*The addition of this new character was an idea of my own, although I don't know if anyone else has done this sort of thing. Any resemblance this story and its characters have to anyone else's fan fiction is truly coincidental. So sue me. Oh yeah...and obviously the characters are derived from the Hey Arnold! show, in which all rights are reserved, not to me, but to them. I wouldn't have said this at all, but I notice everybody's got their little disclaimers as a heading to the story, so I figure that a 17-year-old with no money shouldn't get sued, right?
Another note: Anyone who read a previous story that I wrote (The Shadow in my Dreams)...this has NO connection whatsoever with that story. This is totally different...and hopefully better. But if it sucks big time, let me know! :)
Chapter 1: You have a sister?
To say it was a typical day in the Pataki household would be stale, but there is really no other way to put it. Once again, Miriam was slumped over the kitchen counter after an exhausting morning of sleeping through the alarm and forgetting to wake Bob so that he could go to the airport and help Olga with her things. And now, about an hour after the excited conversation between the loving couple had ended, I finally forced myself out of bed, rubbing my eyes in disgust. It was Saturday-the day in which I could sleep in, and once again my dearest paternal blowhard and maternal idiot jolted me awake.
I came downstairs to the smell of hot oil on the stove. Sometimes I swear I don't know what my parents would do without me. I turned off the flame beneath the empty pan and removed it from the eye. I glared at Miriam, who only slightly stirred once I had come downstairs. Remembering that my father would soon return with Olga, and not wanting to be around when Ms. Perfection showed up, I tried to slip out of the house, possibly to Phoebe's or something, before...
"Mom! Helga!" Shoot! Too late. "Mommy, Helga...oh, there you are, baby sister. And where are you going? Don't you want to give your big sister a hug?" Reluctantly, I walked up to Olga, and she embraced me. Ugh, she was so sickeningly sweet, I couldn't stand it. I wiggled out from her embrace, but not in time enough for her to grab my head again, this time nearly suffocating me.
"Um...Olga...I kinda can't breathe here," I hinted. Olga laughed in that annoying way that I hated.
"Oh...well, you're so funny, Helga. Where is Mom, anyway?" she said, although she pretty much knew that Miriam was in the kitchen. Apparently, Miriam had perked up enough to receive her eldest, her favorite.
"Olga, dear...ugh, you won't believe what happened this morning!" Miriam began, as she hugged Olga. This gave me my prime chance for escape, but instead, Olga took hold of my arm and led me to the table where her and Mom sat.
I attempted to protest. "Olga, if you don't mind, I was just about to..."
"Oh, what happened?" Olga continued on, completely ignoring my protest. I sighed, and as Miriam told her idiotic story about the alarm clock, her sleeping in, the conversation with Big Bob (which Olga found quite amusing) I glared from Olga to Miriam. The family resemblance was definitely there, in the three of us. Well, the blond hair part, anyway. Sometimes I wonder who I resemble more, my mother or my father. I really hope it's not my mother, because I don't want to spend the rest of my life with some huge, bulky lummox and a daughter like Olga, while I waste and wither away in an empty kitchen, waiting to catch Zs. That doesn't make Bob's case any better.
And as I stared at the striking resemblance of the contours of my mother's and sister's faces as they laughed, I thought about it more than I ever have or ever will again in my life. Was I really all that much like my father? Was he the only adult in which I could model my future? Or would I have to start myself from scratch? These kind of ideas I should have been able to discuss with Miriam, but she was never awake. Olga...yeah right, like I could ever discuss a thing like this with her. She would ramble on about how cute I was. I swear, everyone in this family still thinks I'm five. In the four times a year I saw her, she would fill up our time together with a bunch of 'I love you baby sister's. And Big Bob...
"Oh yeah, Mom, speaking of which, where is Daddy?" Olga's conversation somehow seeped into mine, and I perked my ears up. Yeah, where was Dad? He should have been entering the house at any minute, cussing up a storm about traffic, or the airport, or because he thought he had missed Olga.
I glared from the kitchen doorway as I heard someone fumbling with the doorknob. Great...I figured Dad was at the door. Excusing myself would give myself the time for the Great Escape out of my house and to Phoebe's for the rest of the weekend. "Mom, Olga, that's probably Dad now," I pointed out.
Olga, pure excitement welling up on her face, clasped her hands together. "Oh, it's Daddy! Here, Helga, let me get the door." I immediately pushed her back down in her seat. She glared at me dubiously as I explained.
"No, Olga, please...you just got off of a flight all the way from Alaska. Rest," I said. "I can get the door, and Bob'll see you soon enough," I reasoned with her. Olga nodded obediently as I slid out of the kitchen. "Sheesh, you'd think she hadn't seen this man in ten odd years," I mumbled under my breath as I walked to the door. Before I could reach it, the doorbell rang. "Yeah, yeah, I hear you loud and clear. Hold on a second, will you!" I said impatiently as I neared the door. I was totally not ready for what was about to happen.
