I mean when I was ten my mom having a baby was completely normal.

I thought I would post this tomorrow and then in the middle of work today I had a revelation. I typed it all out for nightwraith17 last year already. But when I came home we had a power-outage so nothing happened till now.

***

Chapter IX –
THE BEST SUPRISE

Life settled down to a normal pace – but not for long. Mother was going to have a baby!

She had been pregnant for awhile, but Caitlin didn't really notice it until a week before the due date. She wiggled all over with excitement, wishing th ebaby would come then and there. On Wednesday, they went to prayer meeting. Mother made sure they put their bags in the car, with clothes, pajamas, and anything else they might need if she started having contractions while they were gone.

Prayer meeting was finished. Caitlin picked out a book from the church library, and then they got in the car, waiting for Daddy to finish talking to the other people there. Caitlin was so engrossed in her library book, she did not hear Daddy open the door, say something, and close it. (By which I meant that I heard him, but did not notice what he said.) Immediately everyone else started jumping up and down and making a racket. Bewildered, Caitlin looked up and asked Anne why they were all yelling. Jumping up and down, Anne replied, "Mommy's having the baby! Mommy's having the baby!" Caitlin sat perfectly still for a moment. Then she jumped up and started shouting, just like everyone else.

Caitlin could hardy wait for Daddy to come back, but when he did, they were dropped off at the Van Tils. Lydia greeted them at the door. "Are you excited about the new baby?" she asked. Lydia liked babies too. Her eyes were shining. Anne wriggled and twirled, and Caitlin jumped up and down. Johnnie and Janie giggled and whispered, and Eddie and Lizzie shouted, "The new baby! The new baby!"

Daddy brought the bags in from the car, and Caitlin said, laughing, "Good idea Mommy told us to put our bags in the car before we left!" Beds were hurriedly fixed upstairs, and by 9:30 Caitlin and Anne were in a trundle at the foot of the double bed in Kaleh and Lydia's room. The light was out, but Caitlin could not sleep. A thunderstorm was raging outside. Rain battered the small window. Caitlin looked at the digital clock. It was 11:50. Time passed. The thunderstorm died out at 12:36. And then Caitlin heard something very strange. A sound like a guitar being played in the living room. Caitlin listened hard. It stopped. Then – Twoing-twang! Plink-plink! Plonk plunk! There it was again! Ever so faintly, the unearthly, ghostly sounds of a jazz song being played on a guitar floated up to the still bedroom. Now Caitlin really could not sleep. She didn't beleive in ghosts, but whatever that was, she wished it would stop. She looked at the digital clock again. It was only 12:35. (My memory is obviously whacked somewhere...) The minutes crept by, then the hours. The music continued. Then, at 6:00, it began to get fainter and fainter, until at 6:30 it could not be heard at all. Caitlin had not slept through a second of it. She jostled Anne, who was still sleeping, with her elbow, and Anne sat up immediately, not looking sleepy at all. Caitlin whispered the story to her, and Anne looked at her seriously. "I heard it too," she said. "I haven't slept since 2:45!"

Lydia sat up, rubbing her eyes. Kaleh slept on. "What's all this about? A whisper sleepover party?" Caitlin giggled quietly, but then, with a serious face, she told Lydia about the music. Lydia looked puzzled. "You sure that you didn't imagine it?" she asked. "Well," Caitlin said slowly. "I might think so, but Anne heard it too, and I thought she was asleep. And I was not sleeping! Don't tell me I was, unless you call lying on a trundle with your eyes wide open, slowly watching the minute pass by on the clock, sleeping!" Lydia laughed. Then she thought a moment. "I heard it a little too, I think. Could it have been a mouse?" "Look, you're kidding!" said Caitlin. "Does a mouse skittering about sound like guitar music?" Lydia shrugged. "I don't know what it is. Come on, it's time for breakfast."

(I have now put down this peculiar episode in my life to the sound of the fan that was in the room and my inventive brain.)

