Chapter 8

Hoagie sat at the kitchen table, licking the lid of a strawberry banana yogurt. "How old are you, man?" I asked him, not actually upset.

He stared at me. "Abigail, you can't just not lick the lid of a yogurt. I mean, come on," Hoagie laughed.

I turned my attention back to my magazine. Sometimes, Hoagie was just plain weird.

"Abs!" Only seconds later, he shocked me back into looking at him. "Listen to this: The 'Star in Your Own Television Show' Sweepstakes! Win a chance for you and your friends to star in a brand new TV series! I'm entering," Hoagie said.

"You are not entering. Abby won't let ya," I replied. Hoagie pouted. "You enter every single one of those dumb contests and we never win! All it ever gets us is junk mail!"

Hoagie shook his head, upsetting the already unruly hair. "Abby, Abby, Abby. Clearly, the more sweepstakes I enter, the more chances I have of winning one eventually. Mark my words, darling, you'll see."

Many days and licked yogurt lids later, I sat at the kitchen table sorting mail. The stack of junk towered over the stack of bills and other important mail (namely, my magazines). Across the top of one envelope, it read "The Star in Your Own Television Show Sweepstakes". I shook my head but carefully ripped open the top, sort of remembering the day Hoagie had entered.

My brown eyes widened in shock as they skimmed over the words written across the page. Hoagie had won. He had actually won some stupid, yogurt lid sweepstakes. And, we got to star in our own television show. Immediately, I picked up the cordless phone at my side and called Hoagie at work.

"Hey, beautiful, what's up?" he answered.

"Abby don't believe this, boy, but you actually won that contest."

"Which one?" Hoagie asked excitedly. "The one where we get a free trip to Beijing? Or the one where we get free apples for a year? Oh, is it the one where-"

"We get to have a TV show? Yep, that's the one, baby!" I had tried not to get into this. But, honestly, who doesn't want their own TV show? With the all the money, we'd be able to buy a house easily. The letter said 8 members of your family or friends would be on the show. That would be everyone who lived with us. Kuki and Wally would probably be able to buy a house and move out too. I didn't know why I had told Hoagie he couldn't enter the contest. It was pretty much the best idea he'd ever had.

After listening to Hoagie freak out for a few minutes, I hung up and called the number at the bottom of the letter. A regal sounding man answered, "Hawkins TV and Co. What can I do for you?"

"Um," I mumbled, not used to talking to such proper people (besides Nigel); "this is Abigail Gilligan. My husband, Hoagie Gilligan, won a contest and I was supposed to call this number for more information."

"Oh, of course," the man continued. "They told me you'd be calling. Let me transfer you; hold on one moment, please."

I talked to another man who explained to me what the sweepstakes had been about. They were apparently looking for something fresh and new. Not a bunch of strangers playing a family, but an actual family playing a family. I told them about me, Hoagie, and Brady. They were also interested in Wally, Kuki, Ash, Joey, and Fanny being on the show, as we made up a large family basically. Wally and Kuki didn't know about the sweepstakes, but I knew Kuki and she would never complain about a chance to be on TV. When, we talked salary, I was shocked. Before the call was ended, they said that Hoagie and I would need to come in sometime soon to sign a contract.

I was extremely jittery while waiting for Kuki and Fanny to come home so I could tell them the news. The minute I heard keys in the door, I jumped off the couch.

"Girl, hey!" I exclaimed as an exhausted Kuki came in followed by a pissed off Fanny. "So, guess what?"

The two young women look at me. "What?" Fanny spat, dropping her large messenger bag on the floor.

I grinned. "We're going to star in a TV show! And buy houses!"

"Good one, Abby," Fanny replied. She bit into the apple she had taken off the counter. I handed her the letter from the sweepstakes. Her forest green eyes widened just like mine had. "My word," she whispered.

Kuki snatched the letter out of Fanny's freckled hands. "OH MY GOD!" she squealed. "You're serious?" Kuki was smiling the biggest I'd seen since she found out about her second pregnancy.

"Abby doesn't kid, girlfriend!" Kuki wrapped her long arms around me while jumping up and down. Fanny looked at us sideways. I knew she kind of wanted to join in, but of course she didn't.

"Where in the hell am I supposed to live when the two of you decide to live the suburban life?" Our red-headed friend wasn't as happy about this advancement as we were.

"Fanny, silly, you can buy yourself an apartment with the money you make," Kuki giggled. Her eyes narrowed into slits. "Or," she started, "there may be a certain black-haired boy who you could buy a house with."

Fanny blushed deep red. "I don't know what you're talking about. But thanks for deserting me, anyway."

At the contract signing, it was decided that we would be starring in a night time sitcom. The show would mainly center on Hoagie and I, but everyone would be living together in one house. And some plotlines would maybe be about collecting rent and that sort of stuff. There would be other minor characters that the company would add in as needed.

