Pass It On
Chapter 5

The first room they stopped at was on the left and had double occupancy. Even before Momma and Dad peeked in, the sounds of Justin Beiber singing “Baby” told anyone in the house and on Churchman Avenue, what two girls shared this room.

“Doesn’t Destiny ever get tired of that song?” Dad cringed as Momma went to her baby’s bedside and turned off the disc player.

She didn’t answer as Dad already knew the answer was “never”. She just pulled the covers up round her and kissed her on the forehead. Two posters, one of Cinderella and the other of her favourite Canadian cutie were hung above headboard.

Dad walked in and smiled lovingly at the sight. “So what kind of day did my first red headed monkey have?”

“Well actually”, a smile turned at her lips. “She had a pretty big one, but it didn’t start out that way.”

Dad waited patiently for the rest of the story and Momma didn’t disappoint. “The rain had her down for awhile, but then it stopped ... which was pretty amazing considering the weatherman said it was going to rain all day. But by the time the sun came out ... she was already out riding. Eventually she ended up over on the baseball diamond at Christian Park.”

Dad made a swing with an imaginary bat. “How’d It do?” “It” being the playful pronoun Dad often used for all his little tax deductions.

“Did It hit a homerun?”

Momma giggled. “Not exactly, but she did get hit by one.”

The lost look on her love’s face encouraged her to explain. “She didn’t go to play. She went to watch Tommy play.”

“Tommy? The boy next door? I didn’t know she liked him. I thought she was crazy about this Justin Beaver kid.”

“It’s Bieber”, Momma gently corrected him. “And she’s still crazy about him, at least she better be considering how much we paid to get her tickets to his concert for her birthday, but he’s a dreamy star she may never reach ... while Tommy is the cute boy she can. Every girl has to have a dream love AND a real life Romeo.

The heavy sigh that escaped Dad’s lips could only be made by a father with a daughter on the verge of being a teenager. Momma noticed but continued without comment or sympathy.
“Anyway ... Destiny was in the stands when Tommy hit the game winning home run and instead of using a mitt to catch it ... she used her forehead.”

Dad leaned down closer to get a look at his little one in the dim light. Even with only a night light to illuminate the room, he could see the small red mark centre of her forehead.

He winced, having sympathy pain. “That had to hurt. Is she alright?”

Momma nodded as she brushed the red braid from her daughter’s face. “Oh yeah ... she’s alright. She’s YOUR daughter which means she’s hard headed.”

Dad chuckled knowing it was true. “It must have been embarrassed ... especially in front of ... of ... which boy is it?”

“Tommy and she of course she was ... but actually ... it all worked out really well. Tommy came up into the stands to see if she was alright and to apologize for hitting her. He ended up asking her out to shoot hoops over at the park and then for ice cream at the Dairy Queen afterwards.”

Dad folded his arm and lost his smile. Momma went to work coaxing it back out. “Now there’s no reason to get an attitude or your shotgun. Trust me ... Destiny can take care of herself. If Tommy’s hands go trying to touch the ‘promised land’, she’ll send him there and she’ll hit him anywhere and I mean ANYWHERE she can and with anything she can get her hands on.”

The smile returned and Dad chuckled. “Now that’s my girl.”

It was then the pair turned their attentions to the other bed and the other little girl in the room. Two posters sat between the pillars of her canopy bed. One was a poster of her favourite Disney princess: the Little Mermaid. The other was of Doctor Who, the British Science Fiction series that she and Dad had a standing date for every Saturday night. This freckled face little one seemed to be floating in a sea of stuffed animals.

“So what kind of trouble did my second little red headed monkey get into ... or do I want to ask?”

Momma relocated a few precious animals and sat down on the bed next to Katie, named after the woman who'd made so much possible for them. “Oh ... no more than the usual. This morning, just like Destiny, she was pacing the porch like a caged animal waiting for the rain stop. And ... since we both know she has to be just ... like ... Destiny ... she rode bikes with her to Tommy’s baseball game.”

Dad nodded knowingly, as he knew his red headed monkey’s travelled in pairs. Destiny led and Katie followed ... just as it had once been the same with Paris and Destiny.

“Well ... two hours later, they come blowing in from the game. Destiny’s showing me the ball and the word “Rawlings” printed across her forehead while both she and Katie are telling me the story. Of course after they told me once, they had to tell me again ... and again ... and again ... while I doctored Destiny’s forehead and fixed them grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. Of course by then ... it was nearly two and Destiny had to get ready for her hoop date with Tommy.”

Dad gave her a puzzled look. “Get ready? What did she need to do. All you need to shoot hoops is tennis shoes, a ball and a basket.”

Momma giggled. “If you were a twelve and half year old girl you wouldn’t even ask that question.”

“If I was a twelve and half year old girl ... there wouldn’t BE a Destiny.”
Momma smiled hungrily and winked, silently saying how glad she was, that her beloved was who HE was, and then continued her tale.

“Well ... when Tommy picked up Destiny to play basketball, naturally Katie wanted to go. When Destiny told her she couldn’t go and I told her she couldn’t ride over and spy on them ... she wasn’t a very happy camper. She mopped around the house for awhile, so I tried to get her interested in playing video games, but she saw the mike and begged to sing Karaoke.”

Dad closed his eyes and cringed. “I’m so ... glad I decided to work today.”

Mom smacked Dad on the arm for the tease, but there was painful truth ... ear drum painful truth in what he said. Both Paris and Destiny had their Mom’s beautiful singing voice and their Dad’s ability to pick up almost any musical instrument and play it, but the music gene skipped over Katie as she could neither sing nor play. Of course, much to everyone’s ear pain, it didn’t stop her from trying every time someone turned on the Karaoke machine. Even the dogs hid when they saw the mike in Katie’s hand.

