One Week In Our Lives
Maybe I do own Digimon. Maybe I don't. I don't care!
Bi: Oh...my!
RD: Told you.
Bi: The power's come back on, Dream.
RD: It's been on for half an hour.
Bi: So now I can-
RD: It's time excitable birds were asleep. But just one thing more.
...............
Epilogue: Another Week, Another Life
NB: All new names are complete inventions. Well, I said it'd be alternate.
................
*Taki*
"Happy birthday, Taki. How does it feel to be ten years old?"
"Not that different, really," I say , and feel surprised when they laugh.
"We said we'd take you wherever you wanted to go. Any ideas?"
"I want to go over to Izzy's with all my friends. Can we?"
"I already called them," smiles my mother. "They should be here pretty soon."
It isn't long before Jay arrives. He's always been one of my best friends, as well as being my cousin. His mom and dad are chatting in the hallway. Jay's dad looks kind of like him, with fair hair and a sort of distant look. But his mom's got the same brown eyes as he does.
"Jay was complaining this morning that however old he gets, your Taki's always going to be two years older than he is," says his father. My dad just laughs.
"Looks like the tables have finally turned, huh?"
My other friends are close behind. Kimia is my other cousin, and she's a year younger than Jay. Her hair is long and sort of toffee brown; it shines a lot, but it just won't settle down no matter what her mother does with it. She likes playing at the adventure park with Jay and me, though last time she fell off the climbing frame trying to do a handstand on top of it. She's a crazy girl, but it annoys me sometimes when she insists on wearing that red ribbon in her hair. She won't take it off since her mother told her it brings out the colour of her eyes.
Amy is sort of quiet and very clever. Her hair's so dark it's almost blue, and her eyes are very dark as well. She's not related to me, but her parents have been bringing her over here since she was a baby and, well, she likes to hang around with us. Most of the time she's telling Jay and Kimia off for doing something they shouldn't. Her dad's from round here. He met her mom on a university course he was doing, and they got married. I always think that's kinda sweet. Amy's eight.
And then, of course, there's our other friends. Amy's got Buka, and all the rest of us have two, I don't know why. I live with Nyaro and Toko, of course. None of the other kids at school seem to have them, but all our parents do so they must be pretty common.
Once everyone's here, we start up the connection and go on over to Izzy's. He's a friend of my parents, and he's always glad to see us. His other friends, Tentomon and Gennai, have been organising the party.
"Oh, no!" says Jay. "If we're here at Izzy's, we're gonna miss V-Mon!"
"No you won't," replies Izzy. "I've got a portable TV here. It should be starting about now, right?"
We're all very proud of V-Mon. We're devoted fans, even though our parents wrote it together when I was just a baby and we've seen all the episodes about six times. V-Mon stands for Virtual Monsters. It's about eight kids, a bit older than any of us, who get stuck in the V-Dimension; a bit like the Digiworld, where Izzy lives, but this one is ruled by evil creatures. Of course, the kids have their own V-Monsters as well; it always used to make me laugh how the friendly V-Monsters look like our parents' friends. Bi, Gomamon, Gato and Palmon... you can spot them all.
We all disagree, though, over who's our favourite human character. Me, I'm a total Kelly fan. She's the little one, you know? With the whistle. I asked Mom once if they'd modelled the whistle on the one I'd got, but she just laughed. Jay thinks rebel-kid Bryan is the best character ever invented, but honestly, if I'd got that sort of musical talent, I wouldn't waste it playing the recorder at night. Kimia usually says at this point that Bryan's an idiot and the only two decent characters in the whole thing are Danny and Katie. But then she would- I reckon if you combined crazy Danny with sissy fashion-girl Katie, you'd get Kimia. And Amy just supports anybody who's sensible, which means that stupid bespectacled Simon most of the time. But enough of that.
We watch in silence as Danny helps the rest of the group fight off evil V-Monsters yet again. He always wins, of course.
Then it's time for the party. There's lots to eat and plenty of fizzy drinks, and then some party tricks from a few Digimon that Izzy invited. Mom lights the candles on the cake and leads the singing, of course.
"Happy birthday to you,
happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday, dear Takari,
happy birthday to you!..."
I blow out the candles and make a wish. No telling. Then Jay's dad gets to his feet and waves a hand at the others. My parents go with him into the empty part of the room. A moment later Jay's mother is there too, carrying a microphone. I can't believe this. We're going to get a live concert. Dad strikes up a chord on the bass guitar, then both Jay's parents start singing. They fit together really well, but I'd only ever heard them on TV and radio up to now- their concerts go on way too late. As they finish, we all cheer.
It's amazing how one day can go by so soon. It's the weekend, we can sleep over at Izzy's. I lie on the floor with Tokomon and Nyaro and start drawing a picture of little Kelly with her whistle in one hand.
"You're obviously a real V-Mon fan, huh?" Izzy is looking down at me. I decide the drawing isn't much good. Kelly looks about twenty. But instead of letting me throw it away, he picks it up and starts absently adding a few shadows.
