Daniel
There are somethings I just can't get used to….that my little sister for example is getting prettier every day…that increases the chance of her getting noticed by boys…which I can´t allow obviously. I knew Dad had noticed it too, he mentioned it to me after Shamrock had left the company's tour for second term. He´s weird like that sometimes so obsessed with his work that he doesn't noticed that his little girl was growing up. It wasn't always like this, so complicated…that was mom she changed Dad into a different person, my grandad always said that she had distracted him, yes you guessed it he didn't exactly liked her. One reason why my grandad is stupid…. Well let me tell you a so you get my point…so let´s turn back the clock to December 10 years ago.
We were in London, Dad was the company's choreographer , mom a principal dancer me a eleven year old who was about get his braces off yay. So I was waiting for Gabe and Tony outside their school, yes at that time we all went to public school another thing my mom wanted that my granddad disapproved of. I mean what did she think of trying to get us a life as normal as possible…how dare her not put tiny Tony in pointe shoes at the age of 5….yes this was irony. So I went to this secondary school and the twins just got enrolled in the primary school nearby last September and they loved it. School bells rang a lot of kids came out but not the twins, instead Mrs. Berry their teacher waved towards me.
"Oh Daniel, it´s good that you're here…there has been a little incident with the twins and another boy…I was hoping that your parents would be there but…please well come with me to the principal's office"
I went inside and saw two kids sitting outside of the office one of them was my sister. Tony, age 5 crying and quivering with her lip. One of her Braids was tied to a ponytail and looked quite messy. Next to her sat a boy I didn't know, but he was crying even louder (and uglier) than my sis.
"Hey Shamrock what happened" I knelt before Tony who looked up and hugged me instead of answering, I hugged her back "Where is Gabe? What Happened?"
"He´s inside" Mrs. Berry told me since Tony was not ready to talk "Gabriel had a physical fight with Scott here. "
Not again I thought and took a look at this Scott Kid. He was very big for a first grader, him crying like this seemed ridiculous. The door to the principal's office opened and a strict looking version of Mary Poppings came out with a hand on Gabe´s shoulder he was scouting and pouting.
"Ah…you must be their Brother"
"Daniel Barrington pleased to meet you" I shook hand with her.
"I have talked with Gabriel, I understand that standing up for someone is good but he has to learn that pinching someone is not an answer."
"I didn't pinch him I pulled his hair and hit him" Gabriel pouted.
"Gabe" I sighted " It doesn't matter….I want you to apologize to ….Scott…now" "But he bullied Tony!"
"I´m sure that Scott is going to apologize as well…" I looked at Scott who had watched our interaction and nodded sniffing.
"….I apologize for hitting you" Gabe said and stretched out a hand. Scott nodded and took it for a sec then turned to my sister, who was kind of crawled up in her side of the bench.
"Antonia I am sorry for pulling your hair….it´s really pretty when you wear it open…."
Tony sniffed "…um…ok thanks….Danny can we go now?"
I sighted and nodded "Yes but first apologize to your teachers for taking up their time"
They did and we left just before Scott´s mom arrived. I fixed Tony´s braid, since she could not do it herself took her backpack shoulder it on one side and took both of the twins hand in one of mine.
"Can you carry my bag to?" Gabe asked struggling with his.
"Um…no…because you have done trouble in school and upset Tony "
"It´s okay Dan" Tony said "I can carry it, I´m a strong girl!"
"This guy is a bully and has upset her since day one…I need to protect Tony" Gabe pouted.
"I don't need to be protected" Tony mumbled.
"Stop pouting both of you, Of course you can carry your bag if you want Shamrock and you little Leprechaun are going to explain to mum and dad why we are late"
We took the metro to the Royal Ballet( it took really long because they were filled with the after school kids and the Christmas shoppers), went inside our mums dressing room, and stayed there for an hour and a half. The twins did their homework, I struggled with mine and then our mum came in, she was still wearing her costume and pointe shoes but still ran inside.
"Where I are my kittens?" she said and somehow managed to hug us all at the same time.
A chuckle form the door and dad came in "You're going to squeeze them to death Chlo"
"Oh be quite and join in Lou " mom teased and Dad naturally joined in, stroke both of mine and Gabe´s hair then took Tony up on his arm and gave her a kiss on her forehead.
"How´s my sugar plum fairy doing?"
Tony all excited started to talk about her school day, apparently she got a star sticker on her math homework.
Meanwhile mum fuzzed over Gabe, who was awful quite…guilt perhaps then she turned to me.
"How was your day my love?" She said and touched my cheek with her hand "How is your jaw?"
"Still weird not having them on anymore…but I feel free somehow…the girls in my class sure liked it…their treating me different somehow"
"Well love, you are a handsome young man Daniel" she winked then turned to Gabe again
"Why are you so quite overt there sweetheart? You have your guilty face "
"Mum…I kind of get into a fight at school…" he mumbled and also got Dad´s attention who was still listening to Tony.
"Oh Gabriel..." Mum sighted
"But Scott bullied Tony, he had pulled her hair and called her names and she didn't do anything so I did it. I do have to protect her. I´m her older brother!"
