I stood in front of the audience and turned toward them, hardly able to contain my excitement about the news I was about to share. On New Year's, we told Al, Ilene, Heidi, Wilson and Marie that it was a girl. Now, Jill had given me permission to tell the viewers that we knew what the baby would be. In a few months, I'd get to show her off on stage and be that "proud dad". Until then, I'd talk about her until she arrived around the end of May.

"Before we leave, I want to talk about a personal matter. My wife and I went to the obstetrician last week and we have some great news. In a few months, I get to be a daddy to a little girl!" I announced.

Al smiled and nodded. "In a few months, we'll have a salute to her and she may or may not be on stage with Tim after she's born."

"Thank you everybody and good night," I told as I walked off stage.

Al smiled at me. "So you and Jill finally get to have a little girl."

I nodded with a smile. "I'm Tim, "Daddy" Taylor."

…

I walked in after getting dumped in a snowbank. This was pretty much the worst day of 1994 so far (at least to me). When I raced Vinnie McGurn (a goodbye wish of his), he and Paul (his brother) won against me. As a celebration, they stuck me in the snowbank. I wanted to get revenge so bad.

"You're wet," Brad commented.

"Good work, Sherlock," I snapped and put the sled down.

I was in no mood for Brad's comments today since Vinnie had already made it bad enough (thankfully no physical injury). What I wanted was to go find Vinnie and start swinging to get him to leave me alone.

"What happened?" Dad asked as he cleaned the windshield of the hot rod.

"Paul and Vinnie McGurn stuck me upside down into a snowbank," I answered as Dad kept cleaning the windshield.

Everyone in the family understood how bad the McGurn boys were and their parents weren't much better. Their dad was tougher than ours, but Dad hardly ever fought him at all, only if one of us was threatened. Dad didn't believe in using fists unless it was for self-defense.

"I thought we told you to stay away from the McGurns, They're ugly, stupid and big, a lethal combination."

"I had no choice. Vinnie challenged me to a sled race."

"You beat the guy and he dumped you in the snowbank? That's typical of them."

"No, they beat me and this was part of their victory celebration." I chucked my wet gloves and hat in the dryer angrily.

"I hate those guys," Brad commented.

"This time, I'm gonna get even with them," I took my coat off and put it with my hat and mittens.

Mom wouldn't have approved of that comment, but personally, I didn't care right now since I was angry. Since she was pregnant, I had decided not to burden her with this but I knew Dad would tell her. I wanted to be alone or to punch Vinnie in his ugly face.

"I hate those guys!" Brad yelled.

"We know, Brad," Dad groaned and looked at me.

"I'm going up to him and I'll start swinging!" I knew that was a long shot since he was bigger than me.

"Don't try to fight Vinnie, he'd cream you," Brad played with his saxophone.

"Brad's right, listen to him," Dad looked at me.

"Get someone else to beat up Vinnie. There's a boy in my class named Troy who'll punch even himself in the face for a quarter."

Dad fake laughed and then looked at us. "I've always told you guys. Fists don't accomplish anything. You need to get Vinnie back at his own game."

If there was one thing our family was good at, it was getting people back with their own game, mostly revenge. It wasn't mean-spirited revenge, but we knew ways to get them back, thanks to Dad and Mom who pulled pranks as a kid. Mom denies it, but I know that it's true. Soon, we'd teach the baby the ways of the world.

"What are you talking about?"

"Challenge him to another race," Dad told as he leaned on the dryer.

"Dad, there's no way I'll beat him. He's got that new bullet-nose down-hill sled."

"You've got the Tool Man. I think we can speed this old sled up. It's light and classic. Maybe put a spoiler on. We can take the burrs off the runners and sand it down. This'll be smoother than butter on a baby's butt." Dad admired the sled and grunted as I copied him.

I looked at my sled as Brad said, "I hate those guys."

Dad and I put our hands up and shook our heads. "Let it go, will ya?"

…..

I walked down, starting to feel some pain in my abdomen again, knowing that it was our delightful baby girl. Ignoring the pain, I walked over to Mark, feeling the baby kick again and I smiled softly. Hannah was starting to be able to control her kicks, so I figured she might be an active baby. They weren't as bad as the boys', but she still let me know of her presence.

Since I had to take Brad to his saxophone lessons, I decided to take Mark to get a haircut since his hair was getting long. The barber was right next to the lessons, so I figured why not get it out of the way. Plus, it'd get me out of having to hear Brad play the saxophone. While I never told Brad that, I felt guilty about doing that, but he was not very good.

I caught my breath and rubbed my stomach. "Are you making Mommy feel out of breath? That's okay, honey."

