The
warm weather begged for the family to come out and play. Camille and Donovan
decided a trip to the park would be the perfect family outing. They rounded up
the kids and set out for a day out of the house.
“Evangeline,
don’t you think you’re a little too big for that,” Camille asked her daughter
who had begged her daddy to carry her.
“Never!
Daddy will always carry me!”
Camille
shared a look with Donovan. They both knew that one day their little girl would
not be quite so openly affectionate towards her parents though Camille doubted
that she would ever cease being daddy’s little girl.
At the
park, the two newlyweds took a seat on a bench and watched as the children
played together. They’d be learning new activities in their physical education
class in school and, apparently, soccer was the “best thing ever”. Neither of
the twins were very good at it though. The match ended tied, one to one.
Family
outings on weekends became the norm nowadays. Donovan spent most weeknights
locked to his computer, furiously working away at his next article. Camille
spent a lot of her nights writing up reports which was the safest and most
mundane thing she could be doing at home. She still hadn’t let Donovan in on
the secret of her “secret” job. Maybe she didn’t have to. Things were working out
just fine as they were. Of course, weeknights were also homework nights for the
kids. So it had been decided that weekends would be family time.
One
such weekend, they met up with Pearl and her family at the park across the
bridge. Both Pearl and Camille felt that it was great to be able to enjoy some
girl talk. The dads felt much the same way though their discussion was vastly
different than their wives’ topic of conversation.
Evangeline
snuck up on Lowell who happened to be standing with the grownups.
“Hey,
Lowell, look,” she shouted! As soon as he glanced her way, she pelted him with
a water balloon.
“Evangeline
Avendale! If you want to play with water balloons, go out in the open. Pearl
and I don’t want to get wet.” Pearl, naturally, found the whole situation
funny.
It
certainly looked like an unfair fight. Both twins ganged up on Lowell. They
grinned and each other and began taunting him.
“Bet
you can’t get me wet Lowell. I bet you throw like a girl,” Evangeline teased
while Emerson threw the first balloon in his friend’s direction. Lowell was
surprisingly quick though and darted to the side.
“Crap!
I missed!”
“Geez
Em, watch out. If you hit mom, we’re going to get in big trouble.”
Lowell
took advantage of their brief pause and threw one right in Evangeline’s
direction. It hit her right in the chest, hard enough to knock her off her
feet.
“Like a
girl, huh?” Emerson couldn't help but laugh even though he knew he’d pay for it
later.
“Honey,
are you coming to bed,” Donovan shouted from the top of the stairs.
“Yeah,
I’ll be up there shortly,” she answered, distracted by the research she was
doing. The department had inquired a new informant who had a lot of information
about illegal cloning operation that had plans to take over and dominate the
world. It had seemed rather far-fetched until she started researching and
finding a large number of occurrences that couldn't be coincidental. Could
they?
Suddenly
she heard footsteps on the stairs behind her. How long has it been? Glancing down, she realized another hour had
gone by since he’d called down to her. She didn't need Donovan peering over her
shoulder and seeing too much of what she was working on. He was smart, and a
journalist. Curiosity was too much a part of him and she had no doubt that he
would likely figure out what was going on. If, no when, she told him about her
job, it would be on her terms, not because she was cornered and had no
alternative.
Slamming
the lid closed, she wiped her eyes wearily, as though she had heard him and
turned to meet him.
“Hey
sweetheart, I was just on my way up.”
“What
are you working on? You seem to be pretty immersed.”
“Just
some traffic reports. Ms. Mahoney ran into the bank again today. I think they
need to revoke her license. If she can’t remember which pedal is go and which
is stop, she shouldn't be driving.”
“Sounds
like a news story to me.”
“Always
the reporter. How about you come join me in bed,” she offered suggestively.
“Cam, I
just worked out for an hour waiting for you. I’m pretty ripe.”
“And I
love you anyway.” She led him to the shower so they could kill two birds with
one stone. She hoped he was sufficiently placated and distracted enough to stop
thinking about her work.
Donovan
decided that, as the man of the house, it was his responsibility to teach
Emerson how to play baseball. Emerson though wasn't too keen on the idea.
Throwing water balloons was one thing. Getting hit with a hard ball if you
failed to catch it was a whole other thing. What if it hit him in the face? He
could lose an eye! Okay, maybe not an eye, but a tooth, for sure.
Both of
the twins, though best friends with each other, have friends at school as well.
Jess Kessler is probably Emerson’s best friend. Jess spent a lot of time at the
house, playing with Emerson, even doing his homework with him. Jess had one
older sister but they weren't very close in age and she usually pretended that
he didn't exist.
Evangeline
had just made new friends with Renata DeFiore, who had recently moved to St.
Claire from Monte Vista and lived down the street. Renata was one of the
prettiest girls in the class so, of course, Evangeline needed to be friends
with her. They weren't quite as productive as Emerson and Jess though and spent
most of their time together gossiping and sharing secrets about their
classmates.
“Mom,
can I have a sleepover?” Evangeline had decided she wanted to throw a sleepover
party for some of her classmates.
“Let me
talk to your father about it.”
