Woods Random Legacy: Chapter 40 - Growing Older

Soon, Alpha's time in elementary school came to a close.  As she prepared to graduate to high school, Sondra called the school and invited over several of Alpha's classmates to celebrate.  Among those invited were Reid, Alpha's cousin; Floyd, a young relative of Sondra's; and Valerie.  Alpha really only wanted one of those people there, and typically that was the one guest who didn't show.
Alpha: "I really didn't want a party..."
Sondra: "You don't have to be all modest, every girl likes parties!  Enjoy it and blow out your candles!"

James: "Sondra?  Why are there strange children in my house?"
Sondra: "We're having a party for Alpha!"
James: "Why would we do that?"
Sondra: "Because it's fun!  Now come watch her blow out her candles!"

True to form, Valerie only arrived just after the cake had been served; apparently, she'd missed her bus three times in a row while watching a particularly neat-looking butterfly.  After all the children, including Valerie, had been sent back to their houses, Sondra found Alpha.
Sondra: "There you are!  I was starting to think you were hiding from me."
Alpha: "Erm, why would I do that?"
Sondra: "I don't know!  I just wanted to tell you that I'd gotten you a present."

Alpha: "Ah, really?"
She wasn't too enthusiasatic about the idea; knowing Sondra, it was probably a dress or some make-up.
Sondra: "Yeah.  It's customary to get presents when you graduate elementary school, right?"
Alpha had never heard about that, but lots of things were weird at her house, so she just shrugged in response.
Sondra: "I was thinking about you taking the bus all over, and it still seems pretty unsafe to me.  So, I got a bike for you to ride instead!"
Alpha was momentarily stunned by the gift.  A whole bike for herself?  That had to have cost at least $100!  Finally, she found her voice.

Alpha: "Wow, thanks!  I really wasn't expecting anything like that.  It'll be nice to be able to ride to the library and stuff."
Sondra smiled down at the girl, her expression seeming slightly troubled.
Sondra: "You don't seem to expect much of anything.  Doesn't really seem right to me."
Alpha shrugged again, not sure what Sondra was getting at.
Alpha: "It works, I guess.  Can I go now?  I want to try it out."
Sondra nodded, letting the girl go.  She seemed happy, but was that just because she didn't know what she was missing?

Alpha coasted down the hill on her new bike, looking towards the town center.  It was sunset, so the lights above the theatre were shining up into the sky, drawing sims in to watch a show.  She didn't have any money to attend, but that didn't matter; there were plenty of things to do for free in this town.  There was no telling what tomorrow would bring, but for now she had the evening to herself.

In preparation for the baby, Sondra re-decorated the nursery.  Gone were the sterile white sheets on the cribs, replaced with spring green nature patterns.  There wasn't much she could do about the carpeting or paint job - why these colors, when the rest of the house was painted so nicely? - but she hung a few decorations on the walls and from the ceiling.

She also fixed up Alpha's bedroom, adding some color to the room along with a set of bunk beds, intended for Epsilon and the new baby.  It would be cramped with so many children in one room, but it was better than keeping one or more of them in the nursery until they moved out.

James watched Sondra doing all of this with some irritation.  It wasn't so much that he was opposed to what she was doing, as he was opposed to the fact that she didn't ask before just changing things around in his house.  Besides, it wasn't even necessary, so she was just wasting time.  He kept his objections to himself, though.

Now that Alpha had shorter school hours, she picked up more of the childcare duties around the house.  While she didn't enjoy the company of most people, she found that she really enjoyed taking care of her younger sister.

Whether she was playing with Epsilon, rocking her to sleep, feeding her from a bottle, or even changing her diapers, Alpha adapted quickly to caring for the infant.

When Sondra was home, Alpha would steal a few hours to herself.  She'd found James's old book on martial arts, and took that to the library often to read up on the techniques involved.  She found the concept of achieving clarity through meditation to be particularly fascinating, and resolved to train her body and mind in order to pursue that goal for herself.

Training her mind was easier than training her body.  The training dummy was still on the back porch, unused since she was a toddler, but she dusted it off and got to work.

Her punches were feeble, and hurt herself more than they hurt the target, but it was progress.

James found himself bored.  He'd achieved his life's goal, but what now?  He found himself drifting aimlessly, irritated by the most minor things, until one day inspiration hit.  He had all the time in the world now, so why not show the kitchen who was boss?

He'd become a master chef, and then everyone would see!  No longer would they laugh at his wilted salads and burnt waffles.  He would master spices, too, and not just salt!

He'd have to make up a name for himself, like on TV.  The Kitchen Overlord!  The One-Handed Knife Master!

Alpha tried her best to ignore the cursing that came from the kitchen as the knife was inevitably dropped.  It would only encourage him.

Sondra had planned a private celebration for Epsilon's first birthday, even going so far as to purchase the cake, but her plans were disrupted when she went into labor.

James called a cab and escorted her to the hospital, seeming quite out of his depth.  He'd never done this with previous children, they'd just shown up on their own!  But Sondra insisted that he be there, and it seemed a poor choice of battles to fight this one.

Left alone to watch her younger sister, Alpha took matters into her own hands.  She helped Epsilon blow out her candle, patiently encouraging the young child.

After the cake was cleaned up, Alpha brought out her old teddy bear, the one her grandmother had given her.  She was practically an adult now, after all, so she didn't have much use for it anymore; why not let Epsilon enjoy it?  She smiled as she watched the toddler hug the bear happily; if their father wouldn't step up, then Alpha would take matters into her own hands.  It was that simple.

After only a few minutes of playing with the stuffed animal, Epsilon started to drift off to sleep, so Alpha scooped her up to carry her off to bed.  There would be time to play and learn tomorrow, but for now the day's events seemed to have tired the young girl out.

James arrived back home from the hospital that evening.  He wouldn't say much, but Alpha gathered that the baby was a boy, and that Sondra was fairly upset about that.  James, on the other hand, couldn't be happier - at least an heir to the family name had come out of all of this baby-making.  He'd wanted to name the kid Omega, implying of course that he would be the last one, but Sondra insisted on Omicron, another Greek letter that she'd come across when reading about James's previous daughter's names.  Alpha looked forward to meeting her half-brother.

~ * ~

This chapter is shorter than I anticipated, because I realized that a conversation that I'd originally placed in the middle of it should actually take place next chapter.  So yay, not as much of a monster of a chapter as I'd feared!

Ah, the kitchen interlude.  Just making sure that nobody forgets that James is Greg's son.

Omicron brings the total number of children this generation to three, which is what I've rolled.  Alpha is too old to be the heir, therefore she's destined to become a spare.  Let the debate begin on whether Epsilon or Omicron will carry the legacy forward.  I already know, but I want to watch you guys make up awesome theories.

I propose a caption competition.  There are so many things going on in this picture, caption it for me:

The kid in the hat is Floyd Kimura-Campbell(some relation to Sondra, not sure what), the kid who looks like him is Reid Woods(one of Faye's kids) and the girl at the door is Valerie, who was 1.5 hours late to the party.