Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Chapter 1.6: Enjoy every idle hour


Silvia finds it easier to love Kayla. She just looks so much like her father, while Samantha constantly reminds Silvia of herself. She realizes she would need to talk to Samantha about her vampire side soon. Silvia had been trying to contact Basil about it. She isn't sure how Samantha would be as she grows. Luckily, so far she hasn't shown any sign of needing human blood. Silvia is just hoping she can keep pushing back that conversation with her other daughter as far as she can. For now, hugging Kayla, life seems almost normal.


Samantha likes going to school. She doesn't have many friends yet. A lot of the girls are scared of her because she's different. Samantha quickly realized that no one else in school was like her. Nobody at home is like her either. Sometimes she wonders whether she's secretly an alien. Maybe dad got abducted by aliens one day and had her? Dad WOULD get abducted by aliens.


It's up to Irwin again to teach Kayla how to walk, talk and use the potty. Irwin doesn't mind. He enjoys spending time with his little princess. Kayla is a sweet little toddler. She never fusses about anything, and is quite content being left alone playing with her toys, but also has a sweet smile whenever her family plays with her.


Now that Silvia and Irwin are both more successful in their careers, they find more time to dote on their youngest daughter. Silvia feels a bit guilty about not spending a lot of time with Samantha. She doesn't think she's consciously treating the two girls differently. It's really due to her advancement in her career that allows her more time to spend with the kids now, and as a toddler, Kayla just requires more attention. She just hopes Samantha doesn't feel left out.


She consciously makes an effort to talk with Samantha a bit more often. 

"So, Sam, have you thought about writing at all?" Silvia asks Sam over dinner. Silvia has no idea what Sam is interested in and so talks about what she's interested in, which is her work.

Sam nearly chokes on her food. She's surprised her mom talked to her. Silvia isn't really a bad mom. Most of the time she's just very busy and Sam knows that her mom is always busy. Even during meals, Silvia usually eats quickly in order to work more.

"Ummm, no mom. I'm not really interested in writing." 
"Oh, but didn't you, ummm, write a piece for the school paper recently?"
Silvia kind of notices the conversation is awkward.

"Oh yea, I didn't know you knew. But, that was really a one time thing. I like doing things at school you know. Remember that time I went all around town looking for gems and metals?" Sam is surprised that her mom knew about her writing for the school. She never thought Silvia knew anything about her school work.

Silvia didn't know that Sam collected gems and metal for the school, but she just nods and smiles. She thinks Irwin might have mentioned it. 

"Oh, well, what are you interested in then?" 


"Well, I kinda wanna ... travel, you know, kinda see the world and that kinda thing" Samantha shyly talks about her dreams and the numerous imaginary adventures she has already gone on. Silvia nods as she listens and continues eating her dinner.

Sam continues on and on about the places she wants to visit one day. 
"I really love French music, and I also want to eat real shawarmas some day."

"You know that traveling like that will cost a lot of money, right?" Silvia cuts her off. Sam notices that her mom is back to her busy mode. 

"Ahaha, yea, I guess." She laughs uneasily. It's really just a silly dream of hers. She wonders if her mom ever had silly dreams when she was a child. She can't imagine her mom as a child though. Mom as a kid would have been, well, still like mom.

"Sam, we don't really have money like that. Okay, mommy's gotta work now. Go do your homework whenyou're done with dinner." 

And like that, Silvia is gone, back to her room to work on the latest article on Quailhogs Inc. Sam stares at what's left of her dinner. It was nice talking to mom. It was nice telling her about her dreams. Sam wishes mom was less busy more often.


Sam does her homework like her mom said. She doesn't really like doing homework. Luckily it doesn't take that long for her to do all of it. She once saw one of her classmates do homework. He took hours to get through everything. Sam is very glad she has what her mom calls "vampire powers."


The bus ride to school is another good opportunity to daydream about adventures. Samantha's house is the furthest away from the elementary school, so she has the whole bus all to herself before the other kids get on.


Irwin's days are rather simple. He works at home until he runs out of scrap. He sells his inventions at the consignment store, and spends some nights at the junkyard or rummaging through neighbors' trashcans


Sometimes he gets so absorbed in his projects that he forgets about petty things in life, such as clothing.


but he always has time for his little girls.


Sam made some friends at school and decided that she'd like to throw a slumber party. After getting herparents' permission, Sam invites two of her closest friends: Ti-Ning Quailhogs and Collin Rook. Both of them are boys. Sam is closer to the boys in her school than the girls. She likes playing catch or tag with the boys. The girls in school just confuse her. They're always talking and talking about dolls and clothes. Sometimes they are nice and sometimes they are mean. Boys are much easier to talk to.


