Chapter 1

Hi. My name is David Hogan. I'm 17 years old and live with my twin 14 year old brothers, my dad and his sister, my Aunt Sandy who just moved in. Our mother, Valerie, had died in an automobile accident about six months ago. She was killed by a drunk driver.

My dad, Michael is a pilot for a major airline and wasn't always home for he would be flying around the world. But when he was home, we made the most of it. After mom died, dad took time off from work to be with us kids. We all knew that he would have to go back to work soon. I felt it was my duty as the eldest son to do what I could so dad could return to work.

I took on a lot of the responsibilities around the house that mom would do. I did the shopping, and cooking and made sure cleaning got done. I took a more mature role with my brothers. I had to be there for them for the last six months emotionally, but lately I have had to parent them. I wanted dad to know that the home wouldn't fall apart if he was a work. Plus there was ol' Mrs. Poole who lives next door that checks up on us four times a day.

Dad told me that his sister, my aunt Sandy would be moving in with us soon. I felt a quick pain in my stomach. We don't need her. We are doing just fine. Am I not doing a good enough job around here? Doesn't he trust me? He doesn't appreciate me! If he thinks that she is going to come into this house and boss me around or tell me what to do, well, he has another thing coming.

As I am processing this, he must've felt my uneasiness. I felt a warm hand on my neck and shoulder. I felt like I wanted to just push that hand right off of me.

"Listen, Son. Your aunt needs us right now. She just went through a nasty divorce and she needs a fresh start." I feel a little better at this point. Maybe its not personal. I look up into his eyes and see a tear forming. "We need each other. We always took care of each other growing up and with your mom dying and Sandy's divorce we haven't been there for each other. Now we can be."

I'm feeling a lot better. He moves his right hand to the back of my head and kisses my forehead.

"David. You have been so wonderful these last few months. I don't know how we would've done it without you. You have really stepped up and have done so much... your Mom taught you well." His words have never been so tender to me.

My eyes start to pool up and I notice that a tear has fallen down his cheek. He does trust and appreciate me. I can't hold back and embrace him like only a son can do. After a moment, he "breaks the ice" and says, "So, what's for diner?" My eyes get wide and I start to panic. "MY ROAST"!

So aunt Sandy moves in and brings a u-haul full of her stuff. Where are we going to put it all? Dad and Sandy start to clean out the garage and the twins and I get assigned to clean out the attic. Willie and Mark spend a lot of time reminiscing over the toys from childhood and alike. We're not making a lot of progress, but it is fun going through all this old stuff.

Dad joins us to check on our progress. I ask Dad how much longer we have to do this because I have a date tonight with Jennifer. I finally got her to agree to go out with me so I want enough time to get ready. Dad said that we could be done when Aunt Sandy calls us for dinner.

Mark pulls an object out of one of the boxes and Dad asks what the heck it was. I recognized it. "It's the lamp I made for you for Father's day in my wood shop class." I realize now that it really was a piece of junk but dad kept it even though he forgot where it came from. Dad said, "And I loved it too." Nice save. Mark was still playing with it to try to get it to work. He said that he couldn't get it to turn on. I said that I doubted that even Mr. Wizard could get it to work. Then we heard Aunt Sandy call us down for dinner, so we all left the attic. I went to my room to get ready for my date with Jennifer and the boys went down to have dinner.

I just dropped off Jennifer after a really fun date. First we ate at one of those Taco Trucks you see in various parking lots around town. There is one I always go to and I know the owner, Pedro. His vehicle is simply, Pedro's Taco Truck. How original.

He sees me approaching and speaks loudly, "Hola David. Eh, quien es esta muñeca?" I think he was talking about Jennifer and I hope it was nice. "This my date, Jennifer." I say. In his heavy Spanish accent he says, "She is bea ut tiful. What is she doing wit you? Jar jar jar." He says, "I'll make you my especial Arroz con Pollo, con frijoles negros." It's always good, so I just say, "Si".

We then went to a concert in the park. It was nice just hanging out with her. When I dropped her off, she said that she had a wonderful time spending time with me. I flash her my signature grin. She puts her right hand on my left cheek and caresses it with her thumb. "I just love that smile." Then she kisses my other cheek and walks into her house. She turns back. "Hasta manana, guapo." Man! I need to learn Spanish.