The following day William watched the kids ride towards the fair grounds. He had an uneasy feeling that something bad was going to happen. But he tried to ignore it, chalking it up to anxiety he still fights with since his abduction. All through the day he kept telling himself everything was ok and the kids were going to have a good time enjoying their day at the fair.
Meanwhile the kids were enjoying themselves at the fair.
"Hey, let's do the hot dog eating contest" Gene suggested.
"Sure I'm game" both Casey and Evelyn volunteered.
"Count me out" Robert announced and Beverly shook her head no. But they stood nearby to watch. There was room for one more contestant and some old lady from town decided to join them, probably thinking she could win against three little kids. Robert and Beverly cheered for which ever sibling seemed to be eating the fastest. Towards the end both Casey and Evelyn were slowing and trying valiantly not to gag as they couldn't eat anymore. But Gene kept shoveling hot dogs down and it was going to be a race to the end between him and the old lady. In the end Gene won by half a hot dog.
Gene was so excited he could hardly wait to go home and tell everyone at home. His prize wasn't much, a supply of hot dogs. Oh yay, like he'd want to eat more hot dogs, not! But his Dad might want one and possibly his Mom, so Gene decided to go home so he could show off his winnings.
"Come on Casey let's go home" Gene demanded.
"But I want to stay" Casey protested.
"Casey we can always come back. Let's go." Gene insisted and as usual Casey gave in to Gene's demands.
The others stayed, Beverly enjoyed picking flowers while Robert and Evelyn learned to roller skate.
"Beverly are you sure you don't want to join us?" Evelyn asked, feeling bad that Beverly had no one to play with.
"I'm ok."
"You're sure?" Evelyn insisted.
"Yes" Beverly said in exasperation. Why couldn't Evelyn just leave her alone. She liked doing things on her own.
"Come on Evie, leave her alone" Robert suggested as he skated by.
"Ok" Evelyn said as she tried to catch up to Robert. "I just want her to have some fun."
"How do you know she's not?" Robert inquired.
"Well, how much fun could picking flowers be?"
"I dunno, maybe a lot. Let her enjoy what she likes" Robert told Evelyn.
They soon tired of roller skating and decided to play soccer. They asked Beverly to join them but she declined, preferring to catch insects instead.
"Ugh insects" Evelyn said under her breath.
Robert grinned at her and said "Just because you don't like something doesn't mean someone else can't."
"We share a room. I don't want to share it with her and her bugs."
"Well it's better then sharing a room with Sydney, isn't it?"
"Yeah anything would be" Evelyn laughed agreeing.
"Including bugs?" Robert teased.
"Well, almost anything."
It was getting late and they had promised to be home before eight. Robert told Evelyn and Beverly to start home without him and he would catch up. He wanted to get a snack before he left. Once he finished he figured he was about five - six minutes behind the girls, he knew he would easily catch up to them because Beverly was so slow.
It was getting dark but that didn't really bother Robert. He was enjoying his bike ride as flew down the street past the pedestrians walking on the sidewalk. He remembered to use all his hand signals when he was making a turn and stopped at all the stop signs. He imagined he was driving, thinking that it might be fun to be a race car driver when he grew up. He started to pedal faster when he spotted Evelyn and Beverly a little ways ahead of him.
He noticed a car had pulled on to the road a little ways ahead of him. Nothing to be concerned about except they seemed not to know which side of the road they should be driving on. Robert debated on whether he should stop and wait for them to pass but he really wanted to catch up and pass the girls. So he pedaled faster, making sure he stayed as far away from the other lane as he could until the car passed.
Then as the car was about to pass him, it swerved into his lane. He tried to get out of the way but the car was going to fast and the headlights were so bright he couldn't see where he was going. There was a horrible crunching sound as his bike collided with the car and he was catapulted into the air. When he landed he hurt every where, it felt like he had been smashed into a million pieces. Something thick, sticky and warm was covering his face and running into his eyes. He couldn't see or move and he was dimly aware that someone was moaning in pain. It didn't register that it was him moaning, he kept thinking he should've left with the girls. Were they alright? He desperately wanted his Dad or his Mom to be here telling him he was alright.
He heard footsteps approaching him and people talking. "Oh man, you hit a kid. Call 911."
"Dude if I do that I'll lose my license for sure."
"Who cares about your license ? You killed a kid, not a dog or cat, you freaking idiot!" Then in the distance there was the sound of sirens growing louder as they drew closer.
"Look dude I'm sorry but I can't lose my license. I'm out of here."
