The Talented Mr. Kipling

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"Mr. Kipling you are getting a time out," Jessie told the lizard, closing his cage door. "And no TV for a week."

"I think you are being very harsh," Ravi told her. "Mr. Kipling paid you a visit cause he gets very bored in his cage. Plus, he's a cuddler."

"Oh, that explains the claw marks on my calves!"

"Jessie, I need help," Diana said, walking into the room. "I have to write an essay on something big that happened to me this week and nothing big or interesting has happened to me!"

"Okay, we'll figure out something big to do," Jessie told her before Emma entered the room.

"Jessie, I have a huge problem. I love my photography class," Emma said.

"Okay, I know I'm new to this whole nanny thing, but not seeing the problem."

"The problem is I got the worlds laziest partner for this assingment!"

"You call it 'lazy,' I call it 'selective participation,'" Luke said from the doorway. "Now, Jessie, give me... Pouty nanny. Okay, that was more constipated nanny, but I can touch it up. I can't believe I can get school credit for taking photos of cute girls."

"The assingment is to take pictures of New York's flora and flauna," Emma told him.

"Ooh, I hope those are hot Latin twins."

"God, you're a pig," Diana scoffed at her younger brother.

"Do you have an off switch?" Jessie asked Luke.

"Yep. You wanna try and find it," Luke smirked.

"Nope. Okay, look. We are going to the park. That way, you guys can work on your assingment, we can push Diana in a duck pond or something for her big essay, and Ravi can take Mr. Kipling for a walk, or a slither, or whatever he does."

"No, no, no, no," Ravi protested. "We cannot take Mr Kipling for a walk."

"If Mrs. Chesterfield sees him, she'll throw a hissy fit," Diana told her.

"Yeah, she's the head of the condo board," Luke added.

"And a real pain in the ashram."

"Oh, is she that annoying lady downstairs that's always carrying that homely baby?" Jessie asked.

"It's a dog."

"You're telling me. Someone whomped that child with the ugly stick."

"He means it's a Chihuahua," Emma clarified.

"It's Chi-hideous," Jessie said. "Look, Ravi, I'm not gonna let some old grouch keep you from walking your pet. We'll just ask Tony to make sure the coast is clear."

"I'm on it!" Tony the doorman said over the intercom.

"Tony, are you eavesdropping again?" Jessie asked.

"Now that I've looked up that word, yes."


"All right. Let's go," Jessie said as the elevator opened. "Come on, come on, come on. Move it, move it, move it!" She turned to Emma once everyone was on. "You have this and you have your camera." Mr Kipling whipped his tail up and hit Jessie. "Keep your tail to yourself."

"Yeah. She's mine," Luke said.

"No, I'm not," Jessie told him. "All my boyfriends have to be at least 18. And human."

"So, Luke, you're oh for two," Diana said.


Tony motioned to them to go back when the group stepped out of the elevator in the lobby. The same lobby Mrs. Chesterfield was walking into with her dog.

"Hey there, Mrs. Chesterfield," Tony greeted, trying to block the older woman from entering the elevator. "That was a short walk."

"I know. But we're tired today," Mrs. Chesterfield told him. "Last night, the noise from those urchins upstairs was intolerable. Wasn't it, my little chimichanga? Yes. Give Mommy a kiss. Yes."

"Hey! No PDA in the lobby!" Tony exclaimed. "Well, better go get your beauty rest." He pressed the elevator button just to have the elevator the Ross's were in to open up. He panicked for a moment before leading her to the other one. After he had ushered her into the elevator, he knocked on the other one. "It's all clear. You can come out now."

Everyone walked out of the elevator covering their noses and coughing.

"Luke, you couldn't hold it till we got outside?" Emma asked, a disgusted look on her face.

"Hey, it wasn't me," Luke defended. "It was Mr. Kipling!"

"Oh, sure. Blame the lizard," Ravi said.


Diana sat with Luke and Emma as they worked on their project. She held her notebook in her lap trying to scout out things she could write about.

"Ooh! Ha! Cockroach!" Luke said, pointing his camera at the bug.