I look at the picture thoughtfully. "I wonder if this is what Kelly's going to look like when she grows up?"
Jay laughs. "Somebody ought to write a series about that. V-Mon: Ten Years Later."
There's a weird sort of silence. I catch Kimia's dad looking at Izzy, then at Jay's parents, then mine. "Actually," he says, "we... did write a story about that. We didn't put it in the series, 'cos it wasn't the sort of thing that would fit. There's a lot of romance and stuff... and it's a bit scary at times. But maybe you ought to hear it now."
We settle down in a circle, like campers around a fire. But the fire is the light from Izzy's water-powered lamp, and in the centre of the circle are our parents.
"Who should tell it?" asks Kimia's mother, flicking a curl of hair behind her delicately jewelled ear. "I mean, Sora and TK... know some of it better than you do."
"We'll all tell a bit of it," says her dad. "Each of us can talk about what happens to the character we designed. That means... Sora starts, I think. And it's called... One Week in Our Lives."
Jay's mother takes a deep breath and fiddles with the reddish necklace she always wears. Then she starts the story.
"Sam covered her ears with a smile so she couldn't hear the squeak of excitement at the other end of the line. 'Katie,' she said, 'calm down. It's not till next week, you know...'"
The End ............................................................................ ............................................................................ ............................................................................ ............................................................................ ....................................
RD:
So here I am.
Somewhere I thought at times I'd never be. At the end of One Week in Our Lives.
I know you might be annoyed, but here's a list of credits. Don't leave, you might just be on it.
Naturally, a thousand thanks are nothing near enough for my loyal beta tester, Elle787, who has patiently endured two months of emails and chapters to read and never once become impatient or critical. Without her support I'd have given up at the third chapter. Now, I'm not sure if I'm allowed to do this (PLEASE tell me quick if I'm not, before the moderators do) but I want to suggest that you might like to show your appreciation by dropping in on her place. (sorry if I annoyed you into leaving by asking if you were a boy or a girl), Nami (hope you got the whole Matt thing eventually), Hazy (apologies if not enough Takari for you), Forever Takari (please update that story I'm reading!), Ger-jo- "So, the wedding's off then" -marty , Scorpion05 (stop blushing), Savoan Locc (I suppose), Agumon2003 (forgiven for not being a Matt fan), Dana Hirsh (thanks for the compliments), anyone else I may have inadvertently missed out and _________________ (write your name here.)
Maybe I do own Digimon. Maybe I don't. I don't care!
Bi: Oh...my!
RD: Told you.
Bi: The power's come back on, Dream.
RD: It's been on for half an hour.
Bi: So now I can-
RD: It's time excitable birds were asleep. But just one thing more.
...............
Epilogue: Another Week, Another Life
NB: All new names are complete inventions. Well, I said it'd be alternate.
................
*Taki*
"Happy birthday, Taki. How does it feel to be ten years old?"
"Not that different, really," I say , and feel surprised when they laugh.
"We said we'd take you wherever you wanted to go. Any ideas?"
"I want to go over to Izzy's with all my friends. Can we?"
"I already called them," smiles my mother. "They should be here pretty soon."
It isn't long before Jay arrives. He's always been one of my best friends, as well as being my cousin. His mom and dad are chatting in the hallway. Jay's dad looks kind of like him, with fair hair and a sort of distant look. But his mom's got the same brown eyes as he does.
"Jay was complaining this morning that however old he gets, your Taki's always going to be two years older than he is," says his father. My dad just laughs.
"Looks like the tables have finally turned, huh?"
My other friends are close behind. Kimia is my other cousin, and she's a year younger than Jay. Her hair is long and sort of toffee brown; it shines a lot, but it just won't settle down no matter what her mother does with it. She likes playing at the adventure park with Jay and me, though last time she fell off the climbing frame trying to do a handstand on top of it. She's a crazy girl, but it annoys me sometimes when she insists on wearing that red ribbon in her hair. She won't take it off since her mother told her it brings out the colour of her eyes.
Amy is sort of quiet and very clever. Her hair's so dark it's almost blue, and her eyes are very dark as well. She's not related to me, but her parents have been bringing her over here since she was a baby and, well, she likes to hang around with us. Most of the time she's telling Jay and Kimia off for doing something they shouldn't. Her dad's from round here. He met her mom on a university course he was doing, and they got married. I always think that's kinda sweet. Amy's eight.
And then, of course, there's our other friends. Amy's got Buka, and all the rest of us have two, I don't know why. I live with Nyaro and Toko, of course. None of the other kids at school seem to have them, but all our parents do so they must be pretty common.
Once everyone's here, we start up the connection and go on over to Izzy's. He's a friend of my parents, and he's always glad to see us. His other friends, Tentomon and Gennai, have been organising the party.
"Oh, no!" says Jay. "If we're here at Izzy's, we're gonna miss V-Mon!"
