Ch. 6, Part 3: Voice of an Angelo

(Continued from Part 2.)

Angelo was actually at a bit of a loss when his older brother moved out. The two of them had spent a lot of time together, and now that Kaidan had moved out, he wasn't sure what to do.

He didn't know how to be the "big brother" in the house, given three of his siblings were older than him.

But believe me when I say he tried.  He did his best to be a good brother to Cortana, even if their games of playing tag left him at least a little winded. 

At least once, he admitted to me he wished he didn't have asthma. I told him that it's a part of his life. It was a sucky one, but he had to work with it. And it wasn't like he was alone in all of it. 

He had me and Shark, and his siblings. Sometimes, he visited his older brother after school. 

Ch. 6, Part 2: Power of the Son

(Continued from Part 1.)

I just had that feeling that as soon as Kaidan and Lynnette graduated, we'd be hearing about his wedding plans, and he'd be asking us for advice.

And of course, Shark and I wouldn't know what to tell him. We didn't have a fancy wedding ceremony, like our kids thought we had.

I remember one time, Kaidan asked me where my tuxedo was, since he never saw it and wanted to wear it for his wedding.

Kind of obvious why I couldn't let him wear it.

No matter what they wanted, Kaidan opted for something quiet.

Of course, I reminded him that if he wanted to marry her, he had to get permission from Goodwin.

Ch. 6, Part 1: Outlook not so Goode

You know those cultures that put a ton of importance on the firstborn son, claiming they're destined for great things, carry on the family name, and all that?

Well...I suppose I thought of that for Kaidan. The great things concept, that is.

I thought of it for all my kids, and when his two older sisters left, he was technically the eldest child in the house.

But we didn't need to worry about him. Whenever Shark and I were at work, he gladly watched his younger brother and sister.

We didn't need a babysitter. Kaidan was perfectly capable of keeping an eye on them.

(Why didn't I take more pictures of Toddler Cortana?)

I had a feeling he'd become a "family man". He just had that way about him, I guess.

At some point, he started taking on most of the household chores and responsibilities. He was even the one who got Angelo's birthday cake set up for his birthday.

It was a load off our minds, that was for sure.

In fact, Kaidan was spending so much time with his siblings at home, Shark and I were worried that he'd never go out and find a significant other of his own.

Of course, he proved us wrong. As a matter of fact, he did have a girlfriend. He just never brought her over to meet us.

I thought maybe he just didn't want a situation like Amaranth did. But it was weird. He never brought her home, but he was perfectly willing to spend time at her place.

It almost seemed as though he was hiding something from us.

Ch. 5, Part 3: Time of Crisis

(Continued from Part 2.)

Given that recent years presented to us the deaths of our two cats, and our children growing up, I can only wonder how Shark was taking it all.

I mean, I didn't want to ask him, since it didn't feel right to do so. I was taking it as best as I could, but...

With him, you had to be careful. Things could get turbulent with him.

I tried to cheer him up with other events coming up, like say...

His own birthday?

I waited until the kids were in school and asleep, and I made it so it was just me and Shark, celebrating his happy birthday.

Or it was supposed to be happy, anyway. After he made a wish, and blew out the candles, he started saying he hoped it'd come true.

I know a lot of people say that, but the way he said it, well...he didn't sound very confident. And in fact, he actually opted not to eat any cake. He told me to save it and give it to the kids for dessert tonight.

There was a reason he was acting like that, actually. 

Ch. 5, Part 2: Niveous Victory

(Continued from Part 1.)

At one point, I knew Shark, the kids, and I had to face death again sooner or later.

After all, I'd probably seen the guy with the scythe numerous times when I was younger. And Shark was obviously no stranger to him.

But I didn't think he'd come so early.

But I suppose you don't fight it, like many people try to do when their time is up. Rather, you should greet Death as if he were an old friend.

And if you believe it's fair that your time has come, good on you. Sometimes it's best not to protest.

Then again...the ones who died when we were living there...I don't think it would've mattered, since they couldn't speak, more or less.

Ch.5, Part 1: Growing Up Sucks

(Note: This is a long chapter under the cut.)

You know how they say 'with age comes wisdom', or...one of those supposedly philosophical quotes that everyone spews out one time or another? Most don't really know the true meaning of that phrase.

It's like they expect to coast through life knowing nothing, then when they hit the age that's considered 'old', suddenly they're these all-knowing beings.

Whenever I heard someone say that phrase, I just wanted to go over and clock them in the jaw.

I mean, look at me. I'm old enough to be the grandpa to a bunch of people in town, and I still can't remember what time the paperboy comes in the morning.

What they mean by that quote is, "as you age, you learn more from your mistakes", actually. I suppose. And there's no way to stay the same age forever as you learn.

It's not as simple as, say, waving a magic wand. You're going to age, like it or not. And it's not just you, it's everyone around you, as well.

Your children are going to grow up, and learn what they want to do in life. They'll become independent, they won't need you anymore.

Before you know it, your little baby birds are grown, spreading their wings, and leaving the nest.

Sometimes I wonder if Shark knew that when we adopted our kids. I'm sure he did, but he never said anything about it.

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.