Balter

chapter 1

Balter : to dance artlessly, without particular grace or skill but usually with enjoyment (v.)

It was quite obvious that Mother's lamp was broken.

Jamie and I thought we could repair it to the best standards, but we were obviously wrong. I knew Mother would be upset; Grandma had given it to her when she passed.

Of course, a lamp wasn't the best parting gift, but it was still a piece of her.

Grandma was a wealthy woman. Unfortunately, she was also very dumb. She had this prized cat in which she named Boa. I mean he was an okay cat, but Grandma thought he was a gift from God. She gave everything to that cat.

But he wasn't worth giving all her money too.

Grandma left all of her savings to Boa's new family to take absolute care of him. She spent 3 years searching for a suitable family that wouldn't take the money for a greater cause and someone who actually cared about cats. I will never forget the priceless look on Mother and Aunt Joan's face after hearing the news. I think Aunt Joan may have even cried a little.

I laughed for 20 minutes that day.

"Roxie." Jamie said. "How will we ever break the news to Mother?"

I thought about it for a minute. I finally gave up and shrugged my shoulders. Jamie began pacing the kitchen with super glue in one hand and duct tape in the other.

Very useless items for our problem.

"On a scale from 1 to 10 how mad do you think she'll be?" I asked. Jamie looked at me with annoyance.

"Are you serious? Try 100!" She exclaimed. I smirked and sat down at the table.

"Why are you sitting? We have to fix this lamp before Mother comes home!" Jamie said. I groaned and propped my feet up on the table. The lamp was beyond repair. The only good to do with it now would be to throw it away.

"Chill out, baby sister." I told her. "As long as we don't tell her how it was broken, she won't be that mad."

"Then what do you propose that we tell her, hmm? Oh Mother, a flying monkey broke into our home and broke Grandmother's lamp. It certainly wasn't our fault."

"Don't be sarcastic, Jamie."

"Don't be stupid, Roxanne."

I rolled my eyes at her and stared at the lamp. There was no way it could be fixed. The whole base was shattered and the lamp shade was tattered. I guess it really was stupid to play baseball indoors.

So much for a rematch.

Jamie typed away on her phone as I retied my shoe laces. Her sound was on, so the whole room was filled with the clicking noise of the keyboard. Is she seriously texting at a time like this?, I thought to myself.

"I've got it!" She yelled. I jumped from the chair and threw my hands in the air.

"Praise The Lord! What is it?"

She crossed her arms over her chest. "We will just tell her the truth."

I dropped my arms and looked at her stupidly.

"Seriously? That's your idea?"

She nodded and continued typing on her phone. I ran my fingers through my hair in frustration and sat back down. I couldn't believe she had gotten me so excited.

"She's gonna kill us." I mumbled. Jamie looked up at me and sighed. She knew I was right; I was always right. I stared at the floor and thought of how I was to tell my friends that the party was off this weekend. There's no way Mother will let us out of this one freely.

"She'll be here in 5 minutes." Jamie announced. I groaned and tapped my foot. Jamie plopped down across from me and rested her head on her hand.

"I'm never going along with anymore of your ideas." She said. I laughed and little.

"That's what you always say."

She smiled and traced patterns on the table. "Yeah, I know. But it was so boring just sitting there on the couch. I had to do something."

I nodded and stopped my tapping. "Yeah, me too. This has to be the most boring summer I've ever been in. There's absolutely nothing to do."

"You could clean your rooms." Someone said. Jamie and I jumped and looked towards the kitchen door. Mother stood there smiling.

"Mom! H-hey, how are you? How was your day? Are you hungry? Let me-"

"What have you girls done now?" She questioned. Jamie and I looked at each other nervously. I stood from the table and forced a small smile.

"We sorta, umm. Well we broke a lamp."

Mother laughed. "That's it? Just a lamp? We can replace that." She said. Jamie coughed and I cleared my throat.

"Well you see.."

"Unless it was Grandma's lamp." Mother looked at us with wide eyes.

"Yeah about that..."

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Hope you all enjoy Balter!