Gifted (Camren)

Chapter 1.

"Hey! Hey c'mon let's move."
"No"
"C'mon! Let me see."
"No!"
"Hey, c'mon I made you a special breakfast."
"You can't cook!"
"Hey Mary! Open up"
Then suddenly the bathroom door opens to show my niece is an adorable red dress.
"You look beautiful ." I say
"I look like a Disney character." She says as she storms past me and into the kitchen
I follow suit and finish packing up her lunch. Today is the first day of first grade for Mary.
"Where's the special?" She asks spinning the spoon in her cereal bowl
"The what?" I ask
"You said you made me a special breakfast"
I then lean back and spin the cereal box around revealing the Special K cereal I set out for her breakfast.
"Please don't make me go! You can keep homeschooling me."
"I've taught you everything I know."
"But I don't wanna go."
"Well I don't wanna go to work but I do."
"You don't go to work you fix boats on a dock."
I sigh "Ok it's a poor example but You're still going."

She fidgets in her seat once more as she comes up with yet another excuse.
"But what about Fred?"
"What about Fred?"
"Who will take care of him? You don't like cats."
"I don't like two eyed cats, Fred only has one eye." I say back
"Who's gonna throw him his ping pong ball?"
"Fred's gonna be fine. No more argument, okay? We've discussed this ad nauseam."
She looks at me confused "What's ad nauseam?"
"Oh, you don't know?" I smirk "Well looks like someone needs to go to school."

She glares at me. We gather her things and make our way outside to wait on the bus. A few minutes go by when I soon see the big yellow vehicle approaching.

"This is gonna be fun, you'll meet kids today you can borrow money from the rest of your life."
I give her a little love tap on the shoulder and she shuffles her feet into the bus. She reaches the top step and looks back at me.

I smile "You're gonna be great." and give her a thumbs up, "You know...I don't know...just...try being a kid, yeah." I watch as the doors close and the bus pulls off. Seven years and I still don't know what the hell I'm doing. She's a great kid but she needs to learn to be a kid.

I begin my journey back to the house, on the pathway there I look up and see our neighbor Ally looking at me through the window. I B-line it and take another route home. Ally is relentless though.

"Lauren!"
-I don't answer-
"Lauren! Lauren, I know you can hear me."

I make it back to the house through the kitchen door and lock it behind me. I then see Ally at the kitchen window, surprise surprise. The doorknob rattles then I hear keys; her spare EMERGENCY keys make their way into the lock gaining her entrance to the house.

"There's still time for you to undo this nonsense. Go get in your car and get that child."

I hand her a cup of coffee and ask "So are you allowed to use those keys whenever you want?"

"How can you stand there all calm Lauren and make light of the situation? Now go and get her back before it's too late."

"She's gotta get out in the real world. She has no friends her age. No social skills. She doesn't know how to be a kid. Two nights ago she told me that even if Germany bailed out the euro there could still be a worldwide depression...I was staring at the ceiling for three hours."

Ally tears up "I'm so worried."
I sigh "Come on, Ally. If you start crying, I'm gonna have to pretend to start crying. Hey, you know there's something you could be overlooking. This could work out."

"Maybe. But if anybody takes that baby away...I'll smother you in your sleep." Her final words before she picks up her keys from the table and sees her way out.

I know I'm doing the right thing...I hope I'm doing the right thing.

/

One plus one is two. That is fact number one of today. Who can tell me what two plus two is?