The Unwanted Winter - Volume One of the Saga of the Twelves by Richard Heredia Page B

asked the girl
somewhat tentative to know.
    “ There
aren’t any houses
at the top of this hill,” was the retort.
    Elena didn’t even attempt
to hide her surprise. “I know, so what was she talking about? But,
if she does live up there, then what does she live in?” Elena’s
voice gradually began to squeak as if her vocal cords had
disappeared with each uttered word. She was losing
resonance.
    Anthony only
shrugged.
    “ Hey, you guys, getting
your homework done?”
    “ DAD!” yelled
Elena.
    Brother and sister alike
jumped up as if someone had screamed bloody murder. They stared
like idiots at the incredulous expression worn by the father, who
was now half-in and half-out of the room, his hand on the door
jam.
    “ What the hell was that
about?” asked their father, a brief chortle escaping through the
side of his mouth. “Did I startle you or something?”
    “ Hell yeah,” began
Anthony, “we were just talking and you came in all Rambo and scared
the crap out of us.” He picked up his laptop to put it in his
backpack. It had been lying on the floor beside his
feet.
    “ Okay.
Well, ‘do your homework if you want to
live ,’” said their father, his face
twisted in a caricature of that famous actor, right index finger
pointed in their general direction.
    “ Dad, that’s Arnold
Schwarzenegger not Rambo,” said Anthony tersely.
    Elena laughed and returned
to her pile of exercises.
    “ Oh,”
their dad muttered absently scratching his baldhead. Still in
thought, he turned as if to go, and then stopped abruptly. “And
hey, Tony, stay off that damn game until you’re completely done with your
homework and chores .”
    Elena giggled, but kept
her focus on the sheets of paper in front of her.
    “ You understand what I’m
talking about, right?” asked her father. “I want it completely done
– not half or almost or anything other than… done-done, you got
it?”
    “ Okay, Dad. I got it.”
Anthony typed a few last words on his laptop. Then he logged off
the game and placed the portable computer to the side, pulling out
one of his folders from his backpack and began to organize
himself.
    “ Good.” For the second
time, their father made as if to leave, but stopped once more.
“Where’s Mikalah?”
    Anthony just shrugged, but
Elena offered, “She said she was going to feed the rabbit before
she started her homework, but that was a long time ago.”
    “ Alright,
thanks.”
    Elena watched the
retreating figure of her father for a bit, smiling at the big
t-shirt, sweats, and slippers he always wore when he was relaxing
at home. In the not too far distance, she heard him
yell.
    “ Mikalah, where are you?
You’ve got other things to do, so stop messing around with that
damn rabbit!”
    Silently, Elena hoped her
sister wasn’t lolly-gagging too much.
     
    ~~~~~~~~<<<<<<{ ☼
}>>>>>>~~~~~~~~
     
~ 5
~

    Outside
     
     
    Thursday, November
18 th ,
Minutes Before…
     
    Upon arriving at the house
after school, Mikalah was suddenly struck by an errant thought.
Instantly, it made her worry. With all the hustle and bustle at the
end of the weekend and beginning of a new week, they’d forgotten to
feed their pet rabbit, Mr. Patas.
    Oh man , she thought uneasily, I hope Mr.
Patas is okay! He eats like a pig, so he is probably starving by
now.
    As quickly as she could,
she shed her sweater and threw it along with her backpack on the
couch in the living room, adjacent to the foyer. She stood up
straight, rubbing her palms on her navy “uniform” pants as her
brother came into the house behind her. He immediately turned
right, down the hallway, making his way to the office where they
usually did their homework. Elena and their father had brought up
the rear. Her Dad locked the door and engaging the dead bolt as he
passed the threshold of their home.
    “ Alright, first order of business is to get your homework done
and then we’ll
have some after school snacks,” announced their father as he made
his way