Dad looked over at the pile of notebooks and sketchpads sitting on Katie’s nightstand. It seemed she was forever laying on her bed or on the floor, writing or drawing in them.

“Hey maybe Katie can design album covers or write the songs and Destiny and Paris can sing them?”

Momma smiled without comment and then continued on with her tale.

“Well after Karaoke ... I finally shooed her outside to play for a little while, but told her if I found out she went over the ball court while Tommy and Destiny were there, I’d put my foot up her butt.”

Momma chuckled. “When I said that, she shot me a pair of blue daggers and sat out on the porch pouting and colouring for awhile. I think after that ... she went down to Alisha’s and played Barbie’s with her, but it wasn’t an hour later and she was back inside. Michael and Paris were home by then so she tried hanging out with them.”

Momma shook her head and smiled sympathetically at her sleeping angel. “I know she went to Michael’s room first, because he hollered for her to get out and leave him and his friends alone about a hot second after I heard her knock to get in.”

“Any better luck with Paris?”

Momma nodded. “Some ... I think Paris let her sit on the bed for a little while and listen to her sing, because about twenty minutes later Paris sent her downstairs to get a cold Doctor Pepper and some pizza rolls out of the freezer.

Dad shook his head. “I’m surprised she didn’t have her beg you for a cigarette.”

Momma’s eyes went wide. “It did me too, until I found out that Paris came home with a full pack of Marlboro’s, which was a pretty good trick since she was broke and bummed one from me when she left this morning.”

Dad scratched his red curly locks as he leaned in the doorway. “I wonder where It came up with those cigarettes?”

“Do you REALLY want to know?” Momma teased him with a knowing smile.

Dad, deciding sometimes ignorance was parental bliss ... didn’t press for answer and just waited quietly for Momma to finish the story.

“About fifteen minutes after she made the soda and pizza roll run for Paris, the phone rang. I’m not sure if it was Brittany or Larry, but either way ... Katie got booted again and ended up in the kitchen with me. Well ... after about ten minutes of her sitting on the island mopping, I told her to either go watch a video or take a nap.”

“Which one did she do?”

“Both”, Momma said with an impish grin that left Dad puzzled until she explained.

“I knew she was feeling left out when Destiny went off with Tommy, but I also knew her biggest problem was that she was so tired she could hardly stand herself and yet there’s no way an eleven and half year old child is going to volunteer to take a nap. They are way ... two grown up for that so I knew she’d choose the video, but that’s a mommy cheat, because I knew as soon as she got comfy on the sofa ...”

“She’d fall asleep”, Dad finished for her.

“Yeah ... I went upstairs about fifteen minutes after I saw her get the Little Mermaid video and she was sound asleep. I put a blanket over and then went outside to do a little gardening.”

“So did the nap help?”

“Well it did for about an hour, until she woke up screaming and crying so loud that I could hear her all the way in the backyard.

Dad sighed. “The nightmare again?”

Momma gently caressed her baby’s cheek. “Yep ... the whole bit about waking up and finding she’s all alone and trapped in the body of some giant old woman and nobody will believe she’s really a little girl. I had to hold her and promise her tacos tonight before she finally calmed down.”

Dad watched Katie sleep, silently praying her dreams were sweet ones tonight, and troubled by the fact that lately they hadn’t been.

“I wonder what’s causing her nightmares. Do you have any idea?”

Momma shook her head. “No ... not really. It could be caused by almost anything ... a story she read or a movie she saw ... or maybe it’s all the Kit Kat’s and pizza she eats. Who knows?”

Momma cringed for a moment wishing she didn’t have to list the next possibility. “It might even be hormones ... puberty is right around the corner you know.”

Dad hung his head in defeat. “But Momma ... can’t we do something with this one ... either keep It little or jump It up to twenty one and shove it out the door? I just don’t know how many more teenagers I can take.”

Momma smiled sympathetically. “I know babe ... and Katie was the only good one I had left, but don’t worry. We’ll get even when we spoil our grandkids rotten and then send them back home to make their parents lives a living hell.”

Dad chuckled and then offered his hand to his beloved. “And that’s why we work so well together ... I get mad ... you get even.”

Momma smiled as she took the hand and eased herself off Katie’s bed without comment.
“So ... is there anything else our twin monkey’s got into?”

Momma shook her head. “No ... not really. Destiny came back not too long after Katie woke up. She had a smile a mile wide. She beat Tommy playing horse which means he had to buy the ice cream and ... I think he asked her to go with him, but I’m not sure whether or not she said yes. Her and Katie shot out of her to go riding until tacos were ready and then they both crashed before I got the scoop. I’m sure Destiny will be bursting to tell me tomorrow ... if Katie doesn’t tell me first.” She added with a giggle.

Momma then blew both her babies a kiss and headed toward the door with Dad, but when she saw a pink jar on the bookcase next to it, she stopped and picked it up. “Oh ... I forgot to tell you. You know that red dry patch on Dezzi’s arm ... the one we bought this cream for but wouldn’t go away?”

Dad nodded. “Yeah ... she’s got an appointment with a dermatologist on Tuesday doesn’t she?”

“Well ... I’m going to call Monday and cancel it. The most amazing thing happened. She had it this morning when she was sitting on the porch watching the rain. I know she did. I saw it ... but when she came back from the ball game it was gone ... completely gone ... not a trace. I guess it wasn’t psoriasis like we feared it was.”

Dad shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe it was just a rash or something.”

“Maybe”, Momma agreed as she sat the jar back down on the shelf and followed Dad into the hallway.

To be continued …