Smoke And Mirrors

•Fifteen•

I wake up from sweating. I sit up and look at Jake, his body laying flat against the mattress.
I gently get out of bed, the bright morning sun pushing its way against the plastic white blinds that were tilted shut. I stretch— looking at each of the boys. Sam, half of his limbs hang off the bed in an uncomfortable position.
I peek up at Josh who was drooling against his pillow, the fluff ball of hair smooshed into the pillow.
I smile and cover Jake back up. They all look similar as they slept, all of them slept with their mouths open.

I giggle and walk out, quietly closing the door behind me. I hear the sound a coffee pot gurgling loudly from down in the kitchen.
I hold onto the banister strung with lights that filled the morning with bright, wonderful colors.
I hear soft Christmas music playing, as I approach the bottom step. Into the living I see Ronnie and Karen sitting with blankets on their lap, chatting quietly while the record player spins a old Bing Crosby Christmas album.

I smile and walk in, "Good morning."

They look over, "Good morning," they both say, happy, yet their voices tired.

"I'm guessing the men always sleep in?"

"Always." Ronnie tucks the fallen pieces of her messy bun behind her ear.

Karen gets up, "We are making coffee, it should be done by now. Would you like some?"

"Sure."

The three of us walk to the kitchen and pick out mugs and pour out coffee, Karen had a splash of half and half, Ronnie had some vanilla bean creamer, and I just had it black. I saw they had the same coffee Jake had at his place so I know I would like it.

"Who did that wonderful artwork on your mug, Karen?" I ask

Karen looks down and grins, "Jakey, I think this was first grade? We traveled to this pottery place in Detroit and he painted this mug," she held it up a tiny bit.
It was just splotches of colors, some mixed together, some not. But it was mainly a dark navy blue color, the finish was glossy but matted in some places from the usage of it.

"Do you have any other things from childhood that you can show me before he wakes up and gets cranky with you?" I ask.

Karen smiles—a bit devilishly, "Yes I do. Ronnie stay with her in the living room, I have to sneak back in by Kelly." She runs to the living room on her tip toes, to set her mug down before going up the stairs.

"I have a feeling this is going to be embarrassing for Jake."

Ronnie nods, "It's either a photo album or art and letters he made for her and dad." She waves me into the living room as she walks, "let's get ready to be thoroughly amused."

I follow her and sit down, she offers me a blanket, which I take and then sits a bit away, just so Karen could sit the the middle with whatever goods she had.

Karen walks back downstairs and wiggles a big book around, "Look what I have here." He snickers and sits down.

It was a brown book with a picture of the four kids in matching red clothes, a photo which was professionally taken.

"Oh my god-" I cover my mouth, "Wait..."

"Can you guess which one is him?"

"Yes..." I stare at it then point at it before pointing at which one I think is Jake.

"Yeah! I find it hard sometimes, I even get them mixed up in old baby photos." She flips it open and there was just a boat load of baby photos of Josh and Jake.

"Awww, They were so cute."

"Cute but devious."

She flips through, showing me all the early memories that slowly bled into them as toddlers with Ronnie, then them on their first day of kindergarten, around when Sam wasn't even able to speak yet.