Staccato

Can't Take It In

~*~

When my mom wakes me up the next day, I wake up with a bubbling, fluttering feeling in my chest. The light filtering in through the curtains of my room seem golden bright and it lights up my mirror-world bedroom like thousands of suns.

I can't wait to go to school today.

And see Efrim, and tell him that he should come to my home this afternoon, and my mom and Miss Denise will make us mince pies and chocolate chip cookies, and we'll go to the soft play room and jump on trampolines and wade in the ball pool and toss ourselves around in my bouncy castle, we'll have loads of fun, and then when we're really tired we'll have those mince pies and cookies and gummy bear punch.

And then we'll go to my bedroom and just lie down for a while with our tummies full. And that's when he'll look around my bedroom and wonder at the infinitely repeating, tunnelling reflections, and I'll be so happy! We'll talk and talk and talk, for hours, I'll tell him everything, every flight of fancy and every thought that I carried in my head until now and he'll be fascinated and excited and he'll tell me, too, about his thoughts and his ideas and his flights of fancy...

I just can't wait to see him.

My mom is already gone to wake Laurie up. I scramble up from my bed, wriggle down - the sheets get tangled around my legs, my nanny helps me out - I run to my bathroom and pick up the brush and toothpaste and hurriedly brush my teeth. My nanny says, "My, you seem to be in a rush today! Slow down dear!" I poke at my gum hard and it hurts and when I spit the foam it's slightly pink but I don't utter a word, neither do I show any emotion on my face, as I quickly open the tap and watch it disappear under the foamy water. I look sideways at my nanny to see that she is pulling out a towel for me - luckily she didn't notice anything; then I'm done and my nanny is dabbing at my face.

"Mhph- I can do it myself Miss Ellie!" I insist and grab the towel from her and scrub at my face.

And then I go to the loo, and then I wash my hands, and after that, I jump into the bathtub that's already waiting with soapbubbles for me.

When these hassles of morning routine are done and I'm dressed for school - I hear mom calling me in a sing-song voice from outside - I literally run out of my room and fly past mom and thunder down our wide, winding stairs.

"Hey!" I hear mom calling after me from somewhere behind.

"Hey watch out mister! Slow down!" she keeps yelling after me. I think both she and my nanny are running after me. I laugh, because it's too funny to me.

A pair of elegant, dusky arms locks around my midriff and lifts me clear off the stairs. "Don't run you'll hurt yourself you little tyrant!" mom says, holding me close to her with my back to her and my legs dangling down. I wriggle hard and twist out of her grip and I'm running again, towards the dining room.

They're running after me again. It's such fun; I'm laughing and giggling my way to the dining room.

It's eggs and bacons and kippers and orange juice this morning. My siblings are already seated, puffy eyed - Les looks sulky, Lilly argues about something with Leon and Louie (who grab at her hair as a completely underhanded trick to divert her from her argument), Laurie slurps on the orange juice.

I want cocoa puffs!

"I want cocoa puffs." I resort to whining. No use. Mom is standing, breathing hard, with her hands on her hips.

"No, and you certainly don't have the right to say that after you made me run like that." she says seriously. "And Leon and Louie, stop harassing your sister!" she yells at them.

But I'm so happy this morning I only shrug and begin to scarf it all down as quickly as I could.

My mom eventually sits on a chair. She's watching me; I look up to see that she now has a small smile on her face.

"Don't stare." I mumble with my mouth full of bacon. I want to get done with breakfast as soon as possible and get into the car and reach school!

She tilts her head and smiles in a wistful, slightly wondering, slightly melancholic expression. "I know why you're so happy today, Noey." she says.

I gulp down some orange juice before I choke on bacon. "Why?" I ask, but I have a huge smile on my face.

"It's because Efrim is coming over for your playdate." she says, eyes crinkled and bright as she smiles softly.

Why is she a little sad, though. It's a sad-happy smile. Why?

"Why're you sad and happy?" I ask.

She lets out a deep sigh that's characteristic of grown-ups. "Nothing." There, that mysterious grown-up reply, too.

I only chew quickly, finishing the rest of my breakfast.

~*~

I am at school!

I run toward our kindergarten building, not caring about Laurie who's presently left behind; she can find her way. Some older prefect students stand along the paved path to the building on their prefect duty to guide us, and some of them yell at me, but I reach the wooden steps to our door before one of them could catch me.

I stumble in, panting; my eyes seek him.

He's already seated, my heart beats so hard it hurts and I have stitches on my sides from my mad run from the gate to our class, but I'm grinning wide.

"Efrim!"

Efrim looks up from his little note book. He gives me the tiniest of smiles and it makes me so happy.

I rush to him, shrug out of my bag, drop it to the floor, and sit down hard on the chair next to him.

"You're coming to my place today!" I yell.

Efrim lifts his brows in wonder. "Today?"

"Yes!"

"Okay."

"Yes, my mom said at 4 o' clock sharp." I rattle off the time my mom specifically told me to tell Efrim.

Efrim nods quietly. He smiles at me, looking straight into my eyes.

I like it so much when he does this.

I smile at him, too, but I'm actually grinning. He has this quiet smile always. It's so nice!

"I can't wait aahhhh!" I squeal and squirm where I sit.

"I can't wait too!" Efrim nods, eyes lighting up, as he watches me lose it.

The teacher enters by then and we have to quieten down, but me and Efrim keep passing smiles at each other.

~*~

Here is a logo that's roughly resemble Stephen Williams's company Astral Corp. It's ahem copyrighted for I made it meself XD: