How A Family Was Made

The tall white chapel stood tall against the blue sky, illuminated by plentiful sunshine. The little village bustled unearth. People entered shops, bought their groceries from markets, and were just going about their business along the cobblestoned roads. The wind billowed a British flag, proudly marking this place as a colony of Great Britain.

A little distance from the center of town was the small park, filled with vegetation and a perfect view of town from a bench. Behind one of the many shrubs, two blonde boys were talking and playing, enjoying the beautiful summer day. The one with the little cowlick laughed often, shouting and blabbering a mile a minute. The other blonde, with a small hair curl protruding from the top of his head and fell to the side of his face, was much more quiet, but still as lively as the other boy. Looking at these two boys from a distance, one would assume that they were just normal boys of the colony, brothers for sure. They probably lived in a small wooden house like the rest of the colonists, with a mother to take care of them and a father who works to provide for the family. Yes, that was the typical classification of a colonial child; however, these two boys deviated from the norm. Not by choice of course, but just by what they were.

They were human representations of the European claims on this virgin land: The colonies. The louder one (called America by most, but Alfred by his big brother) was the colonies of Great Britain. He was taken care of by England. The quiet boy on the other hand was both an English and French colonial claim, and spent time with both men on separate occasions. He even had two different human names; Mathieu is what France called him, and England called him Matthew (a slightly different pronunciation, because each country refuses to use each other's languages out of spite). Whether he was in the French colonies or the English, his official name was Canada.

Alfred and Mathieu were hanging out in one of England's colonies, and it had been one of the only times the boys had seen each other in a long time. They were so happy to be in each other's company; this was not only because they were brothers, but also because they never knew when they would be left alone next. Their guardians England and France would stay a long period of time with the boys, but would have to eventually have to return to their own countries for a bit. Alfred and Mathieu equally hated these times with a passion. Grumpy caretakers didn't like to play, or to explore, or to tell great stories. Or to love them.

There was no one to love them while England and France were gone.

Despite having to deal with these long spans of loneliness, the boys tried to keep their spirits up. However on this particular day, Alfred couldn't get a thought out of his mind.

"Hey, Mattie?" Alfred softly asked.

"What Alfred?" the other boy responded, a little confused by his brother's sudden calmness.

"Look at this." He grabbed his brother by the shoulders and spun him around to face the view of the town.

"What am I supposed to be looking at exactly?" Mathieu asked, his confusion increasing.

"Look at them all. Everyday I see them like this. Those kids there, they are walking with their parents," he pointed at a few groups of people and asked" don't you think it would be nice for us to have parents to walk with everyday too?"

"We have Arthur (England's human name) and I have Francis (which was France's human name). We aren't alone." Mathieu replied. He didn't like the sad look that darkened his brother's eyes. "We have people to take care of us."

"Yeah I know," Alfred admitted, "but they aren't together. It's always Arthur and me, or you are with us too. Sometimes you just stay with Francis, and we barely get to see each other for months."

"Well they can't help that, they have to work, they don't want to leave us here." Mathieu reminded him, although he saw that his brother had a legitimate reason to be upset. This bothered Mathieu from time to time too.

"I know that, but look at the other kids," he pointed again to the groups of families walking through the streets across the way. "They get to spend time together, as a family. We never get that, and we are almost the same as those kids. Don't you think we should have something like that too?"

Mathieu sighed. That would be quite lovely, he thought. Just to have some time together. He would be with his brother not only once a month, or once every couple of months but everyday. He'd always be in the same home, with the same familiar smells and sounds that are in his two separate homes. He'd hear the stories and jokes and laughs of three people, not just two or one. Also, there would be two adults who cared so very much about him and his brother, and cared for each other too. Only there was one problem…

"Yes, that would be nice, but you know Arthur and Francis hate each other," Mathieu sadly replied.

"But maybe they can learn not to?" Alfred offered, the tone of his voice indicated that he wasn't even sure that was possible. "Oh oh!" He suddenly shouted, "Or maybe we can think up a way that they'll have to spend time with each other. If we make it so that they have to be with us, maybe they could learn to get alone better. They always avoid each other, so maybe getting them together would be the answer!" Alfred grinned, his eyes glittering with excitement.

"Hmmm…you know that might work," Mathieu pondered, and then asked, "But how would we get them to spend time together with us? And for how long?" Mathieu was hoping that Alfred could think of something. He was good at making up plans, mostly schemes that he pulled so not to get into trouble with Arthur. Mathieu hoped his brother would be able to use his mischievous talent to think of something.

Alfred furrowed his brows in thought, dragging his hand across the soft grass.

"Hmmm…" he mumbled to himself. He then asked, "Is there any big event coming up?"

"Uhh… if you count our birthdays. Mine is just three days before yours." Mathieu replied.

Alfred jumped up and shouted, "MATTIE! THAT'S IT!"

"What is?" Mathieu whimpered, covering his throbbing ears brought on upon by Alfred's loudness.

"Our birthdays! We. Could. Have. An. Awesome. BIRTHDAY PARTY!"

Alfred started laughing, amused at his genius. Mathieu smiled and cried, "Oh yes that would be perfect! I know both of them would want to plan something special for our birthdays."

"AND we can tell them that for our birthdays we want to see each other," Alfred added.

"THEN we can say that we want both of them there with us, since they are our guardians!" Mathieu exclaimed, jumping up with excitement.

"YESSSS! THAT'S PERFECT!" Alfred cried. He grabbed Mathieu's shoulders and shook them, "DUDE!"

"Eugh Alfred, please don't shake me," Mathieu whined, but then remarked, "This is going to be so perfect!"

"And your birthday is a few weeks away; we should have it on yours so that we don't have to wait as long. Plus, it'll give us a bigger advantage of them saying yes since they both own you." Alfred stated.

"Good idea! And we can have it here or in one of Arthur's more northern colonies, so that way Papa won't have to go too far." Mathieu added.

"Alright then it's official then! I'll talk to Arthur, and you'll talk to Francis. We're gonna make this happen dude! Shake on it." Alfred proclaimed, and stuck his hand out to his brother. Mathieu enthusiastically grabbed and shook his brother's hand, responding,

"It's a deal alright!"

The two boys spent the rest of the day relaxing and discussing all the events that happened in their homes; however, the excitement of the birthday party never left their minds. They now had an image and a plan, and they were determined to make this party a reality.

Finally, they had an opportunity to have the family they've always wanted.