In reality size does matter. It is more than being able to fit in economy class seats and finding clothes at every store.
It is about feeling good that you are part of the elite. But, does size really matter. In a world that prides itself in diversi...
It was never a question of what I liked. Nothing really is. When you live in a family the only way to succeed is compromise. That is exactly what Daniel was doing now.The choice was not going to be easy and it came at the worst time possible. Mom and grandpa were still in their mourning phase which we could not understand.
They had been to America. It was for two weeks and during that time. I could feel myself slipping further away from right. I knew what I was doing was not fair on my body, but what my body was doing was not fair to me. The tape had curled tighter in the last two weeks. It was not enough.
As usual Daniel and I walked home together. He was silent and thinking hard. Daniel's prefect badge was not on his blazer anymore and I feared the worst. Did he get demoted? I thought of all the rumour and gossip I knew. Nothing bad had been said about Daniel for weeks.
"Dan, what's wrong?"I asked against my better judgement.
"What would happen if I told mom I got into the under nineteen national hockey team?" Daniel asked stopping for a moment.
"You know she would be proud,"I said.
"Well I got in,"he told me in a defeated voice.
I was puzzled why was he so sad about it? Daniel, I know, would be going crazy and telling me replays about the games that allowed him to be selected. This was not Daniel but some freaking alien thing.
"So that's great it's not like you haven't been working your entire schooling career for it," I said picking up our walking pace to a slow jog.
"No, I'm having a party in my head but the tour is so expensive," he said.
"How much," I demanded.
"Over fifty," he said
"So fifty hundred rands."
"No fifty thousand rand," he corrected.
"Well let's see how you're going to break that to mom," I said turning the jog into a run, "race you home white boy."
Daniel won our race home meaning he got tv rights. When I finally caught up with him he smacked my arm. Racial slurs were not appreciated, even said in the most joking manner. Not that he watched anything. Instead he hovered over my shoulder as we both tried to study for tests tomorrow. Daniel was nervous about confronting mom for that kind of money. I don't know why.
He has never had a problem with getting money from mom. As long as he gets the grades mom is willing to fork over the cash he needs to fund his expensive sporting lifestyle.
"Lea, how do you ask mom for something like that?" he said taking a break from his maths notes.
I refused to acknowledge him I still had another chapter to get through before I could take any sort of break. I should have known better. Daniel did not give up on anything he was determined to have. Right now he was determined to have my undivided attention in order to solve his crises.
The first thing to fly by my ear was an eraser. It missed hitting the wall behind me with surprising force. I glared at him only to see him calmly sharpening a pencil. A sharpener followed by two pens both which found it target only served to mildly annoy me.
I was used to this. What I wasn't used to was the pencil that touched my skin and managed to lodge itself. With a feral scream I hurled myself at Daniel ready rip him into pieces. Brother or not that pencil had hurt.
Soon we were wrestling on the floor like WWE pro's. He had me in a choke hold but I had dug my finger nails into his arm.
"MOM, DAN AND LEA ARE FIGHTING IN THE KITCHEN," came Claire's bratty voice.
Which of course made sure that Dan and I proved Claire wrong by stopping the epic battle then and there. Lying to a mother is nearly impossible which lead to all three of us being grounded. I was completely happy with it at least the little snitch was also grounded.
Mom looked harassed and tired. She still wouldn't tell us the story of her long-lost now dead brother.
Harassed mom does not mean a nice mom. Mom has stages or phases. At this moment she was at her 'don't you dare inch a toe out of line' aka she was pissed off.
Grandpa was not much better. He had gotten passed the 'I'm to blame' stage and moved right onto distraught dictator.
I stopped eating all together. Food was never comforting to me and right now it seemed like a sin to eat. After a shower in freezing cold water and an apology to my brother I was feeling slightly better.
There was still the issue of money and hockey. Don't get me wrong mom supported us in our dreams almost all the time. We weren't that wealthy but we had enough for quite a comfortable lifestyle but the money that Daniel wanted would be slightly out of his reach. He had revealed to me after my apology that his marks had been slipping. Not very serious slips but slipping nonetheless. I thought he was lying until he showed me his latest tests. Some were low B's. Claire found out too because she was tired of being grounded. She promised to keep her mouth shut. Mom was never to know.
So we prepared a strong case, me, Dan and Claire. No matter how much we hated each other this was not an opportunity to be wasted.Basically it went along the lines of doing chores and making breakfast and even cleaning the bathrooms which all three of us hated to do with a passion.
We cornered her in her room. She was listening to The Beatles and reading a medical journal. She immediately put the journal down, her eyebrows raised.
"How much do you need?" mom asked with a sigh.
"Mommy who said we needed money. Can't we just tell you how much we love you,"
I rolled my eyes Claire was laying it out thicker than butter. Mom knows us all too well. When Claire lays it this thick mom knows we want money.
"Ok mom, I got chosen for the National under nineteen side."
Mom grabbed him into a huge hug and slobbered him with kisses. National team was a big thing.
"How much does it cost?" mom asked again after she got over the slobber phase.
"Fifty thousand rand," I piped knowing Daniel was not going to say.
"Oh," her face deflated slightly.
I could see her mind crunching the numbers.
"Alright Daniel I'll pay but first year varsity you'll have to get a scholarship," mom said turning back to the journal.
I groaned this time. Sometimes no matter how much your parents love you there is still work involved when it comes to getting what is wanted and not needed. To Daniel, this opportunity was a need. I saw it as a want. We all have different scales of measuring happiness. It doesn't mean that we are all wrong or all right in how we do it.
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A/N: My vision of Daniel. I think he looks very mooi. Please leave a thought if you have any and enjoy the rest of your week.
