Virginia sits for Sam (closed for jodyjames)

[Roark]

Samuel Martin, or Sam as he liked to be called hurried downstairs as the doorbell rang. The little six year old boy jumped from the third step from the bottom and landed with a slightly less than graceful thud. He bounced up immediately, his blue eyes shining with pride over his mischievous little accomplishment, as he looked curiously at the door, anxious to see his new sitter. "Ow!," Sam yelped as his mother swatted his bottom firmly for his antics right before opening the door. Sam was still giving his bottom a quick rub and shooting his mother a pouting look while she greeted the older girl at the door.

"Hello Virginia, thank you for agreeing to watch Sam on such short notice," Mrs. Martin greeted the teen warmly. Mary Martin had divorced Samuel's father years ago and often needed to leave Sam in the care of a sitter as a result. In the past she had often used her best friend growing up as a sitter but she had recently moved a couple of months ago with her husband because he had gotten a promotion that required him to relocate. As a result Mary had mostly been using her own mother to sit for Samuel but now she was very ill and would be in the hospital for awhile most likely. Mary had been forced to quickly find a new sitter for Sam and one of the only people she had been able to think of was the next door neighbor's daughter Virginia. Mary had known Virginia her whole life and while she didn't know her well, she knew was a well behaved young woman and trusted her enough to watch Sam. In fact Mary hoped the two would be a good fit because she was going to need a sitter quite often for the foreseeable future and she didn't have many ideas left.

"Help yourself to whatever you need in the house. I left some money on the kitchen counter for a pizza tonight if you'd like that, otherwise there is plenty of food in the house. You have my number and there are emergency numbers on the fridge just in case you need them. I should be back before Sam's bedtime tonight but if not its 9 O clock. Now I really need to get going but do you have any questions before I leave dear?," Mary asked politely. Once she answered Virginia's questions, Mary turned to her son and knelt down. Sam quickly gave his mommy a big hug and told her goodbye. He nodded as she instructed him to mind Virginia, and nodded again his blue eyes widening just a little when his mother added that he knew what would happen if she got a bad report from Virginia. With that Mary stood told Virginia goodbye and headed out to the car. The little blonde headed boy then ran to the window, pressed his little nose to the glass and watched as his Mommy drove away.

[JodyJames]

Ginny hadn’t done much sitting, but was trying to save some money so was grateful for the chance to do so. She made the quick walk from next door at the appointed time and rang the bell. She cold hear activity inside and quickly Mrs. Martin opened the door with her son, Sammy.

She’d known Sammy since he was born, but only as a neighbor, one who could be heard shouting with his friends or riding his bicycle up and down the sidewalk. She’d never sat for him before.

She’d seen the pout on his face, but assigned it to being left with her rather than to a swat which she’d neither seen nor heard. But then noticed he was giving his bottom a rub. Ginny smiled a little. She knew Sammy’s mother spanked him as she’d heard it on several occasion in the summer when windows were open. She spanked just as her mother did – or at least had. It had been more than a year, closer to two, since Ginny had been spanked. But she wasn’t at all sure that she was “too old” for it if she really messed up.

She said, “Hello, Mrs. Martin. I’m glad to be able to.” She looked at the lady while speaking, but quickly turned her gaze to the young blonde, blue-eyed boy. His eyes seemed to sparkle with joy and perhaps mischief.

She wasn’t too experienced at sitting so had not planned ahead with any questions a sitter might normally ask the first time she watched a youngster. “Nine o’clock. OK.” She said thinking that it sounded a bit late. She was sure she’d not stayed up until nine when she was Sammy’s age. But it wasn’t a school night so she shrugged it off.

She said good-bye as the lady headed off and watched as her son raced to the window and pressed his nose up against it. She hoped he’d not start crying. As he watched the car drive off, she thought about his mother’s last words to him – he knew what would happen if she got a bad report on him. The way he nodded, she was pretty sure his mother had meant a spanking. She wondered exactly what might merit a spanking in her eyes. She wondered if she’d spank her son in front of her.

But she pushed all that from her mind as the car disappeared around the corner. She always thought of the youngster as ‘Sammy’, but his mother had called him ‘Sam’ so she’d try to do that. “So, Sam, What are we going to do today?” she asked.

[Roark]

Sam turned from the window as he heard his new sitter address him. He looked at her for a moment before shrugging his shoulders. "I dunno," he answered casually with a shrug of his little shoulders. It didn't take long for the little boy's blue eyes to sparkle though. "Let's play all day!," he exclaimed with a mischievous smile. Sam knew Ginny lived next door, but he didn't really know her or what to think of her as a sitter yet. Sam grabbed his sitter's hand with both of his little hands and began to charge toward the stairs.

