza asked.
"It's interesting." Leah told her. "When I first met your brother, he seemed kind of shy."
"He was always pretty quiet. Never talked much when he was growing up." Liza said. "He stayed in his room most of the time jamming on his sax or listening to his jazz records."
Upstairs, Daniel woke up. He pulled himself up to get a better view of things. He was determined to climb out of his crib and that's just what he did. Daniel crawled down the hallway, making his way to his Uncle Zoot's bedroom. Zoot was still asleep. He laid on his back with his hat over his face and his arm was hanging off the side of the bed.
"Ba!" Daniel cooed and crawled into the bedroom. The door was wide open. Daniel crawled to the bed and pulled himself up, his full diaper was slipping down his hips a little bit. He lost his balance and landed with a splat. Daniel was determined to get to his uncle no matter what it took. He pulled himself back up on the side of the bed and tried to climb up.
"Buh!" he cooed. Zoot's arm was still hanging off the bed so he used his hand to help himself back up onto his feet. As Daniel struggled to climb up, his diaper slipped down a little more. He finally made it onto the bed. He crawled up by his uncle's head and took off Zoot's hat. He didn't even move because Zoot was in a deep sleep. Daniel curiously examined his uncle's hat. That wasn't fun to play with so he threw it over the edge of the bed. Daniel pushed Zoot a little bit, rocking him back and fourth. Zoot moaned and rested his arms on his stomach. Daniel, sitting in his nasty diaper, looked around then his uncles shiny shades caught his eye. He grabbed Zoot's glasses and looked at them. He loved how they sparkled. He laughed and waved them around. They stopped shining all of a sudden. They were no fun anymore so he threw them down onto Zoot's hat. He watched his uncle as he was sleeping for a little bit. He reached for the headboard to pull himself up. Zoot turned his head toward the baby. He cringed at the foul smell coming from his diaper.
"Floyd, take a shower, man!" he said in his sleep and changed positions resting his hand behind his partially bald head. As Daniel was jumping, he passed some gas which made him laugh and with each bounce, his dirty diaper was slipping down his hips even more. Zoot started to wake up. He couldn't figure out why he was bouncing all of a sudden. He looked up and saw his nephew bouncing up and down and laughing really hard.
"Geez, kid." Zoot said, getting out of bed and walking down the hallway. He bumped into Andy who was getting ready for work. "Take the kid. He needs changed." He handed him to his brother in law. Daniel started screaming as Andy took him into the bedroom to clean up his son. Zoot put on his hat and examined his sunglasses to make sure they weren't bent or broken. They were still in tact. "Oh good," Zoot said. "No damage." Then Zoot went downstairs.
"Hey, Liza." Zoot said. "Your kid woke me up. He escaped."
"What do you mean escaped?" Liza asked.
"He got out of his crib. He got onto our bed and started bouncing. It woke me up." Liza laughed. Andy walked in carrying Daniel in his arms all clean and fresh smelling. He reached toward Zoot who was laying on the couch about ready to doze off. Andrew set him on the floor and he crawled over to the couch. Daniel wanted his uncle and he wasn't going to let him sleep. Liza and Leah watched.
"Look at him." Leah said. "He's such a doll."
"He wants Zephyr. He isn't going to let him sleep." Liza said. He crawled up onto Zoot's chest and laid down. No sooner did he lay down, he fell asleep, sucking his thumb. Zoot just put his arm around his sleeping nephew. Soon after, he fell asleep too.
That afternoon, Liza and Leah took Lily shopping with them leaving Daniel alone with Zoot. There was a note left on the table for him. It said: We decided to take Lily shopping while you and Danny slept. His bottle and food is in the fridge. Have fun with the baby. Being careful not to move too much, he picked up the note and read it.
Daniel stirred and farted. He seemed to feel better as he relaxed. Zoot felt the vibration through the diaper. He checked him and heaved a sigh of relief. Just gas. He patted his nephew's back as he snuggled closer on his chest. Daniel was curled up into the fetal position. Zoot put a pacifier into Daniel's mouth. He started sucking. A funny feeling came over him. He wasn't sure what kind of feeling it is but he kind of liked it. He pulled slowly slid the baby up to his chin and nuzzled him. The baby stirred a little bit and opened his eyes. He started grunting. Zoot knew what was coming. He picked him up and held him. Daniel kept grunting until his diaper was filled. "Kid," Zoot said. "I really hate having to change your diapers." Daniel just smiled. Zoot quickly changed him and picked him up. To his surprise, the diaper stayed on! "Wow! I'm getting the hang of this, kiddo!" Daniel started to cry. He was hungry and Zoot just realized it. He put him into his high chair and fed him. He started thinking of the feeling he had. It was the feeling of fatherhood.
