The Kids Grow Up by Trish Hanan (novel24 .TXT) 📖

in the fields planting their crops and everyone was happy. They did another run for toilet paper and another run for recycling and this made everyone happy. Harry went fishing and this made everyone happy again. Everyone did spring cleaning and people decided they were sick of their old furniture so Harry brought out bins of furniture from houses he had and everyone loaded up their old and switched to new and they didn’t even mind putting the new together. Harry and Jake kept their old stuff, they liked it and they didn’t want new, they were very happy with the old.
They brought out thirty bins of packaged goods and sorted through them and Kathleen had scored a cappuccino maker so Harry had to split the mixes with her but he didn’t mind at all, he wasn’t a greedy person. Everyone laughed at her delight though when she informed him he had to share. He just shrugged and they split them. He insisted that she take all the French vanilla because he didn’t care for it and had only drunk it because it was there. That took some of the fun out of her gloating and spoiled her good time and she stuck her tongue out at him. This made everyone laugh and he hugged her.
“Sorry, darling, to rob you of your good time,” he apologized and she giggled.
“Leave it up to you, Harry, to take all the fun out of gloating,” she declared and he laughed.
“Is that what you were doing, Red,” he teased her and she slapped his arm.
“Don’t call me that, you know I don’t like that,” she said and he giggled.
“That’s why I called you that, darling,” he said and she giggled.
They got lots of soda which made them all happy and they split it up as evenly as possible and then split up all the goodies. Then they took the bins to the center and called everyone to bring their trailers and let them have at it and they tore the bins apart grabbing at everything. Everyone frowned when they realized that all of the soda was gone and thought it extremely unfair of the others to take it all. Harry shrugged.
“All of this stuff is mine really and there wasn’t a lot of it to begin with and not enough to go around, all of us would only get like a six-pack so I took it all, call me greedy if you want but that’s life,” he told them and they glared at him but what could they do?
“Actually these bins belong to all of us,” Kate informed him. He just looked at her.
“And how do you figure that, Mom?” Harry asked her calmly.
“They came from the Roosevelt, they belong to the whole community, Henry,” she told him smugly. He shook his head.
“No, they belong to me, I picked them out, I brought them down for me, they belong to me and me alone and I’m being very generous in sharing the stuff out of them with all of you,” he informed her and the rest of them. “If you had wanted extra bins you should have told me to bring you extra bins and I would have brought them down for you.” They all looked sheepish. She frowned at him.
“That’s a very selfish attitude, Henry, I’m ashamed of you,” Kate snapped. Harry shrugged.
“Reality sucks sometimes, Mom, get used to it,” he told her and more than a few people laughed.
“I wanted extra bins but you wouldn’t bring them down for me,” David snapped. Harry laughed.
“Because you waited until the ship was breaking up, David,” he said and David flushed.
“You could have gone back up and got them,” he insisted and everyone looked shocked. Harry shook his head.
“All of those bins either burned up in the atmosphere or floated off into space, I was not risking my life trying to find them because you waited until the last moment to ask for them,” he told him firmly. “My ship could have been hit by an asteroid and I could have been killed, then none of the houses or barns would have built and where would all of us been now?”
“We’d be out of coffee, that’s for sure,” Carl exclaimed and everyone laughed. Then they went back to grabbing stuff and Harry took the leftover stuff to Fran and Myla’s Wal-Mart.
Jake and Harry divided up the children nicely. Someone took the four oldest who were three-ish and two-ish and someone took the two little ones and everyone was happy. They marched them into the big SUV and drove them everywhere they went, to the stores to get stuff they needed, to Church where everyone gushed over the beautiful kids, to the park, to the pool, they went everywhere together. And sometimes one would take the older four skating or bowling without the babies and they would have fun and laugh and giggled and jump around. They loved each of their dads and it didn’t matter which one they were with. Whoever announced they were going somewhere, the kids would jump up for joy and come running for the door.
Kate was amazed at how well-behaved they were, they actually listened to the boys and did what they said when they said it. And they never threw any temper tantrums. Harry laughed and said of course they did, once. But when they learned it didn’t work, they just didn’t do it again. She rolled her eyes but was wise enough not to say anything.
“What does that little bastard think, that he’s a better parent that I am?” she sneered to Barbara later. Barb shrugged and looked around for any children that might have heard that bad word. She didn’t see any and sighed with relief. Just then though, little three year-old Karen, their youngest came running into the kitchen.
