The Food Demon

Little Emily and her older brother- Evan, must battle the 'food demon'...

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John looked heavenwards; silently praying for inspiration as his four-year old steadfastly refused her dinner. He was tempted to use his no-nonsense, authoritative police officer voice- the voice, which he knew neither of his children, would question; but he had watched his eldest feed Emily with only a little cajoling and felt that he should be able to do the same. And he really should be! He was the father, wasn’t he?

Emily folded her pudgy arms and resolutely looked away, lower lip protruding in a pout that would have put Lara Croft to shame.

John sighed. Evan would have known how to handle this.

The silent admission shook him to the core. Sure, he relied on his eldest to take charge of his sibling whenever he was away; and on little Em to listen to her brother but when had he forgotten how to be a father?

After all, it was supposed to be daddy’s li’l princess, not big brother’s li’l princess, wasn’t it? Unfortunately, ever since his wife passed away, he had been shirking more and more of that responsibility onto Evan’s willing but much too young shoulders. He tiredly pushed a hand through his all-too-soon greying hair.

Hell! He knew that Em asked for Evan way more than she ever asked for her Daddy. After all, ‘Evie’ had been her first word-hadn’t it? If that did not show how much the kid depended on her brother, John wondered what did.

But that did not explain why he had lost touch with his youngest so much so that he couldn’t ensure her finishing dinner without an argument, dammit!

He had tried eating himself to convince Emily that the food was ‘tasty’- feeling ridiculously stupid as he made ‘mmm’ noises to try and convince the kid that the food tasted nice. Em’s only response had been to push the plate further away from herself.

Nearing the edge of his tether, he found himself actually feeling relieved when the doorbell sounded. By the time he had pushed up from his chair, Emily was already bounding to the door; squealing ‘Evie’ like it was her personal guardian angel arriving to save her from torture. John privately wondered if that was exactly how his youngest felt about their evening together.

“Hey, Squirt!” His eldest greeted as tiny arms gripped him around the waist. When Emily’s face stayed buried against his side after ten seconds- holding him to the spot unless he wanted to topple his sister- he raised worried, questioning eyes towards his father.

“I have been trying to feed her.” John admitted softly, feeling embarrassed that he hadn’t succeeded.

Evan’s lips tilted upwards in a knowing smile and John felt something tighten in his chest with how much that smile reminded him of his beloved wife.

Hooking his arm around the younger child’s shoulder so that he was part walking-part dragging the kid along; Evan casually asked, “So, had your dinner yet?”

“Nope. It sucks,” was Emily’s prompt response, complete with her trademark melt-your-heart-pout.

“Watch your tongue, Emmy.” Evan admonished even as John muttered a gruff ‘Language, Kiddo!’

He trailed after the children into the tiny kitchenette , watching wordlessly as Evan glanced at Em’s barely touched plate; pulling an exaggerated ‘Eww’ face even as he hauled his kid sister right back into the seat she had vacated only minutes ago.

“It’s bad.” Em agreed solemnly.

Evan nodded, “Wanna know why?”

This seemed to pique Emily’s curiosity and she looked up at her older brother with questioning eyes. John bit back a smile, trust Evan to spin a yarn on the spot and successfully distract Em. Grudgingly, he admitted privately to himself that he was equally curious- wanting to know how his son would manage to convince little Emmy to eat the dinner her father had unsuccessfully been trying to force down her throat for the past half-hour. He pulled out his own chair and sat after setting down a plate for the boy.

 The older child gave an imperceptible nod to acknowledge his own dinner while keeping his whole focus on his kid sister.

“You really don’t see what this is?” He mock-whispered.

Emmy was buying whatever Evan was selling hook-line and sinker. She stared at her big brother- mouth open in a soft ‘o’ as she shook her head frantically, golden plaits flying wildly at her excited head-shake.

Evan pressed his lips together, pretending to frown. “Alright, here… let me show you.”

Em leaned forward, watching with obvious fascination. John felt himself drawn into the same web as slid forward to watch his eldest work.

