"Wake up sleepyhead or we'll be late!"
His sister yelled as she banged on his bedroom door. Just another Monday morning. Sleepily, he threw on his normal clothes, t-shirt, boxers, jeans and a hoodie, grabbed his backpack and stomped down the stairs to the kitchen. The large room had a square table in the middle, just big enough for the sizeable family. All four of his sisters were already wolfing down pancakes and toast while drowning pitchers of juice. At one end of the table, his father was reading the paper and sipping coffee. Mother Mary, very pregnant, was merrily humming at the stove, making more pancakes and Mother Anne was putting some dishes away. Mother Stephanie and Mother Lily were nowhere to be seen, probably already left for work. Josh sat down on a free chair and grabbed the nearest pitcher.
"Hey, that was mine", one of his sisters whined.
"Yeah, it was and now its mine", Josh replied haughtily. While Mother Mary put a plate of pancakes in front of him, Mother Anne took out another pitcher and filled it with juice, placing it down on the table. Both mothers tut-tutted him, which he pointedly ignored but his father placed his newspaper on the table, glared at him and sternly admonished him:
"Young man, in my house you follow my rules. Now apologize to your sister at this instant and learn some manners before I lose my temper! Don't think that sixteen is too old for a spanking!"
Chastised, Josh lowered his head and mumbled an apology to Julia, who graciously nodded and didn't fling any barbs his way.
"Now dear, hurry up and finish your pancakes, the schoolbus will be here shortly", Mother Anne reminded Josh. He silently wolfed down the pancakes and got up to leave. His sisters followed him, the group walking out to the street and to the bus stop.
Just another Monday morning. |