Michael Jackson & Joseph Jackson

I

It was another ordinary day in Gary, Indiana. The Jackson children were cleaning the living room while their mother, Katherine was shopping and their father, Joseph was at work at the Steel Mills.

“Don't spill it again,” said Rebbie to young Randy, wiping the table at the same time.

Rebbie was the oldest of the Jackson kids so most of the time, she had to take on the responsibility of managing her siblings while trying her best to manage the house on her own whenever Katherine was away; sometimes, the responsibility was very hard when her other eight siblings refused to listen to her.

While the children were still cleaning, one of the boys, Tito, picked up a guitar and started playing it. Soon after, everyone had the tendency to break into a perfectly harmonized song. But Jermaine, one of the middle children, wasn't thrilled that his younger brothers, Michael and Marlon, were jumping on the couch.

“Michael, Marlon! Get down, off the couch! Off the couch now!”

Michael taunted, “Nope! You're not the boss of us!”

“I'm not joking, get off.”

“No.”

Jermaine turned around to his other brother jumping on the couch as well, Michael's identical twin brother, Joseph or “Joey” for short.

“Joey, get down.”

Joseph smiled at Jermaine, and said, “Nuh-uh.”

Then, Jackie, the second oldest Jackson, came towards Michael, Joseph and Marlon, very annoyed.

“He said get off the couch.” Jackie said, pulling the boys off the couch.

Michael wasn't happy so he grabbed a white shirt at Jackie he found on the floor and hit Jackie with it.

“Gimme that,” Jackie snatched the shirt off of Michael. “Quit fooling around.”

Michael, Joseph and Marlon ran away as soon as Rebbie came towards them, very annoyed by what was going on and began scolding Jackie.

“Jackie, have you finished sweeping in here?”

“Uh, almost, Rebbie, almost.”

But Jackie didn't listen to her as the children circled around Rebbie and messing around, much to her dismay.

Rebbie yelled in stress, “You've been sweeping for the past half an hour! You need to take out the trash! There's washing to be done! Stop it, you're all driving me crazy!”

———

Meanwhile, Katherine was still at the store, buying groceries. She reached the checkout section near the cashier and put her shopping on the checkout counter.

“Got everything you need, Mrs. Jackson?” asked the cashier.

“Yes, I do.” Katherine responded.

While the cashier scanned Katherine's shopping, she immediately started a conversation with her.

“So, how are your kids doing?”

“Oh, they're fine. Michael and Joseph just turned six a few months ago, Rebbie is at home, Joe is still at work.”

“Wait, the twins are six already?”

“Yep, time flies. Started first grade as well so yep, they're growing up into independent young boys.”

The cashier finished scanning Katherine's shopping and she quickly packed them inside a shopping bag. Katherine grabbed the bag and left the store, saying goodbye to the cashier.