"What's the matter with you? You can't leave. Don't you get it? You hit a kid! You deserve whatever they throw at you. Losing your license is the least of your worries; especially if you leave the scene of the accident."
"Your right, your right. What am I going to do?"
Robert had no idea who the voices were and was dimly aware they were talking about him but he was pretty sure he wasn't dead. He tried to tell them but they kept arguing amongst themselves. Then there was all the sirens and lights and someone in uniform came and knelt down beside him, asking him for his name. He tried to tell him but no sound came out. He wanted to ask the police officer to get his Dad but he couldn't form the words.
Meanwhile William was at a nearby house after excepting an invitation to a co-workers party. Everyone was drawn to the windows when they heard the sound of squealing tires and the crash. It sounded horrible, William hoped everyone was ok. Then one of his co-workers came running into the house announcing loudly that a drunk driver just hit a kid on a bike. William's heart stopped for a second as his mind replayed those words in his head "a drunk driver hit a kid on a bike" Oh no, this can't be happening he told himself as he took his cell phone out and called Jessica in a near panic. "Jess are all the kids home from the fair?"
"Yes I'm pretty sure they are, why?"
"Check" William demanded.
"What? I don't understand"
Cutting her off William demanded "Jessica just check."
"Ok, ok" Jessica checked but couldn't find Robert. Seeing Evelyn outside putting her bike away she asked "Where is Robert?"
"I dunno. He was going to get a snack, then meet up with us but he never did" Evelyn told her.
"William Robert hasn't come home yet." Jessica said starting to sound worried.
William disconnected without saying anything to her. His heart was racing as he felt he was reliving his worst nightmare. The nagging worry he had, the feeling that something bad was going to happen just came true. With those thoughts running through his mind he ran out of the house and down the street towards the flashing police lights and as he arrived on the scene the ambulance arrived. He passed the crumpled remains of a kids bike that he recognized as the new bike he had just given to his son.
William vaguely acknowledged the voice telling him to stop. "Halt sir you can't go beyond this point."
"I have to. That's my son's bike"
"Sorry sir. Come with me." The officer escorted William towards the ambulance. William's attention was riveted towards the EMT's huddled around a small form on the ground. Before he realized it he had taken a step or two towards them, when he felt a restraining had on his shoulder. "Sir you can't go over there. Best to let them do their job. You can ride with your son to the hospital." William knew the officer was right, he would only be in the way but he wanted to be there comforting his son. William was shaking as he pulled his cell phone out to tell Jessica to meet them at the hospital.
The kids were all excited over the new bikes that William and Jessica gave them. On Saturday everyone took off on their own adventures. William took Sydney in the family van to teach her how to drive. The kids went off on their bikes. William wasn't sure he liked the idea of the kids off on their own, he just hoped they remembered their bike safety lessons that he had insisted they take. He still had an unexplainable bad feeling that something was going to happen.
Evelyn took it upon herself to take Beverly with her. She had appointed herself Beverly's guardian ever since they started sharing a room together. Beverly wanted to go fishing, Evelyn took her to a little pond and while Beverly fished, Evelyn enjoyed the scenery. She especially liked the flowers that grew along the shore line and how Aura Skies looked so far away from where they were.
Beverly was glad that Evelyn agreed to take her fishing; although she was a little disappointed that Evelyn refused to fish with her. She even suggested she bait the hook for her when Evelyn said she thought it was gross but she still wouldn't try it.
After picking flowers for a while, Evelyn grew bored and wanted to go home.
"Bev are you done fishing yet?"
"Not really, they're just starting to bite now."
"How much longer?"
"If you want to go, go ahead I'll catch up" Beverly suggested.
"No I can't leave you by yourself. I promised Dad I would look out for you" Evelyn sighed sitting down in the grass, wishing she had thought to bring a book to read.
After a few minutes, Beverly decided to call it quits and gathered up her stuff. Walking over to where Evelyn was sitting she said "Ok I'm ready to go."
Evelyn looked at her in surprise "I thought you wanted to fish some more?"
"Yeah I do but I can fish at home."
"Are you sure? You didn't have to quit because of me."
"I know but you weren't having any fun. So I thought I would pack it in and go home."
When they got home, Beverly went off towards the shore line in the backyard. Beverly loved to fish and didn't really care where she fished, fishing gave her the only alone time she ever really got as no one else cared for it. Beverly thought that was funny since it seemed like everyone was in the Scouts and they taught you how to fish.
