A Year in the Life

by owlcroft

One year of stories, told month by month. Think of these twelve little stories as a sort of mini-Advent calendar; one will be posted every day for the next twelve days as a thank-you to everyone who has been kind enough to leave reviews or comments or just enjoyed my stories.

6. Chapter 6

June

Beatie had been given a bicycle the previous Christmas and was excited enough at that point that she would have been happy to use the training wheels for the rest of her life. But the previous night at dinner, she had told her parents she was a big girl now and it was time for the training wheels to come off.

"Are you sure?" Beetlejuice had asked. When she nodded, mouth full of spaghetti, he turned to Lydia. "Isn't she too young for this?" he'd said anxiously. "Didn't we decide to wait until she was six at least?"

Lydia had shrugged. "If it's too hard, we can always put them back on."

So the wheels were now off, Beatie was eager to try riding without them, her mother was standing right next to her and the bike, and her father was worriedly shaking his head.

"She'll be fine," soothed Lydia.

"I don't know; I think she's too little. But she's so headstrong. Just like her Mama." He managed a small smile at that.

"She's stubborn, just like . . . both of us. Beej, it'll be all right. I'll be right next to her the whole time." Lydia gave him an encouraging nod.

"Well," he sighed, "you were the one who was always riding a bike, anyway. I could teach her, but you'd be better. But be careful, Trix, okay?"

"I will, Papa," Beatie chirped.

"Right," said her Mama. "You ready to try? You're not afraid, are you?"

Beatie reached for the handle bars and settled herself on the seat while Lydia held the bike steady. "I'm not afraid at all! C'mon, Mama! Let's go!"

Beetlejuice closed his eyes, then decided that wasn't good enough. He juiced himself into the house, next to the front window and covered his eyes with his hands. "If she hurts herself," he muttered out loud, "I have to stay calm, not get upset." Suddenly, he heard a whoop of childish glee and instinctively looked out the window. There went the bike, Beatie in charge, with Lydia trotting beside it, hands in the air.

Instantly he juiced himself to float beside the bike, grinning and cackling, hands out to catch his daughter just in case. "I told you she could do it!" he said triumphantly. "Trix, I knew you could all along!"