Before I begin my recap for today, the big news story around
the world today is the explosions near the finish line at the Boston marathon. By the time you’re reading this some day in
the future, you’ll know much more about what happened there than anyone does
right now, so I won’t write about what is mostly just rumors right now; but my
thoughts and prayers do go out to the victims and their families and friends.
***
It only felt like I’d had a nap when I got up to see Dad off
on his trip to Crystal
Springs. Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana all got up too, and we
were able to spend about twenty minutes with Dad while he had breakfast. Once he was on the road, we all cuddled in
Mom’s bed and had another nap before getting the rest of our regular school day
started. Tai Chi was indoors; Mom and I
took turns having showers while watching Ethan and Ehlana; we had breakfast;
and then I went to meet up with Rowen and walk to school.
Even in a little town like ours, tax day is a big deal for
anyone wanting to wait as long as possible to send more money to the
government; and Rowen’s parents expected to be busy all day and half the night;
and they’d already left for the store by the time I got to their house. I should mention that they actually don’t
make much money with the work they’re doing right now – helping their customers
use the tax software they sell is just one of the things they do because their
friends and neighbors need them. I’m
sure they’re given some thank-you gifts too, but it’s doing things like this
that explain why virtually every piece of computer hardware and software in the
entire Ridge River District comes from their store.
Rowen was ready to go, but we had to wait for Patrick before
heading to school. Let’s just say that
he was being a typical little brother after Owen and Patricia had left, and
leave it at that. We met up with Rebecca
and Michael on the way to school, and found out then that Miranda and Jacob had
left for Garden City not long after Dad had left for Crystal Springs. I must really suck at being a tween, because
every other teen and tween we talked with while Rowen and I were with Rebecca
and Michael wanted to know when the all-night party at their house was
starting; and that thought hadn’t even remotely crossed my mind. The news that there wasn’t going to be a
parent-free party was met with universal disappointment even if it wasn’t
actually unexpected. Jake and Stephanie
are two of the most popular teens in town, but they definitely don’t have
party-animal reputations.
The rest of my morning was a mix of normal and tweeird. Lisa not-very-happily provided most of the
tweeird, and she was even less thrilled to find out that some of our classmates
are getting tired of the drama; and are starting to talk to me again. Add in another round of birthday invitations
that Rowen and I were included in for Brock’s party on Saturday night – his
first boy-girl party; and I practically felt frost-bitten by lunchtime. That was enough of a reason for Rowen and I
to spend most of our noon break doing our own thing; which for today included a
walk and some play time with a group of younger girls at the playground. That never earns us any ‘cool’ points with
our classmates, but we have fun; and playing like that now and then does make
us popular with all of the younger girls.
I don’t have much to report from the rest of the school day,
but I was in the tweeird zone immediately after last class when Michael advised
me that he, Rebecca, and Jake would all be checking in with my Mom on the way
home from school; and he and Tim walked home with Rowen and me. The tweeird came from having shadows
following about a block behind us; and I could practically feel the icy glare
hitting me in the back of the head. Things
should have gone downhill from there, but I ended up having too much fun to
care about the downside from spending what ended up being the rest of the
afternoon and a big chunk of the evening with Michael, Tim, and Rowen; and
about half of that time with Rebecca too.
Aunt Leanne’s hand was definitely in on the after-school
plan that started with Ethan and Ehlana using their very best toddler act to
get Michael, Rebecca, and Tim to stay for our snack break. I’m sure that the fresh-today Olde Bakery
treats were part of the plan too; and they worked like a charm. After that, the five of us ended up doing our
homework together in the lounge, and then four out of five of us went biking
until dinnertime – a dinner that Jake, Stephanie, Michael, and Rebecca had
already been set-up to have with us; and that Rowen and Tim were invited to
stay for by the time we went out for our ride.
We were back into the tweeird zone shortly after leaving the
house when we again found ourselves being followed as we first went to get
Michael’s and Tim’s bikes; and then started our ride with another construction
site tour. That’s getting more
interesting in the new section of town now that there are more than just holes
in the ground for the first batch of houses being built. I’d guess that nearly every kid and even a
lot of the teens make regular visits to see what’s going on there – and over at
the lab site too.
