The curious onlooker watched the girl hide her bag from afar and cocked her head in wonder. What could possibly be so secretive in the bag that the girl had traveled so far away from the palace and frantically hidden it?

The onlooker adjusted the lense of the binocular and the focus shifted slightly, blurring out. She cursed as she lost sight of the girl and set her binoculars down on the bedside table.

“ELAINE”, came an all too familiar voice.

She whirled around in surprise and dread, standing in front of her, was the scariest monster of them all. “M-mom. What is it?”

Elaine’s mom gave her the LOOK she always did when she caught Elaine doing something she wasn’t supposed to be doing. Elaine giggled nervously and squeezed her hands together, nearly losing cutting out the blood flow.

“How many times have I told you to stop spying on others?”

Frantic to fix her mom’s misconception so as not to get grounded, Elaine quickly replied, “I WASN’T SPYING! I was observing.”

“Then what was it that you were observing, exactly?” her mom arched a sarcastic eyebrow.

“Watching the birds.”

She rolled her eyes. “We BOTH know that’s not true. Anyways, go downstairs. Lunch is ready. I’ve called you, god knows how many times already.”

“Alright.” she grumbled as she trudged out the door.

Her mom continued with the lecture. Elaine was starting to think her mom enjoyed giving out lectures. It was all she knew to do. “Now, remember that time you were spying around and you caught the nerghbors having sex?”

It was no use trying to tune her out.

“Our neighbors were pretty upset that day and I remember warning you that if you ever did it again, I would take away your binoculars.”

Elaine halted midway down the stairs. “You wouldn’t!” Even as she said this however, there was still uncertainty hinged in her voice Her mom could be...unpredictable at times.

Her mom stopped in her tracks as well. “Oh, I would.”

“MOM!”

“You should learn to take responsibility for your actions. I gave you a warning and you ignored it, therefore, it’s only just that I carry out the threat.” she said, shrugging and continuing on to the last step.

Elaine skipped down quickly to catch up. “Please mom, I’ll do ANYTHING. Don’t take away my binoculars.

Her mom turned around and gave her a mischievous smile. “Anything?”

Elaine only hesitated for a brief moment before nodding her head as reassurance. “Anything.”