Chapter 4
Our new house was two stories. I've only lived in two other houses before, and they were both one story, so this was something new. It was a four bedroom three bathroom house. It wasn't huge, but it was pretty big for just three people, but soon five people would be living in it anyway. It also had a big attic and basement. And a front and back yard. The front yard was kind of small, the back yard wasn't too bad. It could fit a grill and a swing-set for Angel.
Before we started unpacking, we let Angel walk around and we gave her a tour of the house. When you first walked into the front door there was a small hallway that lead to the kitchen and living room. Also there was an opening to the dinning room and of course the downstairs bathroom. The kitchen was luckily had enough cooking space and room was a table. At our old house we always had to eat in the dinning room. We had to buy a new table set for the new dinning room so it would match. And next to the living room there was room that was gonna be my office so I could write. Then upstairs was the bedrooms. Two were across from each other, then were was a hallway and the bathroom, then at the end of the quick hallway the other two were across from one another.
"Mommy, whose gonna get the bedroom across from you and Daddy?" Angel asked Matty. Matty looked at me as if she didn't know what to say, then back at Angel. "Uh, we were gonna give that room to the babies when they're born." She told her honestly. "Oh." Angel said quietly. I knew what she was thinking. She was nervous about sleeping in a new place and wanted to feel close to us.
"It's just that babies wake up in the middle of the night crying a lot, so that way we won't have to walk all the way down the hall and can get to them faster." I explained. Angel still looked unhappy. This move really isn't easy on her. "But we were thinking of making the extra room a playroom for you. Would you like that?" Matty said. Angel finally smiled. "Yes." Of course Matty knew the right thing to say.
After we finished showing Angel around the house, we let her run around the backyard. She'd been sitting in a car for the past couple of days, so we figured she had energy she needed to burn off. We weren't gonna unpack too much today. Just important furniture like beds and the kitchen table, stuff like that. But Angel needed to stay outside. With the movers carrying heavy furniture round, we couldn't let her get in the way. But just we were about to get started there was a knock at the front door.
The door was already open, so movers could come in and out so I could see who it was. Sodapop!
I began walking faster when I saw it was him. He had one of his kids with him. He looked around Angel's age, and he looked almost exactly like what Soda did when he was a little kid. It was Dane, Soda and Emily's youngest son.
As soon as I reached the front door, me and Sodapop started hugging. I hadn't seen him since Christmas a year ago, the only time we talked was trough letters and over the telephone. "Hey man." I said to him sounding like a teenager again. "How ya doing, Pones?" He said. Soda had defiantly aged, but his years were treating him good. Sure enough, he was still movie-star handsome like he was 15 years ago, just a little older. Emily is lucky. And so am I, since Matty is like that too. Except now with her pregnancy she's puffy all the time and griping, but stuff like that doesn't matter to me.
"You look good." I said to Soda once we stopped hugging. "Hey you ain't so bad yourself." He said to me. Since I'm only 29 I haven't aged too much, thank God. But I just look older. My hair is shorter and I don't grease it anymore. Back when I was 14 I would never wear my hair like this. It was worse than having it cut all lopsided and bleached.
"Where's Matty and Angel?" Soda asked. "Angel is out in the backyard, Matty is somewhere resting. This pregnancy is more tiring than her first one." I explained. "Probably cause she's carrying two babies this time." Soda said. "Yeah." Just then, Angel came walking in from the back door and came walking over to me. Last time she saw her Uncle Soda and Dane, she was two, she didn't even remember them. She hugged my leg a little, acting shy.
"Angel, this is your Uncle Sodapop." I told her pointing to Soda. "How ya doing, sweetheart?" He said flashing his legendary smile at Angel. "Good, thank you." Angel said smiling a little. Soda can charm anyone. But also Angel likes to be called sweetheart a lot for some reason. "And then this is your cousin Dane." I told her pointing to Dane. He was somewhat glaring at her, like he was trying to be some tough guy. Kinda reminded me of Dally.
"What kind of name is Angel?" He said to her. She then let go of my leg and stood closer to him. She's like Matty she knows when to stick up for herself. "Well you daddy is named Sodapop." She reminded him. "So, at least soda is a tasty drink. Angels are sissys And your dad is named Ponyboy. Ponies are sissys too."
