Thanks for the reviews! Sorry I haven't updated lately...

11 Years Old

I was happy to finally be in an English speaking country. I don't think I have to explain why. If you've ever been somewhere and were surrounded by people speaking gibberish, you know what I mean. For those who don't, let's just say it's awkward and I don't like it. I like to know what's going on around me.

The one thing that might stomp out my happiness would be seeing my sister, Sadie. It's not like we hate each other, it's just... I don't know how to explain it. She lives with our grandparents and my dad and I are only allowed two days a year with her, so we're more like distant cousins than siblings. If that makes any sense. Anyway, the only reason we were visiting her on my birthday was because she was sick on our normal visiting day and our grandparents were feeling unusually nice and let us see her another day. I know, another normal day in the life of Carter Kane. Sometimes I don't know how I keep up with it all.

Yesterday, my dad and I seemed to have this secret agreement that nothing was going to be said about my birthday. I honestly could care less (to me it's just another day of the year) and I felt that Dad could do without the headache of dealing with Sadie and my birthday. I'm just nice that way.

I remember a conversation Dad and I had yesterday about how Sadie is able to argue with anybody and/or anything. He said, and I quote, "If you lock her in a room by herself, she'll end up arguing with a wall, telling it that it's painted the wrong color."

All of this runs through my head as we drive to my grandparents' flat. The driver of our taxi drops us off at the curb and my dad and I start the long walk to the door. Before we even get to the house I see Sadie come running towards us. Fine with me, cause I really have no desire to see my grandparents. It sounds horrible, I know, but after the spatula attack, it's been a kind of tense relationship. Sadie tackles Dad with a hug, and I mean, literally tackles him. Our dad's a big guy and it's not easy to knock him off balance, but somehow nine-year-old Sadie managed.

Dad smiled at her and said, "Hello Sadie."

Sadie stops hugging Dad and says, "You're late. I've been waiting for hours for you to come!" She had this weird look on her face like she was trying to be mad, but couldn't help smiling a bit. Typical Sadie for you. Can't ever decide if she's happy we're (mostly Dad) here, or mad that we're (once again, mostly Dad) late. Maybe we'll get lucky and our plane will be on time. And maybe the Egyptian gods ARE real. Please.

"Our flight was delayed. There was going to be some bad weather in Italy."

"You say that every time. I don't think you've ever been on time for Visitation Day!" Sadie's expression was starting to look more annoyed, but she still had a goofy smile on her face.

Dad just smiled at her and said, "Well, let's not spend the rest of the day arguing about it." Sadie just gave a little huff, took Dad's hand, and the three of us started walking to the taxi. This image of Sadie yelling at a wall pops in my head and I start laughing. Sadie looks at me and asks, "What?" which is the first thing she's said to me for six months. Like I said, more like distant cousins than siblings.

"Nothing, it's nothing," I say when I can talk. I look at my dad and he's smiling to himself.

"If it really was nothing, you wouldn't be laughing."

"It was nothing Sadie."

"No, it was something."

I hesitate. "Do you really want to know?"

"What kind of question is that? Of course I want to know!"

"Well..."

"Spit it out!"

I looked at Dad. He was laughing to himself, clearly remembering our conversation yesterday. Sadie follows my gaze. Her eyes narrow. "What. Is. So. Funny!" This just causes us to laugh more and we're still laughing when we get into the taxi. Eventually, Sadie joins in, still clueless on why we're all laughing in the first place.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

The rest of the day seems to go by pretty fast. We didn't really do anything worth telling, just normal family stuff that you'd see a normal family doing. And we all know that the Kanes are far from that.

It's around eight o'clock when Sadie has to go home. We were eating supper when Dad got an angry phone call from our grandparents. That definitely signified the end of Visitation Day. In the taxi ride back to their flat, we all decided it would be best if Sadie walked up to the house by herself.

We said our goodbyes at the curb. Sadie gave Dad a very long hug and then surprised me by giving me one too. She whispered in my ear, "Happy birthday Carter," before she ran down the walk and disappeared in the house. I didn't know she even knew today was my birthday. Just goes to show you, little sisters (especially Sadie) will always surprise you.

We had the taxi driver take us to a hotel so we could rent a room. Dad was going to speak at the British Museum in a few days. I was just getting ready to fall asleep when I realized something.

"Hey, Dad?"

"Yes Carter?"

"I don't think we ever told Sadie why we were laughing earlier."

Dad was quiet for a little while before he answered, "I think you're right Carter. I think you're right."

Tell me what you guys think about this. Reviews will motivate me to update faster!