"Cmon Ginny! Lets go see my toys!," he urged as he did his best to try and pull his sitter along to his room. On the way to his room, the pair passed a closed door, which was Mommy's study, and a bathroom. Sam's and his mother's bedroom were on opposite ends of the upper floor, and Sam led the way anxiously to his room. "This is my room!," he exclaimed as they entered. There was already a few toys scattered across the floor from his morning's play, but Sam released his sitter's hand and charged toward the toy chest. He flung the toy chest opened and quickly found and grabbed one of this two nerf guns. "Your the bad guy Ginny!," Sam declared as he turned and took aim at his new sitter. Sam giggled as he quickly began to run around the room and fire shots at his sitter. After taking a couple of shots he ran and jumped up on his bed at full speed, before taking another shot at Ginny and jumping off at equally breakneck speed.

[JodyJames]

Ginny gave a little laugh as the boy transformed into a ball of energy tugging her upstairs. She put up a mock struggle but allowed him to win. She glanced through the hall trying to get a layout of the place as she was tugged into what was obviously a little boy's room.

"I see it's your room." she said looking around. "It's a very nice room." As she looked around the room she heard a crash as the lid of a toy chest banged into the wall. Before she could react, she was being surrounded by one little boy with a Nerf gun -- attacked on all sides.

As he jumped off the bed, Ginny managed to grab him. "Whoa! Hold on a moment." she said trying to hold Sammy still. "Does your mommy like you to run around like this inside? I think we should take this game outside."

She started to get the other gun, then paused. "What does your mommy say about shooting this inside or at people?" She didn't think the Nerf balls could really hurt anything, but she supposed if you got hit in the eye, it would at least sting a bit. Sammy might well have been told not to aim at people or even to play with them inside. Their presence in his room indicated the latter might not be true, but she thought she should check. In any case, she thought being outside would be a good bit safer.

[Roark]

Sam laughed and tugged more energetically as Ginny pretended to resist as he tried to hurry her up the stairs. "Uh huh!," he agreed enthusiastically once they were upstairs and she told him that he had a nice room. Of course that didn't slow him down one bit from preparing and executing his nerf ambush on is new sitter. "Heyyyy leggo!," Sam complained and squirmed as Ginny managed to grab hold of him after he jumped off of his bed. Sam hesitated for a moment though when Ginny suddenly asked him if his Mommy allowed him to run around inside like this. Of course she would not have approved of him running around inside and jumping up and down off his bed like he was. Sam decided to ignore that question though and instead replied with, " Awwww okkkk," when Ginny suggested they take the game outside instead.

"Its ok to shoots it inside the house," Sam answered his sitter's question quickly and nodded his head up and down as he did so. Once again Sam hesitated though when Ginny added if he was allowed to shoot the gun at people. "We were playing Ginny so it was oks," Sam added after a moment of thought and began to nod his head again. Mommy however did not enjoy being shot at while say she was cooking or cleaning the house, and as a result had made a rule that Sam could only shoot at people he was playing with. Of course this usually meant they had the other nerf gun, but Sam didn't necessarily think that HAD to be the case. Sam was not too surprised that Ginny was asking the kind of questions that Mommy would, after all she was a sitter, but he was hoping she would be more of a fun sitter since he was pretty sure she wasn't all the way an adult yet. "Lets go outsides now Ginny. I can be the cops and you can be the robbers ok?," he suggested as he began moving toward the door of his room watching for his sitter's reaction, or hopefully lack of one, as he began to move toward the doorway.

[JodyJames]

Ginny noted that Sam didn't answer if he was supposed to run around so much inside, but given his quick agreement to go outside, she thought he was probably supposed to cool it more inside. He had also hesitated in answering about shooting at people, but his answer did seem honest to her. She thought maybe he was concerned about whether "playing" meant with other kids who had agreed and not adults who had been ambushed into it.

She decided to go along though. She picked up the other gun and helped Sam retrieve the balls that had been shot. "How many do you have, Sam?" she asked. They determined there were twelve balls and she said, "Let's keep track so we don't lose any." They then headed out the front door.

Once they were out, Ginny had second thoughts. "You have to stay well away from the street, Sam. Maybe we should go out back to play." She 'covered' him with the gun and said, "OK Copper, I've got you covered. Into the back yard."

[Roark]

Sam grinned as Ginny picked up the other gun, and helped her gather up his nerf ammo so that he could reload his gun. "Okkkkk," he agreed when she suggested they keep track of the shots so they didn't lose any. Sam was a little surprised when Ginny led them out front since he normally had to play in the backyard, but he was allowed to play in the front when Mommy was with him. Sam squirreled up his nose when Ginny suggested they go to the back to play. There was more room not being constricted inside of a fence and Sam always played in the back so he was not so eager to agree.

