"I think Bun-Bun likes you, Luan!" Leni said. The five sisters were all sitting in a circle on the living room floor. Luan fiddled with the stuffed animal with her hands, grasping its soft white texture.
As this happened, Lori was playing with her Barbie doll. She had brought down a tupperware container with innumerable accessories: outfits, combs, brushes, the pink convertible, and other things. She was in the process of changing Barbie into her nurse outfit when the piece of plastic won Lynn's eyes. Since she was sitting next to Lori, she extended her arms out towards it. Lori noticed rather quickly.
"Lynn, you can't have this," she said. Her mom had already explained to her the dangers of toys with small parts and had she been in the room at the moment, she would have told Lori to not play with it so close to the baby. But mostly, Lori just found Lynn's begging annoying. When Lynn didn't stop her grabbing, Lori just groaned.
"Ban-Ban," Luan said enthusiastically, tossing the doll into the center of the social circle.
"No, silly," Leni replied, chuckling. She then reached to grab her beloved bunny, "It is Bun...Bun."
She handed it back to Luan and watched her play with it some more, which mostly consisted of throwing it up and down. As the younger sister did this, she laughed in her cute voice.
"Ban-Ban!" she exclaimed again as she threw it up. This time, it landed behind her and outside the circle. Leni giggled again.
"Let me help you," Leni said. She then grabbed the doll and held it up in front of Luan.
"Bun," she pointed. She then paused for a brief moment to poke the bunny's plush belly, "Bun!" Luan then opened her arms, her eyes clearly burning for the doll. Leni gently handed it to her sister once more.
Meanwhile, Luna was playing with an interactive push-button board; each of the buttons had characters from Sesame Street on it. Luna pushed the various buttons and grinned whenever she heard the respective character compliment her. No one else was a big fan of electronics, much to Luna's delight.
"Hey there, kids!"
Lynn Sr. emerged from the kitchen with a quip on his face and newspaper in hand. Seeing the girls sitting in their circle, he knelt next to Luna and Lynn Jr.
"You girls getting along, having fun. That's what I like to see," he said before turning his head to the other side of the circle, "Leni, you're letting Luan play with Bun-Bun?"
"Yes, daddy," Leni said, perking a smile. Luan barely noticed, however, and continued to play around with the bunny.
"I'm glad you're doing that. And what about you girls?," he asked, "Everything's going good?"
Lori nodded her head with her eyes glued to her Barbie doll, prompting Luna to do the same.
"Well okay," he said. He then gazed at the various plastic accessories in the tupperware container, "Lori, just make sure Lynn doesn't get her hands on those."
"Yes, dad," she said, not even looking up.
"Thank you."
With that, Lynn Sr took a seat at a nearby armchair and started reading his paper. None of the girls really minded their dad watching them play; in fact, they barely even noticed it.
Luan tossed up Bun-Bun and reached her hands out. To her amazement, the doll slid comfortably into her hands, causing the toddler to grin.
"Yup yup yup!" she cheered as she hugged the doll she caught.
Something clicked in Leni. A burst of excitement suddenly rushed through her and she enjoyed every moment of it. Instinctively, she propped her arms up and bent her elbows. She bent her wrists downward, causing her hands to cup in a similar fashion.
"Yup yup yup!" she mimicked, her eyes closing in glee.
Luan giggled at her big sister's antics. Leni's gleaming eyes opened to see the toddler clapping her hands, asking for more. But instead, she stuck a finger to Bun-Bun and tapped its nose. She then lifted it up to Luan's and poked it as well. As she imagined, Luan chuckled and her lips curled upwards.
"You're so cute, Luan!" she said. Her eyes were now transfixed on her sister, never breaking away, "Yes you are! Yup yup yup!"
Lori glanced up to see her two siblings. She noticed that Leni was now kneeling as opposed to sitting and leaning in towards Luan. She then turned to Lynn, who was slumped down on her leg like a puppy. Feeling the undeniable obligation, she stroked Lynn's blooming brown hair. She didn't feel much from it, though—no smile, no sparkle in her eyes. As she did this, she heard Leni cheering and repeating "Yup yup yup" every couple of sentences.
"How can she be so happy right now? She's not trying!"
Lori then turned back to Leni, who was now really close to Luan. A little too close, she felt, but Luan didn't seem to care. Both of them were laughing, beaming, and encouraging each other. If there was one thing Lori knew Leni was better at her at, it was making her sisters happy.
Leni was sitting in the corner on the floor with Blacky. She stroked it's black fur like it was Bun-Bun. Her face lacked any tension or energy.
"You should have been there," she thought to herself, envisioning herself as much more excited than what her outward appearance conveyed. She imagined the plushie was a living, happy, furry friend she was talking to, "The best scene in the whole movie was when Ducky was helping them get those green thingys out of the tree! And they ate them and Ducky said 'Yup yup yup!"
She then propped the plushie so that its face was directed at her's.
"Yup yup yup!" she imagined Blacky saying.
"Yup yup yup! That's what Ducky says! And it gets better too. Mommy told me that there are more of those movies. So I get to see Ducky even more. Yup yup yup!"
"That's good. Yup yup yup!"
At this point, Leni started humming and swaying Blacky back in forth in her extended arms. She didn't even notice another girl approach to her.
"Hey Leni," Liliana said. In her hands, she held some paper and a crayon box. She was met, however, with detached humming; it was like she was blended into the colorless air.
"Uh...Leni?" she repeated. Still nothing. Liliana walked closer and held out the materials in front of Blacky, "Did you want to color with me?"
The blonde continued playing with her plushie. Liliana thought she could hear her classmate mummering words under her juvenile noises. But at last, she concluded that Leni was having fun in her own bubble.
