Chapter 2

Chapter Two-

An Unexpected Surprise

 

When Aiyra and Ku-ri got home from school, they were both having mixed feelings. They were both very happy to have made some new friends before and also during the school day. (Math class was a very good time for socializing, no one ever paid attention because the teacher, Mr. Rohm, was very boring, always droning on and on, making everything extremely dull and was half-deaf anyway, so he couldn’t hear the conversations going on at the back of the room). They also felt slightly uneasy because of their encounter with Gabriel or G.B. as he preferred, and sorry for Sasha for having to put up with him ever single day. But most of all they felt guilty for being written up in the principal’s office for excessive tardiness on their very first day of school. The twins had decided not to tell their parents about the more unfortunate events that had occurred, and to stick to the positive ones, though that made their day seem highly uneventful. But they knew they could get away with the excuse that the beginning of school was usually boring anyway, so they weren’t worried about their parents’ reactions. They didn’t know it as they tramped up the porch stairs and into the house, that that would be the least of their worries. They were about to be in for drastic and life changing surprise.

As they opened the door they heard the familiar pattering footsteps of their five year old sister Allie rushing to the door to greet them. As she came into view they saw her running in her socks on the hard floor. She skidded to a halt in front of the doormat, nearly toppling over, to which the twins let her fall into their legs, and she squeezed them tightly. They could feel her chest heaving against their legs, and heard her excited gasps for air.

“Hiya, squirt!” said Ku-ri, playfully ruffling her hair, and she giggled, her pigtails jiggling bouncily.

“Yeah, how was your first day of kindergarten?” Aiyra asked, smiling at her two siblings. She remembered how originally when Allie was born; Ku-ri had been very agitated because they had to have another girl. Now however, they were as close as could be.

“I losth mi fist hooth!” she screeched, showing them the gap in her mouth. “isn’th ith greath?” she asked eagerly.

“It sure is!” said Ku-ri with a grin. “‘Cause now you get to put it under your pillow and the tooth fairy will come and give you money!”

“Allie’s eyes grew round and sparkly. “Hooray!” she cried, skipping happily in a circle.

Just then, their mother appeared at the end of the hall, holding the telephone against her chest.

“Guess what?” she exclaimed.

“What?” chorused the three children.

“Your Grandfather Yang is coming into town this week, and because of his old age, we have agreed for him to stay with us!”

“You mean, like live with us?”

“Yes, of course! He hates nursing homes, they make him feel like he can’t do anything with his life, so he has made the decision to stay with the people he trusts most-his family!” replied their mother fondly. “Everything has been arranged. He’ll be here at about six or seven o’ clock on Friday evening.” She informed them matter of factly. And with that, she left, muttering something about cleaning and tidying up, Allie following in her wake, leaving her two older children dumbstruck and speechless with disbelief.

“Well…that was interesting,” said Ku-ri after he had regained control of his voice. “…but I’ve never heard of this so-called grandfather, have you?”

“No, but I think we were too little to remember him… Oh, c’mon, cheer up, Ku-ri,” she said seeing the exasperated look on his face. “I think it’s great that we’re going to have some variety in our lives-”

“Yeah, like we don’t have enough of that already,” Ku-ri interrupted.

“Plus, it’s like you said,” Aiyra continued bypassing his comment. “We’ve never met the guy…and who knows? Maybe you two will end up being really close, like you and Allie,” she added gently.

“I doubt it,” Ku-ri said tonelessly.

Aiyra smiled sympathetically, and then gently pushed her way past her brother with a quick clap on the shoulder, and made for the stairs in attempts to start on her homework. Ku-ri hesitated, thinking that it would be very nice to play some video games instead, but he knew his mother would not like the idea very much, and so he followed her to do the same. But little did they realize how right Aiyra’s words would be for the both of them.

*   *   *

The week went by surprisingly fast, and Friday had come before anyone was prepared. Ku-ri and Aiyra had found school not to be as bad as it could have been, and they always had their friends to look forward to every day and after school. So aside from the horrible cafeteria food, boring curriculum, mountains of impossible assignments, and the seemingly endless list of awful teachers, school really wasn’t’ all that bad.

On Friday afternoon both twins didn’t get any homework which they thought was quite convenient under the circumstances. But when they got home they decided to have just enough to do until they saw the yellow taxi cab drive along their street and pull into the driveway. This was due to the cleaning proposition from their mom, who had asked them over the roar of the vacuum if they would be so helpful as to scrub out all of the bathrooms, particularly the basement toilet which had accumulated over their short time of living in their new house, a wide variety of mold, grime, dirt, and other disgusting things that were to foul to bear to mention. Their mother had so conveniently “forgotten” to get to that. But Aiyra and Ku-ri hastily turned down the offer, and then scrambled up the stairs before their mom could force them against their will to do her bidding.

They went to Ku-ri’s room because he still had the bunk bed from when he was younger, and it would be more comfortable there. So now with Ku-ri sitting on the bottom and Aiyra on top, they discussed their worries together.

“What do you think of all this?” inquired Aiyra, who was lying with her arms behind her head, and staring at the ceiling.

“I don’t really know what to think anymore, Aiyra,” Ku-ri said with an exasperated sigh. He tried to lean back on his pillow, but missed, his head colliding painfully into the wall with a dull thump. “OW!” he yelped, his eyes watering from the pain.

“Are you all right?” Aiyra asked anxiously, who had leaned over the side of the bed and was looking at Ku-ri with a worried expression.

“Yeah… I-I’m fine,” he stammered. “But I just thought of something…” Aiyra looked at him quizzically. “Have you ever even heard of this guy? I mean, mom and dad have never talked about him, and we didn’t even know he existed up until four days ago! He just comes in right out of the blue! Doesn’t that strike you as odd?” He paused, waiting for a reply, but none came. “Aiyra?” he asked. “Hello?”

“What? Oh, sorry Ku-ri, I was just thinking…”Aiyra said distractedly.

“Well?” Ku-ri prompted.

“I don’t know about you but ever since we moved here I’ve felt different. I feel like there’s something really big going on and we’ve got something to do with it. It’s something really important too, but I just can’t figure out what it is!” she said slamming a fist into the sheet-covered mattress. “Maybe though,” she continued more calmly, “maybe our new grandfather can help us…maybe he’s the key…”

“Kids, come downstairs right now! Quickly now, c’mon!” their mother’s frantic voice rang from downstairs. A yellow taxi had just pulled into the white, paved driveway.

“I guess we’d better…” Aiyra mumbled hesitantly, her voice trailing off. But she didn’t need to finish the sentence; they both knew it was time.

“Yeah, let’s go,” said Ku-ri quietly, massaging the bump on his head with the palm of his hand. They both rolled off the bed, and left the room, closing the door behind them with a slightly ominous creak.

They walked silently down the stairs, out the door to the edge of their driveway, and stood with the rest of their family, their father now home from work. He gave the two of them a small smile, but they did not return it, their bodies too stiff and tense. A moment later, they saw it. A sandaled foot was protruding from the car.

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Author’s Notes:

Hope the obvious foreshadowing didn’t kill anyone! And I’d just like to mention that things finally start picking up after Chapter 3 if that’s any comfort/encouragement! 🙂