Abigail turned on the light over her desk and pointed it away from the window, with the hopes that no one would notice her in her office so late on a Friday. Friday's were normally her let off steam nights, but someone had decided to include Trisha in the girls night out. Trisha was not Abigail's idea of fun company, mainly due to her compulsions to gamble and lie, so instead of diner at the Look Out Bistro and then dancing afterwards at the new discotheque they'd ended up at the casino watching Trisha float from one machine to another losing every time. After 30 minutes of excruciating boredom, Abigail had made polite excuses and good nights to the rest of the group. She had intended to go home, but her route home took her past the historical society, and there had been almost no time for the last month to just read or learn about Guinevere. So here she was 10 pm on a Friday hoping no one would find out that she'd come in to read the loser's journal that she'd been instructed to throw out. Jaycen invited me to a costume party that his newest conquest asked him to host. I left Guinevere at home with the triplets. We watched a rerun my favorite cooking competition Cutthroat Kitchen, while his new girl friend, hung out in the hot tub with a younger guy. Jaycen shrugged his shoulders when her bikini top hit the window, and asked if I'd help him cool off in the shower. I used one word to dampen his mood "babies". He looked surprised "That's still a problem?" I explained that it would be until after menopause. His girlfriend stormed off to the kitchen, and we both realized that she'd been trying to get him to fight the younger man in a fit of jealousy. He shrugged again, and then said something I never thought I'd hear him say, "I think I'm getting to old for these younger girls. I'll give her some flowers tomorrow and either take her to the Bistro for dinner or let her break up with me." Potty training is not what I would call an exciting task, but with Guinevere at school it was just me with these things. Maybe it was because I'd already had to raise four other babies to children before, but I think I was picking up hints of their personalities already. I'm not to worried about the girls; Rhiannon prefers to play by herself away from her siblings, and Llinos changes toys every five minutes. Aeron on the other hand causes me grave concerns, enough that I had a long talk with the cop who comes in daily for dinner at the diner, he'll grab toys away from his sisters to make them cry and then start laughing as soon as they do. I've been advised that he will probably need to go to a military or correctional school if he doesn't out grow the behavior. I think I should be worried about Guinevere, but from the few books I've bothered to look at on parenting and teen behavior I haven't seen anything to address talking to no one, outside of schizophrenia. I sent her to the clinic, and the clinic emailed me back that all of her labs and psych evaluations were normal. So now when I spot her having conversations with the air I ignore her, even though it's jolting to hear her say "... but grandpa ...". I probably shouldn't have asked Guinevere what she wanted to do after she graduated high school, I almost choked on my ratatouille. She's said she's interested in working at the graveyard until her sculpting career takes off. Growing older didn't really bring any ups with it, beyond the fact that I no longer had to worry about getting pregnant if I went hot tubing with Jaycen or dragged Lennon into the back pantry while at work. Lennon had caught on to how much food I was eating during a shift at work and was honestly shocked that despite that volume of food, my ribs were almost poking through my skin. I made omelets, and all while eating, all I could think about was how much my dad would have enjoyed them. The day Guinevere graduated we got a call from Vincent and Terra. They'd graduated as well, not really a surprise since they were triplets. Nor was it a surprise to me to hear that they were not coming home, but were moving in with friends they knew. I humored Guinevere and invited Jaycen and Lennon over when the triplets had their birthday. I caught Aeron trying to trip Lennon, and immediately called the military school to enroll him. I was not parent of the year material by a long stretch, but I'd be damned before I'd let him live under my roof if he was going to try to hurt people for fun. Fort Starch Military Academy told me that he could start after the winter break. Guinevere insisted on holding a gift exchange and invited all of the family, including their half brothers over. I made Aeron apologize to Lennon. As a holiday gift I let Rhiannon switch rooms with Guinevere and Jaycen gave her a cheap kids computer. He would have given Llinos something too, but she couldn't make up her mind on what she wanted. I was relieved when the car showed up to take Aeron away. I'd caught him trying to hold Llinos underwater in the new pool. He claimed it was just a prank and that he wasn't trying to hurt her, but the terror in her eyes told me otherwise. Rhiannon told me that she'd tried to get a short story published, but that the publishing company had laughed at her. Then she handed me a check made out to someone named R.M. Tith and asked me how to cash it as she said "I don't think they even read the first manuscript I sent in." If I wasn't so hungry I might have stared at the check longer, the magazine had paid her $80 for a short story. Between bites of risotto I promised to take her to the bank and get an account set up. Guinevere brought home a plant that grew jelly beans. She grumbled something under her breath as I ate them off as fast as they would grow. Between work, and constantly stuffing my face, I've fallen behind on writing in my journal like my counselor wants. Rhiannon, who is now a teen, has published a few more short stories, her royalty