Family Togetherness

Chapter 8- Inspiration and Imagination

And just like that, it was the day.

The day.

For something they'd been anticipating for such a long time, it was a fairly ordinary one too: a flat grey void of sky stretched tightly over the heads of maple trees and terraced houses like the skin of a drum; livened occasionally by sharp gusts of wind. But since the calendar said it was Thursday the 14th, they were willing to ignore the boring atmosphere.

"Anything exciting happening today?" Sophie glanced across them, sowed with new, family-orientated resolve. The picture of her and her sister had been put back in its place of honour on the windowsill; with a new shine brought about by a vigorous morning session of scrubbing and polishing. A gem amongst useless, dusty artefacts.

Those were the days! Love C-xxx

Yes, they certainly were.

"Science competition, Mum," Luke's cardboard box was propped carefully up on the kitchen table. All the planets were acceptable sizes in proportion to each other; with just the right number of moons (some of them had to be very small.) The deep indigo background was painted to perfection; decorated with spiral nebulae and a pretty convincing-looking asteroid belt.

Science competition. Sophie screwed up her forehead in thought. She'd been so busy recently that keeping up with all the week's events had been quite a struggle.
"Oh, yes. After school. I'll be thinking of you whilst I'm stuck in the office!"

Luke didn't think that was much of a consolation after all his hard work, but he nodded anyway. He could do with all the positive thoughts he could get. Yesterday, Katie Evans had shown up in class without so much as a sniffle, and a rumour was circulating that her hand-built computer was 25% complete already.

"Don't be late," he turned to Victoria, who was gazing into space with an anguished expression.

She turned distractedly. "I won't be late if you don't drag it out. Remember- sit through the presentations, get the prize, and go."

"But don't rush!" Abby chimed in. "Answer their questions and be polite! Mrs Mason was saying earlier that her niece is entering. The neighbourhood are quite interested in how this is going to turn out."

Luke shot her a suspicious glance. "Who's Mrs Mason's niece, then?"

"I don't know," she replied hastily. For that day only, it was important that she kept Luke's confidence up and nerves down. And she was certain that it wasn't Katie Evans, anyway.

Sophie surveyed them over the cornflake box. If she closed her eyes, she could almost pretend that she was listening to a conversation between herself and her sister, years earlier. There was no denying that they were getting on much better these days- though why the dynamic had changed she wasn't sure. That would be a nice change for when Uncle Joe came round next week.

Abby watched their mother surveying them over the cornflake box, and shook open her notebook under the table.
'Mum is still quiet, but doesn't seem nearly so withdrawn and stressed. Photos and postcards have been rearranged- expect more visits from friends and relatives.'

Sophie slung her black leather handbag over one shoulder and leant over to kiss the air above each of her children's cheeks.

"Call me after they've judged in the competition," she called as the door swung shut.

"You would think," Layla said to Victoria after she was gone, "that Mum would be there to see it herself."

Victoria looked at the newly polished photograph and then back at her youngest sister. Layla had grown a lot recently; and not just physically. They had all been thinking of her as the baby of the family- amusing, precocious, and branded with the tiresome label 'Too Young To Understand.' But Layla was not a baby. She was getting to be a sensible, independent girl who did things by herself, and noticed what they didn't. And it was all happening quite quickly.