Post by GGJ5 on Apr 28, 2011 23:22:30 GMT -5
OOC: I wrote most of this while quite tired. So the transitions are weak and the humor is super cheesy. Buuuuut still.... BIC:
The clock struck four, and a relaxed silhouette was nestled in the corner of the couch, near the door. The silhouette moved into the light at the sound of the bus’s breaks outside, which gave a loud shriek as they approached. Erin’s face glanced out the window, watching her oldest girl get off their bus and traipse across the front yard, soon followed by the elementary bus that returned the rest of the Maki clan to their home.
Rae reached the door first, practically prancing with the new aura of being 13. She liked to remind everyone she knew –and didn’t know- that she was the first one in her grade to turn 13. But she had yet to have her party, since her birthday was on a school day. They had it planned for this weekend—a sleepover starting right after Erik’s birthday party ended and all the messy boys went home. His birthday wasn’t until next week, but since they were so close together, they’d gotten into the tradition of having the two oldest children’s parties on the same day, or at least within the same weekend.
At least, that was the plan.
Erin pulled her phone out and grinned.
The normal ruckus of children tearing across the house was a welcomed sound—having all of them at school at once had not been an easy task. The chaos and shouts and thumps screamed the blessing of her family coming back together once more. Even if it felt totally crazy most of the time, or maybe because of it. “They made me write a poem today!” Erik shouted from the room he was sharing with the twins, sounding utterly disgusted. “I had to use the letters in my name! K is a crappy letter!” The protest continued until he was in the living room, giving a pointed glare at Erin. “Why’d you put so many crappy K’s in my name, anyway?”
“You know why, Erik, and please tell me you’re not calling stuff crappy at school. I really don’t like talking to your teacher that often.” Like it was really that huge an issue like the teacher made it out to be… he was going into middle school next year, so she should be glad it wasn’t like when he was littler. And harder to coheres into using other words in other places…
Erik shrugged, going off into the kitchen where he could scrounge for snacks. Granted, he never had to scrounge very hard.
Rae started across the living room, too, followed closely by Star, as they were drawn like magnets to the after-school snacks. The twins, however, were too busy wrestling each other’s Batman action figures to remember they wanted food. Of course, the newly-thirteen Rae had to glue herself to the new phone they’d given her for her birthday. Erin waved, signaling for her to end the conversation or save it for text or something. She briefly made a face about cutting her conversation short, but Rae still did it. At the same time, the phone buzzed in Erin’s hand, signaling her own email had received a message. She put it on hold. “Bees, Rae?”
“Huh?” Rae looked up, startled.
“Where’d you get dead bees from, anyway?”
Rae started chewing the inside of her cheek and glancing every which way. “I didn’t…”
“That was my idea!” came Erik’s voice from the kitchen, earning a loud whine from Rae at his betrayal. “If you put out a liter of coke with a bit at the bottom, they fly in and drown!” he informed everyone cheerily.
Okay, he was really making it hard to be the mom just then. That was pretty crafty for a ten year old.
Not too long before the kids had come home, both Erin and Yukito had gotten calls at their workplaces about Rae. She was a good student, so it was never academic, and this was the first call they’d had about her all year. But this wasn’t the old “Rae’s been backtalking lately” kind of call. It was the “your daughter was caught putting dead bees in her French teacher’s soup.”
“Really, Rae? Why did that seem like a good idea? And Erik, why would you tell her that?” Oh my god, I sound like my dad… It’s finally happened. She’d cry about it to Yukito later, but right now she had to stick with the role she found herself in.
“I don’t like French,” Rae said, sounding sullen. “She’s so mean all the time, to everyone, and makes kids cry. Erik doesn’t like her, either. She gave up her right to a bee-free lunch when she made Carley cry again.”
Erin’s eyebrows rose. Gave up her right? What the crap? “Um… yeah, I can see where you could feel that way, Rae, but…. dead bees, really?”
“Does Daddy know?”
Erin nodded, glancing down at her phone. “There are consequences, Rae… we’ll tell you later…” The idea of having to punish Rae deflated her, especially because of the motives. She was sort of doing something not terrible, if you looked at it right… Yes, better had wait for Yukito before she caved and let it go. She glanced at her phone, and saw the message was from Erik’s teacher. And she groaned.