"You´re not older your my twin!" Tony protested.
"I´m still 6 minutes older than you"
"Oh my little old man" My mom said "Though it was right standing up for your sister, you shouldn't have fought back physically…there are other ways to fight back. Immediately tell your teacher, tell his mom when you see her, tell us but you should never fight back okay?"
Gabe nodded and hugged mum, who then turned to our dad.
"Louis I need to have a girl talk with my mini-me" she smiled then added "Don´t worry I won't do anything bad to her, love her as much you do Lou´. Come on Pinky Toe…"
She waved her towards her vanity table, hived her up onto it and kissed her. Meanwhile, dad talked with Gabe and I pretended to be busy and listened into mum and Shamrocks conversation.
"Listen to me my love because this is important, I know that your brothers will always be there to fight for you but I want you to know that it´s important that you fight back to…no matter what those bullies tell you…you are important and it´s important that you never forget that. Love, don't be afraid be brave…I know it's a frightening thought but it´s important for you to stand up."
"I´ll try mum" my sis said and they hugged.
We had a late teatime together, yes totally British right? Some tea ( or chocolate milk in the twins case) scones and mums homemade sandwiches. Don't ask me how she found the time to do so. It was almost 6 when dad decided to go and start to assemble the company again.
"Soo…what´s the plan" I asked "How long are you going to be in rehearsal today?"
"It´s going to be quite late, since it´s the last before the performance but I try to end it as soon as possible" Dad said then added "I´m sorry kiddoes"
"No problem dad" I muttered.
I was already used to it. In ballet world Christmas season meant business time. Somehow all the people loved to go to the ballet more when it was cold and snowy outside….well except in Australia…yes that was a weird Christmas. It was the year before; the company had been on tour performing the swan lake and was in Australia at Christmas time….they had summer over there, barbecue and ice cream instead of turkey and plumpudding and yet…ballet…last year's Christmas was quite different…also because my paternal grandparents where there…and somehow my dad becomes very different when they´re around…instead of spending the eve with family we were forced to go to this horrible after ballet performance dinner, not cool for a eleven year old and certainly not cool for two four year olds. So I imagine this year's feast not to be very different. Yet, again they were busy with a performance, the nutcracker, yet again mum was in the lead…thou I was happy for her I mean she was so very lucky after taking two big breaks in her career. She had me when she was 23, just started to have a career, mum and dad ha married while she was pregnant with me, then she took a two year break before starting to dance again, then four years later the twins were born and a two year break again, so mum was dancing again for two years now and had gotten all the lead roles, she was incredibly lucky besides her determination and obvious talent. She still had her priorities set, she insisted on a longer lunch break, mostly to sit and have lunch with us and tried to get as less late evenings as possible. There were 3 days in the week were we kids had after school activities, so she made sure to put her extra hours there.
"Oh yes, Louis remind me we need to call your parents and wish them happy holidays tomorrow morning" Mum said now fixing her hair in the mirror, I saw Tony doing the exact same thing with hers.
"Do we have to?" Gabe pouted.
"Gabe be nice now, they are your grandparents love"
"But I don't like them, gramps is always so mean towards you and he is weird and creepy"
"Gabe, I don't want to hear those words ever again. He´s family and family accepts everyone as they are" Mom said strictly.
"All right…" Gabe mumbled.
"Mum can I watch you dance from the audience?" Tony asked playing with moms hair.
"Sure…but are you sure you don't want to play?"
"Oh no, I want to watch you….are you coming too" she asked us.
"Noo the nutcracker is boring" Gabe scowled "I mean there is too much girly stuff and hardly men dancing!"
"I´ll stay here…I have some holiday homework to do so...I´ll watch over tyke" I stated.
"All right" Dad said and swiped Tony off the vanity "Then you´ll go with me and watch Sugar plum"
"Yay" Tony exclaimed "Am I allowed to yell corrections at the chore?"
The both of them left, Tony still in dads arms.
Mum, changed her point shoes, wore the new ones in a few times then took a few gulps of water. Kissed both of us a few times then left the dressing room. While Gabe grabbed a book from the corner was mum kept stuff for us, I returned to do my homework. It was about an hour and a half later when Gabe and I decided to join dad in the theatre. On stage they were going through the flower waltz. I saw dad sitting in his chair looking at them while Tony had fallen asleep on his lap, her head on the table. It looked like a uncomfortable position for both dad and Toe, but dad knew that Tony was not a heavy sleeper and he didn't want to wake her up by moving.
I touched his shoulder gently and whispered "I´ll take care of her"
Then carefully scooped up my sis and sat down with her in the way between the sitting blocks in the audience. Silently Gabe and I watched the company practice, when we reached the Clara Prince pas de deux Gabe had put his head against my shoulder and yawned.
"Mum is sure a beautiful dancer; it looks like she is flying"
When they finished rehearsal both of them, were fast asleep.
"My poor kittens" Mom said , she directly had come off stage when they had finished "You must be tired too Dan…lets go home…I´ll just change quickly"
Half an hour later we had arrived at home. A small house in Mayfair near Soho.
We hardly entered when a cheery voice greeted us from the kitchen.
