The Book Writer

3. Family time

It's not what we have in life, but who we have in life that matters~ J.M. Laurence

"Ugh," Grainne frustratingly grunted. Looking at the mess of books, crayons, glue, glitter, and scissors on the table. 'Not again,' she thinks to herself. "BECKA!!" I loudly call out.

"WHERE ARE YOU?"

She places her book bag on the kitchen counter and walks over to the table, and shakes her head. 'I am not cleaning this up.'

She quickly grabs paper towels that are on the wooden dining chair, unrolls some, and wipes the glitter glue that has fallen on the hardwood oak floor, praying it comes off easily. They ran out of goo-gone just the other day. Luckily, it does. At least she remembered to put the plastic table cover on they got her last week.

Becka, her neice, is a 6 year old that is going through a phase of glitter, unicorns, trolls, and L.O.L dolls. Actually, I think she has gone through it since she was born. Throwing the paper towel away in the garbage under the sink. Grainne calls again for her niece, walking towards the living room.The decor is a mismatch of bohemian style furniture, rugs, and curtains. Basically, what new-to-you items you can find in the second-hand store, garage sales, and hand me downs. Not to mention what came with the house and what she found in the attic and basement. It actually looks pretty good and homey.

The layout of the house is simple. An older craftmans style home. From the front porch, you enter into the living room, stairs going up to the second floor where 3 bedrooms and full bathroom are. Through the living room, you enter into the kitchen with a dining table and an island in the middle. the back door leads out to the backyard, where separate garage and driveway are. When she bought the place, she renovated the kitchen, updating it, as well as adding a small bathroom and pantry. She updated the bathroom upstairs and replaced the roof. The rest was fine.

Entering the living room, she tied her chestnut colour hair in a messy bun, spotting the little imp on the floor. She looked towards her father, who was sound asleep in the rocking chair. That's why the table was a mess. Smiling at him, she grabbed the auburn knitted blanket on the back of the couch and covered him up. His glasses had moved to the end of his nose. Removing them, she placed them on the side table beside him.

Moving now towards Becka, who had her Poppy Troll earphones on, was watching some kids show on her tablet. She crouch down beside her and tap her shoulder. She turns towards her with a huge grin on her face. "Aunty Grin!" she hugs me around the neck.

"Hey, little Imp." I say as I stand, picking her up, placing us more in a hug. "I see you were busy? " pointedly looking at the table.

Becka smiles widely and points to the floor by her tablet. A picture drawn with a person, glitter pink hair, a book bag, and looks like a scroll of some kind in the hand. Rainbows, unicorns, or what appears to be unicorns, and hearts take up the rest of the page.

"Grampie said that you are done Uni-corn-versity." Becka beamed at me. "Yay!!" loudly she cheered.

Pulling my head away from her cheer. I thanked her with a kiss on the cheek and nodded yes. "When is your mom and dad done today? "

"Not till after 7" Becka kinda pouts, but quickly smiles as she loudly tells me about all that she did with Grampie today. This kid has one volume, loud. I wouldn't change it for anything. "And then Aunty Grin, Grampie said we can go to McDonald's tonight for supper." excitement in her green eyes.

"Oh, he did, did he?" I smirked as I glanced at my father snoring on the chair. " Well, if you clean up your mess on the table, that might just happen." I place her down on the floor. She bends to pick up the picture and hands it to me, giving me a hug. Then she skips over to the table, putting everything back in her little art carring case. Amazing what a trip to McDonald's does. Normally, it would be a meltdown and lots of stomping feet. I'm glad it's not.

I gently shake my father awake. He snorts once and opens his eyes ,which are the same as mine, dark brown, almost black. He rubs them sleepily, then focuses on my face. A smile spreads across his wrinkled face. "Grin! Hey, your home? What time is it?"

"It's after 4." I respond.

"Oh! I fell a sleep for a while. Where did...?" He glances around, looking for Becka. He notices the table that she is cleaning up. "Oh my!" He exclaims. " Sorry. I guess I was sleeping pretty heavy, and didn't hear her doing that." He stretches.

"Is mom coming with us to McDonald's?" I ask him.

"No, I don't think so. I'll just grab her something on there. You can drop me off?" He gets up from the chair and using his cain, shuffles over to the table. Gives Becka a pat on the back, which in turn smiles at her Grampie.

"Sure, I can drop you off at home. You didn't take your van?" I ask, looking out the window to see if it was there.

"Nope," He said, popping the P. "Mom needed to help Mrs.Backster with moving some bags of stuff. I'm not sure of what they are, so don't ask." He waved off my question before I could ask." I did offer to help, but your mom wanted me to rest today." He shuffled over to the bathroom, leaning his cain against the door frame before he went in. He popped his head out and looked at Becka. "Impy, make sure you go to the washroom before we leave."

She nods her head as she puts the last crayon away. "Those washrooms there are nothing but germs and gross -" He closes the door while still talking. I laugh at it.

