The Family Band in and out of Practice

            Hans practiced the piano a lot. His passion for it made Mom interested in playing again. Those two were always filling the downstairs with pretty music. Pretty, but boring.

            I thought some new instruments would definitely liven the show up.

            I tried out the totes cute guitar first. And then I didn’t have to try anything else. It was like magic in my hands, only magic that I could learn way easier! My inner rocker diva was let out!

            Jellybean danced while I practiced playing mixed with some light singing. I knew my voice totally sucked, but it was still fun to hear some words set to my awesome strings.

            Mom couldn’t pass up the opportunity to jam. And I thought for sure Hans would want the boring bass. James surprised me by grabbing it.

            It was obvious that I needed to buy some more instruments! Even Claudey got on board the family band.

            Mom, Hans, and me were the true stars of it. We sounded the best and practiced together more than everyone else.

            I mean, Claudey just didn’t have the right personality to wield the strings. Not like me.

            It was soooo much fun when we were all jamming together though! It might not have sounded as good, but it still made Jellybean dance. And it was pretty much the only time that we all got along.

            Not everything was rad at home. Every day James would get a little more angry about Jellybean. “For Watcher’s sake Sis, I had a toy too! I know how fun it can be to pretend that your doll walks and talks, but Jellybean isn’t real! It’s not healthy for you to keep acting like he’s your friend.”

            “She’s not going to change,” Hans said like I wasn’t even there. “Mom said that our family carries some insanity. Haven’t you heard her talking to other people aside from Jellybean?”

“Yeah, it just sucks. I wish she wasn’t stuck being crazy, like Claude.”

They were so annoying sometimes!

            And boring! They both thought they were too old to go trick-or-treating, so I went by myself.

            My costume was way cuter than like ninety-nine percent of the other ones I saw that night!

            And I got so much candy!

            So so so much candy!

            I stopped by one house and the guy introduced himself after giving me a softball and some candy. “Hey, you’re one of Francis’ kids, aren’t you? I’m Brady, we used to work together.”

“Yeah, he’s my Dad.”

“Oh man, I am so sorry for your loss. If you ever need to hear some stories about him, I’ve got a lot. You should come by sometime.”

“Uh, I guess I could. Maybe.”

“And you should bring that cute little costume too.” He gave me a weird smile.

“I will kill that piece of scum!” Daddy roared. “Get out of here, Narissa. He was a terrible criminal. Never stole a single thing.”

            I got home too excited to go to bed. I found Mom and asked her if she could teach me how to drive. I would look so much cooler taking my own car to school!

            “Sure, what could be a worse idea than taking a teenager driving for the first time at night?”

            Mom picked out Dad’s favorite car. “Don’t you put a scratch on that beauty.” Daddy warned.

“That might be even nicer than the car I learned how to drive in.”

The car was super fast and I got the hang of the gas pedal right away.

            We drove past the bad criminal’s place and he was outside hitting on his wife or something. What a creep!

            By the time I had to leave for school, Mom deemed me able to drive by myself! She said it was crazy that I learned so fast!

            “Jellybean! I got my license!”

“Have you been up since yesterday morning? Are you sure you should be going to school? How will you be able to drive safely?”

I popped a piece of candy in my mouth. “It’s cool Jellybean. I’ve got a secret weapon.”

            There were plenty of options to pick from.

            But there was only one real choice for my set of wheels!