"Luke, help me, or I'll tell Jessie you still sleep with Kenny the Koala," Emma told him. Diana let out a little snort.

"Kenny just likes to hang out on my bed. Don't turn this into something ugly."

Emma thrust the camera into his chest.

"Okay, okay. Oh, man! No way!"

"What?" Emma asked, excitedly.

"I can see right into Bertrams room," Luke told her. "Oh, he's shaving his own back."

"Ew!" Diana said before running over and pushing Emma out of the way. "Let me see!" Luke handed her the camera. "Oh, gross! I wanna look away, but I can't. Oh, good. A giant bird just blocked my view."

"What? Let me see!" Emma tore the camera from her sisters hands. "I think that giant bird is a Hudson Valley Hawk! This book say's they're incredibly rare!"

"Not as rare as a guy shaving his back with a razor taped to a spatula," Luke said.


"You can bring Mr. Kipling back now," Tony told Jessie over the phone as he stood in the lobby, his back to the elevators. He never noticed Mrs. Chesterfield strutting out of the elevator. "Mrs. Chesterfields not here." He hung up the phone and turned around to reveal said woman behind him. "Mrs. Chesterfield! Eh, you're here, ha, ha!"

"Who's avoiding me?" Mrs. Chesterfield asked.

"Uh, pretty much everybody in the building. You scare people." She just stared at him, anger in her eyes. "There goes my Christmas tip."

"Here's a tip. When the president of the condo board asks you something, answer it. What's going on?"

"Whatever it is, it has nothing to do with a giant lizard," Tony told her nervously as Jessie and the kids tried to slip in the door unnoticed. Chesterfield screamed as she turned around and saw Mr. Kipling. She hugs her dog tight and hops up on a table.

"You people have a vicious, cold-blooded reptile living in this building?"

"Why not? You live here," Zuri says.

"Uh, Zuri, that's not nice," Jessie told her.

"We were all thinking it," Diana said, fist-bumping her youngest sister.

"Hi, I'm Jessie. And I..." Jessie tried introducing herself.

"I don't care," Chesterfield said. "Giant lizards are not allowed in this building! Tony, help me!" Tony picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. "Uh, I meant by the waist! Oh, put me down, you charmingly boyish troglodyte!"

"Woah! Language!"

"Please, Mrs. Chesterfield, do not take away my pet!" Ravi begged.

"Pet? That's not a pet! That is a before picture of a pair of boots and a matching belt." Mrs. Chesterfield walks by Jessie, grabbing what she thought was Zeus' leash, and walked into the elevator. They heard screaming and the sound of fabric ripping once the doors closed.

"Oops, heh," Jessie chuckled awkwardly as she handed the dog over. "You-You took the wrong leash.

"Oh, did I? Thanks for the news flash, Bessie!"

"That's gonna stick," Diana muttered to her nanny.

"Jessie, I cannot lose Mr. Kipling!" Ravi said. "He's my best friend!"

"I'm so sorry, Ravi. If I hadn't suggested taking Mr. Kipling for a walk, this never would've happened."

"I agree. If only you could've had this a-ha moment earlier." Jessie looks over in offence to the rest of the kids as they nodded in agreement, even Tony.


Jessie had pissed Mrs. Chesterfield off even more when she brought her cookies that ended up breaking her tooth. Now animal control was on their way to take Mr. Kipling away.

Diana sat at the kitchen counter trying to work out the first paragraph of her essay while Bertram unpacked groceries.

"Do I put frogs in the refrigerator or the pantry?" Bertram asked.

"I don't know. That's not my job," Zuri said as she colored at the counter next to Diana.

"I never imagined it would be mine either."

"I vote fridge," Diana told him.

The doorbell buzzed and Zuri hopped up to answer it.

"Hello, little girl. May we come in?" Mrs. Chesterfield asked. Two animal control workers stood behind her.

"No," Zuri told her. "And Jessie says I'm not supposed to talk to strangers."

"Oh. I'm Mrs. Chesterfield from downstairs. I'm not strange. Let me talk to the older one back there." She pointed at Diana. Diana got off the stool and walked over to the door, taking it from Zuri.

