Swing High

2. playing with sticks

"Daddy is home early."

Holly-ann started to panic. It was only 4:32, if her watch wasn't lying to her. She looked down the sidewalk that ran off-center through the entire length of the yard, and sure enough, her father was walking up the sidewalk with his briefcase swinging by his side. Suddenly all the children were scurrying to pick up toys and shove them in the direction of the shed. 7 year old Rei ran over to her, carrying sticks she had collected from the backyard in a pile to throw behind the shed. Her darker hair was full of grass and one of her flip flops had broken. She was trying to still wear it, holding onto the plastic strap with her toes.

"Why is he home early?" She asked Holly-ann. 

She didn't answer, and quickly continued to put things away. "Daddy" had finished walking through the yard and was heading for the back door that led to the kitchen when he noticed the sticks scattered throughout the yard. 

"I thought I told you girls not to play with sticks!" He yelled, pointing at all of the girls somehow simultaneously. Holly-ann could feel Hazel flinch beside her. No one said anything, but this seemed to make him even angrier. "Clean this up right now, I want it done in five minutes!" Their father roared, heading inside and nearly breaking the outside screen door as he forced it shut against it's spring power. Holly-ann stood still for a few seconds and then forced herself into action as all four of her other siblings scrambled around collecting the sticks all over the yard. Rosa began crying, carrying small sticks to the pile behind the shed, her shoes nowhere in sight. 

Holly-ann was angry. Why was he home early? Why did he have to notice the sticks? And why couldn't her siblings just clean up when they were told? If they things when they were supposed to they wouldn't have to get yelled at all the time. She angrily tossed sticks behind the shed and Macy eyed her cautiously. 

"Why are you mad?" She questioned, dragging a long stick behind her as she attempted to throw it on top of the pile. Holly-ann grabbed it from her and flung it with the others. 

"Why can't you just clean up when I tell you to?" She yelled. "Instead of hiding when it's time to put things away!" She saw Macy start to make a face and her eyes got red but she didn't care because she was so frustrated. If they had cleaned up faster no one would have been angry at them. Didn't they understand that this was why she kept urging them to start Clean Up Time?

They finished cleaning up the sticks and headed inside through the front door where the living room was. Rosa and Macy were still crying, Rei and Hazel remained silent, looking around to make sure nothing was missed. As she walked inside the house, Holly-ann collected Rosa's shoes that were on the porch by the door and tossed them into the Red Bench. 

The Red Bench was where the family of 7 kept their shoes. Well more like five children and one adult, since "Daddy" kept his shoes in the closet. She thought. She had never actually seen them. One by one each of the children placed their shoes in the red wood chest, then headed to the bathroom to wash up. Rei, who was the last to come inside, slammed the lid down. 

Holly-ann jumped. 

"Don't slam the Red Bench!" hissed Hazel. "Remember what Mom said yesterday?"

Rei had not, in fact, remembered. 

"She said we will end up breaking it if we keep slamming the lid."

After the children were washed up, which included a cleaning of the downstairs bathroom as well due to the amount of dirty feet; the children filed into the kitchen for dinner. Holly-ann did not see their father. She took a guess that he was upstairs in the parents' bedroom changing out of his work clothes. 

"Hi mom, what are we eating for dinner?" Holly asked as the children hovered around her pregnant figure cooking something on the stove.

_____________________________

Thank you so much for reading! I really hope that you enjoy reading about my life, and that this is somewhat interesting. *sweats nervously*

I am not entirely sure where this story will go, but ultimately it will go through my life, in a slightly fictionalized way, since I can't remember anything.

Characters so far:

Holly-ann: me (currently 10)

Hazel (currently 8)

Rei (currently 7)

Macy (currently 5)

Rosa (currently 3)