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 Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 7:51 pm
Cal didn't know what to do. For a few days Flint has been locked up in the office. She'd leave food by the door and he'd eat it. Then he'd only get into bed late at night and never touch her or say anything. Cal missed her husband. So she decided to take the twins out, maybe if they all got out of his hair he'd lighten up. She just didn't like it.
So with a hand both on her daughter's hands, and was heading for the park. It was a bit hard, being a single mother with two twins, both full of energy. Especially Echo, and she tended to get Lenore all racy, but a day at the park would tire them both out.
"Mama, park!" Lenore complained, tugging on the arm. She could see the swings and the slide! Oh she wanted so bad to go down the slide. She loved the slide most of all.
"We're almost there Lenore, just one more minute. We have to cross the street." Cal told both the girls, pausing at the crossing walk. She looked between the two, wondering who she should let go to push the button to allow them to walk. "Echo why don't you push the button so we can cross?"
"I wanna! I wanna!" Lenore complained, pouting deeply.
"You can push it on the way back." Cal asured Lenore, already feeling tired. She was so lucky to have Flint. She'd never be able to handle the twins without him. Once again she sighed, she wished that she knew what was wrong with Flint.
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Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 12:01 pm
"BAM!" Echo jumped and smashed the button with a tiny fist; strangely enough, the button stayed pressed in instead of popping back up. But it was an ugly orange button, anyways, so the little girl was not too upset by this. "I pressed it. Let's go now!"
She tugged on her mama's hand, becoming the leader of their little chain as they walked across.
Once they made it to the park, she immediately let go and darted off to the sandbox. Echo dove in, much like one would for a pool, and sand flew everywhere. They weren't even in the park for two minutes before she was covered in mess. That was a good record.
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Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 12:21 pm
Chloe looked like a woman on death row as she trudged along behind her mother-in-law, Abigail. The woman was a constant drain on her already crumbling psyche. At least she could push the stroller. Grandma Abigail, as she now demanded to be called, was a small but very intimidating woman, from her crooked nose to her stuffy grey suit she screamed rules and regulations. She was the source of Ryan's controlling nature, and she wasn't any different with the twins. Todd and Cary were both strapped tightly into a double stroller, for their own good, and whenever one of them so much as tugged on the buckle she would stop for a twenty minute lecture. It had made the simple jaunt to the park seem like an eternity. A few hundred yards back she had given them a stuffed bear to play with, and blatantly ignored the bickering as she strode proudly into the park, fully intending to show off her perfect little grandbabies to anyone and everyone that would give her the time.
"Mine!" Todd hissed, pulling the bear in his direction. He was already stronger than his brother, but not necessarily more stubborn. "No, mine!" Cary snapped back, tugging with all of his weight behind him. With no leverage in the stroller the fight would go on forever, but Cary was a little smarter than his brother. For a moment he stopped pulling and Todd relaxed, then he bit down hard on his hand. Todd shrieked, then started to beat him brother over the head with his now freed prize. Chloe simply sighed, looking around for the nearest bench.
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Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 12:27 pm
Cal didn't even have the energy to lecture Echo back, instead she just let go of Lenore and let her go running after her sister. She didn't get how Echo had all that energy. With a pale hand against her forehead to make sure she wasn't getting a fever she too went to the nearest bench but paused when she saw a woman, an old woman and two twins themselves already approaching it. She bite down on her bottom lip not wanting to bother them but at the same time she glanced at the boys.
Little play mates for Lenore and Echo.
Not that Lenore noticed the boys. She was going straight for that slide. Running past her sister in the sand pool she went for the slide. Her pudgy little hands grabbed on to the latter as she climbed up quickly before sliding down with a big loud "Weeeeeeeeee!" she giggled as she landed on her butt then debated. Swings, slide or Echo. It was a hard choice, she liked all three so much.
Cal glanced over at her kids, glad to see they were easily going to just have fun. Oh to be a toddler again, so care free and without stress. They didn't have to get an ulcer over the fact that their father didn't seem to even want to look at their mother anymore. Or the fact that their mother was ugly and pale and curveless and...Cal shook her head. She couldn't afford a sprial right now.
Flint needed her to be strong. So she turned and smiled to the strangers. With every spare ounce of bravery she spoke.
"...Hi." she whispered.
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Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 12:37 pm
"Len-Len, flwey." The word fly was garbled as she spoke between mouthfuls of sand. It looked tasty, but it was actually very icky. Echo began to hurriedly scrape at her tongue with her mouth, spitting bits of sand at whatever child dared come near her in the box. This was a meanie place to play. She stood up, kicked some sand in various directions, and toddled off towards her mother. Maybe Mommy would give her some candy to get the ucky taste of evil sand out of her mouth. "Mommy, mommy!" The girl nuzzled Cal's knee before noticing the two boys in the stroller; it wasn't so much that they were interesting themselves, but they were fighting, and it was funny.
"Tug, tug!" Echo giggled. She wanted to play, too; she crept over and grabbed the bear's leg, giving a great, big pull. At this point in time her modified strength was that of maybe a twelve-year-old's, and the protrusion came off with a sharp ripping sound. "I GOTS A LEG!" She beamed proudly at the two boys; they may have had the bear, but she had it's leg.
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Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 12:46 pm
Chloe offered a weak smile, pushing her hair out of her face as she collapsed onto the bench. "Hi," she answered, glacing wistfully at Lenore, "Your girls are beautiful." She had barely finished her sentence when she heard the ripping noise, and it made her cringe without even having to look. Of course she didn't suspect Echo, she thought it was the boys that had done it. Exhausted, she sighed and shook her head. Abigail was disinterested now, and had shuffled off to the chess boards to see if she couldn't find someone she knew. After all, who better to gloat to then your friends?
