Fire Call

Leon arrived home and was parking the car in the driveway when a bottle rocket came shooting from next door. He got out and ‘reminded’ the older teen boys next door that it wasn’t safe because of how dry it was and the city did have a burning ban on because of the wind. They were apologizing when their parent come out to find out what was going happening. Leon explained the situation to them and the parent yelled at the boys but had to leave to go to work; leaving the unsupervised reckless teenagers alone. Leon waved over to Marcus and the twins and went inside the house to get ready for the evening out with Morgan to celebrate their anniversary.

It was getting late and Marcus, who had been playing with his young brother and sister outside, called the children to go inside. They ran past him screaming, “rotten egg” and pushed thru the doorway as Morgan and Leon were trying to step out.

“Are you sure you can handle this?” Morgan asked. “Maybe we should sta...”

“DAD!” Marcus turned to Leon in desperation, “Please! Will you just hurry, take her and go? She’s driving me nuts. It’s not the first time I’ve wat...”

“Morgan, he has taken care of those two before. Now come on.” Leon grabbed her and started marching her towards the car. Morgan mumbled something and Leon responded, “We are not going on vacation. It’s just dinner and dancing. It’ll be fine.”

“Bye, Mom.” Marcus yelled and waved at his parents. “Bye, Dad. Don’t be home too soon.” Leon smiled as he pulled the car out into the street and drove off. “Finally,” Marcus said with some relief. He went into the house and started dinner and yelled out to the other two to wash up.

After dinner and some relaxing playtime, Marcus made the two children clean up and get ready for bed. Evaine and Alex still shared a bedroom even though they were six years old. Neither one was ready to be without the other one yet. Their room was painted with subdued colors and each child had a side that was decorated to their own personality. There was a window that unofficially divided the sides; with Alex’s being on the right side and vertical while Evaine’s was to the left side and horizontal. Her bed sheets had pink and purple fairies and the bed had many stuffed animals, especially unicorns, that took up most of the room. Alex’s bed had a more darker color superheroes sheets with just a couple of stuffed dinosaurs towards his pillow. The shared bookcase was used more than some of their toys and it just kept on growing. It paired nicely with the small bean bag chair placed under the window so whoever was reading the bedtime stories had a soft place to sit. They also shared a small play table with two small but sturdy chairs around it so that they could eat in their room or pretend for a tea party.

Marcus was finishing up the fifth book and looked at his brother and sister and told them it would be the last because he had studying to do. They protested and jumped on their beds a little when he relented and started a sixth book. Just as he was starting to read there was a loud boom coming from across the hall by their parents bedroom. Evaine gave a small squeak and jumped out of her bed to join Alex in his.

“It’s okay,” Marcus said. “the neighbors are being naughty and playing with fireworks again. Want me to turn on the tv?) The children nodded vigorously and Marcus turned it to an all night kid’s channel. This was usually a special treat to watch tv at bedtime but Marcus figured it would cut out some of the noise the fireworks were making. “Goodnight, and sleep tight.” He finished.

“And don’t let the bedbugs bite!” the twins finished. Marcus shut off the overhead light and went downstairs to study.

He walked a little ways from his siblings room and stopped next to his. His bedroom was the last room before the stairs. He could look down the stairs and see out the living room window. The fireworks look like it was just getting started. He went into his room and grabbed his books and phone and went downstairs to the couch and sat down. Even though the couch was up against a window and his back was facing the window, Marcus could still see the mini explosions the fireworks were causing from next door.

It was some time later when Marcus’ phone began to ring and he looked at the screen and seen his mother’s name in the caller ID. He answered it with a huff, “Hello, Mother, everything is just fine.”

“I know, Dear, but I just wanted to make sure the kids are behaving and...” Morgan started.

“Mom, trust me, everything is fine.” Marcus was about to say something else when he heard Evaine and Alex on the stairs. “Just a minute, Mom, they apparently wanted to get up and say ‘goodnight’.” He smiled and handed the phone over to his brother and sister.

“Goodnight, Mom!” they yelled. “We love you.”

“Love you, too. Now give Marcus back the phone and go back to bed.” Morgana could be heard saying through the phone. They did as they were told and started back up the stairs.

“Come up with us, Marcus, we’re scared.” Alex insisted. Marcus held up his hand to him as to say, ‘one moment’ and continued talking to their mother. The twin’s went back to their room and waited.

“Why are they scared?” Morgan asked.

Marcus huffed as he sat on the couch to explain about the neighbors shooting off a lot of fireworks. He could hear Leon in the background and felt that his parents were huddled around the phone now. Marcus explained that the neighbor’s had several different friends over and probably drinking and shooting off different loud and flying fireworks and it was scarring his younger siblings. He felt he should go over to say something but both Leon and Morgan told him not to.

“I told those kids that it was to hot and windy out.” Leon grumbled. “I’m going to have a talk with them and their mother tomorrow. I may have Grandpa go over and give them, ‘The Talk’” Marcus groaned at that. Oh no, Grandpa Luther would probably bring his computer with all the gruesome photos to make his point.

“Dad...” Marcus’ pleading voice was starting to sound whiny. He was about to protest when just then a thump hit the window. He looked but didn’t see anything.

“What was that?” Morgan asked in alarm.

“I think all of the noise is scaring up the birds and one just flew into the window.” Marcus reassured. “But listen, Evaine and Alex are waiting for me in their room. I’m done studying anyway so I will just sit with them until they fall back to sleep.”

“Such a good boy,” Morgan drawled. Leon tried to hide a laugh with the a cough but Marcus didn’t buy it.

“Love you guys, have fun. Bye!” As Marcus hung up he could hear his parents say that they loved him, too.

Marcus gathered his things from the couch and went up the stairs to the twins’ room. They were both on Alex’s bed, under the covers and trying to cover their ears with pillows. He went over and sat on the bed to assure them that everything was all right. When asked what movie they wanted to see, everyone agreed to Disney’s Monster’s Inc. Marcus went and put the movie in and came back to join the twins on the bed. They cuddled up to him and finally calmed down, later, fell asleep.

Marcus could still hear fireworks from next door and once or twice could swear he saw the flashing of red and blue like cop lights. He decided to go back to his own room to sleep where his bed fit him better. As he left the twins’ room he hit replay for the movie so that anymore outside noises would wake the two.

After completing his bedtime routine of washing up and brushing his teeth, Marcus went back to his room and changed into a t-shirt and sweatpants. He let himself fall gracelessly into the bed and he just laid there, star fish style for a few moments. Today had been a good day, even though the night was somewhat noisy. Many of the neighbors were growing concerned with the behavior of the people who lived next door to Marcus. The mother worked late nights and many people felt that her kids were too old for a sitter. But there actions were getting more and more robust that made it clear some kind of intervention was needed. Or maybe Marcus was just jealous because, at the moment, they had more freedom than he did.

Marcus got under the covers, put his phone and book on the table and turned off the bedside lamp. He fell asleep rather quickly for someone who could hear all the explosions and see all the lights flashing.