Evelyn wanted to find Robert and found him quietly practicing chess by himself.
"Hey Robert want some company?" Evelyn asked before sitting down to play.
"Sure" Robert said "I've been working on a new strategy and this gives me a chance to see if it works."
"So in other words, you think you're going to win."
"Yep. Up for the challenge"
"Your on" Evelyn said taking the challenge.
Robert enjoyed playing chess with Evelyn. She was the only one who really challenged him and didn't pester him with questions. He played chess with Gene earlier that day but it really hadn't gone well. Gene kept trying to cheat and thought it funny every time Robert caught him at it.
"Gene chess is a game of strategy and logic not a game you can cheat to win."
"Wanna bet? I'll play chess my way and you play chess your way and we'll see who wins."
"Logic and strategy will always beat tricks and cheats" Robert said confidently.
Gene soon grew bored as he learned that he couldn't trick his way to winning the game. "This is stupid. Let's do something else."
"Do you admit defeat?"
"I'm not defeated. I just don't want to play any more."
Shrugging Robert said "Same thing. Quitters never win."
"Who said I was quitting?" Gene asked irritably
"You did" Robert said surveying the board the triumphantly announced "Check mate!"
"ARRRgh" Gene said as he knocked his arm across the remaining chess pieces on the board sending them flying as he got up from the board and left.
"Hey sore loser get back here and clean this mess up." Robert yelled at Gene's back as he stomped off pretending he didn't here. Gene hated to lose. He didn't understand why all his tricks worked on Casey but not on Robert. It should have worked, the little cheater Gene thought as he stomped off.
Gene needed something to do to entertain himself so he tried to play a trick on his Dad while they were playing rock, paper scissors. He thought it went over pretty well. His Dad certainly acted scared when he turned and growled at him. It was funny watching him cringe in fright.
William thought it funny the poor attempt Gene made at scaring him but he played along. He hoped he hadn't put it on too thick cringing the way he did but he figured it was the least he could do after witnessing Gene's defeat earlier at chess.
As it was getting late, Beverly decided to go home and swim in the pool. After swimming for a little while she heard her Dad call her name.
"Beverly, it's time for bed."
"Aw Dad just a little bit longer. Please!"
"No Sweetie. Tomorrows a big day. Remember you're going to the fair and you want to be able to keep up with the other kids, right?"
"Yeah I almost forgot. But I'm sure Evelyn will look out for me."
"I'm sure she will but you still want to be well rested so you can enjoy yourself."
"Ok, ok I'll get ready for bed" Beverly agreed.
After changing for bed, Beverly looked around for her parents to read her a bedtime story. But they must have already gone to bed as she couldn't find them. Instead she found Sydney exercising in the pool room. Not wanting to disturb her, she decided to just go to bed.
"Hey squirt, how's it going sharing a room with the Green Meanie?" Sydney asked.
"Ok I guess. But Evelyn's not mean." Beverly said standing up for her sister. "She was real nice to me today, taking me fishing even though she was bored."
"I guess she has her moments" Sydney agreed "Did you need something?"
"I was looking for Mom or Dad but I guess they went to bed."
"Or something. Best not disturb them" Sydney told her.
"Ok" Beverly sighed.
"Wait" Sydney said not believing she was going to do this but she felt rather bad after observing Beverly looking so dejected. "What do you need? May be I can help."
"Nothing really, I just um" hesitating to tell Sydney she wanted a bed time story read to her. She never knew when Sydney was in a good mood or not.
"Come on kid, spit it out" Sydney said impatiently.
"I wanted a bedtime story before I went to bed" Beverly finally blurted out.
"Is that all" Sydney said "Come on squirt I'll read you one."
Sydney was finding high school difficult. Not so much the homework but because of one particular boy. Jonas Ingberg has been writing her notes and leaving them in her locker. Notes telling her how pretty he thinks she is and how they should get together sometime. However whenever she would approach him, he would ignore her or tell his friends that she was some kind of stalker. They would all laugh and snicker behind her back. There was a dance coming up and she had hoped Jonas had been sincere in his compliments as she had wanted to go to the dance with him. He hasn't asked and didn't seem like he was going to either. Sydney had turned down other invitations from other boys in the hopes that he would eventually ask her. She was growing frustrated with the mixed signals Jonas was giving her.
