April 4th 2022

Chapter 94
Our Growth Into Classes

The more mobile the girls were getting, the more they had to work to entertain them without letting things get out of hand, and Lucas knew it. That was fine by him though. He'd worked out that part of his 'dad skills' already in dealing with Marianne, and Tori… One could say he'd been preparing for this a lot longer than he'd been a father, as he'd been so involved in the growth of Maya's young siblings. But now these were his daughters, and there were three of them in his care that morning, three one-year-old girls, and for whatever… experience he may have had in the past with the little Hunters, or his other little daughter and his granddaughter, it was never going to be a simple cut and paste. Lucy, Remy, and Kacey were their own people, and they showed it more and more as they grew. Some things might carry over, but others would have to be more tailor-made. They were their own people, but they were also a unit, and they made sure the world knew that, too.

That morning, while it was just the four of them, he would try and get them to test out their little feet just a bit, hopefully getting closer to taking more than one or two steps on their own. He tried it with Lucy directly, feeling that the twins might have been closer to figuring things out on their own, more likely to just pick themselves up and give it a go. But then, like when she'd hated tummy time, Lucy would balk at the attempts. All she'd have to do would be to let out just the start of a cry, and Kacey and Remy would drop back down to their hands and knees and move toward their triplet. They'd practically make their father leave her be, and then off they'd go, the three of them together. Lucas let out a sigh, laying back on the floor and staring at the ceiling. A moment later, they'd be crawling over to him, just about climbing over him, like they were trying to pin him down.

"Oh, I see how it is," he smirked, and he got a trio of smiling faces and giggles as he closed his arms around them. "No, that's fine, I agree, this is very good, too. Walking can wait, it really can."

The girls seemed perfectly content with where they were, so much so that, by the time Maya returned with Marianne not long after, she found them all still there. The girls had fallen asleep, and it was a wonder they weren't awakened by the arrival. Marianne had been allowed to open the door for her mother, and when she spotted her father and sisters, she opened her mouth like she was about to greet them but then paused, seeing how Lucas held a finger to his lips. Gotta be quiet. Marianne nodded and disappeared back out the door, likely to let her mother know. When they returned a minute later, Lucas wished he was able to assist as he heard Maya bring the boxes along, but of course he was just a bit… pinned down.

They had gone to the mall to pick up the yearly order of new sketchbooks and gold pens, filling the boxes as needed. Now, Maya would get to do one of her favorite things all year. She would sit at the kitchen table, taking one box at a time and identifying all the spines, attaching a gold pen to each book before returning it to the box, waiting for the first day of class. She hadn't dared to roll the loaded cart up the porch steps, so she'd unloaded the boxes, brought the cart up, and filled it again before finally rolling the load through the front door. She looked so glad to be home again, like she felt that a nap would have been a good idea for her, too, but then the task ahead of her would be equally as relaxing if not more. Then she spotted the display there on the living room floor and she quickly stifled her laughter into her hand, so not to wake the girls.

"You know what image this conjured up in my head?" she asked, whispering as she walked nearer. She took a picture, obviously.

"No, what image?" Lucas asked, already feeling his own laughter coming in.

"Big ol' fluffy dog, overrun with ducklings," Maya grinned, and he had to contain the rumble in his chest so it wouldn't wake anyone. Yeah, that felt right.

"You're going to draw it, aren't you?"

"It's going to be a masterpiece," Maya nodded. "But not now," she added, indicating the boxes. "Please join me at your… earliest convenience?"

"Will do," Lucas promised, tipping his head back to watch as Marianne hopped off in pursuit of her mother and the cart. "Might be a little while," he looked back down to the sleeping girls, huddled up over him.

By the time he was able to join the diary effort in the kitchen, Maya and her assistant had things rolling at a steady pace. They had finished the seniors' box and were just starting on the juniors'. Marianne sat at the ready, with the box of gold pens and elastic bands in front of her. She had one of each in her hands and watched her mother finish up the note inside the sketchbook before her. As soon as she closed the cover, Marianne held out the pen and elastic, and Maya thanked her before fixing them around the book and adding it to the open box. Marianne already had another pen and elastic picked up, waiting to be handed over.

"You are just in time," Maya told Lucas as he came and joined them at the table.

"Yeah?" Lucas asked. He stretched his hand across the table in an attempt to grab one of the gold pens, only to receive a reproachful look from the Sheriff. These were her responsibility, so he politely left them alone.

"Yeah," Maya replied, unaware of the exchange as she fished out a pair of folders from under her lists. She placed them where he could see the labels and read the names. Now he smiled as he understood. The new exchange campers. They had two again, but this time, as well as being year round, they were both at the high school, a sophomore and a junior. "I haven't looked yet, I wanted to wait for you to be here so you could tell me what you know. They'll be here in a couple of days, right?"

