Greece and Roses

Chapter Twelve

It was three weeks through August, and I knew I didn't have very long until I would be getting back on that plane to Cincinnati. My summer had so far been filled with romance, parties, food, beaches and a sip of alcohol every now and then. Pandora and I were even working on building a front porch addition to the house, Caesar had confessed he was thinking about proposing to Cyia, Tasio and I had started dating, but most intriguing of all was the mini meetings my mom had with our grandmother almost everyday.

They would sit at the dining table when they thought we were all out of the house, and drink tea and look at airtransat.com. At first it wasn't anything out of the ordinary- I mean we were leaving in under a week. But then it happened. Yesterday night, my mom and my grandma sat on the stairs, looking stressed and confused. I was about to make my way down to the first floor when I heard a snippet of their conversation.

"Den eínai tóso aplí, mamá" It's not that simple, mama, my mother said, fiddling with her braid.

"I know, but listen you do not like it there. You like here. Be where you like, not where you hate,Mano vaikas"

I stiffened, at the use of Lithuanian leaving my grandmother's lips, perfect pronunciation. My grandma was full spanish, so my family took great pride in being fluent in the ancient language. I however, wasn't as fluent, hardly knowing how to speak basic phrases.

I quickly flipped out my phone, hoping to be able to translate what they were saying later on.

"Žinai, kad noriu perkelti mamą, tai būtų nuostabu.Jūs negalite tiesiog pasiimti savo vaikų ir mesti juos pusiaukelėje per pasaulį. Tai neveikia taip

" It bothered me, now not knowing what they said, only capturing small pieces of their conversation as they switched back and forth between languages.

Finally, my grandmother patted my mom's knee, and rose from the steps.

"You will figure out what is best for you and the children, saldi morka. And remember, š myliu tave, kad žinai, ir tave myliu visada..."

"I love you too Mama." My mother said, before turning to walk up the stairs to where I was perched. She would have surely seen me, phone recording, odd look across my face, unless my grandmother called her once more.

"You must tell the children soon, kūdikis."

Then, out of the corner of my eye, as I dashed back into my room, I saw my grandmother wink at me, and turn the other way.

I pulled Pandora into my room, locking the door behind me.

"We need to figure out what's going on with Mom." I said, as she sat down on the chair by the window. "I heard her and Nan talking last night- I even caught some on camera."

"Why?" She asked, leaning into me.

"Because," I paused, unlocking my phone, and finding the video. "They were speaking Lithuanian."

I let the video play, my mother's voice fluttering through her sentences with ease.

"Wait. Go back a bit." Pandora dragged her finger across my screen, and quickly opened up her phone, letting google translate what they were saying.

"You know I want to move mom, it would be amazing. But you can't just pick up your kids and drop them halfway across the globe. It doesn't work like that."

My sister looked at me, wide eyed and confused as siri read the last parts of the sentence.

"What does she mean by that?"

"I think it's pretty obvious what she means, Pandora."

"You don't really think she would."

"Go get Olympia, Demetrie and Eucalyptus. I saw them next door this morning."

Pandora dashed up the ladder to the roof, and leapt from our house to the next, landing quietly on the concrete shelter of 5665 Cerita Avenue. I heard her yelp as she scaled the tree, scraping her knee on a sharp branch, and run to ring the doorbell. Ms. Cirtosia quickly pulled the door in, as Pandora muttered something or other and all three of our sisters came grumbling out.

"Lets go people, up the tree." I called from the opening, peaking my head out the trap door as my sisters scrambled up onto the roof.

"Whatsa matter?" Demetrie said, as she squeezed down the ladder, the other three following behind.

"The matter is we don't think moms being completely honest with us. We leave in two days, and she hasn't done so much as return her car or pack her suitcase."

"So?' Olympia asked from the corner of the room as she sucked on a strawberry flavoured air head.

"When was the last time you saw Ma so much as procrastinate brushing her hair? Whenever we go on vacation, she's packed and ready to go at least five days before we leave." Pandora said, as she took a seat on the corner of my bed.

"This isn't making any sense to me." Eucalyptus remarked, twirling her hair on her finger. "I got a C+ in everything except math remember?"

I sighed, as Pandora and I exchanged looks. "You don't have to be a blubbering squid to get the point, chazí skatá" Pandora sighed, as she looked the three in the eyes.

"I don't think Moms taking us home."

NOTES: I think I'm going to be wrapping my book up soon! Not forever of course, I still have to decide if I want to go for 40,000 words to qualify for the many number of Wattled promotions, contests etc, and add on to THIS book, or create a book two. I'm definitely not done with Circe's world, and just the aesthetic of it, but I do have another book that I would like to plan out and write when I tie up this part of my book. I'm also  definitely thinking about applying for a small promotion, as you only need 10,000 words for that, which I have surpassed, or possibly even applying to the Wattys, even though I would likely not win, it's still good to try right? :)  But ya keep your eyes peeled for lots more books,quarantine has me so bored rn lmao 

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