The night of the dance finally arrived and her Dad had arranged for a limo to pick her up along with her friends. Sydney was a little disappointed that she was going without a date but she trusted what her Dad told her, that there would be other dances and other boys. Eventually she would meet someone who would appreciate her and she was going to take her Dad's advice not to obsess about the boy who wasn't man enough to go for what he wants. She had thought Jonas was that boy; however he spent the entire night avoiding her and the one time she asked him to dance, he turned her down. After that she joined her friends on the dance floor and just enjoyed herself. She was oblivious of the stares and looks that Jonas was giving her from his corner of the room.
"Sydney, what's up with that guy?"
"What guy?" Sydney asked baffled.
"Him" her best friend said, pointing towards Jonas.
"Oh him. He's the one who left all those notes in my locker."
"He's cute. Why don't you ask him to dance?" her friend suggested.
"I did. He said no."
"Then why does he keep staring at you?"
"I dunno. He's a jerk. He probably thinks it's funny. Unfortunately when I was a kid I had a huge crush on him. He probably remembers how I would follow him around. I guess it's pay back."
"Well I think he's a creep."
The night of the school dance was also Beverly's birthday. Both William and Jessica were a little sad knowing their youngest was no longer a baby. Jessica was feeling the familiar longing to have another baby but she agreed with William that six kids were enough and the house was already bursting at the seems. They just added on a second bathroom hoping that would help getting all the kids ready for school in the mornings.
Now that Beverly was a child and too big to sleep in her crib anymore, Sydney felt it was time to assert herself again and ask for her own room. She approached William the next morning.
"Dad now that Bev is a too big for her crib, isn't it about time I get my own room?"
"Sydney your right. Thank you for being patient for so long." William commended her.
"You have no idea how often I wanted to ask but didn't"
"I have a pretty good idea." William commented "I still want to talk to Beverly about it. So if you can wait another day, we'll make the switch this weekend."
"Why this weekend? Can't we do it tonight?" Sydney started to whine.
"No" William continued "Tonight after school you and your Mom will go shopping for new bedroom furniture. Then there's the wait for them to deliver it. So the earliest would be Saturday."
"Can't I go shopping with you?"
"Honey, your Mom is looking forward to this shopping trip with you. You'll have fun."
"Yeah but I'd have more fun with you."
Later that morning William was outside in the garden with Beverly.
"Daddy I love being in the garden, it's so pretty. Do you think I can learn how to grow things?"
"Sure princess. Here let me show you a few things to get you started." William began to show her how to weed and care for the plants. While they worked in the garden, William asked her "
Honey now that your older, how would you like to share a room with Evelyn?"
Beverly stopped weeding and looked at her Dad considering what he asked. "I suppose it might be fun. But why can't she share a room with Sydney?"
"Well honey, a while back I made Sydney a promise that when her mother had a baby girl, she would get her own room. Well Sydney has been waiting to have her own room ever since you were born and big enough to sleep in a real bed. Now it' time I keep that promise."
"We'll have bunk beds right?" Beverly asked.
"You'll have the bunk bed that's already in Sydney's and Evelyn's room" William confirmed.
"Ok. As long as I get the top bunk" Beverly agreed.
"I think that can be arranged."
"Then I guess it's ok."
"Thank you honey for being such a good sport about sharing a room with Evelyn." William said giving Beverly a hug.
Meanwhile Robert has been missing from a lot of family chaos. He likes to withdraw to secluded areas so that he can be alone and read. Lately the best place to find solitude has been in his room of all places. Casey and Gene seldom played in the room as Casey preferred to paint and Gene liked playing outside.
Beverly has been a handful, constantly in motion. She spends a lot of time in Gene's old walker. She learned to walk quickly; although she trips over her feet continuously, so she prefers to be in the walker.
Either that or being held and carried around. Beverly learned quickly that she had her Daddy wrapped around her little finger. Her mom on the hand was a different story. Beverly was apt to fuss more with her than with William.
One afternoon William had gotten her settled in her high chair happily eating her lunch. When William received a phone call he became distracted and failed to supervise Beverly. Noticing that Daddy wasn't paying attention, Beverly started to play with her food instead of eating it. Soon she was covered, the high chair and the floor was a mess. That was when Jessica walked in.
"Beverly Anne, what on earth are you doing? Jessica demanded.
"Playing" Beverly gleefully responded.
"No your supposed to be eating. Not playing." Jessica told her. Turning to William she said "Why weren't you watching her?"
William finished his call and sheepishly turned to Jessica saying "I'm sorry. I guess I got distracted and wasn't watching."
"That's obvious" Jessica retorted as she lifted Beverly from the high chair. "Looks like you get a bath before your nap."