Todd however, was full focused. He looked at the leg, then the girl, then the bear, and lastly his brother. He wimpered, holding the remains of the stuffed animal to his chest. "Broked," he sobbed, burying his face in the now deflating fabric. Cary snickered, freeing himself from the confines of the stroller. With a little stumble he pushed himself off, landing on his butt on the ground. "Stupid bear," he commented, looking up at Echo, "Leg's best part. Wiggly."
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Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 12:51 pm
Cal glanced at the boy still in the stroller and then the mother. With gentle hands she helped the next boy on to the ground. She was surpised the first one didn't fall. With the scary older woman gone Cal could relax a little as she sat next to the obviously exgausted woman.
"Oh your sons are just adorable." she said back. Okay, this wasn't so bad, safe, simple, no insults being thrown around. Maybe they'll be alright.
Lenore didn't like being the one all alone so she quickly walked over to her sister and the boys. Her eyes were wide as she looked over them a bit warily. She hadn't ever met anyone new before and with a mother like Cal and a father like Flint Lenore and Echo weren't naturally friendly.
"Not pretty." she decided about the broken bear and it's leg. She had no use for non-pretty things. The boys were okay though, not pretty but men weren't suppose to be pretty so it was alright.
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Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 12:57 pm
Echo nodded in agreement. "It also squishy." She mashed it in her hands to prove her point grinning with glee. "I can wiggle, too." Starting with shaking her but, she slowly began to sway side from side, then she grabbed Cary's hands to get him to join. "You wiggle, too!" She began to increase her pace to where it was a fast dance. There was no song, but the girl seemed to be making her own beat, giggling all the while.
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Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 1:03 pm
Chloe nodded, glancing at the kids. "No one's bleeding yet," she observed, "That's always a good start." She was still a bit timid, but this woman didn't seem snide. "I'm Chloe," she offered, holding out her thin hand, "The boys are Todd and Cary."
Cary struggled to keep his balance as the girl tugged him around. Neither he nor Todd could walk or stand very well yet, but it was an A for effort. Fortunately for her he didn't weigh very much and she seemed to be pretty strong. "Woah," he yelled as he started to tumble, but something seemed to catch him and bounce him back up onto his feet. Todd paid more attention to Lenore, mostly because she didn't seem to want to pay any to him. "You pwitty," he offered, trying to get to his feet, "Like buttflies."
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Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 1:12 pm
Cal smiled, shyly, but a small one when she offere dher name. They seemed to be making pleasent conversation! Oh she knew having kids was the right idea. She'd be able to network with mothers. And Flint couldn't dislike that could he?
"I'm Calendra, but most people call me Cal." she said timidly back, and took the hand in her delicate grip. "The neat one if Lenore and the strong one is Echo." she introduced her kids. It was hard to tell them apart since they were identicle.
Lenore suddenly liked the boy who complimented her and smiled big at him. No one had called her pretty before, at least no one besides her mother and father, who don't count because they're family.
"Thank...you." she said slowly, struggling a bit with the words. "Buttflies pretty." she beamed, happy to be pretty like them.
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Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 1:17 pm
Echo let go and fell backwards. "BOOM!" This was fun; Lenore didn't like to get dirty, so she rarely got to play so actively with another. "Butterflies are fun! They go squish like leg." It wasn't so much that Echo didn't like bugs, she'd just get too excited while playing with one, resulting in tragedy for the six-legged creature.
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Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 1:26 pm
Chloe looked cautiously over her shoulder for Abigail, then smiled to Cal, "Don't mind her, she'll be gone for a while." As much as she had loved Ryan, she didn't see why she still had to put up with his mother. The old bat was insufferable and it made the shy woman want to snap.
Todd nodded pointedly, though Echo's comment made him cringe. Why would you squish something if it didn't even hurt you? "I like blue ones," he told Lenore, digging his fingers into the dirt. He didn't have a whole lot to play with at home, and things were still hectic though he didn't know why, "She say he did too." The "she" was not directed at Chloe, but rather the absent Grandma Abigail. Cary was a little more reckless, and this game of spin and fall had him giggling. There was already a button missing from her overalls, lost somewhere along the path from their apartment to here, so what mattered if he messed them up more? "Want swing," he said decisively, pointing at the swingset a few hundred feet off.
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Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 1:33 pm
Lenore joined Todd in the cringe. She remembered Echo doing that and it made her sad. She felt the butterfly's life end brutally. She didn't even have a chance to help like she did with the flower. It was over to quick and she was young, she didn't etnirely get what she was doing.
"Purple ones." she said quietly while pointing to herself. She blinked confused though. Not sure who the 'she' and 'he' where. "Who?" she asked, tilting her head to the side confused.
Cal glanced over at the children and then back to Chloe. "Is she your mother or mother in law?" Cal asked, asmusing that this nice woman must be married. Her husband was probably just at work or something similar. Cal never asumed tragedies for other's lives.
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Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 12:52 pm
"SWING! SWING!" Echo began chanting the phrase, quite pleased with the discussion. "RACE YOU!" She began to dart off on her tiny feet, mussing her hair and clothes more as she took a spill into some dirt, and tried to push up to run off again.
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Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 12:57 pm
"Daddy," Todd said nonchalantly, attempting to steady himself on his feet. Chloe cringed at the question, questioning again why the old woman was still here despite her obvious disinterest in her grandsons. "She is, was, my mother-in-law," she explained, having to pause and correct herself, "My mother is here too, just at home." Cary was not much for races, especially when he knew he was going to lose, so instead of following Echo immediately he grabbed up what was left of the teddy bear and hobbled along behind her, taking his time to do so. "Don't run good," he said mostly to himself as he went, "Don't walk good neether."
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