The Night That Changed It All

Moving Day

"Hey, little bear. Do you want to come with us to meet the new neighbours later?" I asked Lily Ann when she wandered into the kitchen while I had soup for lunch. She was now nearly thirteen years old and was tall enough that she didn't feel she needed to sit on the table to talk to either Liam or I.

"Yeah, sure. Do you know who they are?" Lily Ann replied, sitting down at the island and grinning appreciatively when I slide a second bowl of soup across the counter to her. She'd been drawing, again, and probably hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast this morning.

"I haven't a clue and no one else seems to either." I sighed, sitting beside Lily Ann and shaking my head. Whoever was moving in just across the road had become a common topic in the community because no one, not even one person, seemed to know who they were or where they were moving from. "Maybe they're just private people. Anyway; do you know where Cathal is?"

"Yeah; him and Daddy are making that Winnie the Pooh jigsaw they found in the attic last week." Lily Ann explained, before continuing with a laugh. "You know; that was never actually opened and I'm pretty sure it's been up there since we moved in."

"Oh definitely. Louis gave that to you when you were three and we were on tour. He thought you would need something to keep you entertained while we were on stage, but his plan didn't exactly pan out since you just spent the night playing with Lux or sleeping." I explained, remembering how Louis had been about ready to make the jigsaw himself after we finished the concert, only to discover Lily Ann and Lux hadn't so much as looked at it.

"We should call him and tell him it's finally being used." Lily Ann snickered and I could only imagine what Louis' reaction to that would have been. I wouldn't have put it past him to offer to come help with it and bring George, too. There'd a team of four working on a jigsaw for three year old's, with only Cathal fitting into the age recommendations.

"I'm sure he'd be delighted." I replied dryly, though I was smiling softly and I couldn't help but to start laughing when Lily Ann grinned mischievously at me. Recently, she'd become more than ready to mess with Louis for his childish tenancies, just as much as the rest of us.

"I better go shower, then; there's still charcoal in my hair from last night and we wouldn't want the new neighbours thinking bad of me." Lily Ann half joked once she'd finished her soup, before she got up and jogged away. She'd been drawing with charcoal last night and, forgetting her fingers were covered in it, tied up her hair, effectively covering it with the stuff, which I imagine will be very hard to get out of her hair.

"Hey, how's the jigsaw going?" I asked after jogging up the stairs and finding that, although it'd been an hour since I'd asked Lily Ann about their whereabouts, Liam and Cathal were only just finishing the jigsaw. That was what tended to happen, though, when you did anything with an over excitable three year old.

"We're just about finished." Liam explained, smiling at Cathal when he looked up curiously before asking quietly; "Isn't that right, Cathal?" In response to this, Cathal nodded absently, while gazing at the jigsaw piece he held in his hand.

Along side the asthma, which was, thankfully, not as severe as we'd originally believed, Cathal also had Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder or ADHD. He'd been diagnosed just three months ago when the pediatrician who'd been checking his breathing noticed he was fidgety and lacked concentration: more so than most three year old's, apparently.

It didn't really effect him too much now, since he was so young and no one really expected him to sit still for an extended period of time or to pay attention all the time, but he'd be starting school in just over a year. We tried lots of different things to help him with his concentration and so far picture puzzles seemed to be helping the most.