Urban(e) Camping [Josh]

Mopsy was an added plus to visiting Uncle Josh; Tomer enjoyed the bunny a great deal. He'd wished her good morning and good night both days and had spent time playing with her, seated on the floor with his back against either a wall or a piece of furniture. Several pictures of her were on Tomer's iPod, and a photo from his phone had been sent to Vivy.

Even if Uncle Josh had not wanted to clean, Tomer would have done what he could. It was something of a tradition at the Berelowitzes, that anyone who was gone the way Sean and Bailey were, whether for camp or work or school/synagogue trip, they came home to something nutritious and easy to shovel into their mouths, a shower, and clean sheets. Tomer had only experienced it twice, but it was enough that he was a full supporter of it.

"Of course I know how to use a washer and dryer! Do you think I've never been to a laundromat before?"

Tomer smiled. "I was hoping you knew more how to use the ones here."

He looked with satisfaction at the supplies. Very thorough. Good. "Why don't you strip yours and Bailey's beds and start the sheets and I'll start dusting downstairs." He blushed a little. "I don't want to clean in yours or Bailey's rooms. You can do that. But I can do the downstairs and then dust the room I used." Tomer frowned a little as he considered, but he said, "I don't know if I can vacuum. I can try." Thinking further, he added, "Then we can clean just the bathrooms that get used, and then after we cook we can clean up the kitchen."

Sean's house had an ungodly number of bathrooms, and strangely enough, for all the rooms on the lower floor there was only one there while there were four upstairs, all of which had to be accessed via a bedroom. But this arrangement meant that of the five, four of them needed the spray and wipe. "I won't go into Sean's office either, maybe you can vacuum in there."

Picking up a few dustrags, Tomer folded them into his jeans pockets and started off toward the living room. He'd released some of his stored energy earlier that day so he'd be more mobile now, hopefully he could manage with one crutch and dust with the other hand.

The admonishment over the vacuum made Tomer's lips quirk in a grin. "Okay, okay. I'll leave that to you."

It was always interesting, which end people took. Pushing him towards independence with a big 'you can do it' or trying to be nice with a 'don't worry about it'. While Tomer favored the former over the latter, sometimes getting a break was very nice. School was pretty exhausting as it was. Tomer also thought his uncle would lean more towards the independence end of the spectrum, so this was something of a surprise. Though... if he thought about it, it could be the man was just trying to keep calls to his sister at reasonable decibel levels. The way Tomer tried.

Dusting didn't take too long, though there were a lot of surfaces to dust and Tomer was very thorough and included things like windowsills and lifting up objects on tables to get under them. He put an earbud and switched on his iPod while he cleaned, leaving one ear open to hear if Uncle Josh came down. When he was done, he tossed his dustrags in the already going washing machine and started in on the first floor bathroom. It didn't take long, and Tomer also gave the toilet bowl a scrub with the brush and made a note for them to throw the towels in after the sheets were done.

He considered the vacuum. He really did. He was curious to know if he could do it, but he didn't want to worry his uncle, so he left it. Tomer didn't want to use the stairs any more than Uncle Josh wanted him to, which led him back to the kitchen. Tomer could put together a very basic casserole, and thought it would be something they could make that would be easy to eat and reasonably healthy for when Sean and Bailey came home. In the pantry he noted boxes of pasta and a can or two of tuna, and in the fridge he found some cheese, milk, and vegetables. Good, good. Tomer and his siblings were responsible for dinner at least once a week. He was still wary of frying things in oil, but otherwise knew his way around staples and basics.

Footsteps on the stairs saw him poke his head out into the hallway, and then walk over. "I finished. I can go upstairs and do the room I used if you want to vacuum. We should wash the towels too. And you have all the ingredients for casserole. Should we clean Mopsy's cage?"

