I see the picture of the virgin mother carefully carrying a robot clad child.
I feel she's keeping the child safe, secure and calm.
“Come on, let's go,” Ashley squealed excitedly, running towards their beach house. She and her twin Marcela had just done something mischievous and funny. Poor old Humphrey, their grumpy neighbor, would be alarmed when he woke up.
“Hush! Ashley, we have to be quiet, or else we'll get caught,” Marcela replied, running beside her sister and trying to laugh quietly. Soon enough they had snuck into bed and fell asleep with smiles on their faces…
The next morning, Old Humphrey, a retired astronaut, woke up feeling somewhat cheerful and in a good mood. He loved the peace and quiet of the ocean and had lived here for months, even when summer was over. The peace and quiet had been ruined by the Demarco twins, though. God knows he loved those kids, but they were always up to one shenanigan or the other, so he tried not to show that he liked them.
All the houses in the environment had one or two encounters with the twins antics, and their parents were tired of apologizing to the neighbors. It's a good thing they only came to the area for a few days every summer; if not, Old Humphrey knew they would have driven him insane. He liked to regale the twins with stories about his younger days, going into space, and what he experienced up there.
He quickly made a cup of tea and decided to take a walk on his stretch of the beach. Old Humphrey had only taken a few steps when he stopped abruptly in alarm, almost having a heart attack. He looked in awe at a sand structure before him, magnificent and detailed. It looked like the Virgin Mother carrying a little astronaut on her lap; the background was made of intricate designs that had him scared to touch it because the work was too perfect to be destroyed almost immediately.
He sat and stared at the sand structure for a long time, smiling and taking in deep breaths. He didn't know how or when they did it, but he definitely knew who the culprits were.
“Okay, old boy, time to pay a visit to your favorite menaces,” he said to himself, chuckling. He walked over to the twins beach house, knocked on the door, and was ushered in with smiles of joy and an offer of breakfast.
“So how's it going, Mr. Humphrey? Anything new you got going on?” the twins' father asked him.
“Nothing much, except for the fact that a miracle occurred in the middle of the night at my stretch of the beach. Where are my darlings Ashley and Marcella?” Old Humphrey replied.
“They're still asleep, for some reason. They're usually awake and running about by this time. I should probably go and check on them,” their mother replied, winking at her husband.
“Yes, you should. I'm sure they would love the miracle at my beach, and you guys can come too,” Old Humphrey replied, giggling.
“Of course, Mr. Humphrey, we need the walk and fresh air too,” their father replied.
In a couple of minutes the twins came out with their mother, hair ruffled, eyes puffy, and goofy smiles. The smiles disappeared immediately they saw Old Humphrey.
“Good morning, ladies,” Old Humphrey said to them with a bow.
“Good morning, sir,” the twins mumbled, shoving each other.
“Mr. Humphrey has invited us for a walk, so have breakfast and let's go,” their dad said.
The twins declined breakfast and kept on looking at Old Humphrey mischievously. Soon enough the party set off on the morning walk, and as they approached Old Humphrey's beach, the parents stood in shock and gasped.
“Oh, that's the miracle I was talking about earlier,” Old Humphrey said, laughing at the parent's reaction.
“But… But… How did this get here?” their mother stuttered.
The twins held on to each other, realizing that Old Humphrey had in fact seen their handiwork before coming over to their place.
“Oops,” Marcella mouthed to her sister.
“Double oops,” Ashley mouthed back.
Old Humphrey let out a belly laugh. It didn't take long for the twins to confess to the crime of sneaking out of bed and onto someone else's property. The parents were amazed at the artistic ability of their children and also the ability to sneak out of bed successfully. A suitable punishment was decided upon: for the rest of the summer, the twins would help out in the art shop in town instead of running around and causing havoc and then help to tidy Old Humphrey's house every evening.
After all, according to their mother, what could go wrong with placing two hyperactive, adorable 12-year-old girls in a store full of paints, brushes, watercolors, and whatnot??
“A lot, my dear… A lot!” Old Humphrey and the twins father replied at the same time, laughing in amazement at the twins, who had the grace to look a tad bit remorseful.
