Abigail | Putri Marin

Chapter 3

     The morning was spent with a lot of cleaning done and a lot of energy used from running around in the grass field. It was nearing lunchtime, I and Ruth are talking about the new book we've read where the protagonist is a genius woman who fell madly in love with a man and gave up everything she has, her talent, her family, everything, for him. Yet in the end, the man leaves her alone with just the feeling of misery and sorrow.

   Ruth and I disagree with the thought, we believe that is not the end of the book. There must be a continuation to the book, but all we can do is wait for the return of Uncle Samuel, Ruth's Father to ask for continuation as to he is the author of that book. And as we've absorbed from every book he has written, there are always life lessons in it.

   Despite being the only family who lived in a deserted area, Uncle Samuel believed that we should learn about people even if we've never met a stranger our whole life. He believed one day, when we've made it to the other side, those life lessons could come to good use. He hoped we will see the other side as he always dreamt about it and tell stories his grandparents told him as a child about the world before the crash.

   He wishes to be able to live long enough to see it, but he wishes even more that we can see it as he is getting old. He made me crave the idea of seeing strangers every single day, being curious about their life, their personalities, their pain, their joy, their passion. How crazy will it be to see someone new every single day and learn new things from them? I will kill to have that life. I understand why Uncle Samuel would love to go to the other side, and why Petra will go hunting to find it.

   While you may say poetically that Uncle Samuel is the daylight, the sun, and the morning. Uncle Reuben is the opposite, the moonlight, the moon, the night. At first, he might seem quiet and calm, and he is. But he does care and love his family as Uncle Samuel does. He is a private man, the thought of meeting a stranger never really excites him or makes him feel a shiver through his spine.

   He prefers to be with his family, he's the only adult in the family that didn't get married as there is no one for him to hold and love. Sometimes that made him lonely but he does not want to admit it as he wanted to be grateful for what he had, a family. He is more interested in brainstorming games such as chess and crafting than writing and reading. He's more of a practical guy.

   He's the master in chess, no one has beaten him in chess yet till this day. As for cards, he still is a master at that, but Father is more experience in that game despite being younger than him. I guess you could say that they have their talents in each of their favourite games.

   Other than those games, Uncle Reuben loves to craft. As an example, he crafted grandma's rocking chair. He also crafted all of our beds, the dining table, he even made this place for Mother and Aunt Erika to dry the clothes. Overall he's a creative man, but he's also quite protective which was hard for Father when he first started dating Mother.

   While both brothers are very different, you could say that Mother made it neutral. She's not quite like Uncle Reuben but not as talkative as Uncle Samuel. She is what a Mother is. She is very loving and gentle and adventurous, almost everyone in our family is. To top it all up, she is the best cook I know even grandma approve of that comment.

   From Father's side, you could say that Aunt Erika and Father's relationship is quite similar to Uncle Samuel and Uncle Reuben's. Aunt Erika is a painter, our family is very creative you might say. We have a poet, a writer, a crafter, a chef, and a painter. Aunt Erika's similarity to Mother's is they are both very adventurous when they were younger, they were the best of a friend and still are.

   When she's working on a new art project, we'll always see her holding a brush in her hand. All of our paintings in the house are made by Aunt Erika. Both Aunt Erika and Uncle Samuel are very artistic which follow up with their children.

   Ruth is the first child and she's a writer and a poet, she loves reading novels but she'd prefer to be called a poet. She could stay up all night writing which had been a bad habit of hers. Joshua is the second child and he's a future pianist, Sharen -my older sister- is the master pianist of the house currently, and one day he wishes to be the master as he is being taught by her.

   William is the third child and he is an artist, he prefers to sketch then paint and he spent most of the day sketching anything he can see and observe in front of his eyes. Michael is the last child, and as far as I've observed he's pretty open in the artistic choices the household gave but he prefers to sing along with the melody of piano that is played every single night after dinner. Sometimes he'll make up lyrics in his head on the spot, or some other times we -me and Ruth- gave him some lyrics ideas to sing for the upcoming night, it was a show every single night.

   Father was quite a straightforward man. Sometimes he comes out blunt but he'll try his best not to hurt anyone's feelings. Father is quiet and monotone, but he tries his best to be there for his family -just like Uncle Reuben-. Father is a hard worker and caring man, he likes to sit next to me and Ruth by the riverside and listen to us talking about poems ideas, and the most random things we could talk about on this planet Earth. What a family huh?