checks go into a trust account, which she is allowed to draw from once a week. Llinos still hasn't settled on any one subject at school, her guidance counselor called her extremely fickle. I'm not overly thrilled with how Rhiannon made over her room, but given how much she preferred to be by herself and in large open spaces I shouldn't have been overly surprised. She's already talking about using her royalty payments to build an outside kitchen and dining area. I'd care more, except these days I'm almost more tired than hungry. After almost two whole cakes, and a large batch of spaghetti you'd think I wouldn't be hungry anymore, but that wasn't the case, so I started to eat the jelly beans off the shrub again. It was rather startling to be suddenly jolted as if I'd stuck my finger into a light socket. I really want to wash up, but Rhiannon is taking a shower in her room and Llinos has locked herself in the bathroom to try different hairstyles again. I really should get that girl a vanity table for her room. A chlorinated pool isn't how I want to clean up, but it will have to do. Guinevere doesn't know that I know about her hidden room under her sculpting studio, and I plan on keeping it that way. I won't come down here again, especially since I don't like closed spaces, but I had to see for myself if it's where mother's remains had ended up because they're not where they're supposed to be at the graveyard. I was surprised to see mother's urn in the center of the room, as if in a place of honor. I can't wait to ask Guinevere to move out, hopefully she'll take her "collection" with her. I ended up with mother's journal because Llinos was busy flirting with both the limo driver and the undertaker, while Guinevere was studying the sculptures, and the counselor said she had to give the journal to immediate family, and we were the only three who had bothered to show up for the funeral. ~ R.M. Abigail stared at the initials on the last page with writing. It couldn't be, yet there was the proof staring her in the face, R.M. Tith famed author for bad pulp fiction was actually Rhiannon Melltith.
With a start, Abigail jumped up and raced down the hall to the first editions room for local authors. Staring at the tall bookcase she hunted until she found what she was looking for, one of R.M. Tith's earliest books titled, The Mad Sculptor. Abigail carefully took the book from the case and back to her office where she opened it up to the page she vaguely remembered from her elementary school days. Putting the books side by side, the pictures were identical, it had always been said that R.M. Tith had produced her own artwork to go with the stories, and here was the proof. Shaking, she carefully stored the two books side by side, for Monday when she would be able to write up a research proposal.
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Abigail stared at the boxes of books and journals, she really should review more from some of the other families. Not to mention the stack of boxes from some private estate of first edition books that needed sorting. With a sigh she set a timer, maybe she'd stick to it. So hungry, and pancakes are always the quickest to make besides a salad or sandwich. Thank goodness for walkers, playpens, and other toys, they keep the little aliens occupied and happy. I'm also grateful they don't seem to have acquired my voracious appetite. Regan became a child recently, she has Jaycen's eyes no doubt about it. She seems less alien now than when she was tiny, but I still can't stand to be around her. It was another rough day at city hall. Thankfully I'd had some time after work to check for stray ore samples. I found a few rocks that netted a nice sum, no where near the finds of others, but enough to meet my needs. After putting Vincent in the crib I called the number Jaycen gave me and enrolled Regan in private school. I was very happy to learn that the fee included weekends and holiday's, that was one less child in my home and life. I think Regan is excited to go too, especially since I told her there would be kids her age at the school. I really wasn't feeling all that maternal, so why the fuck did I agree to see her off. We gave each other stiff hugs before she climbed into the waiting cab, and I mumbled a non committal response when she asked if I would call her on weekends. She's my flesh and blood, yet I feel no connection to her or her siblings. Even as much as I feel that Guinevere is mine, I don't feel any bonds to her either. What was she thinking? I don't get why she thought it would be a good idea for me to host the annual holiday potluck. My coworkers make enough fun of me at work, having them in my home and mocking me really didn't help my mood. She didn't hesitate to make her displeasure with me known, so glad she doesn't know my plans and that I'll be able to quit soon. How a low level clerk can hold so much sway over city hall is beyond me, but somehow she does. All I'm going to say is when a plan actually works it works. I wasn't fired outright, but I was strongly encouraged to seek new employment elsewhere away from city hall, and nothing she does or says can change it. The only down side is I'm going to have to stay away from social media so I don't see all the meme's that get made of me failing with epic grandeur. The beauty of my plan was all I had to do was be myself and let the universe have it's way with my day The greasy spoon was more than happy to hire me as their new dishwasher, and happily for me all of their dishes are non breakable. Nor do they host fancy catered events. There's an upside to having triplets. Cake! Lot's and lot's of cake; chocolate and vanilla celebration cakes. One with raspberry filling, another with a lemon curd filling, and one plain butter cream filling, all three with a ganache frosting and piped butter creme decor. As we ate cake I told Terra and Vincent that they'd