"Ya know, little man," he said to Daniel. "You might end up with a little cousin or two within the next year or two." Daniel cooed and clapped his hands.
"Hey, little sis." Zoot said. "What would you say if Leah and I decided to make you an aunt?" It was late evening. The kids were already down for the night. Liza raised her eyebrow.
"You?" she said. "Are you serious? Is Leah pregnant?"
"No!" Zoot exclaimed. "We haven't discussed having children yet."
"What made you change your mind about having kids?" Leah was reading a book, listening to the conversation between Zoot and his sister. She couldn't believe what Zoot was saying! Having kids!
"I would be happy for the both of you! I've been hoping someone would give me a niece or nephew to spoil. What made you change your mind about having kids?" Zoot shifted his feet.
"Daniel." Zoot told her. "I actually enjoyed taking care of the little man today." Leah walked up behind Zoot and wrapped her arms around him.
"I'd love to have children with you, honey." she said and kissed him.
"After we get married." Zoot said. Leah nodded in agreement.
"I can't believe it." Liza said. "First you get engaged and now you're talking about becoming a dad. I never thought the day would come that I would hear this come from my brother's mouth! When you took care of us you said you didn't want to be tied down with any kids."
"Can't a guy change his mind about things?" Zoot asked. Liza just laughed and Leah held him tighter.
(Chapter 9 coming soon! Rock on!)
Very early, while everyone was asleep, Lily decided to sneak into the guest room. She was determined to borrow her uncle Zoot's saxophone. For a 4 year old little girl, she was very bright. She thought that if her uncle Zoot was musically gifted, maybe she is too. She cuddled her teddy bear and told him, "My Uncle Zoot is a natural sax player. I think I am too." She put her bear down on her bed and found a sheet. "I can use this to drag Uncle Zoot's sax into my room in case I can't carry it." she told herself. She placed a pillow on top of the sheet and quietly carried them to Leah and Zoot's room. The door was slightly open. She could see the sun start to peek through the window. Leah was on her side holding Zoot. He was on his back with one hand behind his balding head and his other arm hanging over the mattress. His foot was hanging off the bed too. She opened the door just enough to slip into the room. The door creaked. She held her breath and looked at her uncle. He hadn't moved. He just groaned softly. In the corner was his shiny sax. It looked inviting to her. Again she looked up at her sleeping uncle. The bed looked very tall to her. Zoot smacked his lips. She thought, good he's still sleeping. The room was slowly getting brighter with each passing minute. She very quietly walked over to the shiny brass instrument and tried to pick it up. It was too heavy for her to lift. She had to act fast. She laid her sheet and pillow on the floor in front of the instrument, looked at Zoot and Leah one more time to make sure they were sleeping. Nobody moved or made a sound. She pushed her uncle's instrument on the pillow. It made a soft thud when it landed on her pillow. A smile came across her face. She couldn't wait to show everyone her talent just like her uncle's! Lily quickly gathered the corners of the sheet, wrapping up her uncle's shiny prized possession so it doesn't get scratched or banged up on her way back into her room. She quietly opened the door even wider so she could fit the sheet and instrument through it. Soon she was in her bedroom again and just in time. Daniel woke up and started crying waking up Zoot.
"Wha-?" Zoot stammered as he woke up. He sat up and smacked his lips. He heard his nephew crying. Daniel's diaper probably needs changing. he thought. He walked in and Daniel was standing up. He saw his uncle and held his arms out.
"Yeah yeah, kid." Zoot said. "Let's get this over with." Of course, Zoot wasn't all the way awake yet but he made a good attempt to change him. Zoot laid him on the changing table and took off the diaper. Daniel kicked him. He cleaned him up and powdered him then put on the clean diaper. "How tight is this thing supposed to be?" he asked Daniel. Of course the baby responded by cooing. "Man, I wish you could talk." He fastened the diaper but it was too loose. He tightened it a little bit. Still too loose. He tightened it a little more. Not as loose. Zoot picked him up and it slipped just a little bit. "Much better than the first time, huh little guy." Zoot placed his nephew back into his crib and went back into his bedroom. Daniel rolled over and got up on his hands and knees.
Back in the bedroom, Zoot laid back down and fell asleep. He didn't notice the sax wasn't in the corner of the room where he left it. In her bedroom, Lily grunted as she pulled the heavy sax onto her bed.
