Family Togetherness

Chapter 7- Plans In Action

Nathan was playing Wizard Wars with Layla. She wasn't very good at it, but he was so desperate that he'd do anything rather than go upstairs. His bedroom had been transformed into a minefield of strewn paintbrushes; glue sticks and globules of paint, just waiting to fasten any unassuming sock or trainer to the carpet.

Nathan would normally have put up a fuss- it was his room as well as Luke's, and he didn't care about the solar-system model in the slightest. But he didn't stress over the little things so much anymore. Much as he hated to acknowledge it, Luke's science fair was probably more important than playing video games.

"I found a gem!" Layla almost dropped her console in excitement.

Nathan glanced up. "That's not a gem," he sighed, "gems are green. That's a bomb. Go around it."

Layla slowly manoeuvred her character around the little red square, eyes narrowed in concentration. "You shouldn't play with bombs."

Sophie put her head around the door. She looked vaguely surprised to see them both crouched on the carpet side by side. "Who's playing with bombs?"

"Mum, it's not real."

"Oh, good." She pulled on her red wool jacket. "I'm going out for a work party this evening. I won't stay for the whole time- expect me back by eleven at the latest."

Layla held out her console. "We can't find any gems. Want to have a go?"

"You lot don't have a clue about real entertainment. When I was growing up, I was trying new things all the time. Pottery, netball, the flute- you name it!"

Nathan found himself stinging with injustice at how untrue this was. He could feel an account of the whole week's events on the tip of his tongue, ready to spill out and ruin everything. If Victoria's performance wasn't real entertainment, he didn't know what was! But he had control. Victoria hadn't mentioned the audition for a reason, and although he generally didn't respect many of her reasons, he sort of understood this one.

Sophie was their mum. She'd birthed and raised all five of them- without much help from their Dad, who was always, as he said "just a phone call away." The Fairfield siblings had learned from that white plastic receiver that sometimes even that was too far away. But that didn't matter, because they had their mother. They could come to her with all their school dilemmas, anecdotes and latest grades. Even the bad ones.

Even so, a magazine competition was different. Sophie had always turned up her nose at anything that she felt was a waste of time, and talent contests always came under that category. Nathan knew that Victoria would be very hurt if their mum didn't take their hard work and preparation seriously. If she'd wanted her to know, she'd have told her herself. So the account of the whole week's events remained on the tip of his tongue, and he watched her shake her head and stride out of the room.

"Don't worry," Layla reassured him, noticing his torn expression. "Grown-ups only say that about us because they didn't have anything fun to do when they were kids."

Nathan laughed. "I hadn't thought about it like that."

"It's true though, isn't it? I don't think our school music lessons are fun, but in the olden days, Mum liked playing the flute!"

"Don't you want to do an activity after school anymore?" Asked Nathan, surprised. "Like an instrument, or ballet, or whatever it was?"

Layla raised one shoulder and then lowered it. "I did," she swerved her character left to avoid an obstacle. "But it's more fun being at home, with all of you."

Nathan felt touched, but being emotional wasn't really his thing. So he patted his sister on the back and let her have another turn completing the level.