Ch. 4, Part 3: The Blue and the Green

 (Continued from part 2.)

You know how some teens are when they start out at high school? At first, they're all confident, and raring to go and make a name for themselves?

And then there are other teens who are all shy at first, then they get all confident?

I don't think Echo fit either of those. She was...she was her own woman. Shark and I were worried about her, at first. We didn't want any boy in school to tease her for anything.

In fact, Shark promised her that if any guys got fresh with her without her permission, he wasn't afraid to bust some heads for her.

 Echo said that it wasn't a problem. She could handle it. I know she could, but it still didn't mean we worried about our little girl.

As for Amaranth, well, she did her own thing.

We actually had to convince her to leave her doll at home. We assured her, nothing was going to happen to her little Pal. She held onto it like some kind of security blanket.

As for her school performance, well, she kept wanting to see how her big sister was doing, you know, with all the grades in one building and all. They kept sitting together during lunch.

Amaranth even wanted to go into the same after school shop class Echo was enrolled into. When we told her she was too young, though, she settled for scouting.

Both of us were happy for our daughters, starting to grow up on their own, and the time was just going too fast. Before we knew it, we were going to be attending Echo's graduation.

I made sure not to say that in front of Shark, though. The last time I did, he started bawling about how they weren't babies anymore, and he just wanted them to stay small just a little longer.

Well, I couldn't exactly control time. What, did I look like that green-haired chick from Sailor Moon? If I could, I would. But I couldn't, so...

Time just kept going, whether we wanted it to, or not. And time stopped for at least one of our relatives, in a sense.

Ch.3, Part 2: What's in a Name?

(Continued from Part 1.)

You might ask me, did I ever think I'd ever have a big family in my lifetime? Like, did I ever realize that my life would be the way it was?

Well, no. But at one point in my life, all I cared about was, 'how do I hide from the cops?'. You know, before I changed my ways.

The turn of events was rather welcoming. Instead of my heels cooling in jail, they were being clung to and turned into the first section of the human mountain that was apparently I.

And later on, they got bit and eventually turned into scratching posts. No, not Echo in the terrible twos, though that was pretty harrowing in its own way.

I mean the guy we adopted shortly after we moved.

Ch. 3, Part 1: Boom, Baby

When we first got married, I had thought Shark and I would just be one of those married couples who wouldn't have to worry about other familial obligations.

You know, it would just be us? The whole idea of kids never really occurred to me. I suppose it was an honor I never really dreamed of. Or...however that one chick from that Shakespeare put it.

How'd that line go again? I know she was talking about marriage, but...

Anyway, for a while there, it was just the two of us, living in that little house of ours. It was that oddly idyllic thing going on between newlyweds.

Then it struck. Somewhere along the line...Hoo, boy.