"It's SO beautiful here," squealed seven year old Wanda Rogers as she skipped out of her brand new house and onto the grassy front lawn.
Local meteorologists reported the temperature had reached a scolding one hundred and two degrees today making it one of the warmest days Queens had seen all summer. Naturally, this would also be the day that the Rogers decided to move into their new home.
Wanda laid herself out on the lawn, her small arms resting behind her head to make some sort of head rest and watched as the clouds floated in front of her eyes. She took particular notice of a cloud that looked like an octopus with a wide fluffy center and stringy ends. Wanda had a vast imagination. She saw everything in a different perspective than others and the seven year old could typically turn any situation into a pleasant one. This constant curiosity is most likely why she had taken a break from helping her mother unpack to soak in the beauty of her new home.
"Wanda!" a boy's voice called from behind her. The little auburn haired girl shot up to see her older brother Steve standing behind her dripping in sweat after having moved boxes into the house all day.
"Steve! I saw an octopus in the clouds! His name is Ollie and he.." Wanda began to ramble.
"You can tell me all about Ollie later, Wan. Mom really needs some help putting the kitchen together before Dad gets home," Steve said as he balanced a box labeled 'Wanda's Room' in his hands.
"After the kitchen is done though you will help me hang the fairy lights in my room," Wanda slyly bribed her brother.
Steve let out a small laugh, causing Wanda to smile from ear to ear. Anytime she could make her brother laugh was a success. "Sure, but you better get started on helping Mom put the dishes away", he agreed.
Wanda immediately took off running towards inside the house and Steve followed closely behind. Steve's friends back in Connecticut always found it odd that he was such a pushover for his younger sister. Many of them had younger siblings who they treated poorly and teased to no end. Steve and Wanda did get into the occasional fight, which is expected to happen when an seven year old is invading the privacy of a sixteen year old. Other than those few fights, the Roger's siblings got along without a hitch.
"Is that the last box," Sarah Rogers asked upon her children's re-entry into the house.
"Yup," Steve called out from Wanda's room upstairs.
"Steve said he would help me with my new lights in my room, Mama," Wanda announced as she reached on her tiptoes to begin putting plastic cups into the cupboard.
"We can't spend the rest of the day organizing your room because you have school tomorrow," Sarah answered her daughter without looking away from the box she was unpacking.
Steve saw his sister's face droop to a rare frown as their mother ignored her usually contagious excitement. "If we work together I am sure we could get it done before dinner," he reassured his little sister.
Wanda immediately smiled again and waited for Steve to explain more about how they would set up her new room. "Yeah. We will finish helping mom with the kitchen then she can go take a break and you and I will start decorating your room," he finished taking the plates out his mother's hands.
Sarah Rogers smiled as her son began to put away the last of the dishes. She had been so caught up in this move and making sure that everything was perfect upon her husband's arrival home that she had forgotten about the excitement her children had about living in a new place.
"I'm sorry I wasn't listening carefully, ladybug" Sarah said as she cupped Wanda's face with both hands.
"It's okay, Mama. We will help you finish the kitchen so you can read one of your magazines before Daddy gets home," Wanda answered with that contagious smile plastered back on her face.
"Dang you kids know me way to well," Sarah laughed as she placed a kiss on Wanda's forehead.
The three of them spent the next hour putting away everything from the labeled kitchen boxes and then an extra fifteen minutes convincing Wanda that she could not keep the extra boxes to build a fort. Once Sarah retired into her room, Steve challenged Wanda to a race up the stairs to her room. Wanda, of course, won after she "blasted him with a super-slow invisible beam" that caused Steve to act like an one hundred year old turtle to humor his sister.
"I think I want the lights around my bed so it looks like a rainbow of stars at night," Wanda said as she sat across from where Steve stood untangling the long strand of lights.
Wanda had one of the best rooms in the house with large window looking out towards the street, which was her only requirement in a room. She said that she liked to look out the window and see people rather than just trees. Additionally, the room had built in shelves on one wall which is where Wanda could display most of her beloved treasures. She was currently working on unpacking her books and neatly lining them up against one shelve.
"Like this," Steve asked after untangling the knots and holding the lights up in a U shape around Wanda's bed.
"Yes!" Wanda said shooting up with a great big smile. Steve laughed at her excitement before turning back to the job she had entrusted him with. Out of the corner of his eyes he spotted Wanda stop her work near the shelves and walk over to the window.
"Do you think Daddy will be happier here than where our old house was," she asked.
At first, Steve was taken by surprise by his sister's sudden curiosity in their father's happiness. The surprise only lasted for a moment as he quickly remembered the amount of stress their parents had been under prior to the move. They spent a lot of time fighting over how much Joseph traveled to New York City during the week. He had been trying to work his way up to the top of his law firm and traveling was one of the only ways he could eventually make partner. While Joseph's intentions were good, his absence took a toll on the Rogers. He was never at any of Steve's football games and when it came time for Wanda's spring musical, the seat they had saved for their father was empty all night. Eventually, Sarah put her foot down and announced that they would pack up their Connecticut home and move to Queens so that Joseph could be home to spend time with their children. Joseph was grateful for his wife's willingness to move their family and upon the announcement took all of them to dinner. Steve and Wanda hadn't seen him this happy in months. Sarah would never admit that leaving behind the only home she knew would be quite difficult because she would do anything to benefit her family.
"I think he will be", Steve simply answered as he put down the strand of lights he had in his hands.
"Are you excited about living here," he asked. Wanda looked away from the window towards her brother who now sat on his knees next to her.
"Yeah", she said with a smile on her face. "We can go to the city more now that we are closer."
