The Caris Incident

Chapter Twenty-Five

"When are they going to be here?" Aurora asked for the tenth time that hour.

Mom ran her fingers through Aurora's long curly blonde hair and laughed. "They'll be here when they feel like it," she said.

Two days ago, mom had invited Aunt Vidia and Uncle Daniel's family over to stay with us for a day or two. Aurora was beyond excited to see Sarah and Carson, our cousins.

Even though Sarah and Carson, the twins, were Cecelia's age, Sarah favored Aurora over any of us it seemed.

"I see them!" Ellis yelled, opening the front door and bolting to the driveway.

"You're going to get hit you moron!" Cecelia yelled after him. I followed my family outside as the small Toyota car parked in the driveway next to dad's car.

Aunt Vidia got out of the driver's seat with her curly brown hair in a loose bun and a red bandana around her head. She was sporting Jean shorts and a tie dyed shirt.

Uncle Daniel had on a bucket hat, shorts, and a white t-shirt. Sarah and Carson got out of the car at exactly the same time, with tired looks on their faces.

Aurora came flying past me and jumped into Sarah's arms. Sarah finally looked happy as she hugged my youngest sister.

Aunt Vidia hugged Ellis and then my brother began to recount to her how horrible Los Angeles High School was at the swim and dive meet near the end of the school year a few months ago.

Ten minutes later, we showed them the guest suite in the basement and Cecelia left for work.

I had quit working at McDonald's when I heard that they were planning on firing me because I would not show up to work on some occasions because I didn't feel like it. Oh well.

Once Uncle Daniel had settled in, he walked up to me as I was walking down the stairs and slapped my back. He did this all the time, but I still flinched.

"What's cracking Andy?" He asked with a toothy grin. I laughed then replied, "Not much, just enjoying the work free life."

"You quit your job?" My uncle questioned with a horrified look on his face. My uncle's druggie parents had left him when he was young and he was left to raise his sister. So where he was concerned, hard work was the only thing he knew.

"Yeah, I decided that I didn't have time," I joked, but Uncle Daniel didn't take it as a joke.

"Andy, you can't stop working because your parents have money and you feel entitled," he said harshly.

I mentally face palmed.

"No, no, no, abundance of money is not the reason I quit work. I have enough gas money to last me a good two months. And the only thing I ever buy is vodka," I joked again.

Uncle Daniel shook his head. "Listen, you need to take your life more seriously than 'I drink vodka and party my life away'. You have a full ride scholarship to Berkeley which is an amazing university, so why do you act like you're not a soon to be college student? You're starting college in less than a month," he stressed.

"I do act like I'm going to college. But you have to remember that I'm not a boringly serious person like Cecelia and I have to keep my sense of humor in times like these. My girlfriend died a few months ago and my mom is dying," I said, trying my hand at some form of the pity technique that my mom used.

His look of disbelief was replaced with a look of pity. "I'm sorry, Andy," he apologized. "Maybe I'm being too hard on you."

Just then, my mom walked down the stairs and smiled at me. "I see you used the technique too," she said with a wink.

Uncle Daniel shot her a confused look. "What?" He asked.

"Oh, this technique that I taught Andy how to do. It's where every morning when you wake up you jump in the pool and it refreshes your skin," my mom lied.

"You Californians are really weird," Uncle Daniel muttered, completely believing the lie.

As soon as mom was out of earshot he asked, "So how's your mom doing?"

"Why don't you go ask her," I said bitterly as I walked up the stairs and away from him.

"Whoa hold your horses there," Uncle Daniel said as he ran after me.

I stopped at the top of the stairs and whipped around. "I don't have horses, and if I did, I wouldn't hold them," I spit out sarcastically.

Cecelia walked past me and laughed. "Someone's in a bad mood," she muttered.