"I cannot believe you haven't decorated the place Clover I had to do it all by me self!" the voice had an Irish accent to it and there were only a handful of female, Irish voices that called my mom Clover.
"Charlotte!" My mom yelled out but then realized that she was carrying Tony who fluttered with her eyelids.
"And now you're waking my niece. Hey there Shamrock" my aunt Charlotte giggled and waved at the now gleaming Tony "Auntie Charlie"
"Well that's a surprise" even Dad seemed happy to see her he was carrying Gabe who was snoring.
"Actually I wrote you guys a letter…but it seems as you weren't able to read it…mum and Paa are spending their holidays on the Caribbean so I´ve decided to come here and join you, I still got a secondary key to the house, arrived this morning and decorated the house and made dinner but totally forgot that you mates come home so late these days…well I ate all by myself...I´ll warm it up for you"
"That's so sweet of you Charlotte let us bring those two into bed first" dad said and Tony spoke up in protest "But Auntie Charlie is here I don't wanna go to sleep"
"Oh little Clover I´ll be here tomorrow too, sweet dreams darling okay?"
Tony nodded and yawned.
Here some things about my Aunt Charlotte. She is the younger sister of my Mum by four years…that makes her 31. She is an event manager, but had done and started a lot of things before she decided on planning festivities. She has an agency that plans motto parties, such as weddings and birthdays. She´s always laughing, happy just like mom but on the contrary she does not take things so seriously as mum does sometimes. Charlotte does not have her own family. She had some relationships in the past but they never worked out. She lives in an apartment near my Grandparents, her parents in Dublin. Both Mom and she share the brown hair Tony also has. While Toe an my mum have curly and wavy hair aunt Charlie has straight and its cut to a bob. She also has the green eyes for which I envy the twins and mum for.
"My sweet Danish Cookie" She yelled and hugged me "My have you grown"
Oh one thing, she is the one reason why we keep calling eachother by nicknames, mum and her family have this philosophy that nicknames are words of love. She calls my mom Clover, hence Tony the Shamrock (which I gladly adapted) Gabriel was the Leprechaun or the Golden Boy (calling him the Golden Pott was a bit weird) and I *sight* was the Danish Cookie.
When I stepped into our dining slash living room I was surprised. Charlie had decorated, like everything she even managed to get us a tree.
"Did you do it all by yourself" I asked as Aunt Charlotte put a plate of food before me.
"Yup, but I thought decorating the tree is something that you kids would like to do…so are your parents really planning to go to the performance tomorrow?"
"Um…yeah they have to it´s kind of their job…"
"I know that Danny my dance crazy sis…how long will it take…"
"The show starts on 6.30 since it´s a family friendly one….so I guess till 9…9.30"
We grinned at eachother and understood.
"Oh Danny, your braces are off….tell me how may girls have asked you out yet"
"Why does everyone assume that?"
"Well you are a handsome young cookie Danny"
"No they did not…am too much of a dork"
"Oh Dan, there will be one girl who´ll accept you as you are"
The next day we enjoyed a big breakfast (phoned our grandparents) , Charlotte had outdone herself. Gabe was a bit angry that we didn't wake him up last evening but Aunt Charlotte gave him a special Gabe cuddle and he stopped. Mom and Dad excused themselves at noon to get to the theatre and our Auntie took us into the city to go shopping. Then we returned to decorate the tree, bake some cookies and make something for our parents out of salt dough and painted our creations. Then she helped us to get ready for the ballet and drove us to the theatre. We got in from the VIP entrance and sat down in the first row.
The ballet was beautiful, as expected I mean it was the nutcracker we saw and my mum as Clara, the audience loved it and even the boys who were dragged into the ballet by their grandparents seemed to have enjoyed the piece. I saw Tony joining few girls who were now recreating their mini version in the rows. Clearly Shamrock had the best movements; I mean she had lessons since she was two. Then mum and dad came toward us what was weird usually we met them backstage. I noticed that she wasn't wearing makeup and they´d changed into ´civilian´ clothing.
"We thought It would be nicer and easier to get home faster when we use the normal exit" mum giggled
"A brilliant idea of mine" Dad grinned
"Really? Who would have thought that there are some innovated ideas in that rusty old head of yours my dear brother in law" Charlotte giggled.
"Oh don't be so mean to my husband Dickinson" my mum said "Come one we don't want to waste more time"
We mingled with the crowd that wanted to leave the theater. We soon arrived at home where mom broke out in tears when she saw how the house looked. Dad put on the fire and sat down at the piano and started playing some Christmas tunes. We sang , danced, Gabriel nearly broke his neck and Tony's limbs by trying to pull off a lift out of the nutcracker. I did it with her and Gabe so that he stopped pouting. Charlotte with the help of mum made a fantastic dinner an in the end we sat there together at the fire and had the family quality time that we hardly got….
It was the last Christmas we spend together…in the following summer mom would die, Dad would have a huge fight with Charlotte about it, about our upbringing and Dad would have a fight with the Royal Ballet the principal who´d danced the sugar plum fairy, he too had stopped calling Tony that…maybe because it pained him too much I don't know…I still can't get used to it. All of it.