Breaking Barriers

Reasons To Smile

Jane Doxter:

Tonight, the stars seemed to shine a bit brighter for us, and instead of casting everyone's face in shadows, the lamps in the sitting room bathed us in a warm glow. We were as happy as we were ever gonna get at 4 AM in the Purician-controlled USA with the threat of bombs being dropped by the very people who were trying to help us looming over our heads. So why were we so happy? One word: victory.
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After we'd videotaped... something for the Vegimals, Pearl, and Peri, (I had no idea what we were trying to film, I only know it involved a lot of Kwazii and Tweak fighting over the camera), we all turned on the radio channel from the UK, which would be banned if the Puricians knew we were here, and settled down beside the radio to listen. We all expected the normal: the Puricians suck, keep hope, take care of one another, make a war effort, all the normal programming but today, the dry voice of the newsman was a little more animated, and the words he uttered held the attention of everyone in the room. "Troops have landed in Boston, repeat, Troops have landed in Boston." An electric thrill went up my spine. The British in Boston! There were too many possibilities and too many questions to ask now, but even with the turning point of the war in front of us, the Captain, Mr Alex, and Mrs Talia made a unanimous decision that everyone had far too much excitement for one day, and it was time for bed. Of course, it wasn't a POPULAR decision.

"Come on!" Nastya smacked the table in frustration, "It's 9 PM! How old are we? 4?"

"Nastya." Mrs Talia gave her a warning look, "We're only saying it's been a long day, and we believe an earlier bedtime is the best thing to do right now."

"But Mama-" Ishka cut in.

"Not another word about it!" Mrs Talia cut her off sternly. Ishka sat down. looking like smoke was going to start coming out of her ears any second.

"Tallie," Mr Alex put a paw on her arm, "Our girlies are 13 at the youngest; a 9 PM bedtime is way too early for them."

"How about I take the younger ones to bed now, and we'll put the older ones to bed at, say, 10:30?" The Captain suggested lightly as the Balakov girls looked up hopefully.

"Please." Ishka shook her head smiling.

"You're very kind, sir." Tatya chimed in, beaming at the Captain, who smiled back. He was that kind of guy.

"Koshi, Nickie, Squirt, Jane, Pinto, come along now. Peso, would you like to come?"

No thank you, Captain." Peso answered sweetly.

"I'll bring him up to bed later." Inkling assured the Captain, placing a tentacle on his shoulders, "Go tend to the little ones now." The Captain nodded and began shepherding us in the direction of our bedrooms to much protest.

"C'mon sir, do we have to?"

"Captain, I'm not tired!"

"No fair! Why do we have to go to bed earlier than PESO?"

"I believe you all are extremely tired from all the excitement you've had for the past few days. All I'm asking is you lay in your bed with your eyes closed for 10 minutes; I'll come and check on you after 10 minutes, alright?"

We all pouted, but went to our rooms. I lay in my bed for what felt like hours waiting for the Captain. Once he finally came in, he took a seat on my bed and began to stroke my hair.

"Sorry I'm 20 minutes late. None of the boys wanted to sleep."

"It's OK." I whispered back.

The Captain's face softened even more, "It's time to sleep, dearest." And without warning, he settled me in his arms began to sing a lullaby. Before long, I could feel my eyes growing heavy as boulders and once he stopped singing, I could feel myself being lowered into bed and the covers being pulled over me.

"Sleep well, my darling." I remember he whispered gently, "I'll see you in the morning."
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Nastya had come back to our room, and she was shaking me awake as quickly as she could. I opened my eyes as silently and inconspicuously as I could.

She and I locked eyes for a second before she shook her head at me. We lay in silence, barely daring to breathe while Nastya turned the radio on, and we lay in the darkness, listening to the sounds of the radio our own heartbeats at around midnight, until the radio fizzed to life.

"Today is a great day for humanity ladies and gentlemen, the Puricians have surrendered in Boston. The British have won."

Nastya and I froze for a second and stared at each other, rooted to the ground with shock, before jumping up and running out the door, screaming the news for the everyone to hear and banging on doors.

No one seemed like they could believe what they were hearing, but everyone was grinning from ear to ear and couldn't stop themselves. Finally, we had a real reason to smile, and for the first time since the Puricians came, we could see a glimmer of hope for what was going to come.