pumpkincarnival

"Basil! I hope you're ready to grow up and become a big boy! Life is going to change, A LOT, for all of us!"

"Blow out the candles!"

Ta-da!

5
"I can't believe it," said Abby with a smile. "My darling son is all grown up now!"

Basil's first act as a child was to flop down on his bed and have a nap.

While Abby was cooking dinner, she felt a familiar sensation in her midsection, and she realized she was pregnant.

She walked out of the kids' room resolutely, not meeting Connor's eye. She knew that he was going to have something to say about the situation, and she was afraid to hear it.

She spent several hours in the garden, but she worried the entire time, and didn't enjoy caring for her plants like she usually did.

"Connor... I swear I didn't realize that this was going to happen. I thought we were finished, too. It's not that I didn't want another one, but we're not very well off, and I didn't think we could afford it. Plus, I felt like you didn't want another one..."

"It's not that I didn't want another one, as much as it is that I too am worried about our finances. I don't want our family to grow too large and for us to not be able to care for them as well need to. But don't worry, my love, you never have to be afraid of my reaction. I know that you didn't do this on purpose - we were both in on it," he grinned, "and we'll manage just fine. We might not have a lavish lifestyle, but I don't think we were destined for that in the first place."

They hugged, and Abby once again thought of how thankful she was of her husband and her growing family.

"You know," said Abby, "This is how we got ourselves into this situation in the first place."
Connor laughed. "You're right! This is exactly what happened. But it can't make it worse at this point anyway."
Abby laughed too. "Not like it would stop us if it could."

Clove grew up on his own, with little fanfare from his family. He was too young to mind, though. But the truth was, this unremarkable birthday was a sign of things to come.

Basil was a sensitive, neurotic child, and he had little patience for Clove's cries. Luckily for him, Clove was a happy baby who actually cried very little.

Basil also made some new friends. Marylene Clavell was a girl in his class, and the only girl he knew who didn't have cooties. He often visited her after school.

Abby did her best to teach Clove, although in her pregnant state, sitting on the ground and picking up a toddler wasn't the most comfortable or easy thing to do. Connor spent a lot of his time off work helping her out and doing his share of childraising.

Finally, the time came for Abby and Connor's third child to be born.

Basil was old enough to understand what was going on, and his panicked screams did not help Abby's stress level. She decided against leaving her other two children and going to the hospital, opting instead to simply have her child at home.

A girl!

Abby wanted to name her, and Connor agreed.
"Daffodil," she said.
"Daffodil? Really?"
"Daffodil."

Life with three children was trying. Abby loved them deeply, but dealing with Clove's and Daffodil's crying and Basil's reactions to the crying was tough on her. She knew that things would be easier once they could afford to build another bedroom.

Daffodil was a serene baby. She didn't smile and gurgle as much as Clove had, but she cried very little, and almost seemed wise beyond her years.

Connor spent a lot of time with her. He was thrilled to have a daughter, and he felt certain that this would be their last child.

But in what felt like the blink of an eye, time passed, and Daffodil's birthday arrived.

Basil was excited, but Abby wasn't sure whether he was happy for his sister or just to be having cake.

In a shower of sparkles, Daffodil grew up!

Abby lifted her child into the air with glee. Her daughter had inherited dark hair from some long-lost relative, but she had Abby's emerald green eyes.

Clove and Daffodil got along very well, and began to build their relationship even as young children. Abby and Connor were both relieved that their younger children weren't as difficult and fussy as their eldest had been.

After a lot of saving, Abby and Connor were able to remodel their home. They build a nice master bedroom, and also separated the childrens' room so that Basil wouldn't have to share a room with crying toddlers. Life became much easier once Basil had his own space.

After the house had been upgraded, Connor felt that their financial situation was secure enough that he could quit his job and become an author instead.

