

“What a gregarious imp!”
Mabel shrieked, her deep-toned voice sounding in the kitchen like the wail of a banshee as she watched her nephew, Zack, scramble down the pastry shelf and zoom away like flash with three cupcakes clutched to his chest.
The tiny rogue even had the audacity to cackle like a villain who had just conquered a kingdom and made off with its treasures.
Three cupcakes meant that Zack wasn't alone in this pastry heist. He and his partners in mischief, Jimmy and André, would devour the sugary delights and became even more hyperactive than they already were.
She had placed the pastries on the top shelf in the pantry confident the boys wouldn't be able to reach them. It seemed their determination proved stronger than her logic.
Mabel stood with her hands on her hips, her eyes narrowed in concentration as an idea dropped into her mind. A slow smile spread across her face.
She slipped out of the kitchen quietly to find the boys sitting in a circle under the old mango tree nibbling at the cupcakes. The boys froze when they saw her with a large bowl covered with a cloth.
“What have you got there?” André asked suspiciously.
Mabel smiled sweetly. “Nothing. Just a special treat I was keeping for well behaved boys.” The boys immediately looked sober, glancing at each other and the cupcakes in their hands. “Not for boys who steal cupcakes from the pantry,” she added.
In a flash, they apologised blaming it all on Zack. Mabel tried to maintain a stern expression but their cute faces made her smile. “Fine. You can have the cupcakes if you help me with some chores in the kitchen, yeah?”
“Yes!” They chorused and followed her back into the kitchen.

I hope you enjoyed reading this short piece. It's inspired by the Freewrite #dailyprompt phrase "gregarious imp".
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