1.9: Ageing and Expanding

~*~Saskia’s Point of View~*~

I couldn’t believe my little Beth was about to be a teenager. Where had all the time gone?

“Happy Birthday, Beth!” Everyone was clapping their hands and waving noise makers around. I hadn’t even known Beth had this many friends until she’d shown me the list of people she’d wanted to invite to her birthday. I guess she had always been one who loved attention though.

I watched Beth pause for a moment as she made a wish, then she blew out her candles. I couldn’t believe I was going to be the mother of another teenager.

Beth grew up beautifully. Of all three of my children she was the only one with my grey eyes and they were perfectly set on her gorgeous face. I’d hoped that now she was older I would be able to connect with her a bit more.

It took me a while to finally get a chance to talk to my girl.

“Happy birthday Beth. I’m so proud of what a lovely young lady you have become.”

“Thanks Mum. Also thanks for letting me have all my friends over.”

“It was no trouble. I’m just glad you’re happy,” I said, beaming at my daughter.

“Hey Mum? Do you think you and Dad could maybe talk about me getting my own room?” Beth asked with nervous politeness.

It was funny that she had asked that since Paul and I had already been discussing our small house situation.

“Well I’ll let you in on a little secret. Your dad and I were going to tell all three of you after Cameron’s birthday. We are planning on building a new house. One with enough space for you all to have your own bedroom.”

I watched as Beth’s face lit up with a smile, “Really? That’s so awesome Mum! Thank you.”

“Just keep in mind that it’s going to take a few months, maybe even a year, so you will have to continue sharing with your brothers until then.”

*****

In what felt like a blink of an eye it was time for Cameron’s birthday. I couldn’t believe my little baby boy was going to be ready to start school. I wished I could keep one of my kids little forever, but I knew that was not how the world worked.

“Happy Birthday, Cameron!” Everyone was saying excitedly in the background. I helped Cameron blow out his candles with the rest of the family cheering him on.

Cameron grew up into handsome little boy. He looked a lot like Alex had done at his age, except with much wilder hair.

“So what do you want to do today, birthday boy?” Paul asked Cameron after we had all finished eating the cake.

“I want to go to the park! Can we go Daddy? Please?”

“Of course we can, Cameron. Let’s all hop into the car.”

“I want to play on the swings!” Cameron said once we arrived at the park, “Will you play on the swings with me?”

“Sure thing, buddy,” Alex replied instantly.

Cameron turned to Beth, “Will you play with us too, Beth?”

I was amazed at how surprised Beth looked.

“You want me to play too? I thought you only liked playing with Alex,” Beth replied. I knew that the boys had always spent more time with each other than with Beth but I hadn’t realised that she had felt like such an outsider.

“I like playing with everyone! Please, Beth. I want you to play too,” Cameron begged Beth.

“Ok then. I’ll come play with you too.”

Paul and I settled ourselves on a bench near the swings and watched our three children. They all had huge smiles plastered on their faces and I couldn’t help but watch in awe of the three amazing people Paul and I had brought into this world. However, I couldn’t stop the tiny voice at the very back of my head from wondering; Have I done enough to change the world for my kids? Are they doomed to the future I came from or destined for the future I am trying to create?

                                                                      *****

~*~Beth’s Point of View~*~

“Are you sure you don’t even want to consider the butterfly wallpaper?” Mum asked me for the third time in two days.

“I’m sure, Mum. I really like this one. Just as much as I did when you asked me to pick out wallpaper a month ago.” I pointed to the amazing diamond patterned wallpaper sample that was hanging up in my soon to be bedroom.

The boys’ rooms were already fully wallpapered but Mum seemed to be having trouble getting her head around the super cool wallpaper I wanted. She was so persistent that she had even decided to find me some additional options. But butterflies were for little girly-girls and that plain purple was just so, well, plain. I needed something bold, something with pizazz, something totally me!

“Well, if you are absolutely sure it’s what you want. I just don’t want you changing you mind once you move in here because it will be expensive and time consuming to change,” Mum conceded. I guess she finally saw how much I loved that wallpaper.

“Thanks, Mum! I promise I won’t change my mind.” I gave her a hug before heading out of the new house and back into the old one.

“What did Mum want this time?” Alex asked as he heard me enter our bedroom.

“Just to make sure I didn’t want to change my mind about wallpaper, again,” I said with mock exasperation.

“She just wants to make sure everything turns out all right. Yesterday I heard her talking to Dad about making sure they bought kitchen cabinets that were made of recycled timber,” Alex replied.

“Mummy helped me choose a rug. But she wouldn’t let me get the really big fluffy blue one. She said it wouldn’t go very well in my room. But I gotted a red one instead,” Cameron added from the block table. I guessed Alex was right and we all fell into a peaceful silence for a few minutes.

“Are you looking forward to our trip with Dad tomorrow, buddy?” Alex asked Cameron.

“Yea! I’m gonna catch a hundred fishes! It’s gonna be so much fun!”

We all got up pretty early because Cameron was so excited. He was bouncing around our bedroom at 6am. By 7:30 we were on the road. Although I didn’t let it show too much I was actually really excited. It was super fun to be doing something with Dad, often he was too busy with work to take a whole day off.

“I’ll race you kids to the beach!” Dad called out after he started running towards the water.

“Hey, no fair! You got a head start!” Alex called out as he raced after Dad. Cameron and I quickly ran after them to try and catch up.

Dad helped us all get our fishing rods set up properly and then we cast our lines into the ocean. It was nice spending time with Alex, Cameron, and Dad in such a relaxing setting. However, after a while it started to get really boring.

