Reaching the Top

            Being children, Gloria and Aubrey could no longer sleep in cribs. Infant Central was the only area in the house large enough to incorporate two twins beds, and I did not wish to go through yet another remodel. The dividers did not provide much privacy, but at least it was something.

            My twins assured me that they did not mind sharing the space as their room.

            However, Gloria clearly did have a problem with the arrangement. Anyone carrying a conversation in the kitchen would wake her. She did not bring this problem to my attention, and so I simply pretended to have not observed it.

            Guests frequently flocked in and out of my house. The teenagers invited their peers over nearly every day. They were often quite rude to them though, leaving them out in the yard.

            I found their friends to be useful.

            My youngest girls enjoyed having their cousin over for play dates.

            Aubrey had a difficult time keeping up with the two girls.

            She preferred the company of older men. Especially the ones that Lois tried to sneak into her bedroom. Francis also found disrupting her envisions of romance to be enjoyable.

            When my house was not flooded with guests, I crowded my children into the car to return the favor to others.

            “I hope Francis doesn’t get too used to being in the backseat of a police cruiser,” the witch snidely commented. To be honest, I had had the same thought. And, by the casual way she glanced back at her brother, I knew Lois had as well.

            We decided to crowd Odie’s house for a few hours.

            I had not yet had a chance to meet my nephew, Greg.

            And then I had the pleasure of questioning his father.

            Frederick and I stayed at Odessa’s house the longest, taking part in intellectual activities.

            When we returned, I joined two of my teenagers in a video game session. Although it was enthralling to think about where they could help me reach in my career, writing reports was quite dull. Some nearly mindless entertainment made up for it nicely.

            The reports did their job and I was soon promoted to the position of Dynamic DNA Profiler. I was in complete shock (though I shouldn’t have been surprised) upon hearing that achieved my life’s dream. Not knowing what else to do, I returned home like any other day.

            As a congratulations gift, the captain rewarded me with two oil lamps out of the evidence room. They had been there since before I started as a snitch. I thanked him, despite not knowing what to do with them. They were dirty, so I simply set them out, reminding myself not to touch them. Oil stains quickly; it’d be a shame to ruin my uniform.

            I settled down to research forensics. Most of my teenagers filed through the front door, Lois taking time to loudly congratulate me. I would have appreciated it more if she had not pulled my attention from my work at hand.

            I did not notice until a few hours later that Francis had run off to the fire station yet again.

            After reaching the pinnacle of my career, I found my days to be slightly less exciting. I was a goal orientated person and no longer had promotions to be my carrot. I had to settle upon improving my already impressive skillset. Oh, and being a mother of course.

The Final Birthday

            Odie woke me from a nap, proclaiming that there was a party in my house.

            My sister had decided to throw a birthday party for me. It was a lovely gesture, but I had been resting so that I would have the energy to attend a conference. A promotion rested on the line.

            It would have been rude to not socialize awhile, and so I decided to make an attempt to sneak in late to the conference on stopping crime.

            Kylie had become much bigger since the last time I saw her.

            She was not the best-behaved little girl.

            I was surprised to find a cake on top of the counter. Blowing out my own birthday candles for the first time in my life nearly took the sting out of aging.

            It could not remove the instant achy joints though.

            I enjoyed a slice of cake with my oldest daughter.

            While looking about the party, I realized that I did not know any of the guests aside from Odie and Kylie. That fact made me feel much better about escaping to my conference.

            And my teenagers were even generous enough to agree to taking care of their sisters for the rest of the evening.

            I returned home late that night to find Aubrey and Gloria sleeping soundly. I was able to fully rest before work the next morning. Feeling great, I grinned the entire walk out to the car, happy to find that not much had changed since I became an elder. I could still follow my passion and hunt after my life’s ambition. Unlike Mother, I would not retire and doom myself to repetitive days and the painful energy resulting from being stir-crazy.

            And after I returned home, I could thoroughly enjoy being a mother. Elderhood held no hindrances for me. I thought of Kyle, and felt proud to know of another who had not let old age derail them.

            “Wow, you’re handling this a lot better than Vienna did,” the witch commented while I worked on a painting. “I pegged you for a breakdown.”

            I had the following day off from work, and decided to age my youngest twins while the teenagers were at school. I looked forward to having them to myself for their first few hours of childhood.

            While attempting to teach the girls how to play dominoes, Mother broke through to my mind. “I didn’t think you’d be so old yet!” Not wishing to look insane, I kept quiet. “I guess I better start working out who to pick.”

            I am quite sure that my face paled dramatically. Until that statement, I had never fully realized that she would have sole authority over who would be burdened with her next.

Spare Time Hobbies

            I had no time to spare after my third set of twins aged into toddlers. Yes, my sweet teenagers helped me whenever they could, but they were too young to be teaching tots how to walk and talk. As their mother, it was my responsibility, and I would not allow my children to grow up poorly.

            When I was not pestering them with skill building, my girls often played with their stuffed toys. The strangely patterned humanoids reminded me of the doll I had as a child. Thinking back to Cosmo, an eerie feeling scattered down my spine. He almost seemed like a real person, when I looked through my memories.

            Milton and Francis began stopping by the fire station after school. I did not know why they picked such a location, but I did not question it. They deserved time away from their crying sisters.

            Lois spent her free time upstairs with the television. She enjoyed watching the cooking channel in the early morning hours.

            When daylight came, she applied her new knowledge in making breakfast. She created nice waffles and pancakes several mornings before school.

            Her brothers did not appreciate her effort.

            Lois was not the only teen to sleep curious hours. Frederick found chess to be more exciting late at night.

            When he did sleep, it was often in the rocking chair in which his father spent much time.

            Francis had troubles with maintaining his act of being the good brother. Every now and then he would slip and steal some candy from one of the toddlers.

            Despite this, Aubrey adored him. Once she learned to walk on her own, she followed him all about the house and yard.

            Kyle’s ghost eventually made an appearance.

            I hated Mother for it, but she was correct. The apparition was nothing like my late husband. It would simply watch his daughters cry, not making any attempts to comfort them.

            I tried to avoid looking at it. It did not seem to recognize me, and, although I knew it wasn’t Kyle, it hurt.

            I was quite thankful when it was wisped away in the morning.

            The teens had not noticed that a ghost spent nearly an entire night in Kyle’s rocking chair. They were too in their own worlds; prom had finally arrived.

            All four of my teenagers decided to go to their formal dance. I had skipped mine when I was their age, and I had somewhat hoped that one would follow in suit. The entirety of their time away, I was left wondering what prom was really like.

            Still, it made me chuckle to see my boys all dressed to the nine’s.

            The oldest twins were in foul moods when they returned. Both of them stormed up to bed, leaving me to gain details from my middle twins. Francis bragged that he won prom king, while Frederick attempted to outdo him with the story of how a girl agreed to dance with him. I laughed, realizing that I simply did not care, and left the boys to their snow cones.