be going to boarding school. While I had considered sending them to Dribbledine Sports Academy so they could be with Regan they each piped up questions that sent me to the pamphlets I'd received after enrolling Regan. I don't like kids, and I'm not particularly maternal towards my own children, but unlike her I'm not heartless. Vincent asked about art classes, so I signed him up for LeFromage Art School. Terra on the other hand asked about nature preservation classes, what six year old wants to know about nature preservation, so I signed her up for the School of Peace and Love. I hedged my response when Guinevere asked where she'd be going. I didn't want to tell her in front of the others that I wasn't sending her away. The purchase and delivery of the new bunk beds made us a target for the local burglars. I'm happy the thief left the beds, but upset that she stole my couch. Okay yes I hated the couch when I first got it, but it was semi comfortable, and I'd gotten used to it. We quickly settled into a routine. We'd have breakfast together in the morning, she didn't seem to care that it was usually my third meal of the day, then she'd go off to school. After school it was straight over to the library for tutoring, while I studied cookbooks, I wanted out of the dish pit. Sometimes I wondered if it would have been better to send her off to boarding school with the others, for she constantly struggled in school. Unhappy is an understatement! I should have been happily celebrating my promotion, but instead I'd received a call from the school, little miss Guinevere had ditched her classes for the day. When I tried to ask her where she'd gone or what she'd done instead of going to school all she did was mutter something about statues and the graveyard. She's even better than me at not answering a straight question. I was half tempted to tell her to stop talking to Vincent, but I doubt that would have done any good. The thing about children, they do what they want. Guinevere announced that she wanted to join Vincent at LeFromage so she could study sculpture techniques. I was so furious, I grabbed a bottle of port I'd brought home and called Jaycen asking to go over and hangout at his place. A few days at Jaycen's really helped my mood settle, if not my stomach. As much as I wanted to blame the nausea on the port and questionable food from Jaycen's fridge I knew better. Once I was done puking I called the clinic and scheduled an appointment. Middle aged and pregnant, again, not what I wanted. Guinevere wasn't thrilled either, but more because I informed her she just became my live in nanny except for her school hours. Jaycen took the news in stride, and we struck the same deal as before. Although this time we took advantage of my pregnancy to enjoy ourselves, until someone else caught his eye. When I came home from the hospital at four in the morning with Jaycen, Guinevere made her displeasure at being woken more than clear. Although she did coo and squeal over her new siblings as I introduced her to her charges Rhiannon, Aeron, and Llinos, before crawling off to get a few hours of sleep. Just like when Regan had been born, Jaycen stuck around for a day or two to help out with the triplets. That he seemed to genuinely enjoy playing and caring for them really helped me out. Guinevere made gagging noises whenever Jaycen flirted with me, and while I really wanted to haul his cute but to my bed we both agreed that the father of eight might be a bit overboard. I was sad, but happy when the new typist clerk caught his eye and he moved on to younger pastures. For a minute I suspected he was thinking of proposing, and well that would have just ruined all of the fun for me. I don't think furious even covered my mood. It was bad enough the power had gone out due to bad weather and we'd lost all the food in the fridge; but to receive yet another communication from the school that Guinevere was ditching classes, plus a police officer asking me about her activities pushed me over the edge. I could tell that something had been buried on the back half of the property because the sandy dirt was disturbed but what had been done I couldn't tell. I informed her in no uncertain terms that if she didn't straighten out and stop ditching school to hang out at the graveyard I would see to it that her precious sculpture class was removed from her schedule. I think the collage picture of the triplets is Guinevere's way of trying to apologize for ditching school. I've warned her to not get attached as I'll probably just send them all to boarding school. I was surprised when she begged me to only send Aeron, and to keep Rhiannon and Llinos here at the house. I refused to do more than consider her request. Late one night as I was ending my shift I got a call. At first I didn't recognize the name or voice, it was Regan, she was calling to let me know that she'd graduated and was signed on as a Rabid Fan with the local sports team. I congratulated her, and wished her best of luck. Hesitantly I asked about her living arrangements, and she said she was rooming with some of her coworkers. Guinevere shot me a dirty look across the room as I must have sounded relieved to hear she wasn't coming by the house at all, but was moving straight to her new home. Abigail stretched, before tapping the front of the timer. At least she'd tried to set a limit on how long she'd read for. There was still enough time left to sort through one box, although she doubted she would.
Instead she carefully covered her notes and the journal before heading out to the archives. She thought she might know where to find information on Guinevere, and it wasn't any of the books she had. |
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Meinwen Melltith
Generation: Founder/Gen 1 Fatal Flaw: Glutton Traits: Loser, couch potato, easily impressed, commitment issues, dislikes children. ArchivesCategories |