Mimic

Disclaimer- I don't own Phantom Stallion. All characters belong to Terri Farley.

Two year old Samantha Forster sat in her highchair alternating between banging her spoon against the table and throwing it (only to have her mother bring her another.) Simultaneously, she used her free hand to grab fistfuls of the mashed-up carrots and smash them against her face, giggling the entire time. Her mother was beginning to think Sam would never learn to use silverware, not because she was incapable, simply because she had too much fun using her hands.

Just than almost miraculously, out of the corner of her eye she see Sam use the spoon to scoop up a huge heap of carrots. She watches and hopes the precarious load of glop will make it into her daughter's mouth. She holds her breath as the orange mush seems to be making a beeline for that exact location. A mere few inches from Sam's mouth the spoon stops, drawing her gaze from the utensil to her daughter's face. Later, she'd swear the little rascal grinned at her before flinging the spoon orange glop and all in the direction of the door.

Almost as if it was in slow motion, Louise watched the glop followed by the spoon arch through the air; despite herself she was impressed by the distanced her tiny two year-old was able to get. That miniscule amount of pride quickly faded to horror as the door swung open just in time for her friend and neighbor, Maxine and her young son, Jake to be splattered with carrots. They all froze for a second till the spoon hit Jake in the face, causing Maxine to laugh and Jake to scowl. Louise tried to hold back her laughter and almost succeeded, till Sam's giggles rang through the room and she clapped her carrot covered hands together causing specks to freckle Louise's face. Jake just scowled harder.

He didn't want to come over in the first place. He would have rather rode out with his father and brothers, but being only four and his mother's "baby": she preferred to keep him with her. Now he was trapped in a kitchen with three carrot covered girls (though he wasn't sure if moms technically counted as girls, as you couldn't get cooties from them) as they laughed their heads off about him getting hit in the face with a spoon. Louise quickly stopped laughing, though she couldn't prevent a small smile, when she saw the look on young Jake's face. She offered him a towel and a bowl of pudding in hopes of pacifying him. Jake who was still a little mad also couldn't help but smile. Both his mom and Ms. Louise were normally very nice and pudding was one of his favorite foods. Plus, though he'd never admit it, he thought little Samantha was kind of cute, especially when she laughed.

He sat at the table across from Sam and ignored the adults talking. Instead, he concentrated on glaring at Sam, because even if she was kind of cute it didn't change the fact hit him with a spoon then laughed about it. He was jolted from his one-sided staring contest by Ms. Louise setting a bowl of pudding in front of him and laying a spoon beside it. He focused in on her when he saw another spoon in her other hand. He had a bad feeling she was planning on giving it to Sam. If she could hit him in the face when he was all the way to the door; what could she do if he was just across the table?

He watched with alarm while as Ms. Louise made her way towards Sam, still holding the potentially dangerous spoon. His hope soared as she paused to question his mother. "Are you sure it's okay she's still not eating on her own, all the books say it should be around somewhere form 12 to 18 months?"

Jake turned towards his mom wishing she'd say it's fine, let her eat with her hands for the rest of her life if she wants. He only got half his wish. His mother replied, "It's fine, Jake started eating on his own at 11 months, but Quinn didn't start till almost two and a half. All babies are different just let her have the spoon and eventually she'll start mimicking you." With that Ms. Louise placed the spoon on Sam's tray.

Jake thought things couldn't get any worse, that is in till his mom said, "Jake you watch Sam for a second, Louise and I are going to get cleaned up real quick." Both left the room, leaving the children alone.

They stared at each other for a while; till Jake's stomach rumbled cautiously he placed his hand over his spoon. His eyes widened slightly as Sam did the same. He dipped the spoon slowly into his pudding and gulped as Sam followed suit. He paused to consider if it was safe to continue, but his stomach grumbled again and he decided to go for it. Slowly he put the spoon into his mouth and once again Sam copied him. After a couple more cautious spoonfuls, Jake started eating regularly and Sam matched him spoonful for spoonful.

When Louise and Maxine walked back into the kitchen they were shocked. Louise turned to Maxine and Said "guess you were mostly right it's just not me she's mimicking"

She had barely finished the sentence when they both heard a high pitched squeal, turning towards the sound just in time to see orange glop flying towards them.

5 years later….

Luke Ely was enjoying the peace of an empty ranch yard, when the quiet was disturbed by his youngest son's disgruntled voice "stop following me" with almost no pause the phrase was repeated in a higher pitched voice by the neighbors' daughter. Luke briefly mourned the loss of his peace and quiet, but a small smile worked its way onto his face as he thought about the spectacle he was about to witness. Despite being the youngest, Jake was probable one of his most mature of his sons and definitely the quietest. The only time he really acted his age was around Sam, and the results were always amusing.

Jake stomped into the ranch yard with Sam right on his heels. "Seriously stop following me."

"Seriously stop following me" Sam repeated.

This must have been going on for quite a while because the normally patient boy stopped suddenly, causing Sam who was mere few inches behind him to crash into his back and end up sprawled on the ground. It was a sign of his annoyance that Jake didn't help his young friend up. Instead he just crossed his arms and glared down at her and said, "That's what you get."

It was a sign of Sam's stubbornness that instead of being intimated; she just scrambled up; crossed her arms; glared at him and mimicked "That's what you get." The children stood stock-still, staring each other down for a few minutes.

Till than Luke had been highly amused watching their childish squabble and while he thought his son would never hit a girl, particularly Sam, he was beginning to think it would be prudent to break them up. Especially knowing, Sam wasn't afraid to take a swing at anyone. Something Wyatt blamed on her spending so much time with his boys and wasn't too pleased about. With this in mind he headed towards the duo. He had only gone a few steps, when Jake let out a strangled, frustrated scream; threw his hands up; and walked away. After a few seconds of surprised pause, Sam almost never won a waiting game against Jake, she did exactly the same. The last thing Luke heard was,

"You're such a brat." Followed by,

"Am not –I mean you're such a brat" accompanied by the slam of the screen door.

AN. I was trying to work on using more detail and more complex sentence structure. I think I just ended with a lot of run on sentences, but I don't think it sounds too bad. Let me know. Also if you're reading this before 8/26/13 please check out my profile for a little, contest/challenge/event like thing I'm trying to do. I'd really appreciate it if you'd help spread the word