Home » The Archives » Chapter 14 » New Beginnings
| Re: New Beginnings [message #2215 is a reply to message #2214] |
Sun, 29 July 2012 21:40   |
Lillehafrue
Messages: 478
Registered: July 2012
Location: Northeastern USA
Karma:
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TB Pilot
Evil Genius |
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January 1st, 10:45 pm Tracy Island (December 31st, 2069, 11:45pm, Oahu, HI)
Lana came to a stop at the low bar separating the dining room from the living room. Vince was right behind her with the drinks she had been preparing for Aaron and his friends. Her husband placed the tray with the glasses on it on the bar amongst the half-eaten party food Lana had prepared.
"Hey guys, here's the sparkling cider to bring the new year in with," Vince called out to the teenagers gathered in the living room.
Giving the upcoming move, the living room was void of furniture save the entertainment center. Makani and his wife had bought the house, and as they had their own furniture, what Vince and Lana weren't taking with them had been donated to a family from their church who had just recently suffered a house fire. Though a special was on the TV, no one was paying too much attention to it at the time. Vince wasn't sure what the kids were doing, but there was a lot of talking and laughing going on.
Vince picked up the two glasses of wine off the tray, and handed one to Lana. He took a sip from his own as the teenagers converged on the bar.
"You put it in wine glasses, cool!" Erica exclaimed. The girl was one of four girls at the party and one of Aaron's surfing buddies. The other three girls were all from Aaron's swim team.
The girls' presence was the main reason Vince and Lana had been against letting this be a sleep over. After a lot of phone calls with the other teens' parents they had finally conceded, seeing as Aaron would be leaving at the end of the week and this was the last chance he would have to spend time with some of them. The cot Vince was planning on sleeping on that night was sitting against the one wall, however.
After the teens had got their glasses of sparkling cider and were settled back in front of the TV, Vince sat down on the stool next to his wife. He grabbed a Lau lau from a plate and took a bite of it. He glanced over at Lana to see her looking over a list.
"What's that?"
"Things I need to get done before we leave on Saturday," she replied.
"Put it away. We're supposed to be celebrating!"
Lana sighed. It was late and New Year's Eve. Her husband had a point; she should enjoy the holiday. Despite the late night, she had plans for an early start to the day tomorrow. She put the clipboard down on the counter and then picked up her wine glass, taking a sip.
"I just hope I can get everything done in time."
Vince looked at his wife closely. She had been working hard ever since Christmas had passed to get things ready for the move. Maybe this hadn't been such a great idea. Perhaps he shouldn't have asked his family to pick up and move half way around the world with him. To leave behind family and friends. A house that they had started to call home.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked her, dropping his voice, though he doubted the teenagers were paying any attention. "If you're having second thoughts perhaps..."
Lana shook her head and seeing the gesture, Vince fell silent. She thought back to the conversation she'd had with Dianne when her husband had taken her to Tracy Island the first weekend in December.
***Flashback***
It had been Saturday evening, the Tracys had been gracious hosts and Lana found herself enjoying spending time with the family. Dianne had asked her to join her down at the pool as her two youngest wanted to go swimming. Not having anything else to do, she had consented.
Now, Lana took a sip of her lemonade, and then placed the glass down on the table. Dianne sat across from her, watching Alex and Tyler play in the pool. Lana let her gaze go to the two boys, too.
She's raised her children here on the island and all three of them seem to have adjusted okay. Maybe raising Lea here wouldn't be so bad, Lana thought.
"I was wondering if you would mind answering a question for me?" She said, getting up the courage to broach the subject that had been on her mind for a while now. "How did you make the decision to raise your kids here on the island?"
Dianne put down her glass of sweet tea and gave Lana a small, crooked smile. "It wasn't easy in some ways. I was taking them away from their cousins and grandmother and all that they'd known. But in other ways, it was an easy choice to make, because I was taking them away from a lot of pain and misery, too. Moving here gave us a fresh start, away from the ghosts of the past."
She shook her head. "My kids gave up a lot to move here, as I was reminded several times this past year." Tilting her head to one side, she asked, "Are you concerned about that? About what your kids will lose by moving here?"
Lana nodded trying to organize her thoughts a bit before speaking. "Aaron's been through moves before. I know he'll adjust to leaving his friends behind. He probably won't like it, but he'll make the most of it," Lana said thinking of her eldest and how much of a help he had been over the last few years. "With him, it's his swimming that I'm most concerned about. I mean, I know your husband said we could send the kids to the mainland for activities if we chose to and we could probably find a coach but it would mean a trip to the mainland at a minimum of four days a week."
"Then there's Lea. She's been kind of sheltered so far and hasn't had much contact with other children. Moving her continues that. I guess I'm worried about her developing proper social skills."
"Ah, I see." Dianne nodded, looking thoughtful. "She does need to have interaction with children her own age. My boys..." She waved a hand in the direction of the pool. "Even though there's only a few years between her and Tyler, that few years might as well be a decade at this point."
She paused, gathering her thoughts. "Just recently, we started taking Cherie to an art class in Christchurch. It's only an hour's flight round-trip, and has been really good for her socially. We're looking into doing something similar for the boys, just for fun."
She gave Lana a warm smile. "I'm sure there are programs available for preschoolers and kindergartners that you could take advantage of. Flying you there and back is really not a problem; we have many available pilots."
Lana nodded. She hadn't missed Dianne's reference to an art class. That was what Vince and herself had been thinking of getting Lea involved in.
"Aaron has a private pilot's license too. He has plans to get the multi-engine rating in a couple of weeks, so if there was an available plane he might be able to take us sometimes too," Lana commented. At least until he goes off to the Academy, she added silently. Lana sighed. Speaking of Aaron, there was still a question of his swimming.
"Moving here looks like it will mean Aaron giving up competitive swimming. If it wasn't that he has his eyes set on World's next spring, I wouldn't be so concerned about it."
Dianne sipped her tea, looking thoughtful. As something occurred to her, she smiled, an eyebrow raised. "How would you feel about having an Olympic gold medalist as your son's coach?"
*Flash back written in collaboration with Tikatu
98% pure evil...and loving every minute of it.
 
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