section7mfu | Leona Sees a Pirate, A Sugar & Spies Tale

Napoleon and Leona Nicole entered the apartment and the little three year old girl immediately began searching for her Papa. The two fathers had been on a two – pronged mission that had the Russian in Virginia infiltrating a group of scientists being courted by THRUSH while the CEA had been in Oregon impersonating a THRUSH Central Committee member in order to find out exactly which satrap was making the overtures and why. Illya had convinced all but one of the scientists to turn down the offers being made and Napoleon, after determining who the scientist would be working for, put the Portland office in charge of surveillance. His flight landed at JFK while Illya’s went into Newark, so Napoleon had stopped in Springfield Gardens, Queens to pick up the toddler before heading home.
Leona found Illya in his bedroom and Napoleon could hear them talking as he walked down the hall to his room. He quickly unpacked and changed and then headed back to the kitchen to find the takeout menus as there was nothing in the fridge and everything in the freezer was rock hard.
Moments later, Leona and her beloved Papa stood in the doorway. He was carrying her and making her giggle as he covered her face with kisses. “Daddy, why is this one telling me that there was a pirate in the drugstore?”
“There was! Tell him, Daddy!”
Napoleon tossed the menus for Wo Fat Chinese and Guido’s Pizzeria onto the counter. “Tonight’s dinner choices. I remembered that I needed razor blades so we stopped in the Rexall down the block. She was standing in the aisle while I was deciding what size package to buy when all of a sudden, Leona shouts, ‘Daddy, there’s a pirate!’ and starts saying ‘Arrrrrrr’ and holding her hand like a hook. I looked up to see a woman wearing a black eye patch pushing her cart toward us and the look on her face told me she was not amused.”
“Ah, that explains a lot. I was starting to think Lamont and Rosie had some kind of costume party. What did you say to this woman?”
“Before I could say anything, I heard hysterical laughing behind me. I turned around and another woman who had obviously heard Leona was laughing so hard, she was holding her sides and leaning against the shelving. She kept saying, ‘I’m sorry, but that was so funny!’”
“Papa, Daddy told me what I said wasn’t nice, but I told him Miss Davis told us about pirates and said that they wear eye patches like the lady. I wasn’t being bad.”
“No, you weren’t, Sweetheart. When Leona said that she didn’t mean to be bad and she was sorry, she looked like she was about to cry and the woman with the patch knelt down in front of her and said, ‘Don’t cry, little girl. It’s all right. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad.’ Then she looked up at me and said, ‘I’m sorry I upset your charge here. I’m a little self-conscious about it.’ Then she smiled and added, ‘I guess I do look a bit like a pirate.’”
Illya kissed Leona’s forehead and reached for a menu. “I am surprised you did not work your charm on this woman.”
“I did, but she looked old enough to be my grandmother. She was only buying one or two things so I insisted on paying for them by way of an apology. She accepted, I paid and here we are.”
“Daddy called it an adventure!”
“I see. Now, let us see if Daddy will call for delivery. Shrimp Egg Foo Young for me, please.”
“May I have an egg roll, Daddy?”
“Of course, you may. Do you know what a pirate’s favorite letter of the alphabet is?”
“No, Daddy.”
“Why, it’s arrrrrrrrrrr!” Napoleon answered in his best pirate voice which caused his daughter to laugh and his partner and co – parent to roll his eyes.