I Am My Own Cousin.

Chapter 12: Hot & Glazed Manna

By:Jennifer

For a little background information about myself, I am the eldest triplet, by a whole minute (Of COURSE a minute counts, why would you even ask that?) Therefore my experiences were pretty much identical to Jacqui's up until about the time we lived in The Shop. We were still stuck together all of the time, but we were also developing our own interests and desperately trying to individualize ourselves during that tween/pubescent stage. An example of this would be that around this time I started wearing black lipstick and nail polish. Um hmmm *cough*. I know, I know. You can't get much better than a bucked tooth, frazzle haired, pimply face tween wearing black lipstick and nail polish. But it was my own version of Emo acting out, and I didn't really have any money with which to buy a black wardrobe. Luckily, we did not really get out in public much.

We did occasionally venture out into the wilds of Knoxville seeking out adventure. A lot of the time this adventure came during the night, because for some reason Dad would occasionally get a wild hair, and he and Mom would pack us up in the car after dark to head out to a park and play. A sweet release from the confines of The Shop! My favorite park was Fountain City Park. It had a creek and a pool that we would go wading in, build dams, and possibly contemplate drowning each other (One may never know the inner thoughts of a young girl). It also had a pretty neat playground area, but of course the only reason that I would have played on the playground was to help out my younger brother. A young lady of such a serious age would never actually stoop to enjoy playing on the playground equipment for her own benefit. Such sacrifice. It makes me get misty eyed. I must admit, that my favorite part was building a dam. There were always the remnants of a damn left over from another student of architecture, and you could embellish upon that, or have the satisfaction of knocking it down and starting anew. The darkness gave the typical park experience a wonderful air of mystery and exploit.

These little trips gave us a relief from the stresses of The Shop, and also allowed us to be around Dad without walking on as many eggshells. In the cover of the night and the sounds of people playing, Dad could not be as critical as he normally was. I still enjoy surprising my kids and taking them to the park at night. That is except for the one time that the Bristol, TN police decided to spotlight and then harass us when we dared play at 9pm, but that is another story.

Probably my favorite memory centers around Krispy Kreme.(Has anyone ever said that they had a bad memory of Krispy Kreme?) The dear sweet, golden, silky manna from the Heavens that was created by Zeus himself. I might have to pause a moment just to let my mouth water before I can continue............

Sigh. Ok. Sometimes we would be roused from our sleep, or our books that we deftly shoved underneath the pillows, and would visit donut heaven. It was open 24hours a day, and the beautiful conveyor belt would carry the delicious pillows of sugary satin through a line of shimmering glaze. Words cannot adequately describe that first magical bite. Even chicks with black lipstick had to dig it, although with a slight reluctance, of course. I have to stop here, or I may pass out if I do not get a donut soon. You get the idea.

One might get the impression with all of the fun excursions being at nighttime that we were a large family of vampires. Thankfully for you, this does not turn into some twisted Twilight story (but if you want to test the theory with a silver bullet on Jacqui or Jessica (Harmony) well.......you didn't get the idea from me first. But I may know where one could buy a silver bullet). My theory is that Dad just didn't really get any energy until later in the evening. It may be something to do with the depression that he seemed to suffer from while around his family. Mind you, when we were around other people, this depression, henpecking, and rigidity were not noticeable. This lack of energy can be cited as well in some of the ambitious homeschool projects that he had us begin, and then were thankfully abandoned with inattention. They were more than a little kooky. I think that most of these projects were created as a means to test our creativity, or to discover some untapped brilliance, but with a lack of direction and resolution, they turned hellish pretty quickly.