M.L.I.H
"Quatre!" She dropped her bag on the ground and threw her arms wide. "How's my favorite brother?"
"I'm your only brother..." he muttered.
His sister pulled him into a giant bear hug.
"Hey, don't kill him before we get here!" came a voice through the door. One by one bags were dropped in the hallway, and greetings exchanged. Shoes piled up on the mats, everything from stiletto sling backs and hiking boots to sandals and flip flops. The sisters milled around Quatre, talking excitedly, yelling, whispering.
"Quatre, you've grown soooo much!"
"Awww look at you!"
"Give me a hug!"
"Where's the washroom?"
"Don't you remember me, Quatre?"
"Quatre, honey, come help me with my bags, will ya?"
"You haven't changed a bit!"
"Do you have a girlfriend?"
"Where do you go to school?"
"Where can I sleep, Quatre?"
Too many. There was too many of them. Quatre held his head. The sisters spread out around the house, flopping down in the living room, going to the kitchen, unpacking in the bedrooms. Quatre was being pulled around, passed from one sister to another. As soon as he was finished showing one the bathroom, another needed help unpacking, and another wanted something to eat. Quatre was looking around wildly for a window to jump out of when the three oldest called lunchtime. " We made pasta," they announced. There was a mad rush for the table. CRASH! A glass fell off the table and smashed on the floor.
"You always were the clumsy one," commented one sister.
"It was an accident!"
"Hmmph, you're not going near my antique porcelain poodle collection," said one.
"Antique....poodles.....?"Quatre mouthed silently, looking upward for help.
"Sit down Quatre, and have some food. You're so skinny, I bet you haven't had a good home cooked meal in months!"
A chorus of assent followed. Quatre reluctantly sat down. His plate was immediately heaped with a pile of steaming pasta that looked like Mt. Everest, and a whole forest of salad. "Good pasta, huh?" asked a sister beside him, probably the 7th oldest.
"Oh....uhm, yeah, yeah it is," he answered, eyeing the plate.
"I'm so glad that we came," she beamed. Quatre managed a little smile.
"What are you saying to him?" demanded the 8th oldest. "I hope you're not talking about your job."
"Why would it matter if I were?" demanded the 7th.
"What...do you do?" Quatre whispered.
"What do I do? I'm a gynecologist," she answered.
"Oh."
The 8th was yelling, "He's eating, can't you tell!!!???"
"Don't try to tell me what I should say to my little brother! I bet he already knows all that anyway!"
"He couldn't!"
"How would you know????Right Quatre?"
Quatre had already fled the table.
_____*_____
Quatre flopped down on his bed. He gave a huge sigh. Tiredly, he reached over and felt around on his bedside table for a pencil. He grabbed one and rolled over on his side, facing the wall. Quatre surveyed the wall, and yawned. Slowly he reached out and drew 29 little stick figures on the wall beside the bed, with little triangles for skirts. Then he drew in a shaky plus sign and a little stick figure boy. Quatre thought for a moment and then added what looked like a his hair onto the little stick guy. He drew an equal sign and paused, listening to te clamor of voices downstairs. "Hmmm..." he mumbled. He leisurely sketched in a little stick man burning in a fire. His stick arms were waving around in the air and his mouth was open in a tiny scream. He gave his picture a satisfied nod, threw the pencil on the floor and curled up under the blanket, a pillow over his head.
_____*_____
"QUATRE!!!!" The door to Quatre's room burst open. Quatre jerked awake, eyes wide, and looked around.
"Wha-? Who? Where-? Huh???"
'Hellooooooo!" a younger sister yelled out a greeting, and flopped down on the bed beside him.
"H-hi..." Quatre rubbed his eyes, and stared bleakly at the 4th youngest. "Do you want something?"
"Naw, uh-uh nope! We're here to room with you!" the sister laughed gleefully and hugged Quatre.
"'We're'?" Quatre asked.
"Yeah! Me an' my twin are here 'cause all of the room s are taken. I hope you don't mind that we've brought some of our equipment."
"No...I..don't...min-"
"OK THEN!" the sister announced. "Bring the stuff up!" she called out.
Another sister appeared in the doorway, her arms full with a large computer. "Wait here Yakie."
The 4th youngest said.
Yakie. His nickname since he was small. Quatre had no idea why they called him that, since it sounded nothing like his real name. "Yaaaa-kieeeeeeee." came a yell from the hallway.
"What?"
"Can you help me for a sec please?"