“Erik, why did your teacher email me?” The distaste for the contact soaked through Erin’s voice, and she dropped back onto the couch and opened the mail as Erik shrugged. “I dunno. I didn’t call anything crappy or sucky today… I didn’t even say anything about that weird thing in her hair that looked like it used to belong to an animal—“
“Erik…” Reading the email under her breathe, Erin finally looked up. “You wrote ‘Kira’ on your acrostic poem about yourself? You know you made your teacher think it really meant ‘killer’?” Erik barely had time to affirm this when Erin continued, “You could’ve just said it meant sparkly, because that’s what it means! Jeez… Erik, you’ve got her freaked out now.”
“She freaks out when your pencil’s too sharp,” Erik said, brushing it off easily. “She says it’s a deadly weapon.”
“I’m telling her your granddad’s a psychiatrist and he’ll talk to you,” Erin muttered as she thumbed back a reply. A glance showed her Erik’s horrified face.
“Mo-om! It was a joke!”
“I know, but at least it’ll keep Mrs. Panicky from spamming me anymore… and don’t freak her out so much!”
“But she makes it so easy!”
“Hush, or I’ll make what I’m telling her come true,” Erin teased as she sent out the email. That seemed to satisfy Erik for a while—either that, or an attack by two five-year-olds secured his attention enough that he couldn’t reply. And then, kids thoroughly distracted, she called Yukito.
***
It didn’t take much discussion, surprisingly, for Erin and Yukito to decide on the consequences for Rae’s bee incident, with a little dash thrown in for Erik, just for kicks. Their conveniently located birthdays made the job even easier. And at least this way, it would be fun. At least, for them. Not so much for the kids…
***
“What?!” Rae’s eyes widened in absolute terror. Erik, meanwhile, mocked retching sounds as he doubled over at the news his parents had jut delivered.
“You heard us, Rae,” Yukito replied almost breezily. “I can see it in your eyes. Plus, maybe it won’t be as horrible as you think to share your party day with your brother…”
“Are—you—kidding?!” Rae wailed, as Erik advanced to fake-choking himself. “I’m going to die!”
“I’m already dead!” Erik announced from his spot where he’d collapsed onto the floor. “Now I’m a zombie, and I’m gonna eat Rae’s brain tonight so she forgets about her stupid party!”
“I think in time,” Yukito started in a musing tone, “You’ll look back on this and think that sharing your birthday parties was not as bad as you would have thought.”
Erin giggled, only making the oldest children worry just a bit more. And once the kissing began, both Rae and Erik quickly vanished. Just as planned. And once the children were asleep or at least pretending to be, Yukito and Erin could cobble out their Pièce de résistance. Being a parent could be pretty fun…
***
“Mamaaaa, please, Erik’s friends pick their boogers and tackle each other in the mud and don’t wash their hands when they touch the food! It’s disgusting! Can’t we at least have separate food?” Rae sounded like she was dying inside.
“MOM!” Erik appeared too, covered in said mud. But no boogers. That was good. “Dad said I can’t switch the music from Rae’s playlist, but it’s my turn now, I counted, and it’s been way more than 15 minutes!”
“You counted,” Erin echoed, trying her best to hide the amusement.
“Yes! I counted!”
“On your invisible watch.”
“Ye—Crap.” His face fell. “I still wanna change it. It’s my party, too, and it feels like more than fifteen minutes listening to her stupid—”
“Erik!”
“Fiiiine…”
“Wait, Erik.” The time had come. It was all she could do to keep from bursting into laughter.
Erik stopped in his tracks, seeming hopeful now, though Rae let out a groan and something about how it was so not fair.
“You’re right; we do need a change in music… I was thinking a little karaoke,” Erin said cheerfully. “YUKITO!” From across the yard, he looked up, and seeing her face, knew what followed. She couldn’t help it after that, she had to laugh, especially with the beautifully sly look on his face as he walked over to her. “I’m ready when you are,” she said through giggles, which only earned more groans from the guests of honor.
“You’re always ready,” Yukito replied, and she could tell he was having a hard time keeping his own amusement at bay, at least for the moment.
“What are you doing?” Erik asked warily, as Rae shook her head in a prayerfully repeated, “Nonono…”
Yukito quickly found the song he was looking for, and as the opening strains flowed out of the oversized speakers, Rae’s face fell into utter mortification. And Erik was utterly lost. They didn’t have microphones to carry out the deed, but neither needed them. They were plenty loud enough on their own, and the yard full of preteens was about to hear it.
And so commenced what Yukito and Erin mutually decided was the best backyard-without-a-mic performance of “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” ever in American history. Including the hand gestures and stage moves Erin liked to throw in, where Yukito played in when he could. But even after years stuck with her, he wouldn’t jump into jazz hands or anything. And as predicted, the children survived their “worst birthday ever, how could you DO something so EMBARRASSING?! Those are all my FRIENDS!”
