Six sets of eyes stared. That's twelve dirt-smudged, rose-hued cheeks and five grimy fingers for each; the math is startling. Like good little neighbors they knew immediately when something interesting was happening at the yellow house. The big truck that pulled alongside its driveway was the tip-off that notified them of change. His pressed pants betrayed nary a wrinkle, the stubble on his face said he wasn’t one to care for appearances. Under the strange man’s arm he carried the very appropriate clipboard distributed to all couriers by the Delivery Company.

From their position the attentive eyes could not see all that transpired at the door, but when the man returned to his truck the observers didn’t miss his signal to his companion. The two rolled up the back, lowered a ramp, and then the whiskered one jumped onto the truck bed. A box preceded him on the way out, guided down by his much younger partner.

In an instant Heero recognized the company logo.

“That’s where I got my beam saber replacement from,” the boy whispered. “Wish she hadn’t sent it back an’ I wish I knew where Melody hid mine.”

“That’s gots t’ be way bigger in a beam saber,” Duo wisely informed the chibi crew.

Irritated, Heero shot back, “I know.”

“Well what do you think it is then?” Wufei asked.

The braided boy shrugged and Heero put the gesture into words, “How should I know? They makes lots of stuff.”

“Can you guess?” Trowa wondered aloud.

“Why would Hilde’s uncle want somethin’ from there?”

Relena sweetly smiled, “Oh, Quatre maybe not everything from there is dane-jus.”

Wufei, Duo, and Heero sighed an inward ‘bummer,’ seeing that she was probably right—not that they’d ever tell her so. Still it didn’t dampen their curiosity.

The aforementioned box’s sides were nearly as high as the tallest chibi, Trowa, and it was slightly wider than tall, therefore it could not be shoved through the much thinner doorway. It instead traveled to the back, where the dolly was pulled out from under it. Hilde was there. She would have been disappointed in the name of the laborsaving device, had she known. The two delivery guys left with a, “Have a nice day, young un.” The blue-haired chibi cheerily waved.

Tactfully, the chibis waited for a brief time before bombarding their neighbor. They tried to assimilate sociable questions into the barrage, but it didn’t hide their true objectives—to find out just exactly what was in the box.

Good-natured, Howard supplied several unmistakably wrong suggestions, piquing the young ones’ curiosity even further. For some reason this still didn’t discourage the persistent little buggers. If he didn’t want to tell them, it was all the more interesting; especially to the lethal weapon oriented chibis.

“Well, little dudes, why don’t we just open it?” The elderly hippie proposed.

“Yeah,” the chibis chimed in unison, gathering around the object of their recent fascinations.

Foam peanuts, white and seafoam-green, spilled over the edges as Howard extracted the contents. Fourteen little hands played with them, tossing them around while Hilde’s uncle removed the item from its protective layer of bubble wrap.

“What IS that?” Duo asked.

The braided chibi got his answer. It didn’t help much. Howard explained thoroughly how it worked and what it did; though his choice of words was above anything they could comprehend. In spite of that the boys stood transfixed, listening. Maybe Heero understood, at least a little.

Pop.

The energetic old man went on, ignoring the interruption.

Pop, pOp, POP.

At the repeated sounds the mechanic lost his once captive audience.

Trowa turned and questioned, “What are you girls doing?”

Hilde stomped her foot on the sheet of bubble wrap in demonstration.

“Girls are weird,” was Wufei’s pragmatic observation.

Despite the Chinese chibi’s less-than-flattering comment Duo beamed, eager to join in even if it meant having to get close to Hilde. “My turn,” he announced.

“Get your own.” The girls giggled while dancing on the bubbles they shared.

Quatre gently tapped Howard’s leathery arm. Negotiating his words around a very lose tooth and one hole, he asked, “If there’s anymore could I haf it, pleath?”

Obligingly the man handed the blond a sheet.

“Thank you.” The ‘th’ was a little more pronounced than intended through his big grin.

“No prob, short stuff.” Howard carried in his new acquisition, leaving the chibis to play until he returned.

“Can I try?”

The young Arabian laid the plastic on the cement path. “Shhur,” he answered Trowa.

“What about me?” Duo pouted.

Hearing the complaint from inside his workshop, Howard came back to pull a second item from the box; sending another shower of peanuts. He unwound more sheets of bubble wrap and handed them to Duo and Heero, “Here, little dudes.”

