Only Time Will Tell

Life

~Max~
"Hey Max?" My mom asked. "Yeah?" I replied. "Can you come help me with dinner?" "Sure!" I say happily. As you can tell I like doing things with my family. Sure I'm only five years old, but you got to cherish the little things. I live in Glendale, California with my mother, father, my brother Mark, my sister Mary, and dog Muffle. Our parents likes us to have the same first letter of our names, even with our dog.

There's a family near us that we never really see come out of their apartment. I think their names are Zepur Malakian, Vartan Malakian, Daron Malakian, and Azniv Malakian. They're a nice and quiet family. Extremely respectful to their neighbors. I never really see Daron and Azniv outside of their apartment unless they have to go to school, but since it's summer, they don't really come out at all.

I went downstairs to see my mom already taking the food out of the oven. "Hi mommy. I'm ready to help you with dinner!" I say standing like a superhero. "Ok. Now can you grab some plates for the food?" "Sure!" I exclaimed. I grabbed a chair to get the plates because I'm not at all tall. I grunt because of my struggle to get the plate out of the cupboard. Even with a chair I still can't get the plate. "Here let me help you," my dad suddenly appears. He's really strong because he works at a factory and he has to lift up seventy pound boxes full of dog and cat food. That's why we have Muffle, since my dad works with the dog food makers we get free dog food.

     "Thank you daddy," I say, "Sure thing my little grasshopper!" He said rubbing my head. I giggled because of how playful my dad could be and yet serious when he needed to be. "Max, would you like one or two breads?" My mom asked as I handed her the plates. "Three!" I exclaimed. "Whoa. Slow down there nugget, you don't want to eat too much. You don't want to end up like me," my dad said as he rubbed his belly, "Fine. I'll have one. If I get some soda." I say mischievously. "Hey! You can't have that much though. We want some too!" Mike said.

"I don't want any. I want to continue my soda-free diet." Mary said. She likes to watch her weight while my brother likes to eat everything in sight. She doesn't even get chubby when she eats mostly carbs, neither does my brother. But me on the other hand... They have to watch what I eat and how much I eat. "Ok. Here," I say trying to pour my brother some. My dad quickly had to help because of how clumsy I was, I could have dropped the bottle.

    "There you go. Hope you enjoy. Do you guys want some?" I asked my parents. "Sure sugar-plum," my mom said, "Count me in." My dad said reaching for the bottle after my mom had gotten done pouring her drink. I watched my dad pour his drink with such swift movements. "Wow! You have a lot! And I only have a little bit." I say pouting. "Now now, Max. Do we pout? No. You have to remember we don't want you to get chubby. Once your finished with your food and drink, I'll see how you feel afterwards and if you feel fine, I'll pour you a little bit more. Just a little bit though," he said surely, "Ok!" I quickly said. We all started to eat our food and started to have conversations going and occasional laughter. Tonight is a good night. I thought as I sighed a relieved sigh.

~Daron~

"Hey Azniv! Do you want to watch dad paint? I'm pretty sure he's painting. Lets go see." I said. "Ok." Azniv said. He's only a little bit older than me. I'm five and he's five in a half, my birthday is in a couple of days though. But his is tomorrow. Like I said; only older by a little bit.
We walked into my dad's painting office and saw him working on a portrait of something that I couldn't really make out. "Hey dad! What are you painting?" Azniv asks. "God! My boys, you could've gave me a heart attack! You should've knocked. You know how I block out everything except for you and your mother! But anyways, I am painting you two looking outside of our window, watching the world go by," He said hopefully, "Cool! Can we watch you?" I speak up, "Anything for you my boys, sit on the floor or couch, whatever you prefer. But just don't talk too loud, it might mess up my concentration." He said sternly, "Yes sir!" Azniv said as if he was taking orders from a general. We both laughed because we didn't know anything about generals and army's and all that.

We watched him swerve his paint brush to many different places and occasionally dip the paint brush in the paint. Watching him was very tiring and yet exciting. "Dinner in five minutes!" My mom yells from down the hall. I went outside to respond to her, "Ok!" I yell back. I didn't really want to disturb my dad's painting anymore so I decided to leave the office and go down to the kitchen. "Hey mom." I say slightly scaring her. "Oh my god! You could've have given me a heart attack.  You sneaky little bugger. Now, where's Azniv?" She said. "Still watching dad paint. Where's the food?" I laugh at the end. "Haha. Very smart of you. But it'll be done soon. Don't worry, it'll be ok. Now you can sit at the countertop to wait for the food or you can tell Azniv to come here and wait. You're choice." She said.

"Ok." I say running off to go get Azniv. "Azniv?" I whisper. "Come wait with me at the dinner table," I whisper again, "But I don't want to," he whispers back, "Aw come on. Dinners going to be ready soon." "Fine. But just this one time." Azniv said, surely he would get his "revenge." We got to the kitchen and sat down at the dinner table bored as ever. "Hey. Do you want to thumb wrestle with me?" I asked Azniv. "Sure!" He said grabbing my hand in the thumb war position. "One two three four, I declare a thumb war." We way in unison.

We battle, we continually move our hands to make it harder for the opponent to trap our thumbs, I loose. "ABC, one two three! I win!" Aviv yells. "You're a cheater!" I say pouting. "No he isn't. Azniv, congratulations, Daron, at least you tried. And hey, you can have another thumb war after dinner. Now one of you go get your father and say that dinners ready." Mom says. "Ok!" Me and Azniv say, running off to our dad's painting office. "Hey dad! Dinners ready!" I yell at him. "Hey! I wanted to tell him!" Azniv complains, "Too bad. You won the thumb battle, so I can tell dad dinners ready," I said, "Whatever." Azniv rolls his eyes. "Ok. And boys, please don't argue at the dinner table tonight. I just want to eat my food in peace." Dad said slightly annoyed. "Ok." Me and Azniv said, disappointed.

We returned to the dinner table to find mom already setting up the food on our plates. "Hello Zepur! How are you?" My dad greeted my mom, "Very funny. Act like I'm seeing you for the first time in years. But I am doing fine. How have you been?" My mom returned. "Very busy. Did the boys tell you that I am working on a new painting?" He asked. "No. But I was sure you were because I didn't see you all day. So you can say they did." She said happily. The night continued on with no arguing between me and Azniv. I could tell my dad was satisfied with it. All I want for my family is to be happy.