Following My Sister's Rules

Chapter 3

“Rachel, get off your brother right this instant!  Evan, what in the world are you letting them do now?”  Meghan screeched into the living room from the kitchen of their cute little house in Brentwood.  Her hand was on her hip, a sure indication that she was not happy with the scene that was playing before her. Rachel was riding Robby in circles around the living room table, and Evan was seated on the couch with his feet propped on the table, making a tunnel for the three year old twins to crawl under.  I was standing beside her, trying to hold back my laughter as I watched Rachel sprinkle glitter around the room, sufficiently making a giant mess.

Evan shrugged and flipped the page of the book he was reading.  He was working on an MBA, and was constantly working or studying.  “They’re fine, Meg.  I’ll vacuum it later.  Besides, it’s better than what they were doing before.”

“What exactly were they doing before?”  Meghan dared to ask.

“I’m not going to tell you, babe.”  He grinned at her, finally noticing me.  “Oh, hey, Max.  Welcome to the zoo.”

“Uncle Max!”  Robby exclaimed, scrambling to his feet to run over and hug me.  Rachel went tumbling off of his back and fell to the ground, but quickly shook it off and ran up to me as well.  “Look, Uncle Max, I got a loose tooth!!”  He wiggled his front tooth at me.

“Wow, that’s so awesome!”  I scooped the two of them up in my arms.  “Want me to grab some pliers?”   I teased him.

Rachel squealed in delight as I tickled her belly.  “Uncle Max, I want to use the pliers too!”

Meghan rolled her eyes.  “Okay, I can see that I have no authority here anymore.  I’m going to go finish dinner.”  She kissed me on the cheek before turning back to the kitchen and back to whatever delicious concoction she was creating.  I put the twins down and followed her so I could help her out.  The twins got back to work at whatever chaos they were creating in the living room under their father’s lenient supervision.

Meghan was probably one of the greatest people on earth.  She was a nurse practitioner at the UCLA Medical Center in the ICU, and totally kicked ass at her job.  When she and Evan got married right after their college graduation, the two of them agreed that she would go to grad school first, then Evan.  Right after she finished grad school, she ended up pregnant with twins, the same exact time that our brother Matt’s wife, Kate, got pregnant with her own set of twins.  Genetics are an amazing thing.  Kate and Meghan were best friends their whole lives, and it was amazing to me that Kate ended up marrying Meg’s twin.  For such a large city, LA is really kind of a small world sometimes.  Kate and Meg even delivered their twins on the same day.  Their whole friendship is pretty much based on crazy coincidences.

When I was only two, our mother was killed in a horrific car crash, and my Dad had a hard time raising the five kids on his own.  Meghan stepped up and pretty much took care of me until Dad remarried when I was 7 or 8.  She is still the closest thing I have to a real mother, and can’t imagine a time that I wouldn’t have her around.  I was close with my brothers too, but Meghan was my rock.  Our brothers Mike and Matt both played in the NFL, and were occasionally hard to get a hold of.  Mike has since retired so he can focus on family, and Matt is thinking of giving up in the next couple years, but they are still really busy.  My brother Mark works for the LAPD, so he is local and I can hang out with him a lot, which is great for me.  If football doesn’t work out, I had thought about a career in criminal justice, but I’m not sure I have the stomach for it.  Mark has told me some pretty gruesome stories from the field.

“So, Max, how was the fair last night?”  Meg asked as she stirred the pot and got to work chopping vegetables for a salad.  I began to set the table, wanting to do my part to help out.