Both David and Talia believed in chores; they felt that their children should contribute to the functioning of the household and understand how much work it was. Luckily, they also got three children who were eager to help and whose attitudes regarding chores were, for the most part, positive. Not that doing laundry or cleaning the bathroom was fun, but they knew it was something that had to be done and grumbling or complaining just made it take longer. That there were three of them and that they often did things together helped a lot, sometimes Tomer felt guilty that his sisters had to do things like make dinner or clean without him, but then, he was doing all of that himself at Hammel so it was fair.

"I think I can clean out her cage," he said. It wouldn't be too difficult, just change the straw in her litter box, wipe up the cage floor, wash out her bowls, maybe rinse off any toys that looked icky. It would certainly be easier than cleaning out Dust and Storm's cage, what with all the wood shavings. And... droppings. Mopsy made droppings too but they were in her litter and not just... little buried treasure bombs.

It was a good thing Tomer was already to the stairs and sitting down or the surprise of the vacuum starting up would've made him fall. As it was he almost bonked his head on the railing, but he caught himself before that happened. And yes, sitting. There was only one guaranteed way for Tomer to get up and down stairs without falling, and in the relative privacy of Sean's house he was going to use it. It took longer, but that was fine. Not falling more than paid for that. Sitting on the stairs, he used his feet and hands to lever himself up backwards going up (and sort of slid down for the reverse). Yeah, it looked sort of dorky but NO FALLING.

Deciding to start with Mopsy, he went into the room she used and shut the door so she could play on the floor but not get out. He gently lifted her out of her cage and began to clean, sitting down on the floor with the supplies and the trash can he'd brought. She was so cute and soft, he couldn't help petting her whenever she came back to rub her nose in whatever he was doing. He wondered if Uncle Josh talked to her, and if she was secretly as opinionated as him. Maybe to other bunnies she was very liberal and had lots of ideas about bettering... bunnyhood. When her cage was all cleaned, he apologized for the short bout of freedom and set her back inside, promising to come visit before bed.

"You're a good girl, Mopsy." He smiled at her, and whispered, "Don't worry, Sean just doesn't like animals. It's not you."

The vacuum was still going downstairs, but the noise came from the other side of the house than before. Good, good. Tomer dusted the room he'd used (not very hard) and then began on the bathroom. He hadn't included the sheets from his bed in the wash because one, he'd only used them once so far, and two, if they washed them with the others he'd be using them again tonight, which negated the whole washing thing. He felt a little bad about that, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. Well. He could be extra clean when he slept on them that night, and he would be after he bathed that evening.

Just finishing wiping off the mirror when his uncle looked in, Tomer turned and smiled, tossing the paper towel in the trash. "Done. Mopsy's cage is clean too."

Thinking, he said, "I suppose I could start the casserole while you vacuumed up here. It can be baked later but the noodles have to be cooked." The side of his mouth lifted in a smile. "What did you want to bake them?" Then the other side of his mouth came up and his eyes twinkled a little. "Mom wants photographic evidence you can bake, by the way."

At home, with everyone helping, it didn't take too much longer than an hour for the Berelowitzes to clean their apartment thoroughly, and Tomer thought about what happened when they did that as he picked out the things he thought he and his uncle could accomplish. Sheets and towels washing, dusting done, bathrooms wiped up, vacuuming half done... hm.

His uncle's expression made Tomer smile. "Doesn't she trust her own brother? Or even her son?"

"With this? No. I think it has to do with how loud you get when you insist Pop Tarts are food."

"But very well, if she can't take my skills on faith she can have pictures."

"It's not just her," he admitted as he crutched out of the bathroom and to the stairs. "Uncle Matt wants copies of the pictures."

He didn't catch what his uncle said but knew something had been said and snorted a laugh. Down the stairs, Tomer was careful not to thump down each tread too hard, but by the time he was back on his feet he was feeling numb in his lower back and down in his forearms and calves. He ought to go outside and let some out.

"Riley?" The name sounded vaguely familiar. Tomer frowned in thought. "I think Grandma mentioned a Riley once. Are they the same one?"