After breakfast, Kaleh, who was six months younger than Caitlin, and 2 months older than Anne (I got my dates mixed around here), took the girls outside. They explored the farm, and played in Lake Sucker and Big Sucker Lake, two small, muddy bodies of water connected to each other by a channel. After lunch, the girls decided to go jump on the trampoline. As they were going to it, however, there was a rattling sound, ad a truck pulled up beside them, and two heads popped out. "Hi, Caitlin! Hi, Anne! Hi, Kaleh!" shouted Katy and Jessie Carpenter. They got out of the truck, and then Mr. Carpenter drove off. "Daddy has to help Mr. Van Til with some work," Katy explained. "So he's going to let us play with you, and then when he gets done he'll take Caitlin and Anne home with us." That was the way it had been arranged, so that the Van Tils would not have to take care of all six children during the whole time that Mother was having the baby. They decided to jump on the trampoline, like they were going to. Anne didn't want to, though, so she went inside. Meanwhile, Kaleh, Katy, and Jessica were trying to see how high they could bounce Caitlin. (Because I was the smallest person there.) Evereyone was having a wonderful time, and then Jessie, who was tall and heavy for her age, made a particularly hard bounce, and Caitlin was flung high into the air. "Whee!" she sqealed, brushing past leaves on a tree, and coming down – over the edge of the trampoline. Jessie darted forward, and Caitlin was flung against her, while Katy came in from the back. They all tumbled into a heap and lay there, laughing helplessly, while Kaleh, safe and sound, doubled up with giggles. Finally they got up, and bounced happilly until it was time for the Wright girls to leave.

Chapter X –
"MY BABY SISTER, HOPE."

Caitlin was eating supper. It was Friday, June 25, 6:43 PM, and she and Anne had been at the Carpenter's for about one day. They had made doll clothes and dressed up their dolls, made a blanket fort in the basement, and jumped on the trampoline. Now it was suppertime, and everyone was filling up on baked beans, chili, and fresh bread. Just then the telelphone rang. Mr. Carpenter went to anser it, and Caitlin took another big bite of her bread. She was putting it down on her plate, when Mr. Carpenter said – "A sister!" (this next bit with everyone freezing in position is slightly fanciful. Grant me my artistic license.) Anne's hand stayed where it was, holding onto the cup of milk halfway to her mouth. Mrs. Carpenter, Katy, and Jessie stared, and Alex was frozen in the act of putting bread into the toaster. Then they all relaxed. Caitlin wiggled in her seat, and Mr. Carpenter put down the phone and grinned. "Her name is Hope." The girls asked to be excused. Then they ran outside to the trampoline and jumped hard on it, improvising a song as they jumped. "Hope is a gummy bear, and she's very very rare. Hope!" They jumped for awhile longer, and then they ran inside and began pestering Mrs. Carpenter as to when they could go to see the new baby. A little past 7:00, after the kitchen was cleaned up, the girls got into the car and wiggled as the car drove to their house. They wiggled as they waited for Mrs. Carpenter to come back and tell them that they could come in. And they wiggled as, one by one, they were allowed into the bedroom to hold Hope.

Soon it was Caitlin's turn. She walked into the bedroom, and over to the bed. Mother was lying down, a little baby curled up beside her. She sat up, and handed the sleeping form to Caitlin. Alerted by being in unfamiliar arms, a tiny eye opened, and a red face was turned upwards to Caitlin's. The other eye opened and the face squinched up. A tiny wail went through the still room. Caitlin rocked her, and the baby quieted down a little bit, but the eyes still stared at Caitlin, as if wondering if this was somebody who took little babies away from Mommy forever. Then she started crying again, and Caitlin handed her back to Mother, and let Katy have her turn. The rest of the evening passed like a dream, as Caitlin thought of her new baby sister. As she lay in bed next to Katy that night, four words repeated themselves in her mind. "My baby sister, Hope. My baby sister, Hope. My baby sister Hope..." She fell asleep.

Forgive me, my dear baby sister, for this purple monstrosity...