“But
moo-oom. All the other kids in class are throwing parties.”
“Oh,
are they,” Camille asked with a hint of a smile. Evangeline was too straight
forward to keep it up.
“Well,
no. But if I throw the first one, it’ll be my
idea which makes me the most popular.”
“I’ll
discuss it with your father.”
Camille
and Donovan eventually decided that they would allow a sleepover, IF it was a
joint sleepover. Most parents may not approve of a co-ed sleepover but when you
have twins of both genders, some exceptions have to be made. They were allowed
to each invite 2 friends. Evangeline had wanted her own party so she could
invite more girls but this may work out in her favor. Her party would have boys
and girls which would be even cooler since normally that wasn't allowed!
Evangeline
invited Renata, of course, and Genevieve Amberg who was also fairly new to
town. Emerson invited Jess and Lowell. All the kids arrived in their pajamas
and Camille ordered a pizza.
“Now
shoo mom!” Evangeline pushed her mother towards the stairs.
“Eve,
you know I’m the chaperon.”
Evangeline
sighed, exasperated. “Yes, I know but you can chaperon from upstairs right? It’s
not cool to have you sit down here and baby us!”
Camille
agreed, amused and slightly worried about her daughter’s headstrong
personality.
Emerson
and Jess ran upstairs and put on matching T-Rex costumes and stomped
downstairs. Lowell quickly hurried and transformed into an astronaut who had
discovered a prehistoric planet with dinosaurs. Renata, not to be left behind,
put on the princess costume. What kind of planet would it be with no rulers?
Evangeline,
seeing everyone start following Emerson, quickly grabbed her pillow.
“Pillow
fight,” she declared and walloped Genevieve. The quiet blonde quickly followed
suit and the two began pummeling each other. The rest of the children continued
in their make-believe.
When
Evangeline had thoroughly out-pummeled, Genevieve, she flipped the lights of
and gathered everyone around her. She pulled a flashlight from the drawer of
the coffee table and flipped it on and shined it under her face. Even her
brother, who had heard her scary stories before, seemed to be frightened by this
one. The only one not impressed seemed to be Lowell who looked rather bored.
Finally
it was time for everyone to pull out their sleeping bags. The coffee table was
pushed back against the couch and everyone found a spot on the floor.
Evangeline discovered that Renata had the same color sleeping bag as she did! Luckily,
she wasn't quite at the age where sharing the same dress or other item was an
unspeakable offense. Rather, in this case, it solidified their friendship even
more!
Leisure
Day quickly approached. Not only was it a celebration for the formation of
SimNation but it was also the twins’ birthdays! Camille couldn't believe that
her babies were practically all grown up. With everyone receiving the day off
from school and work, it was quickly decided that both the day, and the
birthday party, would be spent at the festival in Bradford County.
“Mom,
seriously! Do we have to take the police car everywhere,” Emerson grumbled. “It’s
embarrassing riding around in a cage!”
“I’m
learning to drive as soon as I can and saving up for a car,” his sister
declared.
Donovan
shared a terrified look with his wife from the front seat.
“I saw
that Dad,” Emerson shouted!
Quickly
distracted by the bright colors and appetizing smells of the festival, the embarrassment
of arriving in a police car was soon forgotten. Ready to show off his practiced
throwing arm, Emerson declared a water balloon war. Gingers against the world!
Well, really just against his sister and dad but, whatever.
Balloons
were tossed, people were soaked, and taunts were passed back and forth between
the lines. Camille and Donovan scored hits at the same time, soaking both of
the kids. His practice throwing with Donovan must have paid off in the end
though because he and Camille won by 20 points. That gave him twenty five
tickets to trade in for something useful. What would it be?
Donovan
treated the winners, and second place winners, to snow cones.
Man,
this festival stuff was tiring. Even more so, there was still a party to
attend!
Everyone
changed back into dry clothes and gathered around the cakes. It was time to
blow out the birthday candles! All of their friends were there. To date, this
was probably the best, and most attended, party in Avendale history.
“So,
what did you wish for,” Evangeline asked her brother as they sat at the picnic
table, enjoying their cake.
“Nuh
uh,” he replied. “You know the rules. You can’t tell. If you tell it doesn’t
come true.”
“Well,
I wished to be rich and famous.”
“Ha,
that means you’re going to be poor and alone, and when you die no one will even
notice you are gone,” he joked poking her in the arm.
They
waved sparklers around, careful not to set each other on fire.
Then,
at the end of the night, everyone gathered around to watch the fireworks light
up the sky.
The
fireworks may have been in celebration of Leisure Day and not for Evangeline
and Emerson personally, but it was still their day. The bright lights and
crackling of the fireworks was the perfect end to a perfect day.
Chapter 5.8 Chapter 5.10
Yes, I am back and the kids have finally aged into teens. Barring any unfortunate accidents or computer 'splosions an heir vote will be up and coming shortly! There will be at least one more chapter published beforehand though since a) it's been so long since I posted that I want people to get a chance to remember the story and b) I need to solidify each of their characters a bit more.
I'm so, so glad to be back though. I can't even express how happy it feels to be playing my game and writing again!