In terms of houses, once we had the money, Wally and Kuki bought a house right next to ours in a brand new neighborhood. There were very nice schools in the area and I couldn't be happier that we had finally gotten out of the city. I liked the city for visiting, but I had never liked living there. And it wasn't really a place to be raising kids. Fanny bought an apartment on the outskirts of the city. She's happy there and wasn't as bitter about us 'deserting' her. She still came around a lot because she didn't act like it, but deep down she loved us. Especially Patton, in Kuki's opinion.

Soon, Wally, Kuki, and Hoagie finished college and started working in their fields. I stayed home and watched the kids during the day. But, Joey and Brady went to school so it was basically just Ash. The TV show was going really well, but all three of them loved their jobs and decided to keep them. If it ever got to be too much, they could always stop for a few years until the show was over.

"Brady, wake up," I said, shaking his shoulder gently. I'd overslept and Joey was probably waiting for him. Brady went to the preschool attached to Joey's school and they walked together every day.

"Do I have school today?" he asked while popping up into a sitting position. Brady loved school. I guess with Hoagie and I as parents, it was bound to happen. Hoagie had already started teaching the almost 4 year old to read.

I smiled at my son. "Mama over slept, so you've gotta hurry. You know how Joey gets." I started tossing clothes at him that were easy to put on.

"Like Wally, right, mama?" Brady giggled.

We went into the kitchen and I poured him some milk and cereal into a plastic cup. "Here ya go, kid. Drink this on your way." Brady pulled on the backpack that was almost the size of him and together we walked over to Kuki and Wally's house.

Joey was standing on the driveway with a scowl. "I woke up before the cruddy sun, and you can't hurry this kid along?" he asked me.

On my way inside, I ruffled his blonde hair, which is something he hated. "Oh, can it, Beatles."

Joey grouchily took Brady's hand and they continued down the street towards school. I was headed inside the house to get Ash. Kuki wasn't currently working because she was on doctor ordered 'bed rest'. The Doctor didn't know how hard it was for my always busy best friend to stay in one place. She was probably worse off now than she was before. I let myself inside where Kuki was folding laundry. "I hate this!" she cried, folding an orange sweatshirt and adding it to a pile with three others.

"Doesn't that boy wear any other colors?" I smirked.

Kuki looked distractedly down at the pile of clothes. "When I make him," she responded.

"Abby, abby, abby, abby!" A pint-sized whirlwind circled around my legs.

I bent over and picked up Ash. Her chest was heaving from the combination of running and yelling. "Hey, girl. Kuki, you want breakfast?"

"Oh yes please! Eggs, I have a huge craving for eggs!"

I walked into the kitchen with Ash on my hip. "Do you want eggs, Ash?" I asked the two year old.

Ash's attention was turned at the window. "Look, Abby! Friends." She pointed excitedly out the window.

I spun around and noticed Nigel, Patton, and Ace approaching the house. Ash was wiggling to get out of my arms so I put her down and she rushed to the door. Once there, she looked at me expectedly. "Open, please."

I let Wally and Hoagie's three friends in, wondering what exactly they were doing here. Hoagie told me they'd gotten jobs. I picked Ash up again, but she reached away from me. "Nigel!" she whined. I handed her over before the moaning started. Patton rolled his eyes. As far as I knew, Patton had never held either Brady or Ash. But, then again, maybe when we left the three of them in charge, he was more helpful than I thought. Not likely though.

"What's for breakfast?" Patton asked smelling the eggs.

"Nothin' for you, fool. Kuki's having eggs. Go make yourself useful and start the washing machine," I commanded the black-haired boy. I handed him a basket full of clothes.

Patton approached the washing machine with a look of fear. "How?" He looked down at it like it was speaking Chinese.

Nigel pushed Patton out of the way and expertly started the washing machine. "There," he said, dumping the clothes in.

"Where'd you learn that, Nigelina?" Patton snickered.

Ace rolled his chocolate brown eyes.

"One: I, unlike you, actually wash my clothing. And two: the feminine form of 'Nigel' is 'Nigella' so nice try, dolt," Nigel responded with a smirk.

Patton sat down at the table, defeated, and I turned around to notice that Kuki's eggs were now scrambled. "Well, great," I moaned. "I was listening to you two morons and now Kuki's eggs are scrambled."

My eyes were met by three blank stares. "So…?" Patton asked.

"Scrambled eggs make her sick."

Patton stood up from the table and patted my back. "Don't fret, Abby. I'll take those off your hands."

"Abby figured," I sighed, dumping the eggs onto a paper plate. I called to Kuki in the other room. "I'll make you some new eggs, girl."

"Don't worry," she replied, grumpily. "I'm not going anywhere anytime soon."

A/N: Yay for random events happening! Haha, the things that happen in this fic would just never happen. I love it.