Morning all and welcome to November. This morning we actually had frost. Apparently the arrival of Thanksgiving clued everyone in that fall weather needed to arrive. It didn’t tip toe in but arrived with a bang and a mumbled apology for arriving late. I am actually wearing a sweater today and giving my short sleeved shirts a much needed rest. But while they are resting it is time to wake up the brain. So timers at the ready and off we go…
I always like the odd man out story but I think I’d need another fifteen minutes to really get a handle on this one. Still, my brain is now officially awake.
Wednesday, November 1st: The rustling of the bag was loud.
The rustling of the bag was loud. Several people turned in his direction but Kyle didn’t notice. He simply kept rummaging in his bag of chips. Sam knew what he was doing. Kyle was looking for the largest chips. He would eat all of the large ones and leave the broken and shredded bits in the bag. He would, when he was done, close the bag and secure a clip on them to keep them fresh. It was his way of getting what he wanted while still claiming that he did not in fact eat all of the chips.
In the few months that his mother had been married to Kyle’s dad, Sam had learned never to trust any open snacks. The fact that all of Kyle’s brothers behaved the same way was rapidly breaking Sam of any snacking. It simply wasn’t worth it.
‘Just a few more months,’ Sam reminded himself.
He ignored his stepbrother and tried to listen in to the conversation. These meetings were new to him. When he and his mother discussed family business it was generally over the dinner table. That changed with the marriage as so many things did. Sam suspected that it was in part due to the fact that trying to have a conversation when all five of Wally’s boys were present was almost impossible if there was food in front of them. As an only child in a single parent household, Sam had never seen people fight over the food platters in quite the same way as they did here.
It was truly the survival of the fittest.
Sam had no desire to compete and found himself increasingly finding ways to get food elsewhere or at least at times other than meal time.
“Kyle,” Wally said. Apparently he could no longer take the sound of rummaging. “Try to pay attention,” he continued when Kyle stopped the rummaging and looked up. Stephen took the break in his attention to grab the bag from his brother’s hands.
“Dude, there are no chips left,” Stephen said, forgetting that he too mined bags for the intact leaving only crumbs.
“Sure there are,” Kyle said.
“No there aren’t,” Stephen countered. He took the empty bowl in front of him, still stained with ice cream residue and poured out the few remaining crumbs. He smirked at his brother as Wally chastised Kyle for finishing the entire bag when it was meant for the house.
Whatever discussion was planned for the family broke up as Kyle punched Stephen in the arm for calling him out and Stephen retaliated with a headlock. Space was soon cleared and Sam headed for the stairs. After looking at the fight, his mother stood. She intercepted him before he hit the stairs and gestured towards the back porch.
Sam followed her as the three other boys egged on Stephen and Kyle and Wally tried to keep things from breaking.
“They certainly are a spirited bunch tonight,” his mother said. Sam nodded. He knew that his mother liked them as a whole. In general she was very happy with her marriage and increase in the family. She worried that Sam was not so happy, so he tried to hide it.
“I wanted to make certain you were okay with things,” She began. “I know you are slated to go to your grandfather’s for the summer, but are you really okay with missing the family vacation?”
Ten til Midnight 