The Attached

Back Then

Ten years ago....      September 21st, 1996

  I jumped down the step in my house that connected the dining room to the kitchen at two o'clock in the afternoon. Getting up earlier that morning around ten, I got up immediately, walking to the kitchen and grabbed some cereal to munch down. Frosted Flakes were my favourite back then, although my mom didn't buy cereal all that often. "There is no nutrient in cereal," she would say to me when I asked her why she would say no. We usually ate pretty healthy, with my mom buying all the groceries in the organic section. The food didn't taste that great, my mother responding that the food she bought was good for us, although at the age of seven and eight, I didn't car about nutrience or eating food that was healthy. I only cared about eating tasty, and good food, like burgers and hot dogs and fries. Those articles of food were only for weekends, and even then we didn't eat that much.

  After grabbing my breakfast, I headed towards the living room in our two story house, plopping down on our grey velvet couch, in front of the tubed TV propped about five feet away from where I sat. A cup of orange juice in my hand, placing it down on a green coaster directly on the coffee table to me left, I flicked on the TV, flipping towards the Cartoon Network. Watching Saturday and Sunday morning cartoons were my favourite, my bowl of Frosted Flakes in hand, along with the remote, flipping the button up for volume. The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show was on at the time, one of my favourites while playing on the screen. I was an adamant fan of any cartoons airing on the TV, my favourite being Bugs Bunny, along with Scooby Doo. Most of my weekend mornings were spent watching cartoons as they would play right up until the afternoon. On different mornings there was often a marathon of only one type of show, in which I continued watching. That's how I spent the morning, glued to the TV in our house, watching as the sun rose through the curtains.

  We had a pretty big house, well big for me at the age of eight. With our living room stretching out wide, beside our grand front door. With the front entrance and landing with the mat beyond the door, the staircase to our rooms was about ten steps from the door. The living room towards the left hand side from the door, and our dining on the right side, attached to the kitchen. My parents were very much freaks over keeping the house clean, making Sunday's the designated cleaning day. And it so happened to work in my favour, as it seemed my friends always called me up to hang out on Sunday's. I wasn't complaining at all. It opted me out of chores, for my parents didn't seem to care if I was playing with friends. At least I wasn't spending all my time at home, and had friends to hang out with. On most given days I was playing with my friends after school or on weekends, their houses only a block away from mine. But I did have one friend that lived down the street from me, one I had met the year earlier, as he was years older than myself. His name was Kevin Turner, meeting him my first day of grade two, and his first day at his new job he received. Producing another janitor job, our school already had two other janitors, making me wonder why we needed an extra. Although I didn't care or think into it at the time, I was just thrilled I had found another friend. One that lived closer to me, and who could help fix my bike every so often. My dad was usually busy with work, having to bring it home many nights and work on it from the dining room table. I wasn't exactly sure what his job was, but I did remember he got payed a lot for it. Making my mom not have to work, and she stayed home many days looking after my siblings and I, making sure we got ready for school.

My older brother and sister didn't go to the same school as I did, they both attended the high school in our town. I couldn't wait till I was in high school too, growing up to become a teenager and join my other friends. There just seemed to be something about teenagers, something I liked so much. They looked so cool, with later curfews and different rules. I couldn't wait myself to become a teenager, like my brother and sister at the time. Johnny was my brother, being the age of fifteen when I was eight, and Kaitlin was my thirteen year old sister. She just entered the ninth grade in high school, and Johnny entered grade eleven. The three of us tried to not fight, although since Johnny and Kaitlin were closer in age, they fought a bit more. I tried to stay out of the fighting, and tried to keep peace between us. Besides, mom and dad usually got angry when we fought, especially if it was over something stupid. Like this one time while I interrupted Kaitlin from her piano practice in the family room, which was located next to the living room. Practicing Hot Cross Buns on my recorder for music class, I stepped down the stairs quietly, blowing slightly into the instrument.