We always say this story/Journal is really about nothing...nothing but everyday living, the things we all do if we're a part of a loving, normal family. We hope you enjoy our stories as much as we enjoy writing them. So, thank you for taking the time to read this chapter. All entries are written lovingly by Handy-for-the-bus & Terriejane. We don't own John & Anna, but we wish we did. Alas, we just use them gently. Eamon, Will and the twins do belong to us, however. If you enjoy the Journal, please leave a review. It makes our day. :)

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March, 8th 1928 11:10 am

Well, I've done it. Last week I was fitted for reading glasses which I picked up this morning. I'm wearing them now, and when Caleb poked his head in the office, he didn't even notice, or at least he didn't say so. Imagine that?

And I must admit they make a huge difference. I should have done this months ago. I know Anna will be pleased when she sees them, and it will be a happy surprise for her as I didn't let on to anyone I was getting them. My father will be happily surprised too, I imagine, but probably for a different reason. I'll take some ribbing from him no doubt. I need to learn to ignore his remarks. He likes nothing more than to get under my skin and if I'm truthful, I sometimes reciprocate in kind.

Will just ran in the back office door to say Anna and the girls are ready to come over. He did a double take when he saw me, squinted his eyes, screwed his nose up and said, 'Whoa, Daddy!'

I warned him not to tell his mum because I wanted to surprise her. He agreed and turned to leave saying he thought I looked like a doctor or someone else really smart. I guess he approves.

I'd best go help Anna bring the children over. It's silly, but I'm a bit nervous about what she will think.

~ John Bates

xxx

Specks, Hiccups & Jumble Sales - Part 1

11:45 pm

John walked into the pub room from his office. In his hand was a growing list of items that needed to be restocked. He wore his new glasses on the tip of his nose. It was unbelievable how well he could see, and it made him wonder if he had always needed glasses. If only he had done this sooner and he would have if not for his own blasted stubbornness...and vanity, he was forced to admit. He knew it was irrational, but he had feared the need for reading glasses would remind Anna of the difference in their ages. He hated to think he looked more like her father than her husband. That had proved to be not the case. Anna was thrilled and couldn't stop admiring him in his new readers.

'Oh! Look at you now.' His father's exclamation came to his ears.

Here it comes, John thought as he slowly looked up from his list, straightening his glasses with his index finger, and then he waited for what was to come next.

'Now I see why William was saying you looked like a smart man. Got yourself some specks, hmm?'

'Yes...er...my eyes are not what they used to be,' John admitted, glancing at his father, hoping nothing more would be said. He then stepped behind the big oak bar to check for anything else they might need. 'I think we have to buy more peanuts, don't you?'

'Never had problems with my eyes…' Eamon continued. 'Can't say the rest of me is holding up all that well, though. They suit you. You look like a proper gent.'

The old man's words took John by surprise, and he turned to face his father, waiting for the other shoe to drop, but when that didn't happen, he said hesitantly, 'Do you really think so?'

'I do,' Eamon nodded. 'Like one of those fancy blokes who pose for them flowery magazines.'

John rolled his eyes, immediately annoyed. 'You just had to say-' But in that very moment, Eamon brought one hand to his chest as a succession of loud hiccups erupted from his mouth. One after the other. The old man could barely catch his breath. 'Are you all right?' John asked.

'Got *hic* the bloody hiccups *hic*.' Eamon struggled to say more, but it was in vain. He was turning red in the face.

'Thanks to that twisted tongue of yours,' John chuckled, sure that this had been a punishment. 'Maybe you'll think twice next time you make fun of me.'

'I wasn't *hic*...oh bollocks…'

'Go get some air. Go on. I'll see to the bar.' John took him by the shoulders and turned him toward the back door.

Eamon nodded, unable to speak, but all air in the world wouldn't make his bloody hiccups stop.

xxx

Part 2

7:45 pm

The table was set for their dinner of Shepherd's pie, thick split pea soup, and a chocolate pudding Anna had brought from the kitchen in the hotel. The twins were on their blanket, sitting up and playing with their toys and having a rather interesting, but private chat. What William wanted more than anything in the world was to know what they were saying. So he sat with them, his elbows on his knees, watching them carefully and trying to figure out what their baby babbling meant.