Sam giggled though as Ginny suddenly spoke to him in a "bad guy voice" and ordered him to the backyard. "Ha! You don't scare me!," Sam challenged back. The little boy then quickly began to ran and fired a shot at Ginny with a laugh. Instead of running toward the backyard though he ran toward the tree that was close to the sidewalk in the front yard. Sam darted behind the tree for cover popped out the other side and fired another shot at Ginny. "We gots you surrounded! Put your gun down and your hands up!," Sam ordered playfully.

[JodyJames]

Ginny was surprised when Sam didn't do as she asked. It was such an obvious and reasonable request. She stood still for a moment and raised her gun to shoot back. Then she realized that the boy was essentially challenging her authority. It was a minor thing and she might have relented had he asked, but decided she needed to be firm against definace as a starting point. It would be easier to become more lenient than go the other way.

"Sam!" she said, then morphing into maternal mode corrected to "Samuel! I said we were going to play in the back yard. Now pick up the balls you shot and let's go back there."

She waited a moment. Sam was still behind the tree and she could imagine him thinking how far he could push her. She turned her back and started towards the back. "Well I'm going to the back yard. I doubt little boys are allowed to play in the front yard by themselves." She didn't look back at Sam. She was confident he'd follow her.

As she turned the corner, Jonny, a neighbor boy who was a couple of years older came riding his bike down the sidewalk in front of the Martin house. "Hi Sam." he said, "Hunting squirrels?" He pointed at a squirrel in the tree above Sam.

[Roark]

Sam actually froze for a moment behind the tree when Ginny suddenly called him by his full name. When Mommy did that it was never a good thing and either meant he was about to earn a spanking or that he already had. Sam really wanted to play in the front yard though now that he was out here, and just because Ginny had sounded like his Mommy didn't mean that Sam believed she would enforce her will with him like his Mommy would.

Sam was surprised though when Ginny announced she was going to the backyard and he peeked out and saw that she was doing just that. Sam frowned and decided that playing in the backyard with someone would still be much more fun than playing in the front yard by himself. Just as Sam was about to round up his ammo and follow, he turned as he heard a familiar voice call out to him. "Jonny!," Sam answered in greeting. The two weren't exactly best friends but they did play together sometimes and as an older boy Sam thought Jonny was pretty cool. "Nah I was playin' cops and robbers but that sounds more fun!," Sam answered as he looked up to where Jonny was pointing. "I bets I can hits him on the first shot!," Sam declared as he quickly pointed his gun up and took aim. Sam's shot came close but he missed the squirrel and continued to just miss with the next couple of shots as well. "See if you can gets him!," Sam urged Jonny as he held his nerf gun out to the older boy. At this point the squirrel began to hop around in the tree and Sam backed up onto the sidewalk, closer to the road, to keep the squirrel in his sights. "There Jonny there!," Sam called as he pointed out the new location of the squirrel, completely forgetting about Ginny in the excitement of the hunt.

[JodyJames]

Jonny took the gun and fired off a shot missing low and to the right. The Nerf balls really didn't have enough energy to be shot so high accurately, but that didn't dissuade either boy from the hunt. Jonny aimed higher and this shot bounced off the tree and into the street. He was just about to shoot again when he heard a voice call.

In the back yard, Ginny had waited about a minute expecting Sam to arrive. He did have to pick up the shot balls after all. She waited another minute and started to worry. So she headed back to the front. Perhaps Sam couldn't find one of them.

As she turned the corner of the house she saw him shooting up into the tree. She called out, "What are you doing?" The boy lowered the gun from his shoulder and she realized it wasn't Sam but Jonny, another neighborhood kid. Then she saw Sam behind him and closer to the street.

She hurried over and took his arm. Without really thinking about it she gave him a swat on the seat of his pants. "I told you were were playing in the back yard. And what are you doing this close to the street. You know better than that. I know someone whose mommy is going to get a naughty report, don't I?" Ginny hadn't even thought whether she would report this. He had disobeyed, but then maybe she shouldn't have left him alone either. She didn't want to lose this job on her first day.

Jonny, however, had heard enough. He wanted no part of naughty reports whether or not they involved him. He dropped the gun and jumped back on his bike pedaling towards home.

Ginny watched him ride off and then looked back at her charge. "Pick up the balls that got shot, and then were going to have a little talk." She actually meant little talk, and didn't think that many mothers, hers included, often said exactly that when most of the forthcoming communication was between their hand and the child's bottom.