How to Entertain Wolf Pups on Summer Break

How to Entertain Wolf Pups on Summer Break 

“I’m bored.”
Marissa cringed at the slightly whiny tone in Thor’s voice. She looked at the calendar and mentally counted how many weeks she had left until her little darlings went back to school. Too many, she thought with a sigh. Bringing the boys in to Java Joe’s every morning until either Mooney or Lex could pick them up had worked fine for the first few weeks of summer vacation but now Thor, the social butterfly of the two, had met every single regular and learned everything there was to know about each. Loki, on the other hand, was fine so long as he had a sufficient supply of reading materials.
“How about some arts and crafts,” she said as she wiped down a table.
“I don’t want to do arts and crafts,” Thor moped. “You already have a boat load of my art hanging on the fridge.”
“What if I commissioned you to do something real?” Marissa asked casually, watching the larger blond twin out of the corner of her eye. He perked up at the sound of “commission.” Then she noticed that Loki put his book down and look at her as well. She bit back her smile.
“What kind of commission are we talking here?” Thor asked. This time Marissa couldn’t bite back her grin. That boy was just entirely too much like his dad.
“Yeah,” Loki kicked in. “Is it the going rate or will it be a bigger project?”
“Mom said it was for me, bookworm,” Thor tossed at his dark-haired, smaller brother.
“You have no head for contract negotiation,” Loki said, setting aside his book, the newest in the “Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer” series. “As your attorney on record, it is my responsibility to ensure you do not enter into any unfavorable deals or accidentally sign away any artistic rights to your original art work.”
“What you mean,” Thor cut in, trying to sound sarcastic, “is that you want a cut and since you can’t draw stickmen, you’re going to try and ride my coat tails.”
Marissa watched the ongoing debate between her boys with mixed humor and dread. They were only eight years old and they were making perfect sense. Their teenage years were going to be interesting, she suspected.
“Ok, Mom,” Loki finally said. “What kind of commission were you offering my client?” Marissa bit her lip. This one, the thinker of the two, was so much like his Uncle Nick it wasn’t funny. Seeing Loki and Thor together gave her all kinds of insight into what her mate and his own brother had been like as kids.
“I could use a new tip jar,” she said with a smile. “The current one is kind of plain.” Loki and Thor got up and walked over to the counter, nodding their heads and stroking nonexistent beards on their smooth chins.
“I accept,” Thor said eagerly. Loki bopped the back of his head and he yelped. “What?”
“Payment terms?”
“Oh,” Loki said looking sheepish.
“What were you planning to offer in compensation?” Loki asked.
“Well, I was thinking I could pay you, say, a trip to the candy store for a down payment and then some unlimited ride tickets to next month’s fair?”
“SOLD!” Thor crowed before ducking the swing he knew Loki was going to aim at the back of his head. “What kind of tip jar art were you interested in, Mom?”
‘How about you make me a few designs and I’ll pick the one I like best.”
“Or we can set all the tip jars out and let the visitors choose by which one they put their money in!” Loki said, finally dropping his kid lawyer shtick.
“Sure,” Marissa agreed, nodding and silently prying this wouldn’t back fire on her.

(See below for a selection of tips jars the boys’ put forth)

Thor, the Artist’s Contributions:

 

Loki, the Non-Artistic One’s Contributions:

 

 

The following Tip Jar submissions were made anonymously. Marissa wanted to get rid of them, but they seem to be winning the tipping contest, and Loki said that getting rid of them would be rigging the results, possibly opening her up to accusations of favoritism and perhaps a law suit…