sending for the ‘give cathy a break’ title 🫶🏼🩷
thank u and thank u @faarkas <3333 on her birthday. peace and love. i started writing this almost a year ago and it's almost finished but ive been procrastinating it. apparently for almost a year. lol.
just a day in the life of the avery household during the kids' teenage years and its a chaos. said with love. have some chaos:
"Hello," she sighed with relief. "What's the good word?" "Tommy's gotten into some trouble," she explained, "Can you talk to him, please?" Douglas nodded, when she suddenly remembered the soup and the bread rolls. A shocked 'oh' escaped her lips before she turned on her heel and hurried back to the kitchen. She found Tommy leaning against the counter, drinking milk from the carton. "Thomas, could you please use a glass—" "Who took a leak in the kitchen?" He nodded to the spilled milk on the floor. "The cat. I mean, that's not—" Douglas joined them. "Smells nice, honey." "Hi, dad." "What in the world happened to you?" Douglas blurted out, somewhere between sounding worried and amused. Cathy peered in the oven. Her bread rolls were safe. "Something about 'damaging public property'," she muttered. "The bus windows were an accident," Tommy said defensively, "We only tried to get back at Bates." "Mr. Bates, that old grocer? Why would you do that?" Cathy recognized when Douglas tried to use the voice of a strict father. It was endearing, even if it didn't always work. "He didn't wanna sell us booze." Cathy dropped the ladle she was holding, making Douglas jump. "Because you're a child, Thomas!" "I know he's selling to Ralph and that guy is barely a year older than me—" "Okay," Douglas cut off his son loudly. He picked up the ladle and handed it back to her. "I'll handle this. Let's sit down in the living room, Tommy. Come on." As she did her best to steady her breath, Cathy finally helped herself to a tasting of her soup. She frowned. The chopped leek had turned mushy, but she could make it work. Call it a chowder and nobody would bat an eye. Once she got the bread rolls out of the oven, Douglas and Tommy's muffled voices were drowned out by another, much louder pair. The remaining two Avery children had arrived home. "I don't agree," Flora's voice traveled through the hallway as she slammed the door. "Emma is a transcendental character. She can still touch hearts, even after almost a century!" Alfie was quick to respond. "You're too emotionally attached to her as a person. It's not about Emma at all. It's about the necessity to make something more out of our lives." "Says the boy who got everything handed to him, including a spot in my literary classes. You don't know a thing about women," Flora sneered. "Take off your shoes, you'll ruin the carpet." "I know they're better at being housewives than at reading books." "You are—" A ruckus arose in the hallway. Flora screeched. "Ow! Alfie Jonathan Avery, get back here!" Cathy had kneeled down to clean the puddle of milk at last, and groaned as she got back on her feet. "Good heavens," she whispered, and made her way towards the noise. "Flora, inside voices, I beg you!"
