Posts: 3555
From: Hillsboro, OR, USA
Registered: Jan 2013

posted August 23, 2017 01:43 AM            

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For a friend:
Message:
Be patient, she is coming back.

If ever the phrase; 'sisters fight worse then brothers,' was true, then it was certainly the truest with C.A.S and Guinevere.
C.A.S had been a very smiley, happy, fat pink faced blond haired blue eyed baby girl. She liked to explore a lot. She was a very joyful little thing who was always running away from her parents to explore. Exploration was her favorite thing in the world, and she learned to crawl much earlier then other infants, and even walk much earlier as well because of it. Her twin brother, Thomas, however, was later then most infants to do the same things.
At thirteen months she and her father had learned to make a game of it. She would run away laughing hysterically and he would chase after her and scoop her up. Of course she would just go right back to it as many times as she felt necessary which was often a lot.
At the same time, Thomas would settle himself to the soft bosom of his mother's chest.
Shannon never thought she would want children. The world was too ****** up a place for such beautiful things. And, besides, her mother wouldn't be there to help her and that truly frightened her, plus the pain.
But she was so happy once her twins were born. Especially Thomas who was like her in almost every way; docile, gentle, charming, and sweet.
C.A.S was more like her father; dominant type personality, energetic, easily entertained, and talkative. But, she looked just like Shannon accept her hair was almost yellow. Thomas had come out an even mixture of both of his parents. Strangely enough, he had come out with almost...orange hair, that was tawny with hints of crimson, red, and all shades of brown, just like a sprinkling of random spices, it was merely the orange that shone through the best. His eyes like his father's were black.
When Guinevere was born, C.A.S was five almost six, and she stared wearily at the baby girl in her mother's arms. She had known Baby Guinevere was coming for a while now, and she thought of a baby sister as something that would, like the rest of her family, bask in her presence. Indeed, C.A.S until that point was the center of attention for Shannon, Beau, and her brother.
But when she saw how helpless this thing was and how much it would need her parents more then she, it dawned on her.
She almost looked like she was going to cry, but indeed she was just shocked whenever C.A.S was shocked she always got a face that looked like she was going to cry, although she had no intention of doing so.
"Oh, she's ****** ," Shannon laughed. and Beau did the same.

