The House in the Meadow

Chapter 3 Rainy Spring Days

    After three rainy days in a row, the cousins watched gray clouds move in as they ate their breakfast.

"I hate rainy days," Feeldog mumbled under his breath. An occasional rainy afternoon was okay, but this many days in a row turned the little house into a prison. Practicing dance in the living room was not impossible, but space limited what they could do, and they'd done all the quiet things they could think of to entertain themselves. Plus, he was tired of cleaning up mud. Every time the kids went out and played in the rain, they managed to track mud through the house, even though they took their shoes off by the door. The worst culprits were Chan and Kijoong. They spent the most time stomping in puddles and building mud castles in the front yard. Yesterday, Jun had teased them that their castle looked like poop and they'd ended up having a mud fight, throwing and slinging mud at each other. At the time, Feeldog had even ended up getting involved in the fun but, being older, he'd also ended up having to help clean the floors. So, today he'd told the younger ones that their mud fights would mean time-outs on the stairs. He couldn't think of any books that he wanted to read, and he was uninspired when it came to art. The truth was he was bored.

"You're in a bad mood today," Euijin said as helped dry the breakfast dishes.

"Tired of the rain," Feeldog grumbled.

Euijin agreed with a sigh, "We all are."

Daewon finished washing the last dish and handed it to Feeldog to dry.

"Do you want me to cut your hair?" Euijin asked Daewon.

Although Daewon's hair was so long now that he brushed the top back and made a small ponytail out of it, Feeldog was not sure that Euijin should be the one to trim it. Euijin cut his own hair, and the bangs were uneven. The hair that covered his right ear was noticeably a little longer than that which covered his left.

Unaware of what Feeldog was thinking, Euijin continued, "I cut Marco's hair yesterday."

Marco's hair looked like he'd let Jun cut it. His cow-lick permanently stuck up and his bangs were as bad as Euijin's.

"Why don't I," Feeldog stumbled, "cut it? My mom used to cut mine. I know what to do." He ended with a lie.

Daewon's eyes darted between Feeldog and Euijin like he was afraid to make a choice. "I like my hair," he sped up as he continued, "Hansol's hair is longer than mine."

In that instant, Feeldog decided they were all getting haircuts. Hansol when faced with the same choice as Daewon, chose Feeldog without hesitating. Feeldog wet his hair under the bathroom faucet, had him set in an old kitchen chair with a towel around his shoulders, and brushed his hair until it lay straight. He placed a metal bowl on the younger boy's head like he'd seen in a drama and carefully cut so that the ends correctly lined up with the rim of the bowl. When he was done, Feeldog carefully took the towel off Hansol and told him to go look in the bathroom mirror.

Euijin waited for him to be out of hearing, "he looks like a nerd with that perfect bowl cut."

Jun ran in. He wanted his hair cut like Hansol's. Feeldog searched for a smaller bowl.

All of a sudden, they could hear yelling come from the loft,"I wish Daewon never would've had a baby like you," and then crying.

Feeldog glanced at Euijin who sighed.

"I'll go." The older teen volunteered.

In the loft, Daewon was trying to keep a spitting mad Chan and crying Kijoong apart.

"What's going on?" He asked.

"Kijoong was playing with Hansol's bear without asking and, when I told him not to, he wouldn't listen. Now, look, the crown is missing." Chan pointed to a blanket-fort one of the older kids must've made. Inside, a small gathering of stuffed animals, including Hansol's bear and Kijoong's giraffe, looked like they were having a party. "I'm older he's supposed to listen to me. Kijoong just does whatever he wants. And, look," Chan pushed his arm forward showing a red mark, "he bit me!"