Freaks: Year Two

An Owl Fight

Toby climbed onto a stool and reached up for Edgar. Francis was now just waking up, rubbing his eyes. He looked to see Edgar was on the wardrobe again. He did that a lot.

Toby lifted Edgar off the wardrobe and asked, "How did you get up here?!"

Edgar was rubbing his eyes. "What?" he asked.

"Why did you climb onto the wardrobe?"

Edgar gave them a confused look. "I didn't."

Toby stared at Edgar not believing him. "Get ready for school, okay?"

Edgar looked at Toby nervously. "Okay..."

Toby didn't understand why Edgar was so nervous. He would not be in the house all day now that school had started, that was a plus. He looked at Francis who had just noticed the state their room was in. "Get ready and clean up," Toby said, wondering why the two of them had decided to rearrange their room in the messiest way possible. He exited the room to go to the kitchen. Their mother would not be happy if she saw the mess the room was in. He had no idea how the two of them had managed to do that but if they made the mess they could clean it up.

When he had entered the kitchen it was to find Ethan eating a bowl of cereal. Toby got two more bowls out. He started to pour cereal into each bowl and then poured milk into each of them. He grabbed spoons and set them on the table. He then ran back to Edgar, and Francis' room.

He knocked on the door. "Can I come in?"

After a few moments, Edgar called, "Yes."

Toby opened the door and saw they were both dressed. They had not moved the furniture back to their proper places though but they had at least started to pick the stuff off the floor. Toby nodded. "Okay, go eat breakfast."

The three of them exited the room and Francis and Edgar started to eat with Ethan. Toby was still standing, tapping his foot trying to expel his nerves. "You have everything? You didn't lose your bags too, right?"

Ethan shook his head for the other two. "Their bags are at the front door."

Toby nodded but he could not shake off his feeling of stress. "Okay, good."

Ethan turned to him in his chair and raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to eat?"

"In just a second," Toby said he ran to Edgar's and Francis' room.

Ethan looked at the table. Toby had not even gotten a bowl for himself. He looked over at his younger brothers. Edgar was eating slowly and Francis was staring at his food. "You both need to eat."

Francis stared at the bowl in front of him and Edgar gave a tiny nod.

Ethan looked at his brother, rolled his eyes and got up. "You never put those things in." He left the table but in less than a minute he was back. He handed Francis his hearing aids which he put in with hesitation. "Now eat."

Francis nodded but didn't start eating.

Ethan looked at him reproachfully. "Do I need to spoon-feed it to you?"

Francis shook his head and took a bite.

Toby came back into the kitchen, (he had pushed the beds back to where they were supposed to go and had picked more off the floor so the room looked semi-clean) and grabbed the cereal box, stuck his hand in it and shoved a handful of it in his mouth. He looked at the clock. They had to leave in five minutes. He looked over at the other three to see if they were all ready.

Ethan was finished, Edgar was halfway done and Francis had only taken a couple of bites. Toby sighed. "You need to eat Francis."

Francis took another bite.