#iris message

Hazel and Leo were in the living room with her son, Sammy, when they heard the door open.

“I’m home!”

“Hey man!” Leo got up and walked over to the door to greet Frank, and helped him bring his bags to the kitchen. “How was shopping?”

“It was great! I even found a slinky for Sammy at Dollarama when I was getting the popsicle sticks.”

“You got a slinky? Hey Hazel, Frank got a slinky for Sammy!”

“A huh what now?”

“A  sl-in-ky.” He said it slowly and clearly for her to hear better.

“A what?”

“Gods, I swear, you’re so deaf-” He walked back into the living room, leaving Frank to his bags. “Frank got a slinky for Sammy.”

“Leo, that doesn’t help. What in the world is a slinky?”

“You know…” He faltered, seeing her blank expression. “You seriously don’t know what a slinky is?”

“No… Should I?”

“What in the- FRANK!”

“What?” Frank hollered from the kitchen.

“Come here!”

“I’m busy! Come here and help!” Leo walked into the kitchen.

“Thanks, do you know where-” Leo grabbed his arm and dragged him into the living room. “Hey! The ice cream’s gonna melt!”

“The ice cream will be fine, come on.”

“Ith cweem?” Sammy babbled from his chair.

Hazel sighed. “No, Sammy, you can have ice cream later.” Leo and Frank walked into the living room.

“Hey darling!” Hazel got up and hugged Frank, kissing him on either cheek. Frank blushed, smiling, and kissed her properly.

“Dada!”

“Hey, Sammy,” Frank said, getting down on one knee to better look at his son. “How are ya?” Sammy cooed.

“Hate to interrupt,” Leo interjected, ”but I brought you here for a reason.”

“What happened?”

“Hazel doesn’t know what a slinky is.”

“What do you mean?” Frank asked, looking away from his son. “ ‘Course she does.”

“What is a slinky? Because it sounds like a naughty dance move, and Frank would not get that for our child, I know that much.”

“Wha- really? You don’t know what a slinky is?”

“No! What on Gaia’s green earth is this thing?”

“Here, I’ll go get it and show you.” Leo walked out, but returned shortly, slinky in hand. “This is a slinky.”

Hazel looked at it disapprovingly. “That is a metal coil.”

“Well, yeah, but…”

“But it’s fun!” Frank got up and took the slinky from Leo, holding it in both hands, so it would slink between them. Hazel looked at it with dazed eyes, instantly bewitched.

“Wow… How- what- wow…”

Frank held it out to her. “You wanna try?

She was up on her feet in an instant. “YES!” She slinked it between her hands, fully entranced. “This is so cool…”

“What does Sammy think?” Leo asked, walking over to the boy and wagging his finger. “Does Sammy like the slinky?”

“Look at this, Sammy!” Hazel showed him the slinky. She had happy tears in her eyes. “Look at it.”

Sammy cooed, amused by the flashy movement.

“How have you never seen a slinky before?” Frank inquired.

“I don’t know. I grew up in 1930’s New Orleans. We never had these.”

“But- surely these are older than you,” Frank rummaged in his pockets and presented a golden drachma. “I’m Iris messaging Annabeth. Leo, can you please make sure the ice cream doesn’t melt?”

“Alright, fine,” Leo said begrudgingly.

“Hey, Annabeth!” Frank said through the Iris message. She was sitting on the couch watching a movie with Percy. “Oh! Hi Percy!”

“Oh!” Percy turned off the movie. “Hi Frank!”

“What’s up?” Annabeth got up and walked over to the Iris message, Percy following suit.

“What do you know about slinkies?”

“That’s a random question-”

“I KNOW!” Frank jumped, and they both looked at Percy, startled.

“What?”

“In school, we had to do a presentation about a household object, so I chose a slinky.”

“So, what do you know?”

“Why do you want to know, Frank?” Annabeth asked.

“Well, Hazel’s never heard of them.”

“Well, that would make sense. They were invented in 1943. Didn’t she die around- ow!”

“You can’t just ask that, Percy!” Annabeth hissed.

“Nah, it’s okay. She’s not that sensitive about it. And she died in 1942.”

“Huh. Well, tell her and Sammy we say hi!”

“HI ANNABETH,” Leo said loudly, walking into the room. Upon seeing Percy, he said, “oh! Hey Percy.”

“Oh hi Leo!”

“HELLO LEO,” Percy said, in the same tone and volume as Leo had.

“How are ya?”

“I’m great! I’m staying with Hazel and Frank to help out with Sammy.”

“Oh fun! We should all have game night sometime!” Percy loved game night. He had best luck, Annabeth had best strategy.  They were an unstoppable team, but everyone else still had fun.

“Yeah! That sounds cool!” Especially Frank. He loved board games.

“FRANK, SAMMY’S A BEAR AGAIN.”

“Coming! Leo, would you please put away the rest of the groceries?”

“On it.”

“Well bye! Nice seeing you!” He moved to wave away the Iris message, but Annabeth stopped him.

“Wait! Saturday at our place?”

“We’d love to see Sammy again!” Percy loved Sammy, and he got along great with Estelle.

“Yeah! Okay!”

“Bye!” Annabeth waved the Iris message away, and Frank went to help Sammy back to human form.