"Thats a matter of opinion," Zuri said. Diana then smiled sweetly and went to slam the door in Chesterfields face but her hands stopped the door.

"Out of my way," Chesterfield told them and stormed in.

"You're strange and rude!" Diana shouted.

"And you have dog breath!" Zuri added, the two sisters running after the group of three.


"Nothing to see here!" Zuri shouted, holding tight to Chesterfields wrist as she tried to stop her from going into Ravi's room while Diana tried to stop her from the front.

"A-ha! If there's no giant lizard living in this apartment, then how do you explain this?" Chesterfield asked, gesturing towards Mr. Kiplings cage.

"It's an indoor playground," Diana lied.

"Guess they didn't have those around when you were a kid," Zuri added.

"How dare you! I'm only 32!"

"Maybe in dog years."

"So you're claiming this contraption is yours?" Chesterfield asked Zuri.

"Absolutely," Zuri told her. "It's mine! It's fun!" She climbed around the cage, gagging at the smell as she did. "And it doesn't smell bad in here at all."

"Well, then how do you explain these tiny animal skeletons?"

"You have your hobbies and Zuri has hers," Diana shrugged.


Diana ran out to the balcony, where Luke and Emma were, with Jessie and Ravi after Chesterfield had left the penthouse.

"Is Animal Control still up here?" Jessie asked Diana.

"We lost Mr. Kipling!" Ravi exclaimed.

"He's not lost. He's right down there," Luke said, looking over their balcony onto Chesterfields. "Oh, and he looks like he's about to eat Mrs. Chesterfields stupid mutt."

"What?" The all shouted. They rushed over and looked over the balcony where they could see Mr. Kipling crawling out of the vent and approaching Zeus.

"My complaint is that there's a 7 foot lizard named Mr. Kipling running amok in my building!" Chesterfield shouted into her phone. "No, I don't know his first name! Well, I don't care if that leaves a blank on your form! No, don't you put me on hold! And I'm on hold."

Diana watched from the balcony with Luke and Emma as Mr. Kipling got closer and closer to the dog.

"Okay, I'll bet you both 5 bucks the lizard eats the dog and Chesterfield," Luke told his sisters.

"You're on. I bet she tastes as bitter as she looks," Emma said.

"I bet they team up and both eat Chesterfield," Diana smirked. Luke laughed as they all leaned over the balcony.

"The hawk is moving! Give me the camera!" Emma said, looking up.

"Oh, it's diving straight towards us!" Luke said, looking at the hawk through the camera.

"I think it want's the chihuahua!" Diana exclaimed as they watched it with wide eyes.

"Hey, everybody loves Mexican," Luke joked. When the hawk was close to Zeus, Mr. Kiplings tail whipped up and slapped the bird down. Luke captured that moment on the camera. "I got it! Now that's an action shot!"

"I think I figured out my essay," Diana laughed.

"Gee, must feel pretty bad almost losing your pet like that," Jessie said.

"It does," Chesterfield frowned. "If I lost Zeus, who would I watch Real Housewives with?"

"So now you know how Ravi feels about Mr. Kipling."

"You and Mr. Kipling watch The Real Housewives of New York too?" Chesterfield asked.

"Oh, absolutely," Ravi said. "But if you want to see a real cat fight, you should check out The Real Housewives of New Delhi."

"See? See how we're all bonding?" Jessie asked.

"So does this mean Mr. Kipling can stay?"

"Oh, I didn't say that," Chesterfield said.

"Oh, come on! If it weren't for this lizard, right now, your dog would be a yappy meal," Jessie told her.

"All right," Chesterfield gave in. "Just promise to keep that disturbing creature away from me."

"Deal. You will never see Mr. Kipling ever again."

"I was talking about Zuri. She's a very strange child. Matter of fact, keep the older one away too."

Jessie furrowed her eyebrows, Zuri was the youngest which weird older child was she talking about?

"She's talking about Diana," Ravi told her. Jessie nodded in understanding.

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