"How does he carry it?" she wondered. "It's heavy." She gave up putting it on her bed. She decided to sit in her chair and hold it that way. She leaned the sax on the side of her bed and pulled up her chair. She examined the instrument closely, studying the keys. "Uncle Zoot blows in this piece," she told her bear. "and he pushes these things as he blows into the black thing with the wooden thingy." Her fingers were just long enough to reach the keys. She pressed them like Zoot does as he plays. That was easy. "I know I can play this." Lily insisted."If my uncle can, I can too." She blew into the mouthpiece and out came a loud sound. It made her jump. She listened. No sounds of anyone moving around outside her door. She smiled. "I'm gonna be just like my uncle Zoot!" She blew into the mouthpiece and held down a key. It played a different note. She pushed the keys individually on the instrument to hear the notes it plays.
In their room, Liza was awakened by her daughter's sax playing. At first she thought nothing of it. She shook her husband.
"It's probably Zoot just messing around." Andy told her. "Go back to sleep."
"That isn't my brother." Liza said. "Besides he wouldn't be playing it at 3:30 in the morning." The noise stopped. Liza dozed off.
Lily was getting frustrated. As she blew and held down the keys, the woodwind squeaked. Her little hands weren't strong enough to hold the keys down firmly. "Uncle Zoot doesn't squeak when he plays." she said to herself. She decided to give it her best effort anyway in spite of the squeaks. Sometimes the notes came out clean, others squeaked. She decided to try Body and Soul, one of her favorite clips from the Muppet show. As she played, the notes were squeaky and it was way off key but she was so proud of herself. She was into playing her uncle's sax that she didn't notice that her mom had woken up.
"I'm going to see what's going on." Liza told her husband. He responded by snoring. She kicked off her blankets and walked down the hall, bumping into her brother.
"Have you seen my sax?" he asked her. "I noticed it's missing."
"No but I think I have a good idea of who does." she said. The two walked down the hallway toward Lily's room. The sounds and squeaks got louder as they approached her bedroom door. Liza put her finger up to her lips and quietly opened her daughter's bedroom door. The little girl didn't realize her mom and uncle standing at the door. Both of them furious with her for taking her uncle's saxophone.
"LIZA MARIE LOEFFELHOLZ!" Liza yelled. Lily jumped and looked at where the voice came from. Zoot had his arms crossed and Liza had her hands on her hips. Lily knew she was in for it. She dropped the sax in alarm but it was too late. Zoot and Liza saw she had it. "What are you doing with Uncle Zephyr's saxophone?" Her little heart started pounding hard.
"I'm sorry, mama." she said, looking at the floor. "I wanted to be like Uncle Zoot and play the sax." She looked at him. "It's harder than it looks." Zoot's expression softened as he walked over to his sax and picked it up off the floor. He examined it for scratches and dents.
"How did you get it out of my bedroom? It's very heavy."
"I used a pillow and sheet." Lily explained. "Please don't be mad at me." She started to cry. "I didn't mean to cause any trouble." Liza knelt on the floor and hugged her daughter.
"You're still going to get a time out in the corner." she told her daughter. "You know better than to mess with Uncle Zephyr's things." she turned to her brother. "How's the sax looking?"
"No harm done." he said, putting the strap on. "She looks good. No dents, nicks, or scratches." He knelt by his niece. "You want to learn how to play?"
She wiped her nose and tear stricken face and nodded. "I'll tell you what, Lily. Me and Aunt Leah will take you to the music shop tomorrow and you can pick out a sax if it's okay with your mama."
"Can I, mama?" Lily asked her mom excitedly.
"Yeah you can." At least she will leave her uncle's sax alone. After her 4 minute time out, Lily was made to get back to sleep. Daniel was standing in his crib with his diaper slowly slipping off with every bounce he was making. "Well hello, baby!" Liza said cheerfully to the bouncing baby. He grinned and drool oozed from his mouth. "I see uncle Zoot changed your diaper."
"Yeah, I did." Zoot said. "He just won't stop moving while I put it on him."
"You just work around it." Liza said. "He does get pretty squirmy sometimes." She picked him up. The diaper slipped some more. "He's a kicker. Always has been." She tightened it. Zoot yawned and followed his sister downstairs.
(more to come either tomorrow or Monday)
Liza plunked her son in his highchair while Zoot sat down on the couch with his sax in hand. He leaned back on the arm and started to jam. Soon, Lily woke up and got dressed. Zoot didn't notice his niece standing beside him watching him.
