Gretchen Windling's Musings
So, mama Danae had her ten children, but she certainly didn't do it alone. Uncle Warren and granpa Agenor helped baby-sit. Papa Alec helped tutor us and learn new skills. And, older siblings helped younger ones when they could. That's where I come in. I've taken it upon myself to watch over these kids - Abbey, Kimberly, Echo and Harmonia - the youngest of Danae's brood, and they have certainly been a hand full.
So, I've been in and out of the nursery as well as in and out of the north wing. In fact, between the three of us "north wingers" the energizer room is getting quite the workout. Sometimes one of us has to bide our time in the bathroom taking a quick shower while waiting for the energizer to be freed up. It was during one of those times when grandpa Agenor decided he would scare Abbey, before she even had a chance to put her clothes back on again! What a dirty old man.
Of course, since we were all so busy we ended up having to hire outside help when the trash compactor in the nursery broke. Which was just fine with me, those trash compactors can be awful tricksy. In fact, it proved to be when the repairman ended up getting electrecuted.
That didn't stop Mama Danae from doing what needed to be done. Not much shocks her nowadays. She just paid the repairman and nudged him on out the door before having the trash compactor replaced. Then without missing a beat moved on to start teaching little Echo how to walk.
Of course, she couldn't be every where at once, so I usually would be called into the nursery to provide back-up. Papa Alec was usually out front chatting up the neighbors during the day, or stargazing through the telescope at night. He's a very outdoorsy man.
It wasn't long before Echo grew into a beautiful little girl. Little Harmonia, who had been our "last baby" as Mama Danae likes to call her, was now our "last toddler".
Papa Alec, who had finally managed to make more best friends then anyone in their right mind should have, was now available to care for the little one in the nursery. I think Harmonia was especially estatic about this. I believe she has a bit of a soft spot for her daddy.
This freed me up quite a bit. I was now done with my time in the north wing, having learned everything there is to know about everything, and was now ready to spend time in the south wing with my mother. On this occasion I had taken a break to cook supper when all of a sudden Grandma Cassidy appeared. She cried a bit about the fact that we had moved her urn from the kitchen to the mausoleum, then cheered about the fact that we still had her bed.
She then proceeded to scare the daylights out of me. I will never truly understand ghosts, I'm afraid.
Not long after that Papa Alec was stargazing one night...
When all of a sudden he began to get abducted by aliens! We all dashed outside to watch helplessly as he was sucked up into the mother ship.
Mama Danae, myself, Abbey, Kimberly, Echo and Harmonia (now a child) - the women in Papa Alec's life - all feared for the worst. It was truly a terrifying, if not slightly intriguing, in a scientific manner of course, time.
Mama Danae cooked the lot of us breakfast as we waited for Papa Alec to return. It was a rather tense time for us.
Papa Alec finally returned, looking no worse for the wear, just before the sun rose. We were relieved, life was going to return to normal, or so we thought.
Time passed and soon it was time for Mama Danae to age transition one last time. After a life involving the deaths of her parents, an abduction and more children that you can shake a stick at, Danae was ready to enter Elderhood gracefully.
With Mama Danae now an elder we were certain that there would be no more children born at Windling Gables. Harmonia's claims that she saw Papa Alec getting sick in the bathroom and that his tummy was starting to get bigger were ignored as mere childhood fancy. And Abbey, Kimberly and I especially wanted to put such things behind us. We were adults now for goodness sake.
Unfortunately Harmonia turned out to be more observant then the lot of us put together. The concequences of Papa Alec's abduction soon made themselves known. In the bathroom, of course.
Papa Alec gave birth to a... lovely... baby girl. He named her Andromeda. It looks like there is still "one last" baby in Windling Gables. Curse those aliens!
And, finally, Echo grew into a lovely teenager set on following her mother in having as many children as possible. Heaven save us.
Posted by Bitsy at 02:16 PM Comments
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