Steve laughed knowing exactly what his sister was thinking about doing now that the distance from them and Manhattan had lessened. He could only imagine how many times she would be asking to go to Dylan's Candy Bar and The American Girl Doll store. He would most likely take her everytime she asked though.
"And I think there are kids in this neighborhood," she stated pointing towards the house across the street.
Steve looked in that direction and saw two boys sitting in a bedroom building an intricate Lego set. The window was wide open due to the unbearable heat. The two looked a few years older than Wanda, probably in middle school. Though they were definitely older he knew this wouldn't stop his little sister from being overly friendly. As Wanda went back to her task, Steve looked out the window towards the houses on their block hoping this next chapter would be exactly what his family needed.
xxx
"This has got to be one of the most complicated sets we've ever taken on," Ned Leeds sighed as he placed Lego pieces down on the table and wiped sweat from his forehead.
He glanced over at his best friend, Peter Parker, who was examining the instruction manual for the Star Wars Death Star. They had been working on the set nearly all summer, but every time they thought progress was being made another obstacle sprung up.
"Well, we've built one side," Peter stated. "That's an accomplishment in itself right?"
Ned nodded in agreement. "So it's going to take another three months for us to built the other side and then we are never going to touch it again," he joked.
"If you two nerds continue to just stare at the directions every day that's exactly what will happen," a female voice announced by the entrance of Peter's room.
Both boys looked in the direction the voice came from to find Peter's older sister, Natasha, standing in the doorway. Her red hair was pulled in a messy bun and she was dressed in a loose tank top and quarter length leggings as if she had just come from rehearsal at her dance studio.
"This is a big accomplishment, Tasha," Peter defended himself and his best friend. While he knew his older sister was only joking around, defending his hobby was a natural instinct. Ned and himself were seen as the classic nerds who were constantly being picked on at their middle school. While they had made a few friends, or rather allys, both boys assumed this next year would be no different than their first.
"Just a tip for you. I would separate all of the pieces you have left over and quit guessing what goes where," Natasha suggested as she leaned away from the doorway and began to walk away.
Turning her back on the room, Natasha listened as Peter and Ned began to search the pieces they had in front of them. "I hate when your sister is right," Ned announced.
"Me freakin too," Peter responded through a laugh which caused Natasha to also laugh at her brother's admittance of her useful knowledge. It was very rare that Peter actually admitted that Natasha was right about something he was interested in, so when he did it felt like a big sister win for Natasha.
Just as she turned away from Peter's door, Natasha heard a small yelp and a crash come from downstairs. "May," Natasha called out as she walked towards the stairs.
"Everything is fine down here," May called out in response. Natasha continued to descend the stairs and heard May mumble curse words under her breath.
May Parker was always a vision of beauty and grace, something that Natasha inspired to be like as a young girl. Due to her calm and collected persona, she rarely got upset and cursing only happened when a project she was working on went wrong.
Upon entering the kitchen, Natasha could immediately tell that this project had gone horribly wrong. The oven was spewing out smoke, a tray of burnt cookies laid haphazardly in the sink, and a serving platter was in pieces on the ground.
"What happened," Natasha said while letting out a small laugh at the disheveled look on May's face.
"I was just trying to be neighborly," May signed as she swiped her messy hair out of her face.
"Neighborly?" Natasha questioned.
"Yeah, we got new neighbors across the street and I saw a little girl running around the yard so I figured cookies! You loved my cookies after school when you were younger," May explained.
As May went on her tangent, Natasha walked over to the window to see a moving van outside of the home across the street. Since she was little she always remembered that home being occupied by someone for only three or four months or completely empty. The people that did move into were usually an older couple or a bunch of college roommates, which explained why they never stuck around to become truly apart of the neighborhood. But this looked like a family and from all the collapsed boxes lay on the side of the road, it did not look like they were going anywhere.
"Do you want to come help me bake a fresh batch," May called out getting Natasha's attention again.
Returning to the kitchen Natasha wasn't surprised to see everything miracuously cleaned to near perfection. May always had that magical skills of making disasters look as if they never happened. It was a skill she most likely picked up on which being Nick Fury's assistant.
"Are you excited to start school tomorrow?" May asked as she took a new cookie sheet out and Natasha began to roll the salvaged pieces of cookie dough.
"Yeah. I mean it's just another year. The next year will be the biggest," she shrugged in response.
"Every year counts zvesda moya*", May commented softly.
Natasha smiled as the Russian saying she had grown up with left May's mouth. When she had first been brought to May by Nick, she knew no English. As a very smart five year old, Natasha assumed this could be used as a tool against the strange woman who had taken her from everything she knew. But May being perfect May learned Russian very quickly in order to make a connection with Natasha early on and the use of her mother tongue made young Natasha comfortable in her new home.
"Oh! All of this school talk reminds me," May suddenly exclaimed as she turned away from their baking and reached for an envelope off the counter. Natasha knew what it was before it was even in her possession.
"From Nick", May said with a smile as she passed it over to the teenage girl.
Natasha couldn't help the smile that spread across her face as she tore into the envelope. Nick sent her a lot of letters from wherever he was in the world, but the ones that came right before school started were the most special. Every year, Nick sent a small pin Natasha could put on her backpack. He said there was absolutely no meaning behind them, just something for his favorite "little straggler" that he picked up on one of his missions. For Natasha though, her school year couldn't start until she had it. It reminded her that she had another person in her corner who was constantly supporting her. It reminded her to defy the odds that were often against her.
"What is it this year," May asked innocently.
Natasha looked over at her with the brightest smile on her face as she showed May the small enamel cherry blossom pin. May whispered something about it being beautiful and a great addition to her collection. Natasha nodded as she gently rolled the pin around in her hand.
"Every year matters", she whispered to herself.