Chapter XI –
THE OHIO CHURCH ANNIVERSARY - 1

Caitlin tossed her pillows into the car and slammed the cargo door shut. She hurried around to the other side of the car and got into her prominent seat up front with Mother and Daddy. (Why did I not just call her Mommy at this point in the narrative since I'd made it clear that was how I addressed her) She could hear 3-month-old Hope cooing behind her, and the chattering of the five other children in the back seats. They had been invited to the 35th anniversary of a church in Ohio, where they used to live, and a family from the church had invited them to stay during the 3-day celebration. Caitlin was impatient for Daddy to come. She opened her journal, one of the notebooks that she had boughten on her big shopping trip with Mommy (okay I caved evidently). Biting the end of her pencil reflectively, she began to write. Friday, September 2010 - To-day we are leaving! I am very excited, but I wish Daddy would come. Here he is now! See you later!

And yes, that was a legitimate journal entry of mine that I copied for my autobiography.

First they dropped off all their garbage at the Carpenters, so that the house would not be stinking when they got back. (Did posterity need to know this) Caitlin's hand was aching from writing so fast. (so is mine)

At 1:30 they stopped at a restraunt, and baby Hope, much to her delight, was fed. (Traveling with hungry babies is no picnic. If you've never done it, well, you don't want to.) Soon after crossing the border into Ohio, it began to rain. First lightly, pitpattering the windshield, and then it was as if rain was coming down in buckets. The windshield wipers were flying like mad, and still the glass would be flooded at every interval. Caitlin could see flashes of lightning, but it rained so hard that the thunder was drowned out, and the only evidence of a thunderstorm was the lightning flashing every several seconds.

Every now and then the rain would seem to let up a little, and the people in the silver suburban would sigh with releif. But it would begin again, hard as ever, and by the time they got to their destination Caitlin was totally looking forward to a hot supper and bedtime at the Donnelly's. They began looking for a house number on a brick.

***

Five minutes later, Caitlin was flopped exhausted on a cushioned chair, waiting for the delicious meal to be finished. Mother (ASDFJKL: WOULD YOU BE CONSISTENT) was helping Mrs. Donnelly in the kitchen, and the other children were making friends with the Donnelly children. The rain, still coming down hard, made fast-flowing rivulets down the windows, making Cailtin feel even more comfortable, inside and safe.

After supper, Caitlin and the other children went down to the basement, where they would sleep. Sleeping bags and blankets were spread out on the floor, and Caitlin, finding a basket of books, read until Mother, from an adjoining room, called that it was lights-out time. Caitlin felt extremely tired after putting her book down and turning out the light. In ten minutes she was fast asleep.

***

Breakfast at the Donnellys was as comfortable and informal as at the Wrights. The only difference was that the food was different. There was toast and eggs, but they were from the store. And there was orange juice! The children hardly ever had it! Mother, looking on, laughed to Mrs. Donnelly. "Those kids are going to be spoiled rotten," she said. Caitlin turned around in her seat. "No we won't Mommy," she said. "Yea, we won't," all the rest chimed in, and back they went to eating.

After breakfast Caitlin wandered around exploring, read for awhile, and then went outside. And what fun that was! Inside their garage the Donnellys had bats and small balls, softballs, baseballs, and a soccer ball, a foot ball, and two basketballs! Caitlin, being homeschoolled and most of her friends being so, had never learned a single one of those sports, but she had fun trying to bat a baseball. They also had several bycicles and one trike, but Eddie was always trying to get it first. The Donnelly children went to a Christian school, so the Wrights had to play by themselves, but that is not too much of a problem when there are six children that can play. There was a large tree in the middle of the yard, which Caitlin and Anne both attempted to climb, but neither got higher than the first branch. So they did other things, of which there was plenty, until the Donnelly children came back from school, and then – then it was time to go to the celebration of the 35th anniversary of the church.

And there it ended. R.I.P. Caitlin's Adventures.

I will say that this 35th anniversary celebration was where I learned to play soccer, and adopted it unconditionally as my favorite sport. I will also mention that I got three penpals at that celebration and not a single one of us ever exchanged letters.