And all either of them had to say in response was, “dead bees.” And smile.
The clock struck four, and a relaxed silhouette was nestled in the corner of the couch, near the door. The silhouette moved into the light at the sound of the bus’s breaks outside, which gave a loud shriek as they approached. Erin’s face glanced out the window, watching her oldest girl get off their bus and traipse across the front yard, soon followed by the elementary bus that returned the rest of the Maki clan to their home.
Rae reached the door first, practically prancing with the new aura of being 13. She liked to remind everyone she knew –and didn’t know- that she was the first one in her grade to turn 13. But she had yet to have her party, since her birthday was on a school day. They had it planned for this weekend—a sleepover starting right after Erik’s birthday party ended and all the messy boys went home. His birthday wasn’t until next week, but since they were so close together, they’d gotten into the tradition of having the two oldest children’s parties on the same day, or at least within the same weekend.
At least, that was the plan.
Erin pulled her phone out and grinned.
The normal ruckus of children tearing across the house was a welcomed sound—having all of them at school at once had not been an easy task. The chaos and shouts and thumps screamed the blessing of her family coming back together once more. Even if it felt totally crazy most of the time, or maybe because of it. “They made me write a poem today!” Erik shouted from the room he was sharing with the twins, sounding utterly disgusted. “I had to use the letters in my name! K is a crappy letter!” The protest continued until he was in the living room, giving a pointed glare at Erin. “Why’d you put so many crappy K’s in my name, anyway?”
“You know why, Erik, and please tell me you’re not calling stuff crappy at school. I really don’t like talking to your teacher that often.” Like it was really that huge an issue like the teacher made it out to be… he was going into middle school next year, so she should be glad it wasn’t like when he was littler. And harder to coheres into using other words in other places…
Erik shrugged, going off into the kitchen where he could scrounge for snacks. Granted, he never had to scrounge very hard.
Rae started across the living room, too, followed closely by Star, as they were drawn like magnets to the after-school snacks. The twins, however, were too busy wrestling each other’s Batman action figures to remember they wanted food. Of course, the newly-thirteen Rae had to glue herself to the new phone they’d given her for her birthday. Erin waved, signaling for her to end the conversation or save it for text or something. She briefly made a face about cutting her conversation short, but Rae still did it. At the same time, the phone buzzed in Erin’s hand, signaling her own email had received a message. She put it on hold. “Bees, Rae?”
“Huh?” Rae looked up, startled.
“Where’d you get dead bees from, anyway?”
Rae started chewing the inside of her cheek and glancing every which way. “I didn’t…”
“That was my idea!” came Erik’s voice from the kitchen, earning a loud whine from Rae at his betrayal. “If you put out a liter of coke with a bit at the bottom, they fly in and drown!” he informed everyone cheerily.
Okay, he was really making it hard to be the mom just then. That was pretty crafty for a ten year old.
Not too long before the kids had come home, both Erin and Yukito had gotten calls at their workplaces about Rae. She was a good student, so it was never academic, and this was the first call they’d had about her all year. But this wasn’t the old “Rae’s been backtalking lately” kind of call. It was the “your daughter was caught putting dead bees in her French teacher’s soup.”
“Really, Rae? Why did that seem like a good idea? And Erik, why would you tell her that?” Oh my god, I sound like my dad… It’s finally happened. She’d cry about it to Yukito later, but right now she had to stick with the role she found herself in.
“I don’t like French,” Rae said, sounding sullen. “She’s so mean all the time, to everyone, and makes kids cry. Erik doesn’t like her, either. She gave up her right to a bee-free lunch when she made Carley cry again.”
Erin’s eyebrows rose. Gave up her right? What the crap? “Um… yeah, I can see where you could feel that way, Rae, but…. dead bees, really?”
“Does Daddy know?”
Erin nodded, glancing down at her phone. “There are consequences, Rae… we’ll tell you later…” The idea of having to punish Rae deflated her, especially because of the motives. She was sort of doing something not terrible, if you looked at it right… Yes, better had wait for Yukito before she caved and let it go. She glanced at her phone, and saw the message was from Erik’s teacher. And she groaned.
“Erik, why did your teacher email me?” The distaste for the contact soaked through Erin’s voice, and she dropped back onto the couch and opened the mail as Erik shrugged. “I dunno. I didn’t call anything crappy or sucky today… I didn’t even say anything about that weird thing in her hair that looked like it used to belong to an animal—“
“Erik…” Reading the email under her breathe, Erin finally looked up. “You wrote ‘Kira’ on your acrostic poem about yourself? You know you made your teacher think it really meant ‘killer’?” Erik barely had time to affirm this when Erin continued, “You could’ve just said it meant sparkly, because that’s what it means! Jeez… Erik, you’ve got her freaked out now.”