"Tomorrow, actually," Lucas told her, and Maya paused, checked the date on her phone before shaking her head to herself. As she told him, she remembered him telling her that they'd be here on the twenty-first, but, seeing as they wouldn't meet them until the next day - as they would be busy with Tori's birthday on their arrival day - she'd convinced herself that they were only arriving on the twenty-second.

"Junior," she turned back to the files and opened the top one. "John Michael Talbot."

"Goes by Johnny," Lucas nodded, and Maya made a quick note. That would be what his diary spine said. "Seventeen, from Seattle. All I know is that he will be coming by land, probably on his way by now. He's bringing his horse... Sable."

"Got it. Anything else?" Maya asked as she opened the cover to compose her greeting note. Lucas only knew that he lived with an aunt and uncle and his cousins, no idea on the circumstances. Maya kept this information in mind nonetheless and wrote the note. She received the pen and elastic from Marianne and added them to the book. "Oh, wait, who's he staying with?"

"You didn't hear?" Lucas asked, and she made a gesture as though to say 'obviously, I'm asking you.' "The Days are taking him on," he revealed, and Maya's jaw loosened in surprise. "Anton asked me about the XCs, months ago, and I told him. Looks like he got his parents to sign up as potential hosts, and they were matched."

"That's good, that's... It'll be good for them, yeah?" Maya wondered aloud. It always filled them with such an uneasy dread, to think of the couple, their friends, and anything that touched on to the loss that they had suffered. It was like something frigid would invade them, heart and soul, and compel them to look to their daughters, to see that they were well. They looked to Marianne, sitting with them, swinging her legs along under the table, waving a gold pen around like a wand, or a drumstick...

"I think so," Lucas told Maya and they let out a breath. Back to it...

Maya carried on filling out the juniors' books. Lucas was recruited into the effort, passing blank sketchbooks to his wife, receiving the finished bundles to add to the box. In time, they were able to start on the sophomores. Showing herself as eager to know as Lucas would have expected, Maya started right away with the second XC folder. She wanted to know about the sophomore, Carina Mendoza.

"Sixteen years old, living in Miami, but the family moved up there from the Dominican Republic, not sure when," Lucas shared what he knew. "She's been riding all her life, and she's been doing shows, circus type stuff, I think, for a while."

"Wow..." Marianne's eyes went wide with wonder at the thought, and Maya chuckled.

"She's not doing it anymore though?" she gathered, turning back to Lucas. "If she's going to be here all year..."

"According to her mother, she actually hasn't gone on horseback for nearly two years now. She lost her horse, and she just couldn't start again," he slowly explained, and both Maya and Marianne had a quiet pause at the revelation. "Guess her family talked her into taking this shot, maybe get back at it."

Maya kept this in mind as she wrote Carina's note. Once she was done with the bundle, they carried on with the sophomores. Lucas continued to help them for most of the box before finally having to excuse himself to look in on the triplets again. Marianne took this departure as a sign for her to take up his job as well as her own, which meant that she would dash from one side of the table to the other, as needed. Maya offered to move everything to the same side, but Marianne preferred her way, so they carried on. The third box was completed, leaving only one more, the main event, going by how excited they both were. The freshmen... the new kids... and among them...

"Do you want to do them first or at the end?" Maya asked her daughter, no further explanation required. Marianne thought for a moment, then held up two fingers. "At the end? Okay, sounds good."

New names were always exciting, always full of unknown potential. Sometimes there would be names that were only half unknown. A surname would pop up and suggest a sibling to a previous student. Then there were those who were more than familiar, and this year... this year she had more than ever before. She had two of Rochelle McNeil's brothers, she had Khalil Russell's sister, she had the Davis twins... and she had two of her own little sisters. She still couldn't believe the time had come.

"You know, when I told them I'd be going to get the diaries, they asked me what names I was going to write on them," Maya confided in Marianne, who leaned in with curiosity and confusion. "I mean, I call them Nellie and Gracie, and they call themselves Nellie and Gracie, but at school, on paper, do you see here?" Maya showed the list, pointed to the two lines. Marianne concentrated, squinted, even though she knew what they would say.

"Hunter!" she poked the paper. Maya chuckled.

"Grace, and Penelope. And if I didn't know them, that's what I would write. So, what do you think I should do?" she asked, leaning her head to her palm, wondering what Marianne would decide. She poked at the pack of elastics as she thought... then she got distracted because it was squishy, and it made her laugh. "Hey, pumpkin," Maya tickled at her elbow, and she squirmed, giggled some more. "What names should I write?" In a flash, Marianne tapped the list. Maya smiled. "Sounds good. And if they don't like it that way, well, they've got three more years after this one."

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners