"MOMMY!"

Sasha looked up from the book that she had been so absorbed in, startled. Her little twins and their older sister stood there. Joey and Julia, the twins, had brown hair and gray eyes like Jim, their father. Laura, the oldest, was quite unique, looking nothing like either Sasha or Jim. She had midnight black hair and solomn green eyes.

"Yes?" she looked up, smiling cheerfully.

"Joey said--"

"No I didn't!"

"You don't even know what I was about to say!"

"I'm your twin brother, Julia, I know what you're gonna say!"

"Oh, knock it off!" Julia snapped.

"Hey!" Joey stuck out his tongue, pouting, "Don't be mean!"

The two were cantankerous and only six while Laura, calm and silent, was ten.

"Laura?" Sasha smiled kindly up from where she sat indian style on the floor at the oldest for an explanation. Laura simply nodded.

"....Joey told me that Julia was trying to dye her hair. Mother, I found black paint in the bathroom," Laura smiled fondly, her voice quiet but beautiful. Many envied her voice. "But I don't think she was dying her hair. I think she was trying to make something in secret. Isn't that right, Julia?"

"Yeah!" Julia said tearfully, "Mommy, I was making this!" The little girl handed Sasha a peice of paper with two finger painted handprints and 'I love you' scrawled sloppilly across the top-- in black paint.

"But," continued Laura, "Joey saw her bending over the black paint, which had gotten in her hair, and thought she was dying it."

"Oh! So you were making Mommy a card," Joey said in dawning comprehension. "Oooooh.... I'm sorry, Julia."

"That's okay," Julia smiled happily, the incident clearly forgotten already.

Julia and Joey left the room chattering brightly. Laura sprawled out beside her mother.

"Whatcha reading?"

"...Oh, a romance novel of sorts...."

"What's it about?"

"A girl that was kidnapped. I think she falls in love with the guy who kidnapped her."

"How sweet. And fluffy. And such...." Laura smiled, ".... Wow. I am a hopeless romantic. Well, that sounds pretty spiffy, but I have a story to get back to writing. It's called Snack Cakes and Limit Breaks. My friend Christina really wants me to write more... See ya, Mother."
Sasha nodded, smiling, watching Laura sit up and brush her raven bangs from her forehead. Laura really was a sweet kid, she thought. A little hyper at times, but Sasha loved her all the same. Laura left the room singing the 'I-wanna-kick-your-ass' song, which was the funniest thing ever. It was actually a song off of spaceghost, and it was sung by an alien type creature called Zorak, or however you spelled it. The song was halarious, despite the obsenities of the word ass, and it was always better than 'Yeah Buddy' or 'The Cheese-log Song'. ((a/n: Laura was on the verse "First I'll kick your right cheek, then I'll kick your left cheek, and then I'll kick both cheeks right on into next week". God that's a funny song. You must hear it! cackles evilly.... well, let us continue )) Sasha smiled faintly and went to what seemed to be the second chapter of the story.