"Why are you mad at Sammy?"

Paige looked up from the book she had been trying to read to see her youngest sister leaning on the couch arm to look down at her. "Shouldn't you be helpin' Lewis an' Laura in the garden?"

"Why ain't you answerin' my question?" Hannah sat on the arm and scrunched her nose, a tell tale sign of annoyance.

"Ya should be doin' yer chores." Paige tried to focus on the book but it was hard as Hannah's gaze burrowed a hole in her head.

"He looked real sad when he left ya here," the girl continued and Paige flipped the page. She had no idea what she'd just read. "Big sad eyes an' he kept lookin' back at the attic an' doin' that sighin' thing he does." Hannah imitated him perfectly. "Even his hug was sad."

"Mhmm." She was not going to be guilted by a nine year old.

"He told me to watch out for his sunshine."

Paige frowned at that. She wasn't his sunshine anymore. "I'm fine, Hannah."

Hannah pushed the book down and shook her head. "No you ain't," the girl replied earnestly. "Ya've lost yer shine."

Paige opened her mouth to offer a rebuttal but there wasn't anything she could say to that. "I hope ya find it again, Paigey. An' I hope you an' Sammy stop bein' mad." Hannah skipped away before she was able to reply and Paige stared at the spot where she'd been.

"Out of the mouths of babes," Ma Guthrie commented as she passed by with a load of laundry.

Paige looked away, pretending to focus on her book again and ignored her mother's "stubborn fool" comment. She wasn't ready to admit to herself that they were right. Maybe in a few days but not yet.

"So what did ya end up gettin' for Christmas?" Paige asked, smiling brightly into the webcam.

Hannah shrugged from her end, not looking at all like a girl with Christmas cheer. "Stuff."

"What kinda stuff might that've been?" She was not going to sigh at her little sister. Somehow, Paige would find the strength to smile her whole way through this conversation.

The little girl shrugged again. "I got new crayons."

"That's good. Ya like drawin'."

"I don't want 'em," Hannah murmured, chewing on the end of her pigtail.
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"WHAT?"

Paige winced and pulled the phone away from her ear. She hadn't expected Hannah's reaction to be quite that loud. "Whaddaya mean ya ain't comin' home for Christmas!?" the little girl squealed, her voice rising with each word.

"Jono an' I are attendin'--"

"Jono an' you. Jono an' you!" Hannah interrupted, growling as she did so. "I hate Jono!"

"Hannah!" Paige gasped, astonished by her little sister's vehemence. "Don't ya go sayin' things like that."

She could hear the little girl crying now and it was breaking Paige's heart. "I do! I do! I do!" Hannah shouted, and Paige wondered how long it would be before their mother confiscated the phone. "He ain't yer family! We're yer family! We are! Me!"
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Otherwise titled as: Or oh crap, Paige sees how Sammy feels when she gets annoyed about Cable(bah!)...

Set Thursday afternoon

"I don't understand why you are walkin' around like someone just took the last cookie from you, Hannah Louise Guthrie."

Paige ducked back behind the doorway to the kitchen. She wanted to listen to her mother and baby sister's conversation without interrupting. Paige was curious as to why the usually vibrant little girl had slowly become more sullen as the day passed. She'd stopped talking after dinner and that alone showed that something was going on inside Hannah's head. The girl was always talking, always bouncing, but for the last hour she'd been sitting on the couch looking around glumly as everyone else laughed and ate dessert.

"I don't want a cookie," Hannah grumbled, and Paige could almost see the eight year old crossing her arms in annoyance. "I don't want stupid pie or ice cream."

"Then it's high time to voice what you do want," Lucinda Guthrie replied, not even a hint of annoyance or exhaustion to her voice. Paige didn't know how her mother did it, how she was able to always be so calm with all of them.

"I don't wanna sleep with Mel an' Laura. I wanna sleep with Paigey!" There was a bump and Paige was sure her little sister had kicked something. "Why she's gotta share a room with stupid Jub'lee an' Tabby? She sees them always. She never sees me." There was sniffling now and Paige's heart about broke in two. "Doesn't she love me anymore?"

( Read more... )

Monday nights are for calling home. An update on the family and a chance to see how everyone's weekend was and give out pep talks for the beginning of the week. Paige has already gone through the household, starting from the oldest sibling left at the homestead and now ending with the youngest. She prefers it this way. As much as she loves Joelle, there is only so long Paige can stand speaking to her sister when she's in one of her moods.

Hannah, the youngest, rarely has any mood besides happy. It's her default setting. She's also not anywhere close to being a teenager yet so she can be easily excused from the brooding tendencies of her older siblings. It's better to end the phone call on a happy note, right?

Except tonight fate seems to be screwing with Paige's well-planned phone order. Somehow it's Hannah that is making the call hard. She knows the little girl doesn't even mean to and its amazing how four little words can cut so deeply into Paige's heart and soul.

"Do ya miss us?"

( Read more... )