𝖘𝖓𝖔𝖜 𝖜𝖍𝖎𝖙𝖊

"That's what I thought! I swear, people like that make me question everything." JJ held his hands up for a moment, shaking his head. Glancing down at the blueberries once again, he confirmed that they were nice and plump and nodded. "Alright, I'm getting these." He set the punnet in his basket. Mia giggled in response to Ani's words, waving her hands and kicking her legs. "See how excited she gets at the sight of the blueberries?" He let out a soft laugh, shaking his head as he glanced over at the girls. "Raspberries are good. They're an excellent source of fibre, vitamin C and antioxidants. So, you're not only being a good auntie by getting them their favourite fruit. You're also encouraging them to eat healthy. I'll take that as a win."

"I am glad you think so!" Ani nodded. "She's very excited about blueberries. Good pick. And we're in Merrock, so even better. Can't go wrong with those here with the farm just around the corner," she said, smiling at them both. "See? It helps to have a doctor also just around the corner, I get fun facts about fruits and maybe that'll convince Desi and Priya to eat more and I don't have to bribe them as much with ice cream. Oh... but raspberries on top of ice cream. And with chocolate sauce. That makes it less healthy now, doesn't it? Mmm... Well, I do try. Will I succeed? I'll let you know."

"Aren't they?" Ani said. "I like to think I have pretty good instinct when it comes to fruit, though," she said, before turning, seeing her niece watching them. "What do you think, do these look tasty enough?" she asked with a smile. "Here," she said, adjusting her bag, grabbing a couple and putting them into her hand. "No one said anything about not being able to sample."

"You know I've got your back," Aisha gave a playful smile to Aneesa, before nodding. "But honestly, you'd think she'd be the one who was selling them." Although she supposed having been adamant about fresh produce wasn't the most appealing tirade, it still hadn't put a damper on her afternoon. "Always love a good fruit and cheese moment," she agreed, before giving a laugh at her next words. "Please, I think we're kindred spirits in that way, pretty sure anything I bake comes out rock hard or undercooked," she admitted with a laugh. "Ooh, all great ideas. Personally, I love a fresh raspberry tea moment. But a spa package..now you're talking. Maybe market it as a 'Summer Refresh'?"

"And that's why we're friends!" Ani grinned. "She wishes. I'm sure she's a joy at parties. See something and go off on the tiniest little details, the rest of us just want to enjoy our day," Aneesa smiled. "I make a very good charcuterie if I do say so myself. I have some grapes at home, I think. All I need is strawberries and dark chocolate because those go so well together," she nodded. "I also love raspberry tea. Honestly, the best kind of tea if we're being real here," she said. "Oh, I like the way you think. I'll talk to my boss, we can put something together. You get the first one."

"See, now you're thinking. Though, again, I can't really resist raspberries, even if they're too tart." Trey always had a fondness for anything farm fresh, and a perk of his job was that he got good deals from most of the local farmers. "Hey, it's not a bad thing, right? Means they'll grow up to be big and strong. I remember I ate everything as a kid, my mom called me a bottomless pit."

"That adds to a little bit of their charm, right? They're not super sweet but they have that little bite in there. Gotta love how the seasons work, huh?" she chuckled. "They will. They're always looking for a snack. Now that school's over, I have to be well-prepared. Haven't really done this before as a full-time job. So I can't just send them off with a bag of Goldfish crackers and call it a day. I had two older brothers, so sometimes I'd have to wrestle them for the good stuff before they ate it all."

The best fruits and veggies was what Theo had always tried to purchase for his family. He had two growing children and two growing babies, he wanted them to have the best of the best. Looking at the produce in front of him, he was judging some oranges when he heard a voice, "I think they look good. As long as you don't see mold or squished ones, I think they're very nice."

"Haven't seen any mold... yet," Ani said, looking over at Theo. "I don't think they'd sell bad fruit at the farmers' market. But I just want to know what was getting her goat after going on and on about one basket and not buying anything," she shrugged. "What have you found so far?"

