Katrina woke up and stretched in her bed.  She had been pretty busy lately with tranlations.  Busy was good because it meant that they might have enough money for the month.  But it also meant that she didn't spend much time with Demitri.

At first glance you could tell that Katrina came from european stock.  She was what polite people would call curvy.  She had thick dark hair that she normally kept in a straight ponytail held at the base of her neck held by a leather barrette.  She dressed in casual slacks and hand knit fair isle sweaters that she knit herself.

She could hear Demitri and Tomo playing in the living room.  It's cute how he talks to cats all the time.  He even spent time with the alley cat that lived out back.  But this preoccupation was also a little disturbing.  He should be with other kids, not hanging around animals all the time.  He said that other kids were too loud and could never just sit and watch.

Katrina rolled over and hugged her pillow.  She dreaded getting up.  It's great being busy with work, but it reeks havok on the housework. Last night she had made a promise to herself to at least put a dent in  the dishes that had piled up.  A promise is a promise, even if made to yourself.  She whipped off her covers like someone pulling off a band-aid or plunging into cold water. She grabbed her robe and headed to the shower before she could change her mind.

The shower woke her up completely and gave her energy to face the day.  She combed out her hair and tied it back with a large leather barret.  She put on her work clothes, and went out to face down the dishes.

Except they were already done.  And put away.  And the sink looked like it had been polished.

She looked around the rest of the apartment.  The carpet was vacuumed. The dirty clothes were all in the hamper.  Demitri's bed wasn't made -- at least that was normal.  The plants had been watered.  The bookcases had been dusted.  There was a mystery here and she suspected it centered around her son.

"Demitri, did you do the dishes?"

"No Mama."

"Do you know who did?"

"Tomo says that the little brown people did it.  I think he means brownies."

Katrina was taken aback by this.  She used the brownie excuse when she did things late into the night for Demitri.

"Tomo says that we should leave a saucer of milk out for the brownies to thank them. They like milk.  They also like honey."

"Tomo thinks we should leave out some milk?  Won't he drink it?"

"Oh no -- he knows that it's for the brownies.  Drinking it would be rude.  Then the brownies would get mad and do mean things instead of nice things."

Katrina gave her son a big hug. "Then we had better leave some milk out and thank the brownies."