The two boys mimicked what Quatre and the girls had done, placing the sheet on the ground. Generously, Duo offered, “Wufei, ya wanta have that side, its big ‘nuff for two?” Then in a more Duo-like manner he added, ”But’cha hafta only do that side.”

“No,” The Chinese chibi answered the American, “B’havin’ like that’s not dingo-vied.”

Duo shrugged and proceeded to jump and shout with intermittent zealous peals of laughter, acting in a most undignified way. Wufei ‘hmphed’ at him.

The Japanese chibi carefully tested his weight on the air sacks. Slowly shifting his balance to one foot he then leaned forward, standing on his toes. Pop, POP. A few bubbles gave to the pressure. He experimented with several more methods—jumping, walking on his heels, and then the sides of his feet— to see if they reacted differently.

As expected, the girls had exhausted their sheet. A close inspection revealed all the former domes collapsed. Relena watched Heero for awhile, smiling because he was too engrossed to tell her to stop.

“Can me ‘n Relena have the box?” Hilde questioned her uncle.

Howard returned again, with a grin, “If ya pick up the foam.”

“Oooooh-tay!” the girls exclaimed as he handed them both a trash bag.

Trowa cartwheeled over the bumps. POP. He executed a marvelous back flip. Pop, pop, POP.

Exited, the blond chibi clapped, stomping to deflate more air bags. “Do thomething elthe,” Quatre cheered.

The emerald-eyed chibi walked across the sheet on his hands in response.

“We’re done,” Relena called out, aiming her head toward the workshop.

“Got ev’ry last one ov‘um,” Hilde confirmed.

Howard playfully lifted the blue haired chibi by the belt loop of her jeans. “No you’re not.” He tossed her lightly over the side of the box, which still held enough foam packing nuts to cushion her fall.

“Me too, me too,” Relena pleaded.

“I’m too old, I can’t,” Howard joked as she continued. “Ow, oh, I’ve got a crick in my spine.”

Relena, full of concern, a frightened worried expression on her face, was sympathetic. “Does it hurt that awe flea bad? Maybe you should go in an’ lay down,” She advised the bent-over man, gingerly touching his back.

He then wrapped his arm about her waist and swung her out and over the cardboard wall, “Look out below, one more worker for the diamond mine.”

The chibi landed next to her coworker. Remnants of the blizzard resided tangled in Relena’s honey tresses. She giggled “Brrrr. Hilde. Look! It started to snow.”

“Hoi, beh quoiet an’ git tah wurk,” Hilde answered in a deep voice and heavy, but unrecognizable, accent.

Relena saluted smartly. Two black objects, the trash bags tossed by Howard, came in unannounced.

“Ahhhh, cave-in,” the girls screamed, quickly unburying themselves.

“Thur beh no’un ‘urted,” The princess-turned-miner reported, picking up the other’s odd speech.

Hilde bellowed, “Gud, git ee back tah wurk.”

“Aye,” Relena started shoveling. “I’ve been working on the railroad…” She dropped the accent, finding it too difficult to keep while singing. Hilde soon loaned her boisterous tones to the song.

Wufei, who had stayed close to the box, pushed the cardboard flap down and peered over the top, standing on tiptoe. The girls digging inside could see his chin resting on the edge as he addressed them. “I thought Howard said you was in a mine. That song’s for people workin’ on trains, an’ only men do that.”

“Nuh-uh girls can do it to,” Hilde replied.

“An’ sides we don’t know no mine songs,” Relena finished.

“How ‘bout this then?” Hilde asked, and whispered to her co-worker.

“Oh-ee-oh Oh-oh, Oh-ee-oh Oh-oh,” they began, a la Wizard of Oz, which Wufei didn’t like in the least and Relena knew it.

Duo nudged Heero, earning a fierce glare. “Hey, maybes we can mail ‘um to sum nuther country. Like R’zona or Ice Lund.”

“Not far enough,” The logical chibi informed his companion. “We’d need an hole latta stamps. An’ the mail guy’s left ‘ready.”

“Melody likes Relena; we’d get in a lotta trouble. No desserts for…like ever.”

“But she wouldn’t watch me an’ hug me n’ all that icky stuff enymore.”

They heard noises coming from the topic of their conversation.

Duo wrinkled his nose as if a malicious odor had suddenly offended his delicate senses, “Let's go play sum'where else.”

"'Kay."