"No, no, no bath" Beverly started to cry an struggle in her mothers arms. "No bath, no! Daddy help!" She appealed to William as she disliked being given a bath.
"Sorry honey, you make the mess you pay the price and I have too." William sighed as he surveyed the mess she made and how he disliked having to clean it. But since he was partially to blame he felt it was only right that he clean it.
"Daddy please!" Beverly pleaded to no avail as Jessica took her off to bathe her. William found it hard to ignore her pleas and whimpers.
Over the weekend Gene and Casey were trying to decide what to do. They had grown tired of watching cartoons.
"Let's go outside and see how many gnomes we can kick over" Gene suggested.
"Naw, that's no fun. Besides we might break one of them."
"Who cares? It's something to do" Gene insisted.
"You can if you want to. I'll find something else to do."
Gene went outside intent on kicking some gnomes when he started to imagine how they would seek revenge on him and tie him up like Gulliver in that book his Dad read him. He was suddenly not so intent on wanting to kick any gnomes. He was becoming increasingly frustrated at not finding anything fun to do.
So he went back inside to see if Casey found anything exciting to do. He found Casey happily painting another useless picture.
"Casey come outside and play with me"
Casey stopped painting for a moment to look at Gene and say "What all done kicking gnomes?"
"Yeah it was stupid" Gene said matter of factly "I'm bored."
"There's another easel" Casey motioned towards the other easel "You can learn to paint."
"I'm not in the mood to paint. Come outside" Gene insisted.
"And do what?" Casey asked
Gene shrugged his shoulders saying "I dunno, we'll think of something."
Sighing loudly in annoyance, Casey put his painting supplies away. "Ok you win."
As soon as they were outside Gene went to where he had stashed his supply of water balloons and started throwing them at Casey.
"Hey! What's the big idea?" Casey exclaimed as the first balloon hit him in the face.
"I said we'd think of something. Well I just did. We're having a water balloon fight."
"You coulda told me"
"Yeah but I'd a missed the look on your face!" Gene said laughing so hard he had to hold his stomach.
Sunday night there was the usual mad rush to finish homework before school the next day. Everyone was either trying to eat or do homework crowded around the small kitchen table. Jessica just couldn't understand why they insisted on waiting until Sunday night to do their homework. Why couldn't they just listen to her, when she suggested they do on Friday, then they wouldn't have to worry about all weekend. Watching the Sunday night chaos, Jessica envied William who had an excuse not to be here as he was cooking at the restaurant on Sunday nights.
Sydney finished first and was getting ready for bed. Her mom asked her to occupy Beverly while she helped everyone else finish there homework. Sydney found her gleefully messing up the boys bedroom.
"Bev you know you're not supposed to be in here."
"Why" Beverly asked innocently.
"Because this is the boys room and your making a mess."
Beverly just giggled and went on about her business.
Sydney shrugged, thinking why should she care if she destroys their stuff and at least it's not hers. But she knew they boys would complain and only make Beverly cry. She wasn't sure why, but she had a soft spot for her youngest sister, hopefully the last little annoyance her parents would foist upon her. "Bev are you hungry?" Sydney asked hoping this might distract her.
Beverly stopped what she was doing to look at Sydney and nod.
So Sydney went out to the kitchen to get a bottle. Coming back to the boys room she held out the bottle towards Beverly to see if she could get her to follow her out of the room. Eventually she was able to lure Beverly out and gave her the bottle before she started to fuss.
Sydney was so excited when she came home from school one day to find that her parents had planned a surprise birthday party for her. She knew exactly what she was going to wish for, her own room. She's been good and hadn't brought the subject up with her dad in months and months, it felt like forever.
Everyone gathered around to watch her blow out her candles. Jessica was excited that Sydney was finally becoming a teenager and hoped she would be of help around the house. William was a little sad as he watched his little princess grow up into a beautiful young lady. He disliked the idea of her growing up and not needing him anymore.
Sydney was excited at the prospect of going to the salon after everyone enjoyed eating her birthday cake. She wished more of her friends would have shown up for her party but she wasn't going to let it dampen her excitement as becoming a teenager. She was going to get a job, learn to drive, go to prom and have her own room, just not all in that order. She still had to wait for Beverly to quit sleeping in her crib but her birthday was coming up soon.
Sydney loved her new look and couldn't wait to see what her friends thought of it. She wondered if Jonas Ingberg would regret being so mean to her now. She hoped so.