But, "I think a casserole and strawberry shortcake would be enough for tonight. Do Sean and Bailey like tuna?"

Into the kitchen, Tomer flexed his hands on his crutch handles and could feel that they weren't working as well as he needed them to. Yup. He had to release if he was going to do this. There were doors that opened into the backyard next to the kitchen. "Be right back."

He returned about three minutes later, after holding his left hand up like he wanted to give an answer in class (which never happened) and letting out a burst that faintly disrupted the air the way heat shimmer did, at the sky. Releasing gave him the tingles, a lesser version of pins and needles, but the numbness had retreated back up to above his elbows and knees. He hoped his uncle had not watched that.

Back inside, he started taking ingredients out of the pantry.

"...Technically, yes," Tomer conceded. "But they're junk food and not very good for you."

Tomer had had pop tarts. He could see the appeal, they'd been novel and convenient, but he'd rather have a piece of bread or a bagel with jam. One of Bee's older sisters liked the frosted fruit flavors, and Bee liked having one for an after school snack sometimes, but to Tomer they tasted like cardboard with goo in the middle.

Listening with interest about this Riley and his grandma, Tomer eventually put things he'd heard in place and suddenly said, "Is Riley why you can bake?" And then, thoughtfully, "What's his last name? I probably shouldn't be calling him Riley." He smiled faintly. "He did a good job. Grandma's place looks so nice outside."

As he lined up the box of pasta, the bag of frozen vegetables, and the cheese, he looked up. "Oh... I'm okay with tuna, I wanted to know if Sean and Bailey liked it. I thought I'd put it in the casserole."

At the dish, he nodded. "That'll work. Thank you."

Since he knew he couldn't carry a full pot of water to the stove anymore, he put the pot on the stove empty, turned on the burner, and used a liquid measure to fill it up. It took a few trips, but that was fine. In less than twenty minutes, the casserole was put together, the used pots rinsed and in the sink. Tomer put plastic over the top and had his uncle stick it in the fridge. They could bake it closer to the time Sean and Bailey would get home. As per orders, he took out his phone and snapped pictures of Uncle Josh cooking. To be honest, he'd had a hard time believing the man could cook too, but... there he was.

"How much stuff do you know how to make? Is it all... dessert?" He watched for a moment. "Can I help?"

Given his uncle's people-person nature, the option of learning from another person had probably had something to do with picking up the skill in the first place... though it didn't explain why he still couldn't make scrambled eggs when Tomer was sure Sean had made them in front him thousands of times. Maybe it was learning from another person something that Sean would really like? Which would then not explain why Uncle Josh couldn't drive. Hm. Oh well, it didn't matter why, not when it was the act itself that was important. Especially when the pictures he was sending got texts from both his mother and his other uncle about whether or not they were Photoshopped.

'No,' he sent back, 'and you are both being mean.'

Tomer liked learning from written instructions, but had to admit that when learning from another human being, it was easier if something went wrong. The step where you googled how to put out a grease fire or how to get out certain stains could usually be skipped.

Since Tomer had never met Riley, didn't know of his uncle's rather anomalous collection of other-than-straight male friends, and knew that the name 'Danny' was unisex these days, he temporarily assumed that Riley was marrying a woman. He supposed in this case it wouldn't be rude to ask, but for some reason it seemed a personal thing and he was too shy. "There's always money," he said, meaning the wedding present. As for Hanukkah, he blushed a little. "You don't have to get me anything. You come to see me all the time, that's a lot."

And he turned the question back on his uncle. "What do you want for Hanukkah?"

"I can whip cream. Do you have a hand mixer and a strainer?"

Set up at the kitchen table, where the angle would be better for him, Tomer beat the cream in a large bowl with the mixer till it thickened into angel food cake batter consistency, and then sifted in a few small spoonfuls of sugar. He beat again to mix it in, and then let a bit from one of the beaters drip onto his finger to taste it. "How sweet do you want this?" he asked. "I think it's good, but if you think it needs more we have to add it now."