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

who were riding in the back seat. Jackson grinned.
“Will Martin be there?” he asked. Harry nodded.
“Martin will be there and so will Stevie,” he said. Jackson clapped his hands. Emma frowned.
“Will Stephie be there Daddy?” she asked and Harry nodded.
“Stephie will be there and May too and Mabel, Daddy’s sister will be there too,” he informed her and she clapped her hands too.
“Kindergarten sounds like fun,” Emma declared. Harry grinned.
“Oh, it’s going to be lots of fun and both of you already know your numbers and your alphabet so you’re already ahead of the other kids and you can help them,” he said and they beamed.
“Who’s our teacher again?” Jackson asked.
“Your teacher is Miss Cindy and she’s really nice, you’re going to like her,” Harry said and they nodded. “The other kindergarten teacher is Miss Barb and that’s your grandmom but at school you have to call her Miss Barb, okay?” he asked and they both giggled.
They got to the school and he parked and helped them out of the car. All of the kids were arriving and they all waved at their favorite teacher and he waved and called out to them. At the classroom door he paused and beamed at Cindy who smiled at the two children.
“Hello, Jackson, Emma, welcome to kindergarten,” she gushed and they smiled. None of Harry and Jake’s children were shy or bashful and since it was a small community and they attended Church every week, they knew all of the adults by sight if not by name and Cindy had already been introduced as they soon-to-be teacher.
“Hello, Miss Cindy,” Jackson said and he turned to grin up at his dad who smiled.
“You two have a great day and I’ll see you later,” Harry said and he left them with a wave. They waved back and he went to the other side of the school to teach his eighth/ninth grade class which consisted of the older kids, the fourteen year-olds, Lisa and Lori Campbell, Eric Jones, and Yancy Evans and the two thirteen year-olds, Joey Wong and Lucy Thomas. With his six university degrees, he and his mother were the only ones qualified to teach High School, both Jenna and Stuart had taught Elementary School. Kate was teaching Elementary School right now since all of the children were younger and would move up to High School with them.
Harry loved teaching and his kids loved learning with him, he made every subject, even the dreaded Math and English fun and of course Ancient Earth History was their favorite. They loved learning about their roots and he knew so much, they were amazed at how much knowledge he could pull out of his brain and were very impressed. And he wasn’t afraid to admit that he didn’t know something and they would look it up on the computer.
“Man, Harry is so cool, I wish my dad was so cool,” Yancy gushed to his two buddies at lunch. Eric and Joey nodded.
“I didn’t know the English paid a bounty on Indian ears, that’s so gross, who would think of doing something like that? Humans were really barbaric in the Seventeen Hundreds,” Joey declared.
“Really, when you think of something that barbaric, you think of the Startisic’s or the Mentalic’s, not humans, we’re supposed to be the civilized race,” Eric stated. Then the bell rang and they went back to class.
After school Harry picked up his two kids who were all excited and talking about their day and how much fun they had had. They both had pictures to show him and he exclaimed over them and when they got home, they rushed to show their daddy.
“There’s my students; how was your day, Emma Rose?” Jake asked and picked her up. She showed him her picture and Jake declared it a masterpiece. She giggled and he put it on the fridge. Jackson’s went up too and all the kids got a snack. Harry and Jake kissed which made them all giggle.
“How was your day, babe?” Jake asked and Harry grinned.
“Pretty good, Joey almost blow up the science lab again but I lifted the Bunsen burner out of the way in time, that kid is definitely not going to be a scientist,” he said with a laugh. Jake laughed too.
“We had fun with finger paints today and Adam decided that Sean would look a whole lot better if he was green since it was your favorite color,” he told him and they both laughed. Fran giggled as she came into the kitchen.
“Are you telling him about the jolly green midget?” she teased and they nodded. “That was funny, poor Sean was crying he didn’t want to be green, if he was going to be colored, he wanted to be yellow like Bo.” Harry laughed again.
“Sounds like a bunch of kids got another bath,” he remarked and Jake nodded.
“It was quite a mess but we got it all cleaned up and I took the kids outside and let them run around and that made them tired enough for naps and boy did I need one,” he said. Harry kissed him.
“Poor baby, sounds like you had quite a work out, why don’t I take all the kids to the playground and give you a break?” he suggested and Jake nodded.
“That would be swell; babe,” he said.