“Daaaad. Why aren’t we catching any fish?” Cameron whined after an hour of absolutely nothing happening.

“I guess they aren’t very hungry right now, son. I’m sure if we’re patient we’ll get a bite.” Dad sounded more like he was trying to convince himself than Cameron.

“But I’m hungry, Dad! Can we have some lunch?”

“Yea, I’m hungry too. Can we take a break?” I added. I thought this was going to be way more exciting that it really was. Now I was kinda over it.

“Alright then. I’ll go get the picnic from the car,” Dad said, giving up on the fishing too.

“Daddy, when is the new house going to be ready? I want to move into my new room!” Cameron asked with his mouth full of half chewed burger. Ew!

“Just one more month, Cam. Your mum and I are working really hard to get everything finished, but we all just have to be patient.” Dad left out the bit about how things were taking longer than expected because of the cost of everything.

Noticing that Dad looked a little uncomfortable talking about the timeline of the house, Alex changed the subject.

“Hey Dad, do you want to play catch with me?” Ever since Alex had made the track team he had been doing even more sporty things than before. Dad hardly ever said no to Alex. Though he’d never admit it, I suspected that Alex was his favourite out of the three of us.

Dad and Alex went off to throw around Alex’s old football. It was getting kinda worn out these days but Alex refused to get a new one, something about it being lucky. That left just me and Cameron. I really wanted to just go home and mess around with my chemistry set (I was sure I was on the edge of a breakthrough with my sleeping elixir) but that wasn’t going to happen. So I did what any good big sister would do, I challenged Cameron to a game of tag.

However, after just 5 minutes I realised my mistake. Let’s just say that Cameron came away as the king of tag.

*****

~*~Alex’s Point of View~*~

“Wooo! Field trip!” Some hyped up kid yelled enthusiastically from the back of the bus as we waited for the last few people to get on. I noticed Beth roll her eyes at the idiot. I too was pretty excited to get a day off of school, but not enough to make a fool of myself.

After the ten-minute bus trip we all clambered off the bus. I looked up at the huge sign above the door of the police station. It made me feel excited and intimidated at the same time. I had seriously been thinking about becoming a professional athlete after I finished high school but that sign made me want to really consider a career in law enforcement. After all, Mum and Dad were always telling us to try to do things that would better our community, not just ourselves.

“Yo, Alex.” I was pulled out of my thoughts by some guy on the football team.

“I heard you only made the track team because your fancy pants father, the mayor, got you a tutor,” The guy taunted.

“So? What’s wrong with a tutor?” I tried to stay calm, I knew the guy was only trying to work me up so I would get in trouble. This wasn’t the first time someone had tried to bully me about needing a little help with school.

“Well that means you’re stupid! There ain’t any tutors in the real world! You’re just gonna fail at life and one day you’ll end up living here in your very own cell! Loser!”

He kept bugging me throughout the whole trip but I just tried to block him out and focus on the tour. What did he know anyway? When we got towards the end of the tour, a police officer told us all about what qualifications and skills were required to become a police officer. It didn’t sound too hard but it did require going to university and I began to let doubts slip into my mind. By the end of the trip I was feeling pretty bad about myself.

“Alex! Wait up!” Beth called out as we were leaving the police station.

“What’s up, Beth?” I tried to be nice but my voiced ended up being a bit snappy.

“Why’d you let that guy push you around? You should have stood up for yourself or at least told the teacher!” I know she’s trying to help but I didn’t need a lecture from my baby sister.

Instead of giving her an answer I just said, “I’m going to the gym. I’ll see you later.”

Of course, that wasn’t a good enough answer for her and she followed me.

“Alex, stop!” Beth commanded. I thought about ignoring her but I didn’t want her to keep following me.

“What?”

“Why’d you just let that happen?”

“Because it happens all the time. People pick on me for needing help. I just ignore them and they get bored after a few days. Can I go now?” I felt embarrassed, having Beth know I was being bullied. All I wanted to do was jump on a treadmill and run.

“This has happened before? We have to tell Dad! He’ll call the school and make it stop.”

“No!” I practically yelled at her. “I’m not telling Mum or Dad and neither are you. If you tell them, I’ll never forgive you.” Beth looked shocked, but she didn’t follow me when I walked off towards the changing room.

I hoped on a treadmill as soon as I could and started jogging. Focusing on putting one foot in front of the other helped me forget about everything else going on.

When I eventually became fatigued from all the jogging, I began to focus on my surroundings again. The gym had filled up with people, mostly old business men. However, there was one girl I recognised from school just hanging around watching people. She wasn’t looking at me but I got the impression she had been.

As I got off the treadmill the girl walked over to me.

“Um, Hey. You’re Alex right? From the track team?” She seemed a bit nervous.

“Yea, I’m Alex.”

“I’m Miranda, I’m in the same math and P.E. classes as you. I know this is sorta forward of me but I was wondering if you maybe wanted to hang out some time?”

Was Miranda asking me out? I couldn’t believe such a beautiful girl even looked twice at me, let alone wanted to spend time with me.

“Uh, yea. I’d like that. Let me just go grab my phone from the locker room and I’ll get your number.” I said with confidence, even though I was shaking inside.

After exchanging numbers with Miranda I had to head home for dinner. I’d already given Beth too long to spill my secret and if I missed dinner with no explanation she might just blab.

At dinner I just kept to myself and surprisingly Beth remained quiet too.

As I was about to get into bed I got a text from Miranda.

Can’t wait to hang out. C U in class 2morrow 🙂

I’ll admit, I went to sleep with a smile on my face.