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Myles' Monday

After the kids left for school, Marnie found herself sitting across from Bennie, blithely eating breakfast. The twins had been fed, and had gone back downstairs. Who knew what they were up to, but at this point, Marnie was hungry, and didn't really care. The meal passed in a sort-of awkward silence. Bennie apparently had other things on his mind than her, and never even bothered to notice she was even sitting there. Annoyed, she got up and went to clean.

Bennie was worrying about the bills. Sure, the note had said they'd be paid this week, but could he really believe that? Hearing the mail man outside, Bennie finished his plate of omelet, and rushed out the door to check for the bills. To his relief, there it was. A "paid" notice. Good thing, too, because there was no way he could have paid the total due. Maybe with work and finding a profitable dumpster somewhere he could pay the bills next week, but clearly this house was not going to work. The bills were just too high, and he wasn't making enough money. Two weeks of not having to pay the bills, and there was still no way what was in the bank would actually pay next week's bills. He briefly wondered if he should mention this to Marnie, but forgot the thought as soon as it occurred. This was the man of the house's burden, not anyone else's.

When the kids got home from school, all three were in poor moods. It had been a rough monday at school, and all were extremely tense. To have some fun before even thinking about homework, the kids TV network was turned on (because for a change, Bennie wasn't on the couch monopolizing the TV.) and all three sat down to watch. Still bored, Phoenix regarded the cartoons as stuff for younger kids, and he decided to entertain himself by teasing his little sister. Myles, of course, didn't care. Despite the fact that he was the oldest, he was still perfectly happy with cartoons.

Before long, the twins showed up, as well, and all five kids sat around chatting and watching TV. Myles finally decided, however, to go work on his aspiration. His Mental skill was at 9, and getting very close to 10... and he really just wanted to get it done. He'd already gotten his last scout badge, and yesterday had been promoted to the top level of scouts. The only thing left was his aspiration.

By the time it was bedtime, he had finally gotten that last little bit of Mental skill. Things couldn't go any better for him, and he couldn't wait to brag about all this stuff to his friends on Thursday at the club meeting.

Upstairs, however, there was a casualty. Poor Marnie hadn't been really feeling like herself all day, and getting the very last bit of the cleaning done had been the last straw. Even walking around the corner to get to bed was way too much, and she just passed out right where she had stood. Hitting the floor eventually woke her up and she managed to wearily crawl into bed beside a snoring Bennie, but it was a close call between getting to bed and hitting the bedroom carpet, as well. Her last thought was wondering exactly why she was so darn tired lately.

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