'If I was a baby once...why don't I understand baby talk now?' he asked his mother.

'I reckon we all forget it, darling. Everyone was a baby once, and no one remembers the language, and I've read that twins have a special language all of their own,' Anna replied, stirring the soup on the stovetop.

'That's not fair. You were a baby once?'

''Of course, I was, you silly beggar! All people were. We all have to be born, to grow and then...well, grow old and die. That's how it works.'

'But daddy wasn't, was he?'

Anna rolled her eyes with a smile. 'Unless he came down from the heavens already in adult form... he was a baby, yes. I think there are a couple of photographs of a baby John Bates somewhere around here...I'll look for them after dinner so you can see him. You'll love it. He was such a sweet baby.'

Will looked dubious, 'What about a photograph of you too, Mummy?' he asked. Seeing Mum and Dad when they were babies was something he never thought could possibly happen.

'Well...I don't have one,' Anna sighed rather sadly. 'We didn't really have money for photographs.'

'Do you remember what you looked like?'

'I was blonde and small. I've always been small.' Anna shrugged her shoulders. 'That's it.'

'I think Fee looks like you,' William thought aloud, staring at his sisters again. 'So maybe you looked like Fee too.'

'Maybe I did,' Anna smiled. 'Oh, there you two are! Dinner's ready.'

'Sorry we're late, my darling.' John and his father came through the kitchen door. The old man seemed quite reluctant, stopping by the table without saying a word. 'I had to drag Father from his room,' he told her, placing a soft kiss on her forehead and chancing a peek at the counter to see what was for dinner.

'Whyever?' Anna asked, looking over at her father in law.

'He still got them,' John said. 'He didn't want to come for dinner.'

'Don't be silly, Father.' Anna walked to the old man, taking him by the arm. 'Come on, sit down. You have to eat.'

'What*hic*what if*hic*…' Eamon tried to speak.

'What if he chokes on his food. That's what he said.' John finished his father's sentence. The same speech he had heard before dragging the man from his bedroom.

'You won't. You'll eat slowly. Come on, sit down.' Anna insisted, and Eamon obliged. He was rather hungry, truth to be told, he always was.

'Daddy, Mummy is going to show me a photograph of you when you were a baby!' William spoke from where he was sitting on the floor, still watching his sisters as they played together.

'Is she really?' John asked, running a hand through the boy's hair before kneeling down to say hello to his daughters. The two babies couldn't be happier to see their father, giggling and flailing their arms excitedly.

'Everyone was a baby once, you know,' William continued. 'Even granddad!'

'Oh no, Will, granddad was never a baby.' John spoke seriously, leaving his son with a confused look on his face. 'Granddad came ashore one stormy night. Probably from the depths of the ocean, hence, why he loves the sea so much.'

'John Bates,' Anna scolded, and William couldn't help but giggle at his father's tale.

'Big...chump,' Eamon managed to say.

'So your hiccups are still bothering you then?' Anna turned to her father in law again, watching as the old man tried to control another fit. 'Have you tried drinking a glass of water without breathing?' she asked.

'Yes*hic*pulled my tongue out*hic*jumped, cursed, tried*hic*sugar...'

'The patrons gave him a list of recipes for hiccups; I don't think any of them work, and some are possibly dangerous,' John said, rising from the floor and taking his seat at the table. 'C'mon, William, sit in your chair. Mummy is serving dinner now.'

'You have to wee on your hands and lick your fingers after,' the boy suggested as he sat down at the table. His mother gasped in horror.

'What?!'

'Percy said so.'

'That Percy fellow…' John sighed in annoyance. 'That's not true, William. You better not ever do that.' But he couldn't help laugh every time he heard his father's cursing under his breath, even though he tried so hard to suppress it.