"Yes!" Dylan replied with a nod and then reached for a pack that held blueberries. "But I wouldn't be a good Newman if I don't also encourage you to get one of these," they grinned. With a quick glance at the woman who just left, rolling their eyes at her and quickly gave a smile when the woman seemingly felt them staring before continuing moving somewhere else. "I don't think one need to examine every single berry with that much intensity to then not grab anything," they shook their head, putting the blueberries back. They were just trying to make sure that other woman wouldn't return. "What are you planning on making with the raspberries, if you don't mind me asking?"

Aneesa grinned at them. "Oh, yes, the blueberries. Of course! I love those. If you see someone making and eating blueberry pancakes every other day, that would be me," she giggled. "I'm sure most people eat them by the handful instead of by inspecting every single one and eating them piece by piece. But that might just be me though," she mused with a hum. "Maybe jam? That might take a little extra work. But I did see a cute little recipe for thumbprint cookies, I've always wanted to make those. That is, if I still have enough left and the two girls don't eat them all."

"I'll admit... it's been a long time since I've watched that show," probably childhood, old repeats on whatever cable network they picked up in their house down in Louisiana. If even. Widening their eyes as Aneesa said that the game was harder than they remembered, Stelly let out an exasperated breath, "and I always feel like the games are hardest when you really, really want to win something, you know? If I was just playing for the hell of it, then I'd probably have already won three times!"

“Me too. I don’t know if the girls are into it. I just hear them talk about Bluey or Barbie,” Ani admitted. Even so, she found it hard to keep up with what her nieces were into most of the time because they were always changing. “Mmm,” she nodded. “At least this one you know you’re not playing against the computer. It’s all pure… hand eye whatever this is,” she laughed. “And then when you win something you can trade it for something even bigger!”

Alli watched as Finley raced off in the direction of some of the games with a boy she recognized from football. It was good to let him have some freedom with his friends, and she'd check in with him later. She turned to look and see what else the carnival had when she heard of name. "Oh, Hi Ani!" She smiled and waved as she stepped closer to her. "Trying to enjoy the day. Fin decided he'd have more fun with his friends, so I'm going to try to make the most of it." She laughed and looked at the Desi and Priya. "Are you all having a good time so far?"

“Oh, okay, looks like he spotted some friends,” Aneesa smiled. “We’ve been having a lot of fun! Eating so much good food, huh?” She looked between her nieces, who grinned mischievously at each other. “What did you two do now?” She asked the girls with raised eyebrows. “Nothing!” They chirped innocently. She rolled her eyes and turned back to Alli. “What else have you been up to?”

Every day was the perfect day of the beach, but the ones with a little bit of sunshine and a nice, warm breeze ended up taking the cake. And thankfully, they had that, and it wasn't too crowded, which made it even better. Not that beaches in Merrock were ever so crowded that you couldn't still have a good time, but it was nice when you didn't feel like you had to fight for a good spot, or pick your way around blankets and sand castle building materials.

The beach always had its charm. She loved it even more with Desi and Priya running around and doing cartwheels and then running into the ocean splashing around. It was a definite distraction from anything real life. They had gone through a lot in the past year and Ani felt like she was being pulled in every direction. But the beach, the beach would always be there to make her feel better.

“I… yes. Although black cherry will always be superior. Bonus points if there is vanilla ice cream involved,” Ani nodded her head. She pushed her hair back and watched them. She wrinkled up her nose. “Are you judging my berries? I see how it is…” she shook her head with a laugh. “It looks fine enough, and I’ll end up eating it all before the week is over honestly. But yes, I’ll get some blueberries too. Might end up making pancakes too. Does it? I’ve heard of vinegar but I never the baking soda stuff. I’ll try that next time though,” she said, handing over the berries and then searching for her wallet in her purse. What other good fruits will be tasty this summer?”

