2 Whiny sisters

Evelyn was a brunette with sleepy eyes and a pouting mouth. She was still in bed, which was fine, but she looked Muriel right in her eyes and kept tugging on her cord, ringing the bell. She didn't stop until Muriel walked right to a spot beside her and laced her rough fingers before her abdomen.

"Ah, you certainly took a longer route," Evelyn said as she swiped some wrinkles out of her blanket. Her manicured fingernails glittered in the cold morning light. "I want oatmeal with fresh apricot wedges."

All the muscles in Muriel's face loosened. Then she nearly bit her tongue as she said, "You mean to say you want preserved apricots?"

Evelyn shook her head and sniffed. "Of course not! Last night, I heard a rumor that fresh apricots with oatmeal gives one fuller and softer lips. Why shouldn't I try it?"

Muriel pointed at the nearest window, which was foggy and cold, and she said, "Snow fell last night! You won't find a fresh apricot within the continent!"

Sad little lines forming in her normally smooth brow, Evelyn whined up to her with a childish voice, "You're being so nasty! There's no need to be that way!"

Muriel's foot stomped onto a soft rug that was there for Evelyn to step on whenever she got out of bed. "We're having poached eggs, bacon, toast, and jam. If you want anything different, come and make it yourself!"

Evelyn's face screwed into something like crumpled paper and she started using a high pitched, weeping kind of tone. "You're too nasty! You're always too nasty! Whenever I want something you act like a brute!"

Rolling her eyes, Muriel turned around and started walking away. She ignored Evelyn's voice as she went into the hallway ... but then she had to pause because someone else's voice was calling out to her.

It was Sarana, Muriel's eldest sister.

Muriel knew she had to at least make sure her eldest sister was alright.

She went across the hall to Sarana's room. Sarana was in her bed, just as the other sister had been. Sarana was a pretty blonde with blue sapphire colored eyes, but she didn't look pretty on this morning. She was greasy and bitter, wiping her cheek with the back of her hand. "I need my pills, but they aren't on my nightstand. Do you know where they are?" They were literally made of sugar, pepper, and mint. They were for refreshing the mind in the morning.

"No," Muriel softly told her, "I'm afraid not."

"Would you look for me?"

Muriel sighed. "Where did you last see them?"

Sarana gave a dull shrug. "I don't know." Her tone suggested that she thought Muriel's question was pointless.

Muriel folded her arms. Her elbow length, fitted sleeves were a little coarse under her fingers. "I'm not going to look for them right now. I have to finish with breakfast, and then eat breakfast. After that I have some sweeping, dusting," here, she tapped her boot's toe against the floor as she counted each task, "and then I'll have to wash up the dishes, then more dusting, and I need to go shopping."

Sarana became almost as whiny as Evelyn had been. "But how can I get out of bed if I don't have my pills?"

Why those sugary, spicy things weren't in their box on Sarana's nightstand wasn't a concern for Muriel at that moment. She chose to leave the room without another word.