“Then let the hunt begin!” their mom announced, sending the three of them scurrying off on their way. Crisanta playfully pushed her way in front of Kalina, who had also apparently noticed the bright pink plastic egg sitting on top of the lamp.
“Yeah, and -I’m- the cheater,” Kalina grumbled quietly as she passed, on her way to check behind the TV, a rather popular hiding place in the past.
“Grow up,” Crisanta whispered back, snatching up an egg from behind a stack of DVDs at the entertainment center. “I barely touched you.”
“Found one!” Camelia proclaimed proudly, bending down to pluck up egg at the couch, setting it gently inside her basket, as if it were a real egg.
“Good job,” their mom said encouragingly.
“You’d better hurry,” Crisanta teased Kalina, who was now checking the bookshelf. “We’re gonna be done before you find even one.”
Kalina spun around, but managed, with obvious difficulty, to bite back whatever she had been about to say, replacing it with, “Maybe if you’d quit bothering me.”
“Okay then,” Crisanta chirped, hurrying off to the dining room. She knew she really should probably leave Kalina alone, but there was just something about the day – maybe because it was already so nice and bright out, maybe the ears off the chocolate bunny she’d already eaten, maybe something else – that made her feel a little giddy, more like a little kid. It was hardly her fault that Kalina had decided to be grumpy.
Well, it sort of was, actually, and that thought sobered her, if only for a moment. At least Kalina had been allowed to do the Easter egg hunt anyway, despite her punishment; she could have at least been happy about that. And it really -wasn’t- Crisanta’s fault that she’d chosen not to be.
There was another call of “Found one!” that brought a smile back to Crisanta’s face, as she bounced into the dining room and continued her hunt.