Chapter Two
Letter from Paris



The next day, Jennifer was awake before anyone else in the house. By the time Rick, Evelyn and Alex came downstairs, Jennifer had breakfast waiting for them.
That day promised to be a clear one, a rare sunny day in London and Alex was full of plans. He wanted to go to the park, play chess with his mother, play with his trucks with Jennifer and go exploring in the woods with his father. Alex wanted to go to the park with all his family; Jennifer agreed that it would be a good idea because Horus -her falcon- needed to stretch his wings after the string of rainy days. After all the dishes were cleaned up from breakfast, the O'Connells and Jennifer got ready to go to the park.
Alex packed his rucksack full of things: trucks, shovels and his slingshot. Jennifer readied her bird for the trip while Rick and Evelyn packed picnic lunch for them.
As Rick stood beside his wife making a sandwich he said, "Did you know your sister was an insomniac?"
Surprised at his question, Evelyn looked up at him. "I haven't seen my sister in nineteen years, there's a lot of things I don't know about her." She replied.
Rick shook his head. "Well, that's not exactly what I meant. I mean does your family have a history of insomniacs?" Rick asked.
Evelyn shrugged and they finished making lunch in silence.

Alex, Rick, Evelyn and Jennifer spent nearly the whole day in the park. They would have spent the whole day there if it hadn't started raining. Everyone had a nice time, enjoying the cool breeze and the warm sun.
When they arrived back home, rain soaked and somewhat exhausted from their trip to the park, Jennifer picked up the mail that Marie had left on the table for them. Jennifer never knew why she picked up the mail, since there was never anything for her but it was somewhat of a strange habit.
Jennifer thumbed through the letters; she noticed one was addressed to Alex. In large, childlike handwriting were the words "Alex O'Connell" and their address and in the upper left-hand corner were the words "Megan Richardson" and listened an address in Paris. Jennifer set the other letters on the table and walked into the sitting room, still holding the letter for Alex.
"Alex, you got a letter." Jennifer said and waved the manila envelope in the air for the O'Connells to see.
Alex immediately ran over to his aunt and took the letter from her. Evelyn looked over at her son. "Who's it from?" She asked, hanging up her son's wet raincoat.
"It's from Megan!" Alex cried happily and tore the letter open.
Jennifer looked at her sister. "Who's Megan?" Jennifer asked as she watched Alex pull the letter out of the envelope and let the envelope flutter to the ground.
"Alex's best friend, she moved to Paris around two years ago. Maybe a little less then that, but that seems about right." Evelyn answered.
Both Jennifer and Evelyn focused their gazes on Alex, whose eyes were darting across the sentences of the letter.
With a yell of excitement, Alex dropped the letter and began jumping up and down. Horus began to screech and flap his wings at Alex's spontaneous behavior.
"What did Megan's letter say?" Evelyn asked, trying to calm her son down.
"Her dad has to go to the States on visit so she's coming to visit here. Can she stay Mum? Can she, please?" Alex calmed down and began pleading with his mother.
Jennifer picked the letter up off the floor and read it over. "It says that if she can stay then to call before 5, Monday. That's today." Jennifer said, wanting to meet this friend of Alex's.
Alex looked at his mother with pleading eyes. "Please." He said and smiled his innocent smile that neither of his parents could resist. Especially his mother, who was rather found of Megan; Evelyn agreed to Megan staying over.
Alex began to jump up and down again and do cartwheels across the sitting room. Jennifer laughed at her nephew's antics and managed to get him calmed down while Evelyn called the Richardson's Paris residence to say that Megan was more then welcome to stay.
As his mother was on the phone talking to Mr. Richardson, Alex danced around her. "When is Megan coming? How long is she staying?" Alex asked, repeating his questions.
Jennifer managed to pull Alex away from his mother and got him to wait in the sitting room. "The more you ask questions, the longer she'll be on the phone. So, you'd better be patient." Jennifer said as she dragged Alex away from Evelyn.
Alex sat still next to Jennifer on the couch as they both waited for Evelyn to return from the parlor, where she was making the phone call.
After what seemed like forever, to Alex, Evelyn returned and gave the two the details of Megan's arrival. "She's coming the day after tomorrow, she's coming by train. Jennifer, I have to work Wednesday so would you please meet her at the train station?" Evelyn asked her sister.
Jennifer nodded. "No problem, I'll take Alex too." Jennifer answered.
Evelyn smiled and sent Alex upstairs to clean his room for Megan's arrival on Wednesday, though she was sure that Alex's room would be dirty by suppertime.
Evelyn sighed and sat down on the couch next to her sister. They sat in silence until Evelyn let out a gasp. It was the sort of gasp that you let out when you realize that you forgot something really important.
"What's wrong?" Jennifer asked quickly, looking over at Evelyn.
"I just remembered that the museum is throwing a huge dinner party on Wednesday. They've been planning months in advance, Rick and I have already agreed to go. What am I going to do about Megan and Alex…." Evelyn sighed, her eyebrows knotting in worry.
Jennifer sighed, the sort of sigh that one let's out as if to say 'it's all?' "Don't worry, I'll watch Megan and Alex while you're away." Jennifer said, looking at her sister.
Evelyn smiled and embraced Jennifer. "Are you sure you won't mind?" Evelyn asked.
"No problem. How hard can it be?" Jennifer said.