The slumber party quickly turns into a pillow fight WAR. Eventually they call it a tie (but Sam knows she's really the winner) and sleep out in the front yard, each in their sleeping bags.


Time flies by quickly, and the Winters celebrate their youngest's second birthday. 


Yet again, the birthday party is a small family affair. Daddy and big sis enthusiastically cheer on as Kayla gets ready to blow out the candle.




Kayla has retained her chubby cheeks. She definitely looks like a younger version of her dad. 


Now that Kayla is also a child the house feels a bit too small to accommodate the whole family. They decide to move once again.


The new house is a bit further away from downtown area, but closer to the children's school. It's spacious with many empty rooms. The house was at the top of their budget, so the Winters didn't have much left for the interior of the house. They barely had enough to furnish the kitchen and bedrooms. As of now, Samantha and Kayla must share a room together. The whole second floor is left unfinished. There is space allotted as a 2 car garage, but since the Winters don't have cars, the space is turned into Irwin's work space. Silvia has a feeling that this would be the place she will spend the rest of her life with Irwin.



The Winters quickly settle down into a simple routine in their new home. Kayla enjoys reading in theirparents' room while mom is working at the computer desk; she's a bookworm just like her mother. Kayla is sure that her mom has read every single book in the whole world. She'd like to read some of the books mom  wrote one day, but right now they are a little too difficult for her.


 Meanwhile Sam and Irwin play catch outside. Irwin was never a big fan of any type of sports. He was secretly glad that he didn't have a son who would insist on playing catch with him. It turns out that Sam is more like a son than a daughter. While playing catch, Sam tells Irwin about her scouting club activities. Irwin isn't paying much attention to Sam's stories since he's intensely focused on the ball in order to catch it. Yet, his clumsy nature interferes and Irwin misses the ball. 


 Sam never misses a catch. Being outdoors and playing catch with her daddy is her favorite activity.


Silvia finally has a day off from work. The family decides to go to the park together. Kayla runs straight towards the chess table.


 Irwin joins Kayla at the chess table. Silvia thinks it's really funny how much the father and daughter look alike and act alike. While playing chess, Kayla tells daddy about the mystery surrounding scary clowns.

"I don't understand how they can see. I mean, they don't have eyes!" 



Samantha has a blast on the swings. When she's up in the air, she imagines that she's actually flying. 


Meanwhile, Silvia spots a suspicious gathering and she quickly approaches them. She's currently aweatherwoman and doesn't need to interview people anymore, but her instincts as a journalist propels her to inquire what's going on.


As the day gets darker, Irwin and Silvia sit together to watch the stars while their daughters play on the playground. Time has been flying by quickly and mercilessly. It just feels like yesterday when the two first met. She looks at Irwin's face and notices new wrinkles. 

'He's gotten old,' she thinks, 'and I've gotten old too.'

The wrinkles represent the time they've spent together. Silvia realizes that their ten year anniversary is just around the corner. Sam is almost a teen, and Kayla started elementary school. Most of her memories revolve around work: the numerous promotions, parties at her boss's house, interviewing people and rummaging for scoops. But she also has many happy memories of times spent with her family too: their daughters' birthdays, playing hopscotch with Sam, teaching Kayla to talk, and dates with Irwin. 


Swept in a romantic mood, they kiss in the dark playground. Luckily, Sam and Kayla are too busy playing catch to notice that their parents are doing yucky stuff.


Silvia and Irwin have some fun in the playground too.




______________----
Chapter Notes:
A little bit on Silvia. Silvia is a workaholic, and this generation is Perfect career, so she's been spending most of her time working. It's generation one.... and Silvia and Irwin have had their fair share of money problems. Unfortunately, because of money and her workaholic tendencies, Silvia hasn't been spending much time with her daughters. She's definitely not the best mom, but I don't think she's a super bad mom, ...but she's not a good mom.... I think it makes sense given the circumstances, but I'm a little sad that Silvia hasn't been a better mom. meh, I'm rambly now.

basically, this is Silvia. In her work clothes, exhausted from work, trying to squeeze in family time somehow. However, Sam is not impressed.

Oh, and Silvia and Irwin are adults now. 

The new house is basically empty. need. more. money. I waited until Irwin maxed handiness skill so I can get discounts on build mode. ....and then I got excited about building a nice house.

another...boring....nothing-happened chapter :( but it sets-up the family relationships, so it was necessary? I think .

Title:
Winter, a lingering season, is a time to gather golden moments,
embark upon a sentimental journey, and enjoy every idle hour.
-John Boswell



1 comment:

  1. Not boring at all. We all have those filler chapters and I thought this one was quite good. :)

    Silvia and Irwin. <3 They're just so cute together.

    ReplyDelete