Balloons

She waited in the checkout line, a decorated cake, some chicken and the balloons tied to her cart. Pink and blue, she thought, and she smiled. The cashier smiled back and asked "Having a party?" She smiled again and nodded. She hurried out of the store, loaded things into the car and headed home with a mission. The family would be arriving in an hour or two for the cookout she had scheduled in honor of the school year's end. She was a teacher, after all, and the end of school was understandably a cause for celebration. Good cover.

As she pulled into the driveway, she decided the balloons were first. She carefully peeled them off the inside roof of the Highlander and hurried out to tie them to the mailbox. Stepping back after tying the strings, she made sure the balloons had room to wave about and nodded her satisfaction. Grabbing the cake and the chicken from the front seat, she closed the car door and headed inside. The house needed some last-minute touches she doubted Mat would attend to...

Ninety minutes later, they turned onto the street and rolled the last quarter-mile to her place, there were cars in the drive, he noticed, they weren't the first ones here. Sheila noticed them first. "Oh no, what's going on? Those balloons are pink and blue. What are they up to?" He shrugged, "It's a party, you're making more of them than they are--just balloons." He parked the car and waited for her to join him at the end of the walk. As she reached to ring the doorbell, they opened the door, each holding a toddler. "Say Hi to your new grandma and grandpa, kids," she said as she and Mat handed the boy and girl to their new grandparents. "These are our children, tell them what you want them to call you."