Since Rowen and I had needed to do our homework at ‘normal’
speed, we didn’t actually have that long to ride; but Michael and Tim wanted to
hit some of the drier trails in the woods at the park; and we had a blast
racing and chasing each other around the three trails that weren’t complete mud
pits from the weekend rain. That didn’t
go over well with the girls who were keeping an eye on us, but like I already
mentioned; I was having too much fun to really care about that at all.
Jake, Rebecca, and Stephanie were all at the house by the
time we got home again, and we really only had enough time for a little chat
and to get cleaned up before the food was ready; and we all moved into the
dining room to sit down and eat. I don’t
think that everyone was in on the conspiracy, but it wasn’t a surprise that I
ended up sitting in the chair between Michael and Ehlana, while he was next to
Ethan; and Ehlana had Rebecca sitting next to her too. Jake, Stephanie, Tim, and Rowen all looked
way too amused from where they sat in the four chairs directly across from us.
I didn’t need to ask Mom later if she was in on the
matchmaking plan – she’d cooked one of my favorite chicken dishes and the bacon
and cheese mashed potatoes for dinner.
First of all, we usually only have my favorite mashed potatoes when Dad
makes them for me; Michael wasn’t the only person at the table to have second
or third helpings; and it wasn’t necessary to use that as a launching pad to
talk about things that Michael and I both love.
We did have other things to talk about while we ate. Mom got Jake and Stephanie to tell us about
their college plans – they’d received all of their acceptance letters; and were
pretty sure which schools they were going to pick. They talked about their plans for Dillon’s
birthday tomorrow, and that led directly to another dinner invitation for
Rebecca and Michael with us; since they were going to be in Crystal Springs
with Dillon and Violet for the evening.
Since Mom had done most of the cooking, we had an all-tween
and teen clean-up crew. That was
probably too much fun; and more than a little scary just how great it was to do
that together. It reminded me a lot of
all of the times I used to spend in the kitchen at the Inn
with Rebecca, Michael, and everyone else.
It certainly had me thinking about stopping in to hang out with them
again once in a while. I expected that
once we’d finished cleaning the kitchen that everyone except Rowen would be heading
out, but Jake and Stephanie were hoping to have a few hours of alone time; and
I invited Rebecca and Michael to stay so they could do that. Tim stayed too; and we started out the rest
of our evening by taking Ethan and Ehlana for a walk to the park.
When we got home again, we went up to my room and the
lounge; had a little music time that was mostly for Ethan and Ehlana; and then
Michael, Tim, and Ethan mostly entertained us with some video gaming while
Rebecca, Rowen, Ehlana, and I watched, talked, and surfed the net on two
computers. Rowen needed to leave at
nine-thirty so she could go around to the computer store; collect Patrick; and
take him home for the night while their parents finished up getting a pair of
tax returns done and sent off before midnight.
Rebecca, Michael, and Tim went home then too, and then I helped Mom with
getting Ethan and Ehlana ready for bed and tucked in. My little brother and sister were very
pleased with themselves; and spent some time pointing out to me just how much
fun it had been tonight to hang out with Michael – and Rebecca, Rowen, and Tim.
Yes, I had a lot of fun; but I’m still not crossing over!
By the time they were in bed, I was ready for another visit
with my Jacuzzi, and Mom thought that was such a good idea; she went to have a
bath then too. I finished my language
studying while soaking in the tub, and I’ve mostly been working in the archives
since climbing into bed with Mandy. Some
of that work included some updates for the Magi Project that were mostly things
I observed at the party on Friday night and have been thinking about since
then. Some of those musings are written
in the Master’s language; mostly so Mom can decide what should or shouldn’t be
given wider access – even for Uncle Adam.
There are times when I need to be very careful with the ideas I come up
with. For instance, just because I think
there may actually be several ways to help Latents access their Magi power
doesn’t mean that we should; that they could all handle their new abilities
nearly as well as Violet has; or if we could collectively handle everything
that would go along with doing that – like training so many new Magi.
While it’s mostly been fun all day, I’m getting tired; and
need to get at least a bit more sleep than I did last night – especially since
I’m pretty much guaranteed to have more tween drama to deal with at
school. I’ll worry about that in the
morning, but for now; it’s time to try not to think about cute and cuddly – I mean
soft and fuzzy – bunnies.
Until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor; logging
out!