After everyone had a washroom break, we headed out in my 96 Ford explorer to get dinner. Becka plays in the playroom there while we wait for our food, my dad complains about the germs and she will need to shower later. My brother's problem tonight. Not mine. Making sure we get food for mom, we decide to get it to go so we can eat together. We head out to go to my parents place. As we pull in, we notice my mom just getting out of their van. A smile on her face.

"Hey Pumpkin! Hi Hon! Where's my little sweetpea?" My mom asked. Becka skips over to my mom, giving her a big hug. "Hi Mimi!!"

My mom pats her back and kisses the top of her head. My dad shuffles over, giving my mom a kiss and showing her he got dinner.

"Thank you Hon."

Dad and Becka head into the house, laughing at something one of them said. "Hey mom, how are you?" I move over to her and help with the couple of bags of groceries she has.

"Good, got everything done I needed too." She smiles. Her auburn hair is almost white but she refuses to dye it. She is wearing her jean overalls, tan long sleeve shirt and her green pattern cardigan she finished knitting last year. Her sea blue eyes look to mine as if looking for something.

"What?" Concern is laced in my voice.

"Nothing" She dismisses my question. "Oh, I was hoping to ask a favor." Here it comes."I was wondering if you could help this weekend with the fall fundraiser.? Please?" She reaches for the last bag on the seat.

It takes everything in me not to roll my eyes. I don't want to get hit in the back of my head if she caught me doing that.

I am not one for these things. Sure, they may be fun, but im not a crowd person. However, i like to help when i can."What day and time?" I sigh out. Mom's face lights up and begins to tell me everything I need to know. We make our way up the porch and into their house to the kitchen. Dad and Becka have everything out on the table ready to go. I help put away the groceries, and we sit to eat, talking about everything and nothing.

Becka will stay here to get picked up by my brother. Also, for her to stay and visit with my mom. I say my goodbyes and start to head out. My mom walking me out.

"I was talking with your Aunt Fiadh, Your cousin Catriona and you are getting together tomorrow?" She inquiries with a smile.

"Yah, Cat and I haven't seen each other for a couple of months." We both have been busy finishing our masters. Normally, we are always doing stuff together. Cat is like a sister to my brother and I. She is older than us by a year."I'm looking forward to it!"

"Tell her we say hi, and see if she would like to help too this weekend." pushed mom.

"Im sure Aunty Fia already asked her for you." I give my mom a hug and head to my jeep. As I leave the driveway, I honk the horn and head back home.

Once home, I lock the doors and check the windows. With it being October, it gets dark pretty early now. it's only after 630, although it feels like after 12. With schooling done, I have taken extra courses online and at night. I can honestly say I'm done. Thank goodness. My phone pings, and I see the name on the screen. Smiling, I open the message

Cat: Grin!! Tomorrow!! Us time, Party like we're 80, cause I have to be in bed at 8. lol

Me: hahaha why so early?

Cat: I've been working at the hospital, and I'm on day shifts, :p.

Me: All good. I can't even stay up past 9 unless I'm in class. When did we get this old?

Cat: 2 years ago when we thought it was smart to do more schooling.

Me: Ah yes. See you tomorrow, cuz.

The rest of the night, I play some video game on the Playstation, then decide to watch something. I wake up on the couch around 11 pm to the sound of a tapping. The living room it still lit with the lamps and TV. I yawn thinking I've imagined it. Standing from the couch, I stretch, which felt too good. I go around shutting the lights off and making my way to my bedroom. As I climb the stairs, I hear the tapping again. I stopped to listen but could not hear it. I bend to look through the banister to the living room window. It's windy out, and the branch from the tree must be hitting the glass. I'll have to trim it soon, I think, before a storm happens.

After I'm in my room, I do my nightly routine, which isn't much, for I don't wear make-up. Climbing into bed, I set my alarm and plugged my phone into charge. Drifting off to sleep, I hear the tapping again. Stupid tree.

"So?? Is there any new guy in your life?" Cat asks as she sipped her latte. Her strawberry blond hair was tied up in a high ponytail. Her green eyes were curious about what I might say.

"No, no one. Who would have time for my schedule?" I chuckled. "You?"

"Well, now, there is this doctor I'm interested in. But, in all honesty, I don't have time to even daydream about a relationship. Let alone a hook up in the supply closet." My cousin is one for one night stands. For me? I tried it once and ended up dating him for 6 months. I felt bad for him, and when he asked if he was just a one night stand, I panicked and said i liked him. So, I banded myself from those.

"What do you feel like doing today? There's a new book store down by the park. or we could check out the new art gallery?" I suggest.

Cat nods her head in thought. She looks at me as if debating if she should tell me something. "Umm, you know that shop by the library? The one with all the weird, crazy items in the window?"

I nod to her, wondering where she is going with this. " Can we go check it out? I always wanted to go in it. Today feels like the day, too."

"Umm, I guess so." I mean, who wouldn't want to go into a weird witchy place with dried monkey paws and other body parts. Not this person. Nope.

Cat squeals happily and claps her hands. "What are you, 5?" I laugh

"I'm excited, ok?" She hits my arm."No one ever wants to go in it." I wonder why.