"Uncle Zeph?" she said. He didn't hear her. "Uncle ZEPH??" He still didn't pay any attention. "UNCLE ZEPH!!" she screamed.
"Whoa!" Zoot exclaimed as he fell off the couch. "Geez, man. Do you have to be so loud?"
"I wanted to tell you how sorry I am for taking your saxophone without your permission." Lily told him.
"No harm done, kiddo." he said, scruffing her hair. "Just don't take anything without asking." She hugged her uncle and he hugged her back. Soon Leah came downstairs. Zoot started playing his sax again.
"Hey, Leah!" Liza said. "Did you sleep well?"
"Yeah I did. I slept like a log." she said. "I heard some noises last night but I didn't wake up. I didn't think anything of it."
"It was my daughter. She wanted to play Zephyr's sax." Liza told her. Zoot stopped playing and lowered his sax.
"By the way, babe." he said. "I told the little one that you and I are going to take her to the store to buy her own sax today."
"Oh okay." Leah said. She was happy to be able to spend some quality time with her soon to be niece. "Oh now that I'm thinking of it, I want to ask you something, Liza."
"What's that?" Liza replied as she gave Daniel the last spoonful of baby food into his mouth. Daniel was grunting. Zoot decided to get a glass of water so he walked into the kitchen and grabbed a glass.
"Will you be part of the wedding party?" Leah asked. Zoot looked at Daniel funny.
"Why is he grunting?" he asked. Liza chuckled then turned her attention to Leah.
"Of course I'll be part of the wedding party, Leah!" Liza said, hugging her. Leah hugged her back. "I wouldn't miss my brother's special day for the world!"
"Oh good. Now onto my next question." Leah continued. "How would Lily like to be flower girl?"
"I WANNA BE THE FLOWER GIRL! I WANNA BE A FLOWER GIRL!!" Lily shouted in excitement. It was settled. They have Liza and Lily in the wedding party. Zoot leaned toward his grunting nephew.
"What are you doing, little man?" Then he got a good whiff. "Oh, geez! Liza! The kid needs a new diaper and I'm NOT doing it." Liza picked up the baby. He seemed to want his uncle. He reached towards him with outstretched arms. Zoot backed away. "I'll hold you once you're clean. Uncle Zoot ain't changing you this time." Daniel started to scream bloody murder as Zoot disappeared out of his sight. A few minutes later he was changed.
"Really, Zeph?" Liza said. "You're still scared of changing diapers?"
"I'm not scared of it." Zoot said, taking his nephew from Liza. "I just don't like it. He's very squirmy."
"I don't like doing it either but it needs to be done." Liza told him. Daniel started cooing happily.
At the music store, Lily was fascinated with all the shiny brass instruments but her favorite was of course the sax. They looked at all of them and were trying to find a sax that she can play. They looked around the whole store. Soon they heard beautiful piano music coming from the piano and keyboard sections. Leah and Liza saw Rowlf playing a baby grand piano with a chihuahua sitting next to him, listening. The chihuahua was a female. She was brown with a white muzzle and had beauty marks on her cheeks. She had on a pink dress. Leah peeked around the corner.
"Rowlf?" she said. Startled, Rowlf stopped playing and looked around. He didn't see anyone so he shrugged and started to play again. "Ol' Brown Ears!" Rowlf saw Leah this time.
"Hey, Leah!" he said. "How are things?"
"Groovy!" Leah replied. "Zoot and I are engaged. He's here in the store with us."
"Oh is he looking for a new sax?"
"Not for himself. For his niece." Zoot spotted his old furry friend.
"Hey, ol' brown ears!" he said. He and Lily walked over to him together.
"Who's this?" Lily asked Zoot. He smiled.
"This is my old friend Rowlf. We played together in The Muppet Show sometimes."
"Yup. Sure did." Rowlf said. "You want to play a number? For old times sake." Zoot had his sax strapped to him.
"Got her right here." Zoot said. "Who is the girl with you?"
"Oh this is my girlfriend Yasmin." Rowlf said.
"Nice to meet you." Yasmin said quietly.
"What do you want to play?" Rowlf asked as he positioned his hands on the piano keys.
"How about Theme from love story?" Leah suggested.
"Ready when you are." Zoot said. Zoot nodded at Rowlf and they started playing the song. When they were done, Lily clapped and Daniel cooed with excitement.
"Can you play another one?" Lily asked.