I opened the door expecting to see Bob, but instead there was this...woman. I mean, I'm not the one to stare-often-but there was just something strangely familiar about her. Upon first sight, I remember her as being a fairly slender woman with broad shoulders, medium stature and shoulder length thick, light brown hair. She seemed relatively dark, and she had distinctive facial features. She was wearing a yellow sundress and yellow flip-flops, and she basically was a spectacle-at least she looked like one. And I noticed this all in one glance.
I immediately thought she was one of those door-to-door marketers, and I began to close the door. "Sorry sister, we don't want any, and whoever it is in need, we have to help ourselves first," I said coldly, and I was prepared to close the door until she spoke, and I heard...the voice.
"Whoa, get a load of this. Don't tell me Bob went and had another kid in the time I was gone. Has it been that long..." The striking familiarity I heard in her voice caused me to stop in my tracks, and reopen the door and reexamine exactly who this odd woman was. I opened the door just in time to see Big Bob out of the corner of my eye on the sidewalk...cussing up a storm, just as I had imagined, and with reason, too. The tow truck dropped off our car in our usual parking space...completely totaled.
By this time, Miriam and Olga probably wondered what was taking so long at the door, as I heard their footsteps behind me. The woman, who was still standing at the door, looked at me. "Well, Ponytails, would mind letting me in, or do I have to stand and wait for interrogation?" the woman was obviously being sarcastic. I looked at her quizzically.
"Exactly who are you?" I asked as Miriam appeared behind me. She answered my question for me.
"Oh my Heavens...Martha, is that you?" Mom said, as she squinted and adjusted her glasses.
"In the flesh," the woman, presumably now "Martha," answered. I was immediately crushed between the torsos of the two women as they exchanged a tight embrace. Choked almost twice within the same hour...that doesn't happen much. As they embraced, Bob showed up at the doorway.
"Aw, come on, Martha, we don't have time for all the mushy stuff. We have to get this thing settled now!" Bob was carrying in his hand papers...insurance, I guess.
Martha turned to Dad. "Bob, don't worry about it. I said I'd get your car fixed and pay the balance. I know this guy Mike, across town, s'real good with body and stuff, he can get me deal. No problem," she said nonchalantly. Naturally, I was very curious about the unfolding situation, and after being ignored on several occasions, I just stood back and listened to the chaos. It wasn't until Olga returned from the bathroom that my interest and curiosity were really aroused.
Olga turned into the hallway, and I saw on her the biggest smile I'd seen since...I don't know when. She then bolted into the hallway, and I instinctively moved out of the way. She nearly ran Martha over, if it weren't for the wall. "Oh my Gosh! Oh my Gosh!" she screamed consecutively 10 times. "Oh my...Aunt Martha, where have you been all my life?" Olga then backed away from her and laughed tears of joy streaming from her eyes. Me, I was now utterly confused.
"Aunt Martha?" I wondered out loud, enough for the grown-ups to actually pay a little bit of attention to me. They glared at me, as Olga dabbed her eyes.
Miriam finally returned to her senses. "Oh yeah, Mar, this is our youngest, Helga. She'll be eight..."
"Ten," I interrupted.
"Ten? Oh yeah, ten. She'll be ten this year...but Helga, that means you're nine now," Miriam said.
"Yes Miriam!" I confirmed.
This Aunt Martha person then looked at me, sort of bent to my level, and examined me. She then tilted my head up and to the side. "Oh yeah, this Helga, she's got definite Pataki semblance here," Martha astutely observed. I however, regarded as a specimen, was piqued, because this strange woman, now revealed as my aunt by ominous relation, was examining me like a piece of meat, and I still didn't really know who she was. I flung her hand off of me, and she didn't seem to be too surprised.
"Hold on a second!" I exclaimed. I got the family's attention again. Good. "Before we get into this whole 'family reunion' thing again, I have to know," I turned to Martha. "Who the heck are you and how are you related to me?" I asked, by this time very indignant.
Martha calmly stepped back and chuckled a little. "I see Ponytails packs the Pataki punch, huh?" she whispered to Bob, whose eyes widened at that revelation. "I'm sorry Helga. You see, I'm your aunt, Martha Pataki. I'm your father's kid sister, hun," she said, bending again to my level, I gesture I often hated. But I was too shocked to respond. All of these years, I had never really though of my parents family. Of course there was Miriam's side, but Big Bob? I wouldn't have even known the man had a mother unless I knew it was a biological fact. But, a sister? A "kid" sister. Big Bob has a sister?
"You have a sister?" I exclaimed, looking from face to face in the room, everyone laughing, me suddenly feeling like the butt of a cruel joke carried out too long.