“She freaks out when your pencil’s too sharp,” Erik said, brushing it off easily. “She says it’s a deadly weapon.”
“I’m telling her your granddad’s a psychiatrist and he’ll talk to you,” Erin muttered as she thumbed back a reply. A glance showed her Erik’s horrified face.
“Mo-om! It was a joke!”
“I know, but at least it’ll keep Mrs. Panicky from spamming me anymore… and don’t freak her out so much!”
“But she makes it so easy!”
“Hush, or I’ll make what I’m telling her come true,” Erin teased as she sent out the email. That seemed to satisfy Erik for a while—either that, or an attack by two five-year-olds secured his attention enough that he couldn’t reply. And then, kids thoroughly distracted, she called Yukito.
***
It didn’t take much discussion, surprisingly, for Erin and Yukito to decide on the consequences for Rae’s bee incident, with a little dash thrown in for Erik, just for kicks. Their conveniently located birthdays made the job even easier. And at least this way, it would be fun. At least, for them. Not so much for the kids…
***
“What?!” Rae’s eyes widened in absolute terror. Erik, meanwhile, mocked retching sounds as he doubled over at the news his parents had jut delivered.
“You heard us, Rae,” Yukito replied almost breezily. “I can see it in your eyes. Plus, maybe it won’t be as horrible as you think to share your party day with your brother…”
“Are—you—kidding?!” Rae wailed, as Erik advanced to fake-choking himself. “I’m going to die!”
“I’m already dead!” Erik announced from his spot where he’d collapsed onto the floor. “Now I’m a zombie, and I’m gonna eat Rae’s brain tonight so she forgets about her stupid party!”
“I think in time,” Yukito started in a musing tone, “You’ll look back on this and think that sharing your birthday parties was not as bad as you would have thought.”
Erin giggled, only making the oldest children worry just a bit more. And once the kissing began, both Rae and Erik quickly vanished. Just as planned. And once the children were asleep or at least pretending to be, Yukito and Erin could cobble out their Pièce de résistance. Being a parent could be pretty fun…
***
“Mamaaaa, please, Erik’s friends pick their boogers and tackle each other in the mud and don’t wash their hands when they touch the food! It’s disgusting! Can’t we at least have separate food?” Rae sounded like she was dying inside.
“MOM!” Erik appeared too, covered in said mud. But no boogers. That was good. “Dad said I can’t switch the music from Rae’s playlist, but it’s my turn now, I counted, and it’s been way more than 15 minutes!”
“You counted,” Erin echoed, trying her best to hide the amusement.
“Yes! I counted!”
“On your invisible watch.”
“Ye—Crap.” His face fell. “I still wanna change it. It’s my party, too, and it feels like more than fifteen minutes listening to her stupid—”
“Erik!”
“Fiiiine…”
“Wait, Erik.” The time had come. It was all she could do to keep from bursting into laughter.
Erik stopped in his tracks, seeming hopeful now, though Rae let out a groan and something about how it was so not fair.
“You’re right; we do need a change in music… I was thinking a little karaoke,” Erin said cheerfully. “YUKITO!” From across the yard, he looked up, and seeing her face, knew what followed. She couldn’t help it after that, she had to laugh, especially with the beautifully sly look on his face as he walked over to her. “I’m ready when you are,” she said through giggles, which only earned more groans from the guests of honor.
“You’re always ready,” Yukito replied, and she could tell he was having a hard time keeping his own amusement at bay, at least for the moment.
“What are you doing?” Erik asked warily, as Rae shook her head in a prayerfully repeated, “Nonono…”
Yukito quickly found the song he was looking for, and as the opening strains flowed out of the oversized speakers, Rae’s face fell into utter mortification. And Erik was utterly lost. They didn’t have microphones to carry out the deed, but neither needed them. They were plenty loud enough on their own, and the yard full of preteens was about to hear it.
And so commenced what Yukito and Erin mutually decided was the best backyard-without-a-mic performance of “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” ever in American history. Including the hand gestures and stage moves Erin liked to throw in, where Yukito played in when he could. But even after years stuck with her, he wouldn’t jump into jazz hands or anything. And as predicted, the children survived their “worst birthday ever, how could you DO something so EMBARRASSING?! Those are all my FRIENDS!”
And all either of them had to say in response was, “dead bees.” And smile.
-Mascii(:
