The Sweetest Baker

Chapter One--Baker Family Ritual

It's no secret that thirteen has always been the Baker family number. It's the number of games my Father, Tom Baker, has coached at Lincoln college over the years. It's the number of years my Mom, Kate and I have bonded over writing. It just so happens to also be the number of kids in our family. For any other family, thirteens bad luck. For us though, it's the best luck possible. My parents hadn't even considered having a small family.

Dad grew up with seven brothers and sisters. Needless to say, it was the best part of his childhood. Mom, on the other hand, grew to be depressed when her only sister died. That greif caused her to want to have a big family when she got older. They met at Illinois Polytechnic College. She was a Freshman studying to be a sports reporter and he was the Senior with big dreams of being the head Football coach there. By some coincidence, they both wanted eight kids. An hour after they met, they knew each other would be the one.

They dated while my Mom studied. At her graduation, my Dad popped the question. They didn't want anything too special at the wedding. Just family and my Dad's best man Shake Maguire. Even to this day, whenever he comes over to talk to Dad, Mom leans over to us and whispers, "Does he have to be such a hotdog?" A year later, came my older sister, Nora. She, along with me and my teenaged siblings, got the pleasure of going to work with Mom. After me, Charlie, and Lorraine were born however, my Mom couldn't work while looking after four kids. She talked to Dad and they agreed that they needed to move. Despite their big careers, they wanted a big family more than anything.

When we moved to Midland, my Mom had Henry, Sarah, Jake, and Mark, each following each other by a year. A year after Mark, they wanted one more. Nine months later, surprise, surprise--twin girls. Kim and Jessica. Ten wild rambunctious kids. They were happy and they were done. Then, my parents went to a party celebrating Shake Maguire's alma mater at their alma mater. Nine months later, they had Mike. My parents tried everything not to have more after Mike. They got pregnent anyway with the youngest of our clan: Kyle and Nigel. By this point, my parents considered themselves experts at managing chaos.

Rather than the blaring of my alarm I would've preferred, I woke up to my siblings 'tip-toeing' and 'whispering' through the hallway. With a soft chuckle, I stretched before reaching for my notebook and pen as well as my glasses and going down the hall to see what they were up to. I stood in the doorway of my parents room listening to them chat about stuff I didn't really care about. That was when I saw Dad lay himself down on the bed with a smirk. Before even seeing my siblings, the soft giggles of Kyle and Nigel caused them to reveal their hiding spot. Mom must've heard the same thing Dad and I heard because she grinned to herself.

"Don't be ridiculous, honey. You know you can just pound the lumps out of a mattress, right?" she joked. I smiled at the word 'pound.'

"Great word choice, Mom," I complemented. They must've just now realized I was there because they waved over at me.

"And it just goes flat?" he asked hearing the giggling again.

"Yeah, Dad! Why don't you give it a try?" I recommended.

"You mean, you can just randomly start swatting---" he started as he swatted at the lumps in the mattress. Sarah, mastermind genius, put the cover up revealing her, Henry, Jake, Mike, and both sets of twins laughing. I thought that was all but found myself shaking my head when Gunner, the family dog, jumped out jumping on top of Dad along with the kids. I almost thought about joining in but I knew I needed to get ready for school.

On my way to my room, over all the laughing and Dad screaming, I heard my alarm blaring at nearly full volume. I stopped, confused not remembering doing something like that. Then, I remembered that Sarah had wanted my phone before bed. She must've purposefully turned it all the way up knowing Lorraine's room was right next to me. I stared at Mom and Dad's room to see Sarah shrugging her shoulders before getting back in the mischief. Sure enough, I heard Lorraine moan from her opened door next to mine before muttering some sarcastic remark I just plan ignored.