Harry called Kathleen and told her he was talking the kids to the playground if she was interested and she said she’d meet him down there so he marched the six older ones down and carried Danny. It was a nice sunny day so no one needed coats but he took a diaper bag in case and a cooler with water. And of course Bo and Gertie followed along, they always went where the kids went.
The playground was filled with kids playing and they all waved to Harry and his kids and they all waved back. All of the first born children on the planet were nine now and most were riding bikes and swinging and having a ball. Harry saw his four older brothers and sisters and Jake’s out playing and grinned. They were all getting so big, he wondered how much shit they were giving his mothers.
In the little kid’s area his older ones raced for the castle which had lots of places to climb and four slides. Ryan and Sean headed for the swings and Harry put Danny into one and lifted the other two boys in and pushed all three with his powers and they all squealed with delight.
“You boys want to go higher?” he teased and they all nodded.
“Higher, Daddy,” Ryan shouted and he pushed him and Sean a little higher. Danny giggled and laughed showing six beautiful teeth. Kathleen came and put her two youngest into swings and laughed.
“That’s a neat little trick you have there,” she remarked. He pushed one of hers with his and she grinned. Stevie and Stephanie rushed to the castle to play with Emma and Jackson who were five like them. Harry kept an eye on them, like she did.
“I cried all the way home today after dropping them off at school,” Kathleen confessed. Harry grinned.
“I cried all the way down the hallway from Elementary School to the High School,” he confessed and they both laughed. They hugged.
“What the hell are we going to do when they grow up and move out?” she said and he shook his head.
“Who knows, maybe by then they’ll be big pains in the ass and we’ll be glad to get rid of them,” he said and she giggled.
“We’ll have to hope for that,” she said. The kids got tired of swinging and wanted to go to the slides so they walked them over and had fun there. He told her about the green midget and she told her about her day. He talked about school and then they went home for dinner. It was Fran’s night to cook and all Harry had to do was wash little hands and faces and sit them down at the table. They said grace and he and Jake cut up food and everyone ate with good appetites after all the running around they had done.
Then Harry gave Sean and Ryan their baths and read them a story and rocked them to sleep. They were only two and three and they both still appreciated a cuddle in their daddy’s arms and after drinking a cup of warm green milk fell asleep in no time. Harry sighed with pleasure as he held the two little bodies and felt his heart swell with joy. Jake peeked in on him and stood in the doorway and felt his heart swell with joy.
“I love you, babe,” he whispered and Harry glanced up and saw him. He smiled.
“I love you too, honey,” he whispered back. Jake came in and took Sean and they put them in their little beds. Bo hopped up on Ryan’s bed and settled in. Jake smiled and patted the dog’s head.
“You look after our boys, Bo,” he told him and the dog wagged his tail. The two men closed the door halfway and left the room.
“You want to do boys or girls tonight?” Harry asked. Jake shrugged.
“I did girls last night, babe, it’s your turn,” he told him. Harry nodded.
“That’s right, I forgot, thanks,” he said and they kissed. They waited until the cartoon was over and then Harry took the girls into their bath and Jake took the boys into theirs.
“When can Cassie come to school with me, Daddy?” Emma asked. Harry smiled.
“She can go to school next year, darling,” he told her and handed her the washcloth to hold over her eyes so he could dump water over her head. She held it and he dumped and Cassie giggled like she always did when water was dumped over someone’s head. Emma giggled too. He put shampoo in his hand and washed her beautiful red/gold hair. Both of his girls had the most beautiful hair, Emma’s blonde and curly and Cassie’s red/gold and curly and he kept it long and pretty and always well-groomed.
“I want to go to school,” Cassie told him. He smiled.
“School is a lot of fun, darling, I can’t wait for you to go,” he told her and she beamed. Then it was time for more water dumped and she giggled again. Then they got washed and dried off and put in cute little pajamas, tucked in and a story.
“Goodnight, Emma, I love you darling,” Harry said and kissed her. George hopped in with Emma and Martha curled next to Cassie. Harry smiled and petted the cats that purred and settled down for a nap. They would roam the house later to make sure no field mice dared to enter. If George caught one, he would put the dead mouse on Jake’s chair for them to find in the morning and Harry would reward him with a saucer of fresh cream. Martha liked to put her dead mice next to the garbage can. She was very considerate. She also got a saucer of fresh cream.
“Goodnight, Daddy, I love you,” Emma gushed. He did the same thing with Cassie