Title: The Kendal Chronicles - Year 5

Chapter: One

Author: Cyn

Summary: Kendal's family is special.

Catergory: UA - Sequel to "From Bad To Worse"

Warning:

Disclaimer: Not real. Lies, I tell you. Complete and utter lies. ;)

Author's Notes: Constructive criticism always welcome. Flame on if you must, but I tend to be fire retardant. Besides, I don't offend easily and I usually just delete what I don't like anyway, so why waste time and energy.

And now, on with the story. . .

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I have a big family. I love my family. But, most people don't understand when I tell them about us. See, I have one mommy, and I have three daddies. But, that's not all. I have four grandfathers and two grandmothers.

Mommy and Daddy say it's because I'm special. But, some of the kids at school don't see it that way. Like this one boy, his name is Kevin. He's what Daddy Finn, DF, would call an asshole, but I'm not allowed to say that word, so I have to say he's a jerk. And, he is. He's a really big jerk.

Kevin told me that I wasn't special. He said that I was just a freak. I didn't like that, so I told him to take it back and he wouldn't. Then he pushed me and I pushed him back and that's how we both ended up in the office waiting for our parents so the principal could talk to them. And, I got in big, big trouble because Mommy and Daddy said that I'm never supposed to hit anyone no matter how mad I get.

But, I was really, really, really mad. And, I couldn't help it. Mommy didn't see it that way, though. And, Daddy tsk'd at me and told me that I should know better. And, I do, but it isn't fair that Kevin gets away with saying that.

DB let me sit on his lap and put my head on his shoulder while Mommy and Daddy explained it all to me - again. And, I listened, I really did. I said "yes, sir" and "no ma'am" in all the right places. And, I promised to try and not do it again. I promised to use my words instead of my fists.

And, then, after everything calmed down, and Daddy and DB went home, DF came into my room while I was coloring and sat down with me.

"Mind if I color, too?" DF asked. I smiled and handed him one of my favorite coloring books.

DF is fun to play with. He always smiles real big and spins me around in a circle when I jump into his arms and stuff. Mommy says that we have the same churity level. I don't know what that means, but it makes Daddy and DB laugh and DF makes funny faces behind Mommy when she says it and that makes me laugh, too.

"So, Buddy?" DF said as he opened the coloring book and started coloring a picture of one of the flying monkeys from "The Wizard of Oz". "You want to tell me about Kevin?"

"He's mean." I said. And, it's true. Kevin is mean and stupid and a jerk and a whole bunch of other things I'm not supposed to say.

"He says mean things to you?" DF asked. "Or, he does mean things to you?"

"He called me a freak." I said.

"Why did he call you that?"

"Because of the pictures we drew in class today."

"What kind of picture was it?"

"Miss Walker asked us to draw a picture of our whole family, so I did." I said very proud of myself. "Mommy and Daddy and DB and you were in it." DF smiled. "And, I drew Papaw and Nana. Papaw was wearing his work shirt and his favorite ball cap and Nana had on her scrubs from the hospital."

"That sounds really cool." DF said.

"It was." I said. "I also drew G.P. Hiram and G.P. Leon. They were holding hands like they always do. And, I drew Grandpa and Grandma. Grandpa was wearing his suit and I even drew earrings on Grandma. You know, the white ball ones that she likes to wear all the time?"

"I know the one's." DF said smiling.

"I was going to bring it home and show everyone, but Kevin took it." I sniffed, but I didn't want to cry. I'm a big boy and big boys aren't supposed to cry. "He asked why there were so many people in my family and I told him how we are special."

"We are." DF smiled.

"Kevin said that we weren't special." I said frowning. "He said I was a freak from a freaky family and then he ripped my picture." I sniffed again.

"That wasn't very nice, was it?" I shook my head.

I didn't want to cry, but when DF pulled me into his lap and hugged me, I couldn't help it. I was so mad that Kevin had ruined my picture. I wanted to show it to everyone and I wanted to put it on the fridgerdater and everything.

"It's okay." DF said as he rubbed my back. "Do you still have the picture?" I nodded into his shoulder. "I bet we can fix it." I pulled away to frown at him.

"How?" I sniffed.

"You get the picture and meet me in the kitchen, okay?" DF smiled and I smiled back.

DF was standing at the kitchen island when I walked in. He picked me up and sat me down on one of the barstools. I gently laid my ruined picture on the counter top.

"It's not so bad." DF said. "We can fix this." He flattened out the picture and rummaged through one of the drawers until he found the tape. "A little tape here and there and it'll be good as new."

And, it was. DF is like a magician or something. He got all the pieces lined up and taped them all together. And, it looked almost perfect.

-/-

The next night was Friday and the meant we went to Nana and Papaw's house for Family Dinner Night, so I took the picture with me. Everybody was there, even Grandma and Grandpa. They had just gotten back from someplace called "Your Rope". I don't know where that is, but they must sell rope because Grandpa said that Grandma tried to buy all of it. Grandma just rolled here eyes and told us to ignore him. I was really confused. I don't know why anyone would need all that rope.

"Hey, Kendal." DF said. "Don't you have something you want to show everyone?"

"Uh-huh." I said and went to get the picture out of the bag I brought my toys in.

"What's this, Kiddo?" Papaw asked when I laid the picture out on the coffee table.

"I drawed a picture at school yesterday." I told him.

"Drew a picture." Mommy said.

"Uh-huh." I nodded. Mommy does that all the time, even though I just said the same thing. "Miss Walker wanted us to draw our whole family, so I did."

I pointed out all the things that I had told DF about in my room the day before. Everyone liked it and that made me smile. They even had a discussion about where it should be put. Papaw wanted to put it on his fridge, but so did Daddy and DB, and Mommy and DF, and Grandpa and Grandma, and G.P. Hiram and G.P. Leon.

"Maybe," DF said, "Kendall could draw more of them for the rest of the family." I nodded. "Then everyone can have one."

"Yeah." I said. "I can."

That made everyone happy. And, I did draw them all pictures. They weren't all the same, I mean, how boring would that be, but I did it and they all smiled when I gave it to them. So, now I have a picture on everybody's fridgerdater. And, everybody's happy. Especially me.

The End.