If Life Was Simple

Chapter 3

     As soon as we arrived home, my mother smothered us with hugs and questions. It was quite overwhelming, actually. More so for Malcolm than for me. It was his very first day of middle school, after all.
     "Ok, Malcolm, honey, you have to tell me ALL about it," Mom says as she sits down at the table with him. "I can't believe my baby boy is in middle school!" She is super excited, and it's clear she is about to get emotional. Did I mention my mother is 8 months-3 weeks pregnant? This is going to be worse than normal. Malcolm gives an unnoticeable eye roll.
     "Mom, I'm going to go put my bag up in my room, and I will be right down," Malcolm assures her as he waltzes up the stairs with me. I giggled. He gives me an odd look.
     "Why are you giggling?" he inquires. I laugh some more.
     "Because," I reply, still chuckling. "She's not going to leave you alone, and she is going to cry. She did the same thing when I started sixth grade, and when I started high school. I bet you a million bucks she'll do it all over again when I leave for college." When I said this, Malcolm's mood darkened. He sighed. I knew what got him down, and I didn't want to talk about it either. Malcolm set his bag down, and traipsed back downstairs to listen to Mom tear up and sob "with joy."
     I wandered into my room, tired as hell. I flopped down on my fluffy pillow. My cat, Bundle, hopped on my back and began to bounce along my spine. Of course, I had no problem with it; she did it at least three times an hour. I've had Bundle for a year and a half now. She was about half a year old when we adopted her. Bundle has extremely soft white fur, with black splotches on her tail.
     About 20 minutes in to Bundle's excursion along my vertebrae, my phone buzzed. It was a text from Malcolm, who was still downstairs with Mom.
Liv, you gotta help me. It's full on bawling. 911!! SOS. I grabbed my cinch, put a few things in, and preceded to save my brother.
     "MALCOLM!" I yelled from the top of the stairs. No answer. Just Mom blubbering and crying her damn eyeballs out. I dashed down the staircase and bolted into the kitchen. Malcolm looked extremely uncomfortable while Mom was all emotional like she was watching some tragic shitcom. It doesn't surprise me; she is on her baby period after all. Malcolm was nervously patting her back, clearly distressed.
     "Malcolm," I said again. He and Mom both looked up. Mom's makeup was smeared. Yet she was smiling. "Carmen and Reed are at the park. Let's go."
Mom wiped her face-- still grinning, might I add-- as Malcolm stood up and slipped on his shoes. We said goodbye to Mom, and headed out the door.

"Thanks, Olivia," Malcolm applauded. No joke, he actually clapped. I did an awkward bow as he laughed. "I wasn't expecting that, to be honest. Who knew women were so emotional when they're pregnant." I nodded.
"It was the same way eleven years ago when she was with you, ditto for Flora, and probably the same with me," I replied. "How do you feel, by the way, that you'll be the only brother out of four kids?"
"Don't get me started. I love you and all, but if the new kid turns out like Flora, I think I might jump off a cliff," he answered. "What are the names Mom and Dad are between?"
"Isabelle, Rose, Skye, and Angel," I counter. Malcolm nods. We soon arrive at the park. Of course, Carmen and Reed were nowhere to be seen, I made it up, obviously. Malcolm pulled me over to the willow tree that we always used to play in. I let the memories soak in.

A little boy runs around the trunk of a big beautiful willow tree, his older sister chasing him.
"You'll never catch me, Livvy!" he shouts as he increases speed. The sister laps him, turns around, and picks him up. He is tittering like a young bird learning to fly. She sets him on her back as she climbs the willow tree.
"Hold on tight, now!" she warns as she scales the branches. The little boy squeals with delight as she climbs higher and higher. Soon, they reach the perfect height to part the curtain of leaves, and pretend as if they are watching over their own little kingdom.


"Liv? Hello? Earth to Olivia!" Malcolm yells as he claps his hands and snaps in my face. I shake back to reality. "Did you hear anything I said?"
"Not a thing," I reply bluntly. He gives me that 'dammit now I have to say the whole thing over again, screw you' look. I shrug in apology, and he rolls his eyes.
"I said your phone buzzed. Are you going to check it?" he asked, looking at me like I was insane. So I pulled my phone out of my pocket. I'm home, Mom said you were at the park. Everyone have a good day? You know what, just come home and tell me yourselves :).
"Dad's home," I told him, implying that we need to leave. I started walking in the direction of our house, and Malcolm reluctantly followed.
"That means Flora is home, too. I was having such a nice time not associating with her," Malcolm said disconcerted. Dad is a second grade teacher. Flora is in his class. I don't really know who is more unfortunate in that situation.

We arrived home, only to hear Flora jabbering away about her "really cool day," and how she has a lot of "the good people" in her class, and her class is "even cooler" because her "daddy is the teacher." I checked my watch. 4:30. I snuck off to my room. Bundle jumped all over my spine again, and I texted Lex. Dinner in half an hour. You coming? I ever-so-patiently waited for a response as Bundle quit hopping and plopped down on my stomach. Bzzzz. I grabbed my phone, looking for Lex's reply. Obviously, do you even have to ask? I smiled, then set my phone down.
Lex walked into my bedroom at 4:45. I was playing Smashy Road on my phone with Bundle lying next to me. We talked like best friends do, then went down for dinner when Mom called.
The rest of the night went like this: Lex, Malcolm and I played several games of Just Dance, me beating both of them every damn game. They always complained when they epically lost, but I won with grace. Lex left, and I stayed up looking at Instagram for awhile until falling asleep with my phone resting on my face. I will say, it was quite a satisfying start to the school year.