'John...please. It's not funny. Not anymore.'

'He's being punished, Anna.'

'Whatever for?' she asked.

'Making fun of me...all the time. He made fun of my glasses and then this happened.'

'I wasn't making*hic*...Blast!''

'Eamon! Please, you sound more like two boys than father and son,' Anna said as she placed the pie at the centre of the table.

'I wasn't...making fun of him.'

'He said I looked like a fancy bloke who poses for flowery magazines,' John whined to his wife.

'*hic*That was...a...bloody compliment!'

'He's right, John. The men who pose for those flowery magazines are all ever so handsome. Not as handsome as you are, though…' She gave him a wink. 'They would be without a job, especially now with you wearing your glasses.' Anna leaned over his shoulder and kissed John full on the mouth before taking her seat at the table.

"Ewww! Kisses!' cried Will covering his eyes.

'Just eat your food, William,' said his father.

Dinner seemed to take longer than usual, especially for Eamon, who was trying his best not to choke, chewing his food slowly and swallowing even slower. John and William couldn't help but giggle at his expense now and then and Anna would shoot them a dirty look every time they did.

Poor Eamon left through the kitchen door rather forlornly that night with the hope that sleep would come quickly, and when he woke up the next morning, his hiccups would be gone.

xxx

Part 3

10:15 pm

'Do you know who this is?' Anna asked John as she sat up against the headboard beside him. Her hair still damp and her skin smelling of lavender soap.

He took the old photograph in his hand after putting his glasses on, a grin already playing on his lips. 'Hmm...oh, it's me.'

'Baby John Bates,' Anna said, smiling. 'You were such a beautiful baby. William loved the photographs so much he wanted to have the other one on his nightstand.'

'Did he really?'

'Yes. He said Finn looks like you.'

'Finn? What about Fee then?'

'He said only Finn,' Anna replied. 'He thinks Fee looks more like me. I don't know,' Anna shrugged. 'That's what he said.'

'Well...maybe he's right. Fee's getting blonder all the time, and she has your eyes too. She's smaller as well.'

'Yes. I suppose. Funny because they are twins and they looked so much alike when they were born.'

'They are twins, but not the same person...remember Mrs Jenkins?' John asked, placing the photograph on his nightstand. His glasses would follow. 'She had a boy, and a girl and they couldn't be more different, and they were twins.'

'That's true…' Anna nodded. 'What do you think you are doing?'

'What? What am I doing?'

'Storing your glasses back into their case.' She took them from his hand.

'Well, yes. I don't want the lenses to get scratched,' John explained. 'I need them to read else I won't...what are you doing?'

'Putting them back on you,' she answered with a mischievous look on her face and John couldn't quite grasp what she was up to.

'Do you want me to read to you?' he asked, unsure of what she wanted.

Anna shook her head no, biting her lower lip as she did so. 'I just want you to wear them…'

'Why?'

'Because...well,' she straddled him as she spoke, causing his eyes to grow big when she settled down on his lap. 'I don't know, I mean...you look so good in them I thought we should celebrate this new moment in our lives.'

'New moment?' he laughed, 'You mean, the moment you realise your husband is even older than you thought?'

'Stop it!' She smacked him across the chest, and he couldn't help but smile at her gesture, bringing his hands around her waist and pulling her to him. 'Yes you are getting older, Mr Bates, but so am I. And we're getting better and better every day. Come here.'

She kissed him fiercely as his hands began to roam her body, underneath her nightdress, touching every inch of her skin.

'Oh, God bless 'em...' he managed to whisper between their kisses, her arms around his neck to bring him close to her.

'Who? What?' she looked at him puzzled.

'My new glasses, that's what.'

They laughed together at his joke, and then Anna took the glasses from his face and placed them on the bedside table, for what she really needed was her husband and nothing else.

xxx

March 9th, 1928 10:20 am

What a busy morning I've had so far. Today is the Church's semi-annual Jumble Sale, and I wanted to be there bright and early so as not to miss out on the good stuff. John said he'd stay and watch the children for an hour because I knew Will would be a handful with all of those slightly used toys that would be for sale, and it's just easier shopping on your own.