*More chapters to come later, but I'm in school and they assume that writing and other means of livelihood are not necessary, and therefore I no longer have a life! So, let me know how you like it so far. Is it too predictable? Well, I know this first part was, fairly, but...I hope it gets better. Let me know!
Another note: Anyone who read a previous story that I wrote (The Shadow in my Dreams)...this has NO connection whatsoever with that story. This is totally different...and hopefully better. But if it sucks big time, let me know! :)
Chapter 1: You have a sister?
To say it was a typical day in the Pataki household would be stale, but there is really no other way to put it. Once again, Miriam was slumped over the kitchen counter after an exhausting morning of sleeping through the alarm and forgetting to wake Bob so that he could go to the airport and help Olga with her things. And now, about an hour after the excited conversation between the loving couple had ended, I finally forced myself out of bed, rubbing my eyes in disgust. It was Saturday-the day in which I could sleep in, and once again my dearest paternal blowhard and maternal idiot jolted me awake.
I came downstairs to the smell of hot oil on the stove. Sometimes I swear I don't know what my parents would do without me. I turned off the flame beneath the empty pan and removed it from the eye. I glared at Miriam, who only slightly stirred once I had come downstairs. Remembering that my father would soon return with Olga, and not wanting to be around when Ms. Perfection showed up, I tried to slip out of the house, possibly to Phoebe's or something, before...
"Mom! Helga!" Shoot! Too late. "Mommy, Helga...oh, there you are, baby sister. And where are you going? Don't you want to give your big sister a hug?" Reluctantly, I walked up to Olga, and she embraced me. Ugh, she was so sickeningly sweet, I couldn't stand it. I wiggled out from her embrace, but not in time enough for her to grab my head again, this time nearly suffocating me.
"Um...Olga...I kinda can't breathe here," I hinted. Olga laughed in that annoying way that I hated.
"Oh...well, you're so funny, Helga. Where is Mom, anyway?" she said, although she pretty much knew that Miriam was in the kitchen. Apparently, Miriam had perked up enough to receive her eldest, her favorite.
"Olga, dear...ugh, you won't believe what happened this morning!" Miriam began, as she hugged Olga. This gave me my prime chance for escape, but instead, Olga took hold of my arm and led me to the table where her and Mom sat.
I attempted to protest. "Olga, if you don't mind, I was just about to..."
"Oh, what happened?" Olga continued on, completely ignoring my protest. I sighed, and as Miriam told her idiotic story about the alarm clock, her sleeping in, the conversation with Big Bob (which Olga found quite amusing) I glared from Olga to Miriam. The family resemblance was definitely there, in the three of us. Well, the blond hair part, anyway. Sometimes I wonder who I resemble more, my mother or my father. I really hope it's not my mother, because I don't want to spend the rest of my life with some huge, bulky lummox and a daughter like Olga, while I waste and wither away in an empty kitchen, waiting to catch Zs. That doesn't make Bob's case any better.
And as I stared at the striking resemblance of the contours of my mother's and sister's faces as they laughed, I thought about it more than I ever have or ever will again in my life. Was I really all that much like my father? Was he the only adult in which I could model my future? Or would I have to start myself from scratch? These kind of ideas I should have been able to discuss with Miriam, but she was never awake. Olga...yeah right, like I could ever discuss a thing like this with her. She would ramble on about how cute I was. I swear, everyone in this family still thinks I'm five. In the four times a year I saw her, she would fill up our time together with a bunch of 'I love you baby sister's. And Big Bob...
"Oh yeah, Mom, speaking of which, where is Daddy?" Olga's conversation somehow seeped into mine, and I perked my ears up. Yeah, where was Dad? He should have been entering the house at any minute, cussing up a storm about traffic, or the airport, or because he thought he had missed Olga.
I glared from the kitchen doorway as I heard someone fumbling with the doorknob. Great...I figured Dad was at the door. Excusing myself would give myself the time for the Great Escape out of my house and to Phoebe's for the rest of the weekend. "Mom, Olga, that's probably Dad now," I pointed out.
Olga, pure excitement welling up on her face, clasped her hands together. "Oh, it's Daddy! Here, Helga, let me get the door." I immediately pushed her back down in her seat. She glared at me dubiously as I explained.
"No, Olga, please...you just got off of a flight all the way from Alaska. Rest," I said. "I can get the door, and Bob'll see you soon enough," I reasoned with her. Olga nodded obediently as I slid out of the kitchen. "Sheesh, you'd think she hadn't seen this man in ten odd years," I mumbled under my breath as I walked to the door. Before I could reach it, the doorbell rang. "Yeah, yeah, I hear you loud and clear. Hold on a second, will you!" I said impatiently as I neared the door. I was totally not ready for what was about to happen.
