Moving...a twin story-Part 2
By SamPast
Copyright © 1999
Finally, the day of the
move had arrived. Charlie and Lisa were up early packing
last minute things. They
let the baby and the twins sleep. They got more done that
way. That was one reason
they had decided to let Joan and Jack take the kids for the
day. It would be much
easier with the movers if the kids were not around.
"Daddy! Daddy! Come
here!" It was Robin screaming.
Charlie went running into
the twins' room.
"What's the matter,
Robin? What is it?"
"Daddy, Jennifer
crying and calling out in her sleep and I can't wake her."
Charlie said, "Okay,
Robin, you go to the bathroom and wash up. I'll take care of
your sister."
Charlie saw Robin hesitate.
"Really, sweetheart, it's okay, Jennifer will be fine."
Robin left the room.
Charlie nudged Jennifer and said, "Baby, wake up, it's Daddy,
come on, baby, wake
up."
Just then, Jennifer
stirred. She turned over and opened her eyes. "Daddy?"
Charlie said, "Yes,
baby, it's me. It's okay, you were just having a bad dream.
Time to wake up now anyway.
Aunt Joan and Uncle Jack will be here soon."
Jennifer jumped up.
"No, Daddy, I want to stay here with you and Mommy. I want
to help move."
"Jennifer, we've
talked about this. You and your sister would only be in the way of
the movers. They're going
to do all the work. C'mon now, let's get you changed and
you can go eat breakfast
and get dressed," Charlie said.
Robin and Jennifer ate
breakfast quietly. They were sad that they were leaving the
apartment. Yeah, it was
small, but it was the only place they had ever lived. They still
wanted to stay home and
help their parents move. Just then the doorbell rang. Lisa
went to answer it. It was
her sister, Joan.
Lisa said, "Hi,
where's Jack?"
Joan answered, "He's
in the car with Joseph and Jody. Figures, Jody fell asleep the
minute we got into the car.
Hi, girls! Ready for an exciting day?"
Jennifer said,
"What're we gonna do?"
Aunt Joan said, "How
would you girls like to go to Adventureland?"
Robin looked at her parents
and then back at her aunt. She was very excited. They
hadn't been since the
previous summer.
"Oh, yes! Thank
you!" Robin said, and she hugged her aunt.
Aunt Joan said, "What
about you, Jennifer? Don't you like Adventureland?"
Lisa said, "Of course,
she does, she's just a little upset about leaving the apartment.
Okay, girls, give a last
look around. The next time you come home, you'll be in the
new house."
Charlie put his arms around
both girls. "Right, and you'll be in your new room
upstairs. And it will be
set up just the way we talked about. And you'll have your own
bathroom, and then we'll
set up the extra den as your playroom. You're going to love
it!"
Robin and Jennifer both
smiled. They had spent hours planning how they would
set up their rooms. It was
going to be like having their own apartment. They had the
whole top floor of the
Ranger Ranch house. They had a choice of having their own
rooms, or sharing a room
and having a playroom/room to hang out with their friends in.
Jennifer had thought it
might be nice to have her own room. But Robin was scared,
and Jennifer, too, thought
it might be scary not to have Robin there. So they had
decided to do it this way.
Charlie said, "Okay,
you girls be good. I don't want to hear about any problems
from Aunt Joan and Uncle
Jack. Do you hear me?"
Both girls nodded and
kissed their father. Then they kissed their mother.
Charlie handed Joan the
baby's diaper bag. "Joan, there's also some of Jennifer's
pantsies in there. She has
one on right now, also. She's been having a lot of accidents.
Just remind her to use the
bathroom frequently, okay? Have a great day, and thanks
again!"
Joan, Jack, Jennifer,
Robin, Steven, Joseph, and Jody set off for Adventureland.
When they got there, Jack
turned the car off and said, "Okay, gang, before we go in,
there are a few rules I
want to set that must be followed."
Joseph said, "Oh,
Daddy!"
Jack said, "I mean it,
son, no rules, no Adventureland. Now listen carefully. Rule
#1-you must hold hands with
someone at all times, and one of you must be holding a
grownup's hand. Got
it?"