"No you won't," replies Izzy. "I've got a portable TV here. It should be starting about now, right?"
We're all very proud of V-Mon. We're devoted fans, even though our parents wrote it together when I was just a baby and we've seen all the episodes about six times. V-Mon stands for Virtual Monsters. It's about eight kids, a bit older than any of us, who get stuck in the V-Dimension; a bit like the Digiworld, where Izzy lives, but this one is ruled by evil creatures. Of course, the kids have their own V-Monsters as well; it always used to make me laugh how the friendly V-Monsters look like our parents' friends. Bi, Gomamon, Gato and Palmon... you can spot them all.
We all disagree, though, over who's our favourite human character. Me, I'm a total Kelly fan. She's the little one, you know? With the whistle. I asked Mom once if they'd modelled the whistle on the one I'd got, but she just laughed. Jay thinks rebel-kid Bryan is the best character ever invented, but honestly, if I'd got that sort of musical talent, I wouldn't waste it playing the recorder at night. Kimia usually says at this point that Bryan's an idiot and the only two decent characters in the whole thing are Danny and Katie. But then she would- I reckon if you combined crazy Danny with sissy fashion-girl Katie, you'd get Kimia. And Amy just supports anybody who's sensible, which means that stupid bespectacled Simon most of the time. But enough of that.
We watch in silence as Danny helps the rest of the group fight off evil V-Monsters yet again. He always wins, of course.
Then it's time for the party. There's lots to eat and plenty of fizzy drinks, and then some party tricks from a few Digimon that Izzy invited. Mom lights the candles on the cake and leads the singing, of course.
"Happy birthday to you,
happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday, dear Takari,
happy birthday to you!..."
I blow out the candles and make a wish. No telling. Then Jay's dad gets to his feet and waves a hand at the others. My parents go with him into the empty part of the room. A moment later Jay's mother is there too, carrying a microphone. I can't believe this. We're going to get a live concert. Dad strikes up a chord on the bass guitar, then both Jay's parents start singing. They fit together really well, but I'd only ever heard them on TV and radio up to now- their concerts go on way too late. As they finish, we all cheer.
It's amazing how one day can go by so soon. It's the weekend, we can sleep over at Izzy's. I lie on the floor with Tokomon and Nyaro and start drawing a picture of little Kelly with her whistle in one hand.
"You're obviously a real V-Mon fan, huh?" Izzy is looking down at me. I decide the drawing isn't much good. Kelly looks about twenty. But instead of letting me throw it away, he picks it up and starts absently adding a few shadows.
I look at the picture thoughtfully. "I wonder if this is what Kelly's going to look like when she grows up?"
Jay laughs. "Somebody ought to write a series about that. V-Mon: Ten Years Later."
There's a weird sort of silence. I catch Kimia's dad looking at Izzy, then at Jay's parents, then mine. "Actually," he says, "we... did write a story about that. We didn't put it in the series, 'cos it wasn't the sort of thing that would fit. There's a lot of romance and stuff... and it's a bit scary at times. But maybe you ought to hear it now."
We settle down in a circle, like campers around a fire. But the fire is the light from Izzy's water-powered lamp, and in the centre of the circle are our parents.
"Who should tell it?" asks Kimia's mother, flicking a curl of hair behind her delicately jewelled ear. "I mean, Sora and TK... know some of it better than you do."
"We'll all tell a bit of it," says her dad. "Each of us can talk about what happens to the character we designed. That means... Sora starts, I think. And it's called... One Week in Our Lives."
Jay's mother takes a deep breath and fiddles with the reddish necklace she always wears. Then she starts the story.
"Sam covered her ears with a smile so she couldn't hear the squeak of excitement at the other end of the line. 'Katie,' she said, 'calm down. It's not till next week, you know...'"
The End ............................................................................ ............................................................................ ............................................................................ ............................................................................ ....................................
RD:
So here I am.
Somewhere I thought at times I'd never be. At the end of One Week in Our Lives.
I know you might be annoyed, but here's a list of credits. Don't leave, you might just be on it.
Naturally, a thousand thanks are nothing near enough for my loyal beta tester, Elle787, who has patiently endured two months of emails and chapters to read and never once become impatient or critical. Without her support I'd have given up at the third chapter. Now, I'm not sure if I'm allowed to do this (PLEASE tell me quick if I'm not, before the moderators do) but I want to suggest that you might like to show your appreciation by dropping in on her place. (sorry if I annoyed you into leaving by asking if you were a boy or a girl), Nami (hope you got the whole Matt thing eventually), Hazy (apologies if not enough Takari for you), Forever Takari (please update that story I'm reading!), Ger-jo- "So, the wedding's off then" -marty , Scorpion05 (stop blushing), Savoan Locc (I suppose), Agumon2003 (forgiven for not being a Matt fan), Dana Hirsh (thanks for the compliments), anyone else I may have inadvertently missed out and _________________ (write your name here.)