Final chapter of this one, no sequel unless you think I should but I think it sums it up in this chapter pretty much. Thought of a two new stories this weekend, one just a one shot and the other a few chapters. So be sure to look for those. Thanks for those reviews.
9 year old Mikey Sanders sat in a plastic chair forcing his back ot conform to the chair not the chair to him like at his dad's work where the seating was comfortable enough so he could fall asleep and had on more than one occasion. These chairs were lifeless waiting for someone to sit in them only to jump back out because it was uncomfortable.
His hands gripped the sides of the chair, butterflies in his stomach, he was next he was sure. Susie K was babbling on about what her father did for a living. A lawyer.
Mikey's dad sat beside him in another plastic chair, his hair still in disarray like it had been for the last 20 years or so his mother said.
"An immature big kid" his mother would call him sometimes and it was funny to watch his dad's face turn from smiles to angry in front of mom but smile when ever her back was turned. He would then always accidently smile in front of her and she would smack his arm and laugh. He would then grab her and kiss her, didn't matter if him and his sister were in the room or not, then they would go back to whatever they were doing.
He considered his parents to be cool, meaning they talked to him, helped him when he needed it and they were just there when he needed them. But if you asked his sister Jaimie Lee who was older by three years she would spaz and slam her bedroom door. And you didn't know if that was her answer or mad cause you talked to her.
Puberty everyone told him, his sister was going through changes, changes he didn't want to know about. His father would joke about it and say she was acting like mom, which of course got another glare from mom but they knew it was fun and games.
Jaimie Lee looked like mom and on her good days - which seemed to be fewer and farther between, she was like dad always hyper and rearin to go. Mikey always knew he looked like his father even dressed like him but acted more like his mom, willing ot read than watch TV but he had his favorites, everyone did. Mom would watch the cop shows like Law and Order and Cold Case but would never pass up a good rerun of Cops. His dad had his classic cartoons and would talk about the episode for the rest of the day until mom told him to shut it. His sister was hooked on soap opera's and of course dad teased mom about it cause Jaimie Lee was so unlike her. But on more than one occasion, he'd caught both his parents watching soap opera's together, while mom watching them dad trying to talk over them so she would get annoyed and flip to his shows, didn't work to often. He himself like the good shows that came on family and sometimes teletoon, but more often than not he was reading.
In a few minutes he was supposed to tell his school about his famil.y H wasn't ashamed of his parents, nor the job they did its just well his friends parents had jobs like a lawyer, dentist or doctor, his parents saw dead people everyday and sometimes came home smelling like death. He did have something over his friends, he had one mom, one dad, and a sister, his friends had two sets of parents and step brother or sisters, so he was lucky to have them and wouldn't trade them for anything.
"Mikey Sanders" the instructor called and his dad nudged him, he picked up his photo's they had hunted all over for last night.
"You're just like your father" his mother exclaimed when he told her about his project half an hour before his bed time last night.
He walked up to the front of the auditorium packed with students, parents and of course siblings. His teach thought he had good communication skills and had sighned him up for the speech contest he school had every years. There would be a camera on him so the people in the back could see him and a microphone in front in case he wasn't loud enough.
"What it's like to be Me by Mikey Sanders" he glanced around the room and the butterflies fled.
"It's 7:30am in Sander's household, I'm trying to get a few more minutes of sleep as I hear the front door shut, my parents are just getting home from work. I hear the steps creaking and wishing that just once dad will let me sleep a little longer but my door opens and he says the same thing he does everyday: Wakey, wakey eggs and bakie"
"My sister Jaime Lee hearing his voice shrieks, slams her door and blares her music, a natural thing in my house. After getting dressed I head downstairs to the kitchen where mom is making breakfast. I love my mom but she doesn't know how to cook very well so the bacon's always extra crispy, the eggs a little runny and the toast dark, not burnt but close. Dad says mom could burn water if she tried and sorry mom but I believe him. Yesterday morning dad finally got up the courage to tell mom about her cooking, didn't go over very well, mom pulled a Jaimie and threw a dish towel at him, stormed up the stairs and slammed the door. The breakfast was ate in silence.
After we leave for school, mom and dad go to sleep until its time to come get us. As mentioned before my parents work the graveyard shift at Las Vegas Crime Lab in Clark County. The sucky thing about them working there they know when one of us is lying.
I swear mom Billy broke the window, not me" and looks away, the audience laughed.
"From then on we do homework if we have any and mom's never more than a shout away if we need her. Dad well you have to shout extra loud cause he's always blaring music from the garage."
"But my family doesn't stop there, I have two uncles well not really my uncles but you know, Warrick and Nick, Warrick can tell you the latest jazz CD that's out and Nick you want him on your team for the water gun fight. Just ask Jaimie Lee, she did the mistake of being on dad's team, ya she got soaked"
'Then their's Grandpa Grissom, he's always seen mom as a daughter so it was just natural for us to call him Grandpa, his obsession is bugs, and Grandma Catherine, although she always insists we call her Catherine and she knows a lot more than any person should about fashion and will always say yes to shopping trip to the mall"
"I think I'm pretty lucky to have all these people in my life because each one of us makes up a portion of a family we may not be related physically but we are still family and I wouldn't change it for anything in the world. Thank you"
Applause broke out and he quickly sat back to his seat before his mother kisses him but she caught him before and he got smothered in kisses telling him he did a great job.
And for once everything was right the world, or at least with the Sander's family.