The movements slowed down and eventually slowed down, so I knew she had gone back to sleep temporarily. Hopefully, she'd stay asleep while I was at the barber with Mark.

"Mark, get your shoes on. It's time for you to get a haircut," I had his coat on my arm and didn't dare bend down for stuff.

"Mom, I don't need a haircut," Mark walked over as I held out his coat and he put it on, looking at me.

"Oh, please, I could turn you upside down and use you as a mop for the floor. The saxophone teacher is right next to the barber so I can take you in while he has his lesson." I put his hat on him.

I walked away and felt my eyes blur a little, but it wasn't anything terrible. It went away and I felt my muscles cramp up a little. Soon, I'd need a trip to the spa and I knew who exactly to take with me: Marie and Ilene. Since we were having a girl's day soon anyways, it worked out perfect.

"You just wanna get out of hearing Brad play," Mark followed and yanked his hat off.

"I never said that and if he hears that, I never said it." I walked over to the door.

Brad came down and didn't have his saxophone with him. Did he forget it or just not want to take a lesson today? While I knew he loved it, I knew he was getting discouraged because he didn't think he was any good. It was only three weeks, but I didn't say anything since I didn't want to hurt his feelings.

"Brad, you have a lesson in twenty minutes. Where's your saxophone?" I asked.

"Mom, why do I have to keep taking these stupid lessons?" Brad asked as he walked away from me and reminded me of myself at his age.

I had the flute that I started taking around his age. Instead of being with friends, my parents made me practice for three hours a day for five years. I hated it so much, but I now know how to play the flute if I needed to in any situation. Still, I knew he didn't like these lessons.

"Brad, sit down," I told him and he did.

"Is this gonna be another one of your "When I was a little girl" stories?" Brad asked and I looked offended.

I shook my head. "No, just listen. When I was a little person about your age, I had to take the flute for five years, but I'm really glad I stuck to it."

"Why? It's not like you ever play the flute now."

"No, but I take great joy in knowing that I could if I wanted to. If you get really good, we could have mother-son jam sessions."

"There's a dream come true," Brad laughed.

I went upstairs to go fetch Mark so that Brad, Mark and I could leave for Brad's lesson and for Mark's haircut. That left Randy and Tim home alone, but it wasn't a problem since the two enjoyed each other's company.

….

"Hey Randy," Dad hung up his coat and I looked up at him.

It was only Dad and me, but I knew I couldn't hide that I had hurt my wrist from him. Even though Mom saw those things quickly, Dad did too and he knew when I was in pain (sometimes a good thing other times a bad thing). While I liked that, I still didn't want to go to the hospital. That could mean a cast or something worse and no sledding for me by Saturday.

"Hey, Dad," I winced, with my wrist in pain.

"What's the matter?" Dad asked as he hung up his coat and walked over to me.

"I had a little run-in with the tree."

"Did your mom see this?"

I shook my head again. "No."

"Can you do this?" Dad moved his hand forward and backward.

I did it with my non-injured hand and made a fish face. "Yeah, can you do this?"

"Let me take a look at it," Dad looked at my hand. "I'm gonna take you to the emergency room, write a note to Mom, get you an X-Ray."

"Dad, I don't need to go to the emergency room."

"That's what I usually tell Al," Dad laughed.

"How does he get you to go?"

Dad laughed. "I dunno, I'm usually passed out by then."

…

I walked in with Dad to the emergency room, feeling like a baby that Dad had to come with me. While I felt like a baby, I still wanted his support and to make bad things go away. It was so conflicting!

"They're gonna take real good care of you here," Dad promised.

"Is the emergency room you come to all the time?" I asked.

"Mr. Taylor. And you came here under your own power," The head nurse smiled as I looked up at him.

"It's not me, Marge, it's my little son, Randy," Dad put his hand on my back and I looked at her curiously.

"Well, how cute! Like father, like son! How's doing, Randy?"

Dad held up my wrist gently so that he didn't hurt it. "He slid off his sled and hurt his wrist."

"We'll take care of that. You know the drill."

Dad and I sat down as I thought about what might happen to my wrist. It could just be a sprain or it could be broken so bad that I need a cast. It'd get me out of school, but it'd mean I'd have to forfeit the sledding race and I was not about to do that. In Vinnie's eyes, that'd make me a coward.

"What's gonna happen now?" I looked at him.

I didn't want him to know I was scared, but I secretly wanted him to give me a hug and tell me that everything was alright. Personally, I knew that was babyish of me, but I knew he would if I asked him to.

"They're gonna take you back and get a photograph of your wrist."