"Okay then...," she said, pulling back the art supplies, "I will be coloring now. You can color too if you want."
Liliana then stepped back and retreated to one of the circular tables. Leni couldn't have been bothered to see.
"And that kids is the magic of subtraction!" Mrs. Turner exclaimed, sticking both her arms at her big, green numbers on the white board. Despite her enthusiasm, though, none of her students were excited. Some were bored, some were annoyed, and others were in the middle.
"Lame!" Sean exclaimed as he crumbled a piece of paper.
And just like that, the closing bell rang, "Very well, I hope you all have a good weekend!"
The students sighed and started getting their backpacks.
"Hey Lori, do you want to have a sleepover tonight at my house? My parents said I could have one," Emily said, walking with her friend.
"Yes! I'll just ask my mom to see if she's good with it."
Upon grabbing their things, the two girls made their way through the crowd of children and into the hallway, where all their parents were waiting. Emily tagged along with Lori as she made her way to Rita, whose stomach had become noticeably bloated.
"Hi Lori how was your day?" she asked before noticing the additional member, "And if it isn't Emily. Hi there, how was your day?"
"It was great! Thanks Mrs. Loud," Emily interjected.
"Good, Mom," Lori said. She briefly looked at her friend before turning back to Rita, "Hey Mom, can I go over Emily's house tonight for a sleepover?"
The two of them smiled, hoping the adult would grant their wish.
"I'm sorry, girls, but tonight is not a good night for that. The doctors want me at the hospital to make sure the baby is doing well," she said regretfully, "How about next weekend? Does that sound fair?"
The two girls sighed and groaned.
"Sorry," Emily said to Lori, "I'll see if we can do it next week," she then turned to Rita and straightened her face, "Good luck Mrs. Loud."
Rita smiled.
"Thank you Emily! That's very nice of you," she said. She then took her hand and rubbed her inflated belly, "And I'm sure my special little guy will be happy to see the doctors again."
"I hope you all have a nice weekend!" Emily said. And with that, she left to attend to her awaiting mother. Lori, however, still had the face of a stone.
"Are you okay sweetie?" Rita asked, approaching her daughter.
"I wanted a sleepover," she pouted.
"I know you're upset, but soon you'll have a brother to play with. Doesn't that sound exciting?"
"And why did it have to be a boy? Why couldn't it be a girl?"
Rita was disappointed in herself for not resolving this. It wasn't the first time she had gotten that answer from Lori and no answer seemed to be good enough for her. That didn't stop the mother from trying, though.
"Honey," she started. She then leaned her body towards the hallway, "Let's go pick up Leni and we can talk on the way."
She started walking down the corridor. The moody Lori trudged alongside her.
"When gave me and Daddy you and your sisters, we didn't choose to have you all be girls. It was God that made that decision. This time, God chose to give us a boy."
"But why?"
"We don't know. God works in ways that we can't learn about. But what we do know about Him is that He loves all of us. You, me, Daddy, your sisters, Emily, everyone. He loves boys and girls the same because they are all special. Your brother is someone God loves in the same way you are someone God loves."
"But now there's gonna be Ace Savvy toys and comic books everywhere!" Lori lamented, "It's gross! Boys are bad anyway. They are mean! Brother is gonna be really bad to me and my sisters."
"Not all boys are bad. What makes you think they are?" Rita asked.
Lori sighed.
"There's this one boy in my class named Sean. And he's really rude. He always talks back to the teacher, he never does his homework, and he's mean to us! And now I'm gonna have a boy like Sean living in my own house. It's not fair!"
Rita has heard Lori talk about this boy several times before and she had tried to reassure her, but the girl still doesn't understand. She figured it was important for her to comprehend it, even if she had to tell it a hundred times.
"Lori, not all boys are like Sean. Some of them are mean, yes, but not all of them. Me and Dad will work hard to make sure your brother is not like that. We will love him, we will care for him, and we will try to show him how to be good. Just like you and your sisters."
Lori didn't respond. She just kept walking alongside her mother, noting how they were getting close to Mrs. Egan's room.
"I want you to be able to get along with your brother when he comes," Rita continued at the urging of her daughter's silence, "he will be something special. He will grow up to like certain things, have friends, and maybe even find a special someone. Just like you and your sisters."
"Mom!" Lori exclaimed, blushing a little, "Boys are dirty and I don't want a special someone."
"That's okay. You're young and you may not like that idea. But when you get older, you might change your mind and you might start falling in love."
"Stop it. I don't want to talk about this," she replied, her face now even redder and more flustered.
Rita forced back some laughter.
"I'm just having fun with you Lori," she said, looking down at her, "I guess what I want you to know is that you shouldn't be mad about having a brother. He will be a blessing to our family and I hope that with time, you can see that."
Lori stared at the crowd of parents outside Mrs. Egan's door.
"Okay we're here," she uttered, trying to flush away the awkwardness and embarrassment.
The two settled in the special corner of the hallway. It wasn't long before each of the students flooded out the door, eager to escape for the weekend. Leni emerged with her arms up, eyes closed, and smile widened, trying once again to imitate Ducky. Lori groaned.
"Hi Leni," Rita said, giving her second daughter a hug, "How was your day?"
"Good...," she said before flouting her arms up even higher, "yup yup yup!"
Rita chuckled.
"I'm happy to hear that."
"You were doing that during school?! That's weird," Lori snickered.
"Lori!" Rita said, shooting her head to her. She then exhaled and turned back to Leni, who appeared unaffected by the comment, "It's good to be yourself, Leni. Never be ashamed to show to others who you are."
"Yup yup yup!" Leni chipped.
And the three of them left. Rita smiling, Leni pretending to be Ducky, and Lori somewhat annoyed.