All the kids nodded.
"Rule #2-there will be
no whining. If we say no to something, then that's that. And
when it's time to go, you
go, without any arguments. Does everyone understand?"
Jack asked.
He looked around. He waited
until all four kids nodded. Then he looked at his
wife and asked,
"Ready?"
Joan said, "Ready.
Let's go."
Joan and Jack and the four
kids and the stroller with baby Steven began its journey
through the amusement park.
The kids went on lots of different rides, played carnival
games, and won prizes. They
were having lots of fun.
At about 12:00, Jack asked,
"Okay, who's hungry?"
"Me!"
"Me!" "Me!" "Me!" "Me!"
The fifth "Me!"
was from Joan. Jack said, "Okay, it's unanimous, let's go get some
lunch."
The seven of them went into
the cafeteria. It was just like Nathan's. Both the
twins, and Joseph, and
four-year-old Jody wanted hot dogs. That was easy. They sat
down and ate in silence.
Jack said, "I guess
they really were hungry."
Joan said, "Yeah, I
guess so."
Robin and Jennifer wanted
to go into the game room that was connected to the
cafeteria. "Please,
can we go, Uncle Jack, while you guys finish your lunch?"
Joseph said, "Yeah, I
want to go, too."
Joan said, "Well, you
guys could wait a little longer, and then we'll all go."
Jennifer said,
"Please, we'll be careful. Please!?"
Jack stood up and pulled
six singles out of his wallet. "Okay, you can each have
two dollars. I want you
three to stay together. And come right back here when you've
spent that,
understand?"
Robin and Jennifer jumped
up and hugged their uncle.
"We will, thank you,
Uncle Jack!" they both said.
Jack said, "And
Joseph, I want you to hold one of your cousins' hands, got it?"
Joseph said, "Oh,
Daddy, I'm seven years old, do I haveta?"
His father looked at him
and said, "Yes, you do, or you're not going!"
Joseph said, "Okay,
fine." He grabbed Robin's hand and said, "Let's go already."
Joan and Jack watched as
the three of them disappeared into the game room. Joan
continued alternately
feeding Steven and Jody.
Meanwhile, Joseph grew
tired watching Jennifer play pinball. He wanted to find
this game Frogger that his
friend had told him about. Robin was right across from
Jennifer playing Ms.
Pacman.
"Frogger can't be too
far away," Joseph thought.
Suddenly, something green
caught his eye and he ran to see what it was. Jennifer
saw him run off and yelled,
"Joseph, where're you going? Come back!"
Robin turned away from her
game when she heard her sister yell, and said,
"Where's he
going?"
Jennifer came over and
said, "I don't know, but we better find him."
Robin said, "Okay, let
me just finish up this game. I'm up to my last life anyway."
When Robin had
"died", Jennifer and Robin went searching for Joseph. "This
place isn't that big, so we
shouldn't have any trouble finding him," Robin said.
After walking around for a
few minutes, the girls had still not seen their cousin.
Jennifer said, "Oh,
where is he? I have to go to the bathroom now."
Robin said, "We just
passed the bathroom. Why don't you go? I'll wait here for
you. If I stay in one spot,
Joseph's bound to pass me eventually. He's probably been
walking around the same
amount we have. We're just further behind him. Look, I'll be
right there playing
skeeball. You go to the bathroom."
Jennifer thought that was a
good idea. "Okay, I'll be right back."
Robin went over to the skeeball
machine. It was only a dime. She only had
quarters. She went to the
change man and got five dimes for two quarters. Then she
went back to skeeball and
started to play. She was on her third game when she heard:
"Oh, there you are,
Robin. I've been looking for you guys all over."
Robin looked up to see her
uncle. "Hi, Uncle Jack, look at my score, I'm getting so
many tickets."
Jack said, "That's
great, sweetie." He looked around. "Where's your sister and
Joseph?"