"They are not! Angels help God, and ponies grow up to be horses. And horses aren't sissys!" Soda and I have one another worried looks, the two already weren't getting along. "Well you're a girl, girls like sissy stuff like that, cause they're not as smart as boys."
"No they're not!" Angel was getting mad now. "Angel that's enough." I warned her but she didn't listen. "Yeah they are, how old are you?" Dane asked. "Four." She told him.
"Well I'm five, so I'm smarter, cause I'm older. I'm going to kindergarten in the fall." Dane bragged. Soda then nudged him. "Dane cut it out, be nice to your cousin." But neither one of them was listening to us.
"So am I! My doctor and day care teacher said I'm smart enough to go." Angel informed Dane. Then his expression changed. His eyes got wide, and he now seemed interested in what Angel had to say.
"Really? Can you read yet?" He asked. "Just my name, the and dog." She said truthfully. "I can read my name too, and the cover of The Cat in the Hat." Said Dane. "I like that book, my daddy reads it to me before bed sometimes."
"Me too." Now and Soda and I were smiling, now they were getting along. Funny how little kids can be that way. One minute they're fighting five minutes later they're playing a game together. Soda then went on with what he wanted to say.
"Since you and Matty are gonna be busy unpacking today, Emily and I figured Angel could come over and could meet and play with her cousins. Then around dinner you and Matty could come over and eat a home cooked meal instead of take-out." He explained. "Sounds good to me." I said. The four of us then walked down the street to Soda and Emily's house. Dane and Angel talked about different books they liked and wanted to learn to read. When we got to their house the oldest, Xavier whose nine was watching a cartoon. Their seven-year-old Rachel was at the table drawing in a coloring book. And the youngest, Wendy whose two was running around with no clothes on. Emily was chasing after her.
Emily looks older now, but is still really pretty. Still has her auburn hair and eyes that look like leaves in the summer. But right now, she looked tired. Four kids can do that to you. "I swear Soda, if she doesn't get potty trained soon I'm gonna go insane." She complained. "Relax, she will." Once couples get older and start having kids, their relationships change. Some start fighting more, act like they're mad at each other a lot. But with Emily and Soda I can tell they still love each other. They might babble but at the end of the day, they still love one another. Darry and Laura are like that too. Me and Matty don't fight too much. Just once in awhile over silly stuff like bills.
I said hello to Emily and let Angel say hi to all her cousins before I went back home. When I got there, the only piece furniture in the house was the couch, which Matty was lying down on. "Dropped Angel off at Soda's?" she asked. "Yeah we're gonna go over there for dinner." I said walking over. "That's fine." She said. She had her eyes closed. I sat down by her feet. "You ok?" I asked. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"Maybe we should've waited 'fore the babies were born to move." I thought out loud. "No, Pony, it's not that bad. Travel always makes me tired. Sides if we waited for the babies to born it would be twice as bad and both of us would be tired. Just let me rest for a few minutes." She explained. While I waited for her to be ready I rubbed her feet. She doesn't complain much, but when she does it's cause her feet hurt or are swollen.
Once she was ready to go the movers brought in all the big furniture and we told them where to put it. Then we unloaded the boxes and put them in the right rooms, but we didn't unpack anything yet. Now the beds, the table and chairs were all in the right spots. Me and Matty fell unto our bed, just to rest our eyes for a few minutes. But then I woke up, and my watch said 6:30.
"C'mon Matty we gotta go to Soda and Emily's for dinner." i told Matty. She yawned but got up without a word. When we got there, Angel was coloring with Rachel and Dane. Xavier with was reading a comic book but he was sitting with them, and Wendy was banning on pots and pans like they were drums. Soda told me she's the sassy one who likes to start trouble, hopefully it's just part of the terrible twos phase.
Dinner was just spaghetti and meatballs, but it was nice to have something sides fast food or something from a diner. Soda and Emily told me and Matty about how good the school system is up here, Matty told them about her pregnancy, I talked about the memoir/coming-of-age book I was hoping to publish and Soda liked the idea. Emily too. Angel talked to all four of her cousins, they all acted like they've known her their whole lives. I liked that, especially since she had a rocky start with Dane.
After dinner, we went home and went straight to bed, all of us were tired. But at least we were finally here.
Sorry this chapter was late, I was in a play and it took up a lot of my time. Merry late Christmas! I'll try to write during break and now that the play is over, Stay Gold!