"Sure!" Rowlf said. They got into playing position once again and played Body and Soul. After the little jam session, Rowlf and Zoot exchanged addresses and phone numbers. Rowlf even gave Lily and autographed picture and Rowlf showed them where the child size saxes were and Lily picked out her saxophone. She couldn't believe it. Her own saxophone.
"My very own saxophone!" she said excitedly as they walked out the store. "I have my very own saxophone and I got to meet Rowlf!" She couldn't wait for Zoot to give her her first lessons.
That evening, Lily had her brand new sax in hand and was watching Zoot play.
"Uncle Zoot?" she tugged on his shirt to get his attention. "Will you teach me how to play?"
"I've never taught anyone how to play a sax before." he said. "I guess I can." The lesson took an hour. He showed her the parts and taught her the notes and how to read them. She asked millions of questions. Some of which he didn't know how to answer. After everyone else went to bed, Zoot and Leah were along in their room.
"I have to ask you, Zoot." Leah said.
"Ask me anything." Zoot said, sitting on the bed.
"Why did you say at one time you didn't want to get married?" Zoot bit his lip. He figured this question would come up sooner or later. "The truth."
"I had my reasons. Some of it had to do with my childhood."
"Liza told me about you dropping out to take on the role of dad." Leah told him. Zoot nodded.
"It wasn't easy with me being 15 years old." he told her. "I don't know why dad decided to take off the way he did."
"Is this the only reason?" Leah sensed there was something else behind it.
"I've always been afraid that I wouldn't make a good husband or a dad." he confessed. "Staying out of a serious relationship was easiest for me at the time. I didn't want to get serious - "
"because of what you went through as a child." Leah finished for him. He nodded.
"I don't want to be like my dad." he admitted. Leah took his hands in hers.
"You're not him, Zoot." she said. "You're a great boyfriend. I know you'll make a great husband and dad." Zoot felt a lot better. He pushed Leah's long blue bangs out of her face and lovingly put his hand on Leah's cheek and they both leaned in for a kiss. Their lips locked. He pulled her very close to him. They kept kissing and hugged tightly. Leah didn't want this moment to end. They fell back onto the bed. Zoot let her go and stared into her big beautiful eyes and smiled.
"I love you, Leah Simms." he said, trying out his last name with hers.
"I love you too, Zoot Simms." she responded. They held each other for a long time and fell asleep.
(More to come! Rock on! Soon Leah and Zoot will be leaving their hometown to return home. Where is the wedding going to take place? Is The Electric Mayhem, Zoot and Leah going to move close to Liza's house? So many questions! Keep reading for the answers.)
Early the next morning, Liza and Leah got up. The ladies went downstairs and put on a pot of coffee to help them wake up. While they were waiting on their coffee, they started talking.
"How do you like being in my brother's band?" Liza asked.
"It's interesting." Leah told her. "When I first met your brother, he seemed kind of shy."
"He was always pretty quiet. Never talked much when he was growing up." Liza said. "He stayed in his room most of the time jamming on his sax or listening to his jazz records."
Upstairs, Daniel woke up. He pulled himself up to get a better view of things. He was determined to climb out of his crib and that's just what he did. Daniel crawled down the hallway, making his way to his Uncle Zoot's bedroom. Zoot was still asleep. He laid on his back with his hat over his face and his arm was hanging off the side of the bed.
"Ba!" Daniel cooed and crawled into the bedroom. The door was wide open. Daniel crawled to the bed and pulled himself up, his full diaper was slipping down his hips a little bit. He lost his balance and landed with a splat. Daniel was determined to get to his uncle no matter what it took. He pulled himself back up on the side of the bed and tried to climb up.
"Buh!" he cooed. Zoot's arm was still hanging off the bed so he used his hand to help himself back up onto his feet. As Daniel struggled to climb up, his diaper slipped down a little more. He finally made it onto the bed. He crawled up by his uncle's head and took off Zoot's hat. He didn't even move because Zoot was in a deep sleep. Daniel curiously examined his uncle's hat. That wasn't fun to play with so he threw it over the edge of the bed. Daniel pushed Zoot a little bit, rocking him back and fourth. Zoot moaned and rested his arms on his stomach. Daniel, sitting in his nasty diaper, looked around then his uncles shiny shades caught his eye. He grabbed Zoot's glasses and looked at them. He loved how they sparkled. He laughed and waved them around. They stopped shining all of a sudden. They were no fun anymore so he threw them down onto Zoot's hat. He watched his uncle as he was sleeping for a little bit. He reached for the headboard to pull himself up. Zoot turned his head toward the baby. He cringed at the foul smell coming from his diaper.
