What the one with the birthmark did next didn't surprise him but scared him instead. She climbed, quite quickly, onto a round table and stood up on her toes right away. She was reaching. He didn't know. He just grabbed her around the waist. Want it, she said. More of a cry, actually. What, he asked, did she want so desperately to risk her life at such a young age?
Book. Okay. Which book? And then the other one was on the table and that sent the whole thing over sideways because of course it wasn't actually designed to support the weight of two moving children. Swiftly over. He grabbed the other one as it happened. He held them like matching grocery bags, snatched from a store that was plunging down a sinkhole.
Damage control. The twins applauded. Cute, little open fingered claps. Maybe it should have made him mad that they were happy but instead he was happy. He had saved them. Not the table. The table was still teetering back and forth on the floor. Cheap card table, probably now down one functional leg.
He set them down, carefully. Back in. With everyone else. Let's stay in there, okay?
Okay, they both said.
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