Bay Six

UNE

     My eyes flutter open to the warm sunlight bleeding into the room through the shades. I sigh, knowing what today was; Monday. The worst day of the week. A symbol that your weekend is over and your week has begun. Why is it that Monday is so far from Friday, but Friday is so close to Monday? I saw that on a bumper sticker one time and now it's like the quote of my life. You know what, Monday? No one likes you. If you had a face, I would punch it. If you were a person, you'd have no friends. I've got 1 finger and 2 words for you Monday; fuck you.

     "Jo," I heard my mother's voice echo through the hall from the bottom of the stairs. "Wake your brother. It's almost time to go!" My hands rubbed my tired eyes and ran though my unbrushed hair. I swung my feet off the side of the bed and slowly made my way to the closet to get dressed. I then shuffled my way out of my room, still half asleep, across the hall and knocked on the door to my little brother's room.

     "Willy, you up?" No response. Typical. "William?" Still nothing. Looking at the 'No Girls Allowed' sign and rolling my eyes, I push the door open to see the 6'2" sixteen year old sprawled out like a starfish across his twin sized bed. "Of course you're not." I walked over to the shades and pulled them open, castings the bright morning sun onto the bed of the boy. I heard a deep groan come from inside the sheets. "Come on Willy. Get your little tush out of bed."

     "Bite me Jo." I should have known better than to try to be playful with a pissy pubescent teen at 8 o'clock on a Monday morning.

     "Hey, don't get mouthy with me mister. Do I have to get dad up here to drag you out of those blankets?" He groaned again as he shifted to an upright position. "That's what I though. You've got 15 minutes before we have to leave." As I head out the door, I heard his body fall back to the mattress. I turn around and stand in the doorway. "I'm not leaving until you're out of that bed and putting on clean clothes."

     "Josephine!" I forgot how whinny he is in the morning. "Please, leave! I only have boxers on!"

     "Oh come on, you walk around in boxers practically all weekend. Just get up!"

     "Jo? William? Are you two ready?" My mother stood at the base of the stairs dressed in her Army General uniform, all her metals gleaming and her patches pristine. Her long brown hair pulled tightly back into a perfect round bun, not a single strand out of place. I always admired the way she wore that uniform, so tall and proud.

     "I'm trying, but Willy won't get out of bed. I think dad needs to make a guest appearance up in this bedroom!"

     "No, I'm up! I'm up!" William shot up out of the bed and I couldn't help but laugh at the distress in his voice. He knew that my father wouldn't hesitate to tickle the piss out of him if he didn't get out of that bed. It's happened, twice. After making sure that instead of dirty clothes from the floor, he had taken clean clothes out of his drawer and put them on, I headed down stairs to grab my boots. William was lucky, getting to wear whatever he wanted to school. I had to wear the same thing everyday from now on; military uniform and black combat boots. I walk into the kitchen, my father stirring his coffee, my mother texting in the entry way, thumbs flying away at the keys clicking on her phone. My boots lay next to the bench in the hall, where I sit to lazily pull them on. After lacing them up, I looked up to my mother.

     "Mom, what is boot camp like?" My mother and father have been serving in the military since they were 18; my mother serves in the Army as General Pierce and my father in the Navy as Admiral Pierce.