"No more sugar? Damn..." mused Tae very playfully, flashing Ani a bright smile a moment later. "Spying on people sounds perfect, though, my favourite thing to do." Anything for an excuse to people watch; he'd always had great fun with that, especially making stories up about people he didn't know. As they made their way forward, he surveyed everything, and then gestured to one of the carriages.

"How many cotton candy did we have today?" Ani looked at her nieces, who looked at each other. "Two..." "One..." they each chirped. "Mhmm... see? Guilty. We had a lot of sugar and someone had a giant lemonade too," she shook her head with a smile. "Then let's do it," she said once it was their turn to board, letting the girls climb on first.

"Bring it!" they exclaimed with a laugh, waiting until the machine was up and ready before they looked over at Aneesa with a grin. "Isn't that basically what My Little Pony is?" There were some dark ponies and light, pretty ponies, that had to be basically the same concept. Power of friendship and all of that. "But I think our ponies would have been a little cooler, so you're probably right," they reached for the first ball and began to roll it up the incline, muttering 'come on, come on' and then groaning as it missed the middle, but did rack up some points on the ring below it.

"Something like that! They do have different ponies, don't they? I'll admit I haven't seen much in years except for the fact that they've come back around in popularity," she nodded. "All in the name of friendship. Our ponies are the coolest, let's be real here. I'll give it a go after you," she said, adding in another couple dollars to the tray sitting on the game counter. Ani watched Stelly take their turn. "Ooh, well, this is much harder than what I remember."

"Is that the big qualification when it comes to fresh fruits, is whether or not they look yummy?" he asked, holding back a laugh, even if there was truth to it -- if a fruit looked good enough to eat, then it probably was good enough to eat… right? "That's a good idea, they have to have some here, they're not at the end of their season yet." Rafael hadn't gone himself, but he had heard of many people going to pick strawberries, spending time in the fields to get them as fresh as possible. "You can make a good dressing for fruit salad, too, with honey and lime juice. Adds a sweetness and a touch of zing to the fruit." He had done that a time or two, when he wanted a treat that was good for him. "I wish I had good tricks. Mostly? Eat them as soon as possible."

"Yep, that's a big qualification for delicious fruit. I'm glad that even here in Merrock, we have a good selection. Not that I have much to compare it to, but I know our fruit market is quite something. "Oooh, like a raspberry vinaigrette? Okay, I'm listening! I may have to give that a try." She needed to get more creative in the kitchen. There were so many new recipes on her radar, and also prepping with two young girls made it slightly challenging. "And then when I perfect it, I will let you know," she grinned. "Oh, okay, so just eat all the fruit before it actually goes bad. Is that what I've been missing all my life?" she asked jokingly.

"If we try hard enough, we probably could win three unicorns..." Stelly tried, a grin stretching across their face. It might not be the best of ideas, looping someone into their dirty work, but maybe if Aneesa was also winning some prizes for her nieces, it wouldn't be too big of a deal... right? That was how they were choosing to look at it, anyway. "All of the above. I'll do it!" And they really would, if it meant taking a prize home. "I'm trying to compete with Mandy, I feel like they have so many light, pastel, pink unicorns, and this one is a very Stelly unicorn. A unicorn to defeat all unicorns, if you will."

"You are so on. I love a challenge," Aneesa grinned at them. The girls were definitely in their colorful unicorn phase, Desi more so than Priya, but both of them would be excited to see something big and fluffy and looking like a rainbow exploded. "Let's see if my skill will hold up, then!" she nodded at them before laughing. "Okay, I see," she smirked. "We've got a Mandy unicorn and a Stelly unicorn. Why do I feel like this would have made a really good online cartoon series?"

For: @aneesapillai Location: Summer Carnival, heading for the train

"Could be a good way to just spy on people and kick our feet up while these two have the time of their lives," Ani chuckled. "I absolutely owe you one after this, Tae," she giggled, ushering Desi and Priya forward in line. "We can grab something to eat after this, though," she said. "My treat. And no more sugar for now," she said pointedly to the girls.