Boys Will Be Boys
A Series of Vignettes about the Male Cousins of the Warbucks and Farrell Families
Chapter 1 Meeting Annie and Molly
Eli's reaction to finding out about Annie and Molly
Most of the Annie stories I have written largely focus on Annie's relationship with Molly and all of her female cousins. The male cousins are not explored very deeply so I figured I would go into depth with them a little more. The male cousins are Jacob Farrell (age 12 at the end of Holiday Memories, age 16 at the end of New Beginnings) , Christopher Farrell ( Age 7 at the end of Holiday Memories, Age 11 at the end of New Beginnings) , Eli Warbucks (Age 13 at the end of Holiday Memories age 17 at the end of New Beginnings), Patrick Warbucks ( Age 14 at the end of Holiday Memories, age 18 at the end of New Beginnings) and Jonathan Warbucks ( Age 9 at the end of Holiday Memories, age 13 at the end of New Beginnings) . Other characters created in subsequent stories were Larry Bennett (age 12 at the end of HM, age 15 at the end of NB), the son of Annie's birth father's brother, Harry Pugh (7 at the end of HM, 11 at the end of NB) Mrs. Pugh's grandson and Frederick Warbucks (5 at the end of HM, 8 at the end of NB) Oliver and Grace's twin son. These characters were created with Mandalcious for our collaborations Cousins and Holiday Memories. I own NO rights to characters from Annie.
Hi I'm El Warbucks. I just turned nine. I live in Queens with my mom dad and older sister who is two and a half years older than me. She just turned eleven in April. The other day the registry of deeds called my dad on the phone. He came back to the dinner table looking very excited.
"What's going on honey?" Mom asked
"I just got the greatest news! Remember how all these years I thought my older brother was dead?"
My mom nodded. "He isn't?"
"Far from it. He's a billionaire and he lives in Manhattan. He has a wife , two adopted daughters and a twin son and daughter who are about a year and half old."
Isabella smiled. "What great news Daddy! How old are our cousins?"
"They're around you age. Annie the older one is turning 14 in a few weeks on October 28th and Molly is a few years younger than you Bell. She's turning nine the week before Thanksgiving."
"When will we get to meet them?" I asked
"Are you two able to come with us on Friday to Uncle Oliver's and Aunt Grace's?"
"Yeah!" I said.
"I don't know. I might have a field hockey party to go to." Isabella looked sad.
Mom squeezed her hand. " Don't worry sweetheart. If you can't come with us we'll try to have Molly and Annie over here sometime soon."
"Sounds great Mom. We can't wait to meet them."
"Gene, are your sister and brother in law aware of this news?"
My dad shrugged. " I don't think so. I'll have to call Gloria and let her know. They should definitely come to New York soon to see Oliver again."
I smiled. " That would be great Dad. It seems like we're always going to Quincy to see them but they've never been up here to see us. It would be great if they could come to Uncle Oliver's"
Isabella nodded. "Yeah, we don't really get to see them too much. Hopefully now that Uncle Oliver is back in the picture we'll be able to see all our cousins more consistently."
Mom kissed Bella on the forehead. "I certainly can't wait to meet them. I'm sure you four will get along so well."
Saturday morning Dad went to pick up Bella up from her field hockey sleepover. We got into the jeep at 9:30 to go drive to Shelley's house.
"How was dinner at Uncle Oliver's and Aunt Grace's Dad?" I ended up going to the movies with my friends at the last minute and couldn't go.
My dad smiled widely. "It was so great to see your uncle again and catch up with him after all these years. How would you two like to go to the beach with Uncle Oliver Aunt Grace Annie and Molly this summer?"
I grinned "That would be great! Are we going to visit Aunt Gloria and Uncle Rich in Quincy?"
Dad shook his head. "No. Uncle Oliver wants to go on a day trip to the Hamptons. I'll definitely try to see if Aunt Gloria Uncle Rich Pat and Jon can stay up here that weekend. It would be nice if we could all go the beach together as a family."
In June it was Annie's 8th grade graduation. Uncle Oliver had a huge barbecue at the mansion. All of Annie's friends from the orphanage and friends from school were there as well as her cousins on Aunt Grace's side of the family and her the kids of Annie's birth father's brother Margaret and Larry.
"Hey Eli, come sit with us." Annie's cousin Jacob said. He was sitting at a table with Annie's cousin Chris and Larry Bennett.
"Okay. I followed him over to their table.
"So what grade are you in?" Jacob asked me once we all sat down.
"I swallowed a bite of hot dog. "I'll be in 4th grade in September. My sister will be in 5th grade. She's the same age as Molly. How old are you?"
Jacob smiled. "I'm 9. I'll be in 4th grade this year too. So will Larry. Chris is in 2nd grade so he's the youngest. My sister Katie is 12. She's a year and half younger than Annie so she'll be 13 in March and going into 8th grade."
"I can't believe how close to each other we all are in age." I said.
Jacob smiled. "Yeah I know. It's pretty great isn't it? How old are your cousins who live in Massachusetts?"
"The same age as me and Bella. I hope you'll get to meet them soon. They couldn't come to the party today."
"Who knows? Aunt Melissa Uncle Alex and Chris live in Cambridge. Maybe we can all go to Massachusetts and stay at their house and go to Quincy to go visit them and go to the beach."
"I'd have to talk to my dad about that but that would be really fun."
"Do you play sports?" I asked.
Jacob nodded. "Yeah. I play lacrosse and soccer and Larry runs cross country. Chris won't start playing sports until next year. How about you?"
"I don't play any sports right now but I think I might play basketball next year. I play saxophone in the band."
Larry smiled " I play the saxophone too. We should play together sometime."
"That would be so much fun."
I was so happy to be meeting my new cousins. I am looking forward to the memories I will have with them.