The Taking

Chapter 3

"It's a waffle. Someone making a waffle....what? What the Hell is that?

"Trent!" Mom scowls. 

"Sorry...It's not a person making a waffle? Then what the hedgehog is it?!"He groans

"Checkers. Chess. Playing chess!"Gran yells. 

I nod my head and point 1 finger. 

"I think one word is 'playing', right?" Charlotte asks. 

I nod.

 "Yes!" Charlotte laughs.

"I still think it's a waffle." Trent crosses his arms over his chest and sits back down in the sofa disappointed. 

Gran bounces up and down, blocking Charlotte's view. "They're playing with fishnets!

Who knew playing Pictionary in the living room, would connect us as a family? Mom and Gran weren't arguing and my siblings haven't physically clawed each other's faces off. However, just to be safe, I've purposely sat between Trent and Charlotte just in case.

Up at bat, or in this case the white board, Trent was drawing some unworldly thing, to me, looked like a fly swatter.

Mom is the current score and timekeeper.

"Times up. Marker down!" Mom yells. 

"Damn it! No one ever guesses right. I hate this game." Trent slams the marker on the coffee table and groans all the way to the coach.

Mom glares at him again. 

"Two words: Sore. Loser." Gran mumbles and Charlotte gives her a high five.

"All right, game over. First one to get 25 points and 25 words guessed correctly is Celeste!" Mom announces.

Gran makes a loud "woot" noise. I comically bow to my audience and blowing flying kisses.

Everyone claps except for Trent.

"No fair, she's an artist. Of course she would win." My brother whines.

"Hear that Gran?" Charlotte cups one ear, as if listen to something.

"Hear what sweetie? I think my hearing aid might be off."

"Mother, you don't use a hearing aid. You never needed one." Mom starts to put the game materials away.

"Well I seem to need it now. I don't hear anything." She looks at Charlotte questionably.

"Of course you do!" She giggles more to herself. This was Charlotte on the verge of producing a lame joke. She wraps an arm around Gran's shoulders. "You just heard a this little piggy go wee wee wee because he didn't get what he wanted!"

Trent crosses his arms and tilts his chin up. "I'm not--complaining."

"Believe what makes you happy, bro." Charlotte chimes.

A few hours of peace were finally at an end. 

"Stop it you two." I tell them.

"Glad I was an only child." Gran says.

Ding-a-ling-dang-dong

"Was that the doorbell?" I ask. It was the strangest doorbell I've ever heard.

Mom gasps. "Oh, I forgot to tell you guys. I invited Debbie and her family to eat lunch with us today."

We hear a small smash.