Quickly slicing off the sides of the bread- John suppressed his frown, Evan worked it- making a circular shape. Next, breaking the sliced off sides and arranging them around half of the circle; he plucked out two broccoli and cauliflower florets, setting them at angles between the brown crust. Snagging one of the pieces he had cut off while making a circle, he quickly carved it before fitting it halfway between the crust and half below. Using other assorted vegetables, the circle quickly took the form of a pale face with huge carrot-and pea- eyes, thick green eyebrows and puffy red tomato lips sporting uneven, yellow corn-teeth. The dangling onion-ring earrings and green and white broccoli- cauliflower horns completed the picture.

“Now do you see it?” He asked in a whisper.

Emily nodded, gulping as she stared at her plate with wide eyes, “It’s a demon!”

Evan nodded oh-so-seriously; “The Food-Demon!”

John failed to quell the laughter erupting from his lips- quickly turning it into a cough at the glare his eldest shot him. He felt tears sting his eyes as he struggled not to choke from his repressed laughter.

He felt Emmy’s curious eyes on him, “Daddy, are you alright?”

Feeling he owed it to Evan for almost ruining the game, he decided to pitch in. “Emily! I didn’t know it was the monster and I ate it... It’s hurting me!”

Em swung terrified eyes towards her big brother, obviously expecting him to solve the issue and John suppressed a smile at the blind faith his youngest had towards his eldest. It took him a second to realize that Evan was not smiling, in fact; the boy was directing a furious glare his way- apparently he had over-shot it and now Em was honestly scared.

“Don’t worry, Dad...We’ll save you. Right, Emmy?” Evan ground out, modulating his tone just enough to not make his sister suspicious but making sure that John knew how little his so-called ‘help’ was appreciated.

The little girl just nodded, ready to follow any orders from her brother; trusting Evan to know how to defeat the evil Food demon who was hurting their Dad.

“Now, Emmy- the only way to defeat the demon is by eating it, think you can do that?”

John shook his head in disbelief- his eight-year old was already dreaming about being a ‘Hunter’. It was his fault, he guessed; he had been telling Evan sanitized and fictionalized versions of some of his cases with the everyday villains he handled  changed to ‘monsters’ and himself as the indomitable ‘monster-hunter’.

“But dad did eat it; and now he’s hurt!” The four-year old was almost in tears.

“That’s because one of them is outside. Once we eat it, he’ll not be able to hurt dad- or anyone else- anymore,” Evan answered promptly.

Emily nodded sagely at that response: Evan always knew what to do.

“I call dibbs on that lock of his hair. What are you eating?” Evan asked, reaching out as he snagged the smallest piece of crust and put it in his mouth before Em could protest.

“The ears!” Em gushed, grabbing at half the boiled egg that was standing in for the sensory organ, fully getting into the spirit of the game.

John watched as Evan poked and rearranged Em’s food more than he actually ate the ‘demon’. He would quickly take a bite from his own plate before pretending to eat from Emmy’s. With her brother’s encouragement, it didn’t take too long for both children to finish their meal.

“I did it, Evie! I ate the food demon!” Em squealed happily as she swallowed the last bite.

“Sure you did, Squirt!” Evan agreed with a wide grin, “You’ll make an awesome hunter once you grow up.”

“Daddy? You feeling better now?” Em asked, biting the corner of her baby lips.

John nodded, “That was a very brave thing you did, Emmy. Thank you.”

The child beamed before turning to lend a helping hand to her brother who was busily clearing the plates that had housed the ‘food-demon’ awhile ago.

Food-demon.

John shook his head, wishing the ‘demons’ he faced when out on patrol were about as malevolent and easy to destroy as the one his little girl had so proudly ‘finished’.

His soaring spirits dipped slightly as he realized that the ‘food-demon’ would probably not be the last monster his baby girl would face, but it soothed the ache in his heart to know that even if this may not be the last ‘demon’ his children faced; they would always face it together.

 

The End.