Although Abby supported his desire to become an author, she was concerned about their finances, and angry about the situation in which he had quit.
"Seriously? You told him his mother is a llama and walked out? What is the matter with you, Connor?!"
"Abby, you don't understand, I HATED my job. I loathed it. It wasn't that bad for a certain type of person, I guess, but I'm NOT that person. And my boss deserved every word I said to him, and more."
"I hope you never have to get another 9-to-5 because he'll make sure you're blacklisted in anything in this town. You'll never get hired again."
"That shouldn't matter because I'm going to be an author, and the rest of the world doesn't know or care who 'Cyclone Sword' is!"

"I just want some warning on these things! I don't think that is too much to ask. And you really ought to be trying to set a good example for our children, not walking out and then screaming at him over the phone."
"Abby, you know I'm not usually like this. This was an exception, and I'm not going to be doing it again! We're finished discussing this."

Daffodil was completely oblivious to the problems her parents were having. She didn't know or care about money, jobs, or llamas, all she knew was her own little world, and she liked it.

Then the time came for Basil to grow up.

He spun around...

...and grew up! Abby and Connor were apprehensive about having a teenager in their home, especially one who was like Connor. He hadn't been the easiest baby, toddler, or child, and they were afraid of how he would be as he approached adulthood.

Abby was worried about growing old. Now that she was approaching old age, she felt that she had wasted some of her youth. She tried on a younger style, but wasn't sure if it really suited her. "I've waited too long to dress like this... now I look like a middle-aged woman trying to look cute, and failing. Before long, I'm going to be old."

As it turned out, Connor and Abby were wrong to have worried about Basil. As a teenager, he was old enough to do things himself, and make sure that he could keep his environment set the way he wanted it to be. He still had his neurotic episodes and certain things that set him off, but he did a much better job of managing his problems.

One of the things that he did worry about was his mother.

Abby took to fishing, oftentimes at night. The park across the street from their home had a pond that was full of fish, and she found nothing so soothing as watching the moonlight reflect off of the water while she fished and thought. She thought a lot about Connor. Since their fight, they had patched things up, but their relationship felt more stilted and less intimate and loving than it had.

Basil was happy when his childhood friend Marlena became a teenager. One day after school, he invited her over.

Then he kissed her.

Then he kissed her some more,

and then they became boyfriend and girlfriend!

The fact that Marlena wasn't the best-looking girl out there couldn't be denied, but Basil did not care. She rubbed Abby the wrong way, but Abby did her best to be tolerant of her because Basil cared about her so much.

Before long, it was time for Clove's birthday. Basil was the only one who could even act excited - Abby and Connor still felt awkward around one another, and Clove's aging reminded Abby of her own. She wanted a fourth child, but the one time she casually mentioned it around Connor, he completely shut down.

Connor loved his family deeply, but living with 4 other people was sometimes overwhelming for him. He wasn't sure whether he was happy that Clove was going to be less dependant, or disappointed that he would be better able to detect Connor's moodiness and ask for things.

Clove himself was unsure about the whole birthday thing.

Even cake didn't leave him completely satisfied.

Connor began to paint a portrait of his wife. Even though the strange feelings still persisted between them, he felt that she was the most important thing in his life, and thought that maybe if he made something to physically show her what she meant to him, some of the awkwardness would be resolved.

Basil and Marlena spent almost every afternoon together, at one or the other's house. They always told their parents they were "studying," but no one was really fooled.

Almost out of nowhere, Abby and Connor made up, and their relationship returned to how it had been, with both feeling extremely relieved that things were back to normal.

At Daffodil's birthday, everyone was considerably more excited. Connor felt better about being a loner surrounded by family.

Abby was thrilled that things between them had smoothed over again, and Basil and Clove were glad that the family was getting along well - and they were excited to see their youngest sibling grow up.

Daffodil was excited to be going to school, and excited to learn, although she had inherited her father's tendency to be a loner.

Abby was nervous.

Daffodil was excited, because she couldn't understand what Abby was feeling - the sadness of getting older.

Abby looked at Connor. "Con, I'm so nervous... will you still love me when I'm gray and wrinkly?"

Connor laughed. "Do you even have to ask, my dear? You'll always be the love of my life, no matter how old you are!"