By the time Guinevere was 18 months old, there must have been at least two screaming fits a week. and by the time her sister was three, it had escalated to nearly every day.
Guinevere was very different from C.A.S. At nine years old, C.A.S was a heavier but very proud girl who didn't care in the slightest what she looked like. She wore tee shirts and shorts and enjoyed nothing more then tackling her two elder male cousins in dirt clad wars. However, the younger girl was prim, proper, and prissy. At three years old she folded her clothes all in the same manner every night and had to make sure all her beautiful porcelain dolls which had come from Shannon's Mother were fed, bathed, and ready for bed with her. Every morning, Guinevere stood on a stool and watched into her mirror one of her parents would brush her long rough nearly black hair. It was almost like she was a little Queen, loving of herself, and loving and appreciative of the person grooming her. As Guinevere would age her hair would eventually settle to a dark nutmeg. But she would continue to look just like her father.
Everyone lathered attention on Guinevere, it was just too annoying. C.A.S knew her sister was a great writer, and at the age of three composed letters to her cousins in Norway. Here was the thing, everybody knew Europe wasn't like Harry Potter nor Legend nor the Corpse Bride, but they indulged in it for her. She would begin her letters as;
'My dearest cousins Finn and Ella of Norway,' and she must have wrote them at least five letters a week. She also had to write it herself at a desk with a purple crayon. Purple was her favorite color and her Mom had forbid her use ink, which resulted in many battles of its own.
Meanwhile C.A.S would be outside running around, going with boys to creeks and finding newts and capturing them, all of them barefooted. Indeed, C.A.S got along better with boys. Maybe it was because they were impressed she could beat them half f the time at basketball, or softball and for her size. C.A.S proved to anyone who knew her that you just needed the energy, not the body and you can get the most respect from everyone.
And her sister irritated her to no end as she would walk in the house and Guinevere would chide across the hall. "Get you a bath young lady!"
"Shut up Guinevere!" She yelled.
"You shut up!"
"Shut the hell up!" Would come Beau's voice from another room. And sometimes they would adhere but sometimes not. Sometimes Thomas would have to get between them in which he would say firmly to his sister; "Stop"
"She started it!"
"But she's little." It was kind of cute to see how much Thomas seemed to take seriously this responsibility of keeping the peace. So, sometimes Shannon and Beau would just let him do it and they would laugh at their kids. Guinevere's arms crossed, knowing well her brother was on her side before her sister's. Thomas restraining C.A.S and saying the same thing. "Stop" and "But she's little" Surprisingly for how strong C.A.S was she was nothing compared to her brother who restrained her so well she couldn't move.
Both girls were in love with their father. But for different reasons. C.A.S loved Beau for his energetic and athletic side. When she tried out for track, he agreed to be tackled at least once a day so she could train and use her father as a windbreaker.
Guinevere loved her father for his philosophical side. Beau couldn't often sleep at night, and Guinevere liked to sit on his lap and watch movies with him until he would try again to settle himself down. Guinevere always had the sense that her father could see things deeply and it was something she too did possess.
One day he picked his daughters up from school. C.A.S was twelve and learning about the Civil War.
"Oh my gosh Dad! You should change your name, did you know a lot of people in the south had French names like you? Your name sounds like a Confederate General.
Guinevere crinkled up her nose at what she felt as an insult to their father.
"I like your name Daddy," she said. "And that's what I want to name the new kitty."
"I'm naming the kitty!" Yelled C.A.S
"Nu-uh Mommy said I could!"
"Not fair!" She yelled.
And hit her sister on the knee who began kicking her legs at her hands and screaming.
"Hey! Stop it!" Beau yelled. "Damn it girls, you want me to get into a car crash?"
He looked at his older daughter. "How about you just call the kitten what you want and she can call him what she wants."
"Your name? That's stupid." She replied. "And its a French name! Just like the slave-owners!"
Well, C.A.S named the cat Ulysses after the great General of the North and Guinevere of course named the cat Beau. And of course they fought over him.
Beau related well to his daughters, but he was very hard on his son. Beau to Thomas was like Red Foreman to Eric Foreman. And yelled at him if he brought him the wrong measure of wood. "Does this look like a ******* two by four Thomas!" He would shout.
Or hit him across the head gently, but still more then most parents would do to their kids in this modern age, if he would accidently run into him at play. Again, it wasn't abusive, but it was an old fashioned sort of discipline that would make more then a few parents in the modern day raise their eyes and stare.
The last straw for C.A.S was when she walked into her room to see her sister playing with the white teddy bear with its green dress and red bonnet that their Grandma Barbara had owned long before they were born and had gotten it for Shannon as a little girl.
"Hey! That's mine!" She yelled. And swiped at it. Guienvere screamed and moved it out of the way. It wasn't long before they were fighting and each had a hold of the arm, suddenly C.A.S ripped the arm off and went flying across the room.
"Oh no you broke it C.A.S!" Moaned Guinevere.
"You made me do it!" She yelled.
Thomas came up the stairs. "Oh no look what you guys did!" He said. It was apparent he was enraged at both of his sisters. Thomas was very protective of Shannon and loving. He was one of the best sons a Mother could ever ask for. Always volunteering to help and who also liked to just sit quietly with her. Guinevere, Beau, and C.A.S were too high strung.
"It was her fault!" Sobbed C.A.S. And this time Thomas would not use the excuse of "but she's little."
Thomas consoled his mother who cried a bit that afternoon.
And Guinevere and C.A.S to compensate for the loss got along, quite well and with laughter as they asked their father to bake cookies with them for their Mother.
It had begun bad, but ended to be one of the best days the family ever had.

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Posts: 84276
From: From a galaxy, far, far away...
Registered: Apr 2009

posted August 26, 2017 07:54 AM            

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Vivid imagery.

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