Robin had her arm back and
she was about to throw her last ball of the game when
she looked back at her
uncle. "Well, Jennifer's in the bathroom and um, I'm not sure
where Joseph is. I mean,
he's around here somewhere, but I'm not sure where." As
soon as she said this, she
looked down at the floor.
Jack said, "What? What
do you mean you're not sure where Joseph is? The three
of you were supposed to
stay together. Now Jennifer is in the bathroom, you're
nonchalantly playing
skeeball, and your cousin is missing?"
Before Robin knew what hit
her, Jack had swung her around, and slapped her hard
on her bottom. In response,
she dropped the hard wooden skeeball.
"OW! That hurt, Uncle
Jack."
Uncle Jack said,
"Well, it was supposed to. And that's just the beginning; you are
in very big trouble."
Robin sobbed, "But,
Uncle Jack, let me tell you what happened, we . . . "
Jack cut her off, "You
know what, I don't want to hear it, young lady."
Robin stood there rubbing
her bottom while Jack stood up on a bench and tried to
see over the crowd. He did
not see his son anywhere and was getting worried.
Just then, Jennifer, Jody
and Joan came over to where Robin and Jack were
standing.
"Hi, honey, look who
Jody and I ran into in the bathroom," Joan said, as she
nodded at Jennifer.
Jack growled. Then he said
to Jennifer, "And I don't suppose you know where
Joseph is either?"
Jennifer shook her head
back and forth. Then Jack spun her around, too, and
slapped her hard on her
bottom. Jennifer started to cry. Jack filled Joan in on what
happened.
Joan said, "Well, he's
got to be around here somewhere." She turned to the girls
and said, "What was
the last thing he said to you?"
Amidst tears, Jennifer
answered, "He wanted to find this game called Frogger.
Robin and I told him we had
never heard of it, but he said he wanted to play it. We
told him to wait one minute
and we would help him find it, but he just ran off. We
tried to catch up to him,
but we couldn't find him. Then I had to go to the bathroom,
and Robin said she was
going to wait right here, by the skeeball for me, and hoped he
would go past."
Jack turned to Robin and
asked, "Is that what happened, Robin?"
Robin said, "I tried
to tell you that, Uncle Jack."
He responded, "Well,
I'm sorry that I didn't listen to you. Our main concern now is
that we find Joseph."
Then he turned to his wife and said, "Why don't you all stay
here, and I will go look
for him? That way, I'll know where you all are."
Joan said, "Why don't
we split up and all look? Oh, honey, you don't think Joseph
left the building, do you?
He's been bugging us about going on the train all day. You
don't think he went to see
the train, do you?"
Jack looked at Joan, and
then hurried out the door. Just then, a man pushed Joseph
aside and said,
"Little boy, you'd better stand back. The train is coming, and you could
get hurt."
Jack saw this and ran and
grabbed Joseph. Just then a speeding train went by. Jack
looked Joseph over to see
that he was all right, and then hugged him close to him.
"Oh, thank god, you're
all right. What were you doing? What do you think you're
doing out here all by
yourself? You could have been killed," Jack screamed.
Then he grabbed Joseph and
swung him around. He gave him ten quick smacks on
his backside. Joseph
started to cry.
Jack said, "Don't you
ever do that again, do you understand?"
Joseph recovered from his
shock. "I'm sorry, Daddy, I didn't mean anything, I just
wanted to see the
train." He continued to cry.
Joan and the girls walked
over to them. They had followed Jack out and saw
everything.
Jack said, "Well, I
think that it's time to go home."
Jody said, "No, Daddy,
you promised us a ride on the train. I want to go on the
train."
Joan said, "Honey, you
did promise them. Jody's been so good all day. Let's just
go on the train and then
we'll call it a day. She needs a nap, anyway."
Jack looked at everyone's
faces. He was relieved that his son was all right. He
gave in.
"Okay, one train ride
coming right up, and then we're leaving. Let's go!"
The train took them all
around the park. Unfortunately, Robin, Jennifer and Joseph
did not find the hard
wooden benches on the train very comfortable. And they all knew
there was more in store for
them when they got home.
(to be continued . . . )