“That little bastard Kent stole my cookie,” she said loudly. Both women gasped with shock. Kate flushed red as her mate glared at her. Barb handed her daughter another cookie and she left the room. She wagged her finger at her.
“Kate Talbert, all of our children have potty mouths and it’s all your fault. I’ve told you time and time again to watch your mouth. For heaven’s sake, all the other parents make fun of us,” she wailed and Kate came over to hug her.
“I know, I know, I’m so sorry, Harry never used that kind of language, I don’t know why the others do,” she tried to defend herself. Barb shook her head.
“Harry was a genius, he knew better, the others are just normal kids, they do it for the shock value because they like hearing the gasps and the laughter and they know it embarrasses us,” she told her and they both laughed. Kate promised as she usually did to watch her mouth and Barb forgave her but they both knew it was a lost cause. When Kate got angry, she used bad language and the kids picked it up.
Summer came and all the kids played softball again and all the parents came out to cheer them on. Dr. Jackson coached the Farm Four team and all the kids loved him Harry got out the t-ball from the store for his and they loved hitting the little plastic ball and Gertie and Bo running to fetch it.
“When the boys get older you know they’re going to want dogs of their own don’t you, babe,” Jake told him one day watching the dogs fetch the ball for the kids. Harry grinned and put the ball back on the tee for Jackson to hit again. Jackson picked up the yellow bat and gave it a good swing and the ball went soaring off and the dogs took off.
“Good swing, Son, way to go, little man,” Jake picked him up and kissed and the little boy giggled and hit his father over the head with the plastic bat. All the kids giggled and Harry laughed. Jake laughed too and put him down.
“Watch where you’re swinging that, Son, you’ll going to knock me out you’re so strong,” he declared and Jackson grinned. The dogs brought the ball back and it was Emma’s turn at bat.
“So the boys all get their own dogs, we’ve got a big house, five boys, seven dogs, sounds good to me,” Harry declared and Fran groaned.
“Five more of those monsters, that’s it for me, I’m moving to the garage,” she swore. The men laughed.
“Don’t worry, Fran, we’ll only get one or two more dogs and make them share,” Harry informed her and she grinned.
“Good, seven dogs and you’ll have to open your own kennel,” she said and they laughed.
“Maybe one or two of the boys will like cats,” Harry said and Jake made a rude noise.
“My boys will be dog men,” he informed him smugly and both Harry and Fran laughed.
“Oh, your boys are going to be macho boys are they?” Harry teased him and Jake nodded and picked up Ryan.
“Ain’t that right, Ryan?” he asked, “You’re a dog man ain’t you, Son?” he asked. Ryan giggled.
“Bo,” he said and Bo barked and jumped up on Jake. They all laughed and Jake bent down so Ryan could pet Bo who wagged his whole body and licked the little boy’s face. Bo and Gertie loved all the children.
The end of summer came and they took all the kids camping up at the lake everyone was calling Crystal Lake because the waters were so blue and sparkling. They set up big tents for the kids and themselves and Fran and the other young people came with their children and they had the best time walking in the woods and swimming in the lake and decided to make it a yearly event.
“It’s so pretty up here,” April gushed as they sat by the campfire late one night. All the kids were snug in their sleeping bags just a few feet away with a security field around them. Harry didn’t believe in taking any chances with his life.
“It’s beautiful,” Harry agreed and they all tried to remember old camp songs to sing. Harry who had never been to camp remembered them from books he had read.
Then it was time for the last baby and Harry and Jake decided to make the last one at home in their own bed so Harry woke up early and made a batch of banana nut bread and Billy, Bobby and Abby came over to help Fran with the kids. He went into the bedroom with a nice big breakfast and ignored their laughter. Jake was waiting for him and they locked the bedroom door. He grinned when he heard their laughter.
‘What are those apes laughing at?” he wanted to know. Harry shrugged.
“They think we do something nasty with the banana bread,” he informed him. Jake rolled his eyes.
“We eat the damned bread, what else could we do with it; they’re stupid,” he declared and Harry giggled.
“Dirty minds, honey, that’s what they all have,” he said and Jake took the tray from him. He got undressed and they sat on the floor and stretched out and looked at each other.
“Well, this is it, babe, the last one,” Jake said with a sigh and reached to take his love’s hand. Harry sighed and moved in as close as he could to Jake’s strong