Everything was going well, the children were fed and dressed. Will was colouring and the twins were in their pen jabbering up a storm. I'd just taken two beautiful pies, made with the blueberries I put up last summer, from the oven and they were cooling on the counter. John was sitting in his easy chair reading, his new glasses perched proudly on his nose. And I was about to put on my hat and walk out the front door when we heard Jack bark, the cat let out a bloodcurdling screech and a muffled crash coming from the kitchen. I immediately thought Charlie knocked down Butter's cage and was eating the sweet birdie for brunch. What a fright!

John, Will and I ran to see what had happened. It wasn't as bad as it could have been. The yellow canary was still hanging in his cage in front of the window, thank the Lord. What we did find was Charlie, our cat, on the counter in the act of nosing the second blueberry pie over the edge. The first lay splattered on the floor and front of the cupboards. Jack was lapping it up as fast as he could when Charlie succeeded in pushing the other pie off, landing it on Jack's back, of course. What a mess!

I felt like sitting right down in the middle of the floor and crying, but John pushed me out of the kitchen and told me to go the Jumble Sale and not to worry, he and Will would clean it up. And you know what? That's exactly what I did. There were bargains to be had, after all.

Bargains, indeed! I found two mismatched highchairs and a wagon which would do to push the girls in this spring and summer because double prams are so expensive. William will enjoy that too. The chairs and wagon need a coat of paint, then they'll be as good as new.

I also found a used 1925, 10 volume set of Children's Encyclopedias. I think John will love them as much as Will, and the girls too, later on. And finally, Mrs Larimore has a set of twin girls, just a year older than ours, so I was able to find quite a few matching clothes. Although I'm not sure how long I'll continue to dress them the same since they really don't look all that much alike anymore.

Yes, I might have spent more than I should have, but honestly, there were so many bargains I couldn't resist. Mr Mason was there with Mrs Patmore and he offered to deliver everything for me since I had quite a hoard.

And I don't know how they did it, but when I got home, the kitchen was all cleaned up, although Jack will be a lovely shade of blue for quite some time.

~ Anna Bates

xxx

Part 4

11:40 am

Eamon sighed from behind the counter, his mood quite affected by what seemed another day of the hiccups. He had hoped sleep would make it stop, but instead, he had spent the night wide awake, waiting in despair.

'Bloody *hic*...' He sighed again, head down, long face, with a tray of glasses he had just cleared from the tables. He turned slowly with his tray and headed for the sink behind the bar. This was a hard enough task to maneuver with a wooden leg but every time he hiccupped the fragile glassware shuttered and clinked together. He was almost there, but his hopes would shatter before him, just like the tray of glasses that he was carrying. Will chose that exact moment to put this curse to an end, and from behind the counter he jumped in front of his granddad, yelling and waving his arms in the air like a madman.

'BOO!' he shouted as glass shards splintered on the floor.

'You beggar child! What on earth? Do you want to give me a heart attack?!'

'What happened? What?' John came running from his office, followed by a worried Anna, upon hearing the noise and the loud voices. 'What happened?'

William was standing tall and proud of himself, while Eamon gasped for air, his heart racing and his hand clutching his chest.

'Did I scare you, Granddad?' the boy asked. His parents looking from one to the other relieved to see no blood, but trying to understand what had just happened.

'Hell yes, you did! What's wrong with you, boy?'

'William!' Anna scolded, shooting her son a look.

'I was only trying to scare the hiccups out of Granddad, Mummy. Did it work? Huh, Granddad?' Will said with an excited grin blooming on his face.

All eyes were on Eamon then, waiting in anticipation. Thirty seconds passed. No sound was heard. That was, until John began to laugh, and patted his son on the back. 'Well done, Will!'

Yes, indeed. It had worked!

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Thank you for reading. ~ Handy-for-the-bus & Terriejane :)