I opened the door expecting to see Bob, but instead there was this...woman. I mean, I'm not the one to stare-often-but there was just something strangely familiar about her. Upon first sight, I remember her as being a fairly slender woman with broad shoulders, medium stature and shoulder length thick, light brown hair. She seemed relatively dark, and she had distinctive facial features. She was wearing a yellow sundress and yellow flip-flops, and she basically was a spectacle-at least she looked like one. And I noticed this all in one glance.
I immediately thought she was one of those door-to-door marketers, and I began to close the door. "Sorry sister, we don't want any, and whoever it is in need, we have to help ourselves first," I said coldly, and I was prepared to close the door until she spoke, and I heard...the voice.
"Whoa, get a load of this. Don't tell me Bob went and had another kid in the time I was gone. Has it been that long..." The striking familiarity I heard in her voice caused me to stop in my tracks, and reopen the door and reexamine exactly who this odd woman was. I opened the door just in time to see Big Bob out of the corner of my eye on the sidewalk...cussing up a storm, just as I had imagined, and with reason, too. The tow truck dropped off our car in our usual parking space...completely totaled.
By this time, Miriam and Olga probably wondered what was taking so long at the door, as I heard their footsteps behind me. The woman, who was still standing at the door, looked at me. "Well, Ponytails, would mind letting me in, or do I have to stand and wait for interrogation?" the woman was obviously being sarcastic. I looked at her quizzically.
"Exactly who are you?" I asked as Miriam appeared behind me. She answered my question for me.
"Oh my Heavens...Martha, is that you?" Mom said, as she squinted and adjusted her glasses.
"In the flesh," the woman, presumably now "Martha," answered. I was immediately crushed between the torsos of the two women as they exchanged a tight embrace. Choked almost twice within the same hour...that doesn't happen much. As they embraced, Bob showed up at the doorway.
"Aw, come on, Martha, we don't have time for all the mushy stuff. We have to get this thing settled now!" Bob was carrying in his hand papers...insurance, I guess.
Martha turned to Dad. "Bob, don't worry about it. I said I'd get your car fixed and pay the balance. I know this guy Mike, across town, s'real good with body and stuff, he can get me deal. No problem," she said nonchalantly. Naturally, I was very curious about the unfolding situation, and after being ignored on several occasions, I just stood back and listened to the chaos. It wasn't until Olga returned from the bathroom that my interest and curiosity were really aroused.
Olga turned into the hallway, and I saw on her the biggest smile I'd seen since...I don't know when. She then bolted into the hallway, and I instinctively moved out of the way. She nearly ran Martha over, if it weren't for the wall. "Oh my Gosh! Oh my Gosh!" she screamed consecutively 10 times. "Oh my...Aunt Martha, where have you been all my life?" Olga then backed away from her and laughed tears of joy streaming from her eyes. Me, I was now utterly confused.
"Aunt Martha?" I wondered out loud, enough for the grown-ups to actually pay a little bit of attention to me. They glared at me, as Olga dabbed her eyes.
Miriam finally returned to her senses. "Oh yeah, Mar, this is our youngest, Helga. She'll be eight..."
"Ten," I interrupted.
"Ten? Oh yeah, ten. She'll be ten this year...but Helga, that means you're nine now," Miriam said.
"Yes Miriam!" I confirmed.
This Aunt Martha person then looked at me, sort of bent to my level, and examined me. She then tilted my head up and to the side. "Oh yeah, this Helga, she's got definite Pataki semblance here," Martha astutely observed. I however, regarded as a specimen, was piqued, because this strange woman, now revealed as my aunt by ominous relation, was examining me like a piece of meat, and I still didn't really know who she was. I flung her hand off of me, and she didn't seem to be too surprised.
"Hold on a second!" I exclaimed. I got the family's attention again. Good. "Before we get into this whole 'family reunion' thing again, I have to know," I turned to Martha. "Who the heck are you and how are you related to me?" I asked, by this time very indignant.
Martha calmly stepped back and chuckled a little. "I see Ponytails packs the Pataki punch, huh?" she whispered to Bob, whose eyes widened at that revelation. "I'm sorry Helga. You see, I'm your aunt, Martha Pataki. I'm your father's kid sister, hun," she said, bending again to my level, I gesture I often hated. But I was too shocked to respond. All of these years, I had never really though of my parents family. Of course there was Miriam's side, but Big Bob? I wouldn't have even known the man had a mother unless I knew it was a biological fact. But, a sister? A "kid" sister. Big Bob has a sister?
"You have a sister?" I exclaimed, looking from face to face in the room, everyone laughing, me suddenly feeling like the butt of a cruel joke carried out too long.
*More chapters to come later, but I'm in school and they assume that writing and other means of livelihood are not necessary, and therefore I no longer have a life! So, let me know how you like it so far. Is it too predictable? Well, I know this first part was, fairly, but...I hope it gets better. Let me know!