Quatre got up and looked out into the hallway. The 4th and 5th youngest stood in the hall. They were surrounded by piles of electronic equipment. Bundles of wires were strewn around like wrestling snakes and printers and modems mingled freely with PCs and laptops. "We need help with all this," they told him.
"Uhm...." Quatre eyed the piles warily."I have to go for a sec, ok?"
He jumped over the equipment, ran down the hall and hid in the pantry. They can't put all THAT into my room, he thought. He sat around on a sack of potatoes and kicked cans of baked beans around until he was sure that his sisters were done. Slowly, he crept up the stairs, keeping to the shadows. He peeked into his room and gaped. 3 or so "terminals" of large PCs had been set up around the room, and a few laptops lazed around on any flat surface available. Printers made erratic buzzing sounds like bees on crack, and lights blinked at him from a huge CD player mounted in the corner and flanked by two equally enormous speakers. They loomed like two huge sentinels. He shuddered, thinking that the bass alone from one of them would probably burst his eardrums. "Oh, you're back." said the 4th youngest. "Why didn't you help us pack?"
"Because he was busy, "answered the 5th.
"Nu-uh, was not. He was lazy and didn't want to help us unpack."
"Ya-huh"
"Nu-UH!"
"Ya-HUH!"
"Where's my bed?" interjected Quatre. His sister paused. They scratched they're heads. They looked around...they shrugged. "Over there somewhere. One waved vaguely over to a pile of printouts. "I think that's where it was."
"Ooooh, Yakie, now you can have like a little nest of paper."
"Yeah!" they wrinkled they're noses and grinned elvishly at him.
"I don't want a nest. I want my bed."
"Sheesh, ok, ok."the 4th got up and swept all of the papers off the bed, exposing a large black box. "Can I move that?" he asked.
"No, no, don't touch it, its important."
"But where am I gonna sleep then?"
I'm sure u can curl up near the edge of the bed or something, Yakie."
"Thanks...."
_____*_____
Even though his house was full of sisters, Quatre still had all of his things to himself....
a lot of things.........
most things.....
some things...
A few things....
..alright,alright! he didn't have one goddamned thing to himself.
The clock said 2:37 AM... Quatre was dreaming...a nice dream...a sister-free dream...
The audience was cheering. "Encore, encore!!" Light was on him...he was dressed to the nines..violin ready...adoring audience rapt...he started to play one of his world famous solos...the audience chanted his name.. "Quatre! Quatre! Quatre!...Quatre!! Quatre! Wake UP!!!!"
Ah..huh?Wha-?"
WA-AAAIIIIKE U-UUUUP!"
Someone was squealing...
"Ugh..." he swatted at the person. "Get off my leg..." he mumbled.
"Quatre (*sniff sniff*) please wake up."
He yaaaaaaaawned. "Whut....?"
"Its horrible..." a sister, one of the youngest, maybe 2nd or 3rd, it was too dark to tell, was sitting on his bed, crying.
"What, is someone hurt?" he asked, sitting up?
"No...worse.."
"Did someone die,"
"No..(*sniff, sob*)"
"Then what?"
" I-I-I broke up with my boyfriend!"
"....." He had no answer to that.
" Its so unfair!!! (*sob*)"
"Uhm...can we talk about this in the morning...?"
"You don't love me! No one loves meeeee!"
"It's ok, I'm, ah, sure you'll-you'll, um, make up or something."
It was too damned early for this. There had to be a law against it. 'Quatre (*sniff*) are you sure?" Yeah, ok whatever, he was sure, just go away and let him sleep.
"Yeah, I'm sure."
"O....k...." His sister let out one last sniff and yawned. She took Quatre's pillow and plopped over onto his bed. Leaving Quatre with zero space. He sighed. What can you do? If he woke her up, a hissy fit would happen, and he didn't think he's calm personality could keep him from choking her to death in a fit of rage...no that wouldn't work. Slowly, he got up and detached a small pillow from the arms of one of his sisters on the floor. He also took a tiny little blankie. Down the stairs..past the tv room where a couple of sisters were watching the Late Late Late etc. Show.
No room in any of the spare bedrooms...one option left.
Quatre crept around until he got to the bathroom. The bathtub greeted him. He threw his pillow in and settled in it. "Ahhh...." he let out a sigh of relief. Yep, nothing beats a bathtub for a bed, for sure. He fell asleep listening to the tv..and dreamt of a concert where his sisters were in the front row, cheering for him...
Maybe life in hell wasn't so bad....