"What if it's broken?"

"Don't worry about that. They're great here. They'll set it in a cast and it'll heal in about two months."

"Two months?" I looked astonished at Dad.

"It goes just like that."

"I'm not sure Mom's going to be too happy to find out that we souped up the sled."

"Don't worry about that."

"Do we have to tell her?"

I really didn't want to tell her. I was afraid that she'd tell me no to doing the sled race, but I had a feeling she would anyhow. Either way, the chances of me racing against Vinnie were slim right now.

"Yes, we have to tell her. I get two lies a year and I'm not wasting one on you."

The nurse came over. "Mr. Taylor, lets get you to X-Ray."

"See ya, Tool Man."

Dad didn't look where he was going and his head collided with the wall. It didn't sound pleasant, but Dad had experienced worse stuff than that before. They had to by procedure check for a concussion of course, so that meant that I had to go alone. I secretly wanted Mom.

"Maybe you can have that feeling another day," The nurse guided him to the X-ray room.

…

"How's Randy's arm?" I asked as Tim walked in.

My pain had gone down a little, but my back and bones still ached from being pregnant. That was part I hadn't missed, but I was trying to savor this pregnancy since it was my last one. Anyways, I had eaten a banana and threw away the peel. I walked to the counter.

"The doctor said it's just a sprain. It'll heal in a couple days."

"Thank goodness. Where is he?"

"He's over at Jeremy's showing him my X-ray."

"Your X-ray?"

"Yeah, I banged my head down there. Took an X-ray, showed nothing."

"Big surprise," I walked over to the counter and opened the pizza box, showing cheese and Hawaiian pizza.

"What are we having?" Tim asked as he walked over.

"Pizza. Will you set the table?" I asked as my eyes blurred again.

Tim nodded and went to go set it.

"What happened to Randy? The sled just got away from him?"

Tim nodded. "You know how those sleds are. Wind catches the spoiler."

"Wait a minute. Since when do sleds have spoilers. I don't believe you! You powered up the sled?"

Anger burned through me that Tim could do something that stupid. It was the pregnancy hormones doing that too, but I still couldn't believe he'd let him do that.

"I tweaked it a bit. I just did it because the McGurns' father got them this bullet nose racer. Randy challenged him to a race."

"That was a stupid thing to do."

"Not quite as stupid as what he planned. He was gonna hire some kid who hits himself in the face to fight Vinnie McGurn. I suggested a more sensible one."

"What? Like sending our son barreling down in a death machine?"

"You are so wrong!"

"Randy is not racing."

"There's nothing wrong with two kids sledding down Dead Man's curve."

"Down what?"

"Fred Man's Curve."

I sighed and walked off angrily.

…

I walked in to see Randy working on his sled. His poor little face looked very sad and disappointed, but determined as he fixed his sled. Sometimes, Tim still called him "Baby Face" since he that the cuteness of a little kid. He had a smile that could charm just about anyone into doing things for him. Why someone bullied him? I didn't know, but I was a very protective mama.

"What are you doing, honey?" I looked at my middle son.

His big eyes were just like Tim's, all the boys' were. I hoped that Hannah would get blue eyes too and I expected she would.

"Just working on my sled," Randy looked at his sled sadly.

"I wanna talk to you about that. I don't think you should race."

"Mom, I have to. My wrist is gonna be fine on Saturday. Even the doctor said so."

"I think the combination of that hill, that sled and your father is too dangerous."

"But Mom, I'm fixing my sled. Dad's gonna show me what I did wrong."

"I don't see why you have to race Vinnie McGurn at all."

"If I don't he's gonna think I'm afraid of him and I'm not."

"You should be afraid of him. He's a scary guy."

"At the father-son picnic, he's the only one who got mistaken for his dad."

"Humor has always been your best weapon."

"Vinnie's too stupid to understand my jokes."

"In your life, you're gonna run up against a million Vinnie McGurns. Are you planning on racing all of them?"

"I don't know. All I know is I have to race this one. I have to fight back."

"It's not gonna be a fair fight.

"I'm never gonna have a fair fight! I'm the shortest kid in my class. And don't tell me height doesn't matter! In case you haven't noticed, even my little brother is the same size as me!"

"Honey, Mark just had a growth spurt. I'm gonna say something to you that I never thought I'd say to any of my kids."

"What?"

"Kick some butt."

"Alright!"

….

"That was awesome how you beat Vinnie in that race," Brad smiled at me.

I grinned and looked at him. "You bet it was! Did you see how I took that curve?"

"And I told you to race him," Mom smiled and her belly was starting to bulge.

"Yeah, right Mom," I laughed.