"Floyd, take a shower, man!" he said in his sleep and changed positions resting his hand behind his partially bald head. As Daniel was jumping, he passed some gas which made him laugh and with each bounce, his dirty diaper was slipping down his hips even more. Zoot started to wake up. He couldn't figure out why he was bouncing all of a sudden. He looked up and saw his nephew bouncing up and down and laughing really hard.
"Geez, kid." Zoot said, getting out of bed and walking down the hallway. He bumped into Andy who was getting ready for work. "Take the kid. He needs changed." He handed him to his brother in law. Daniel started screaming as Andy took him into the bedroom to clean up his son. Zoot put on his hat and examined his sunglasses to make sure they weren't bent or broken. They were still in tact. "Oh good," Zoot said. "No damage." Then Zoot went downstairs.
"Hey, Liza." Zoot said. "Your kid woke me up. He escaped."
"What do you mean escaped?" Liza asked.
"He got out of his crib. He got onto our bed and started bouncing. It woke me up." Liza laughed. Andy walked in carrying Daniel in his arms all clean and fresh smelling. He reached toward Zoot who was laying on the couch about ready to doze off. Andrew set him on the floor and he crawled over to the couch. Daniel wanted his uncle and he wasn't going to let him sleep. Liza and Leah watched.
"Look at him." Leah said. "He's such a doll."
"He wants Zephyr. He isn't going to let him sleep." Liza said. He crawled up onto Zoot's chest and laid down. No sooner did he lay down, he fell asleep, sucking his thumb. Zoot just put his arm around his sleeping nephew. Soon after, he fell asleep too.
That afternoon, Liza and Leah took Lily shopping with them leaving Daniel alone with Zoot. There was a note left on the table for him. It said: We decided to take Lily shopping while you and Danny slept. His bottle and food is in the fridge. Have fun with the baby. Being careful not to move too much, he picked up the note and read it.
Daniel stirred and farted. He seemed to feel better as he relaxed. Zoot felt the vibration through the diaper. He checked him and heaved a sigh of relief. Just gas. He patted his nephew's back as he snuggled closer on his chest. Daniel was curled up into the fetal position. Zoot put a pacifier into Daniel's mouth. He started sucking. A funny feeling came over him. He wasn't sure what kind of feeling it is but he kind of liked it. He pulled slowly slid the baby up to his chin and nuzzled him. The baby stirred a little bit and opened his eyes. He started grunting. Zoot knew what was coming. He picked him up and held him. Daniel kept grunting until his diaper was filled. "Kid," Zoot said. "I really hate having to change your diapers." Daniel just smiled. Zoot quickly changed him and picked him up. To his surprise, the diaper stayed on! "Wow! I'm getting the hang of this, kiddo!" Daniel started to cry. He was hungry and Zoot just realized it. He put him into his high chair and fed him. He started thinking of the feeling he had. It was the feeling of fatherhood.
"Ya know, little man," he said to Daniel. "You might end up with a little cousin or two within the next year or two." Daniel cooed and clapped his hands.
"Hey, little sis." Zoot said. "What would you say if Leah and I decided to make you an aunt?" It was late evening. The kids were already down for the night. Liza raised her eyebrow.
"You?" she said. "Are you serious? Is Leah pregnant?"
"No!" Zoot exclaimed. "We haven't discussed having children yet."
"What made you change your mind about having kids?" Leah was reading a book, listening to the conversation between Zoot and his sister. She couldn't believe what Zoot was saying! Having kids!
"I would be happy for the both of you! I've been hoping someone would give me a niece or nephew to spoil. What made you change your mind about having kids?" Zoot shifted his feet.
"Daniel." Zoot told her. "I actually enjoyed taking care of the little man today." Leah walked up behind Zoot and wrapped her arms around him.
"I'd love to have children with you, honey." she said and kissed him.
"After we get married." Zoot said. Leah nodded in agreement.
"I can't believe it." Liza said. "First you get engaged and now you're talking about becoming a dad. I never thought the day would come that I would hear this come from my brother's mouth! When you took care of us you said you didn't want to be tied down with any kids."
"Can't a guy change his mind about things?" Zoot asked. Liza just laughed and Leah held him tighter.
(Chapter 9 coming soon! Rock on!)
Twisted Tails
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Gosh, this fanfic is groovy. I already had a crummy day and this fanfic made me feel a lot better. Thanks for posting! More please!
Zoot Fan 1981
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I promise there will be more on monday