Make That A Baker's Dozen

ONE

Thirteen is our number. It's the number of games my dad, Tom has to coach at Lincoln college every year. It's also the number of kids my parents have to keep track of. That's right. I have twelve brothers and sisters. Together, we're a Baker's Dozen. As you can assume, it gets crazy real fast but I guess that comes with having a big family.

My siblings and I lay under the covers of my parent's bed as they talk, dad coming home from his morning run. They were interrupted by Kyle and Nigel giggling. I grabbed their hands trying to get them to stop but they wouldn't.

Dad realizes what's going on and playfully lays down on top of us as I take the cover off the bed. Everyone starts laughing and Gunner starts barking.

"Careful! Careful!" mom said but even she was smiling.

Dad grabs the headphones off my neck and tries to swing them already.

"Dad! Stop! You'll break them," I said laughing.

"Okay. Okay. Everyone. Go get ready for school," mom says as dad hands me my headphones which I place on my ears.

My mom, Kate, grew up with just a sister. When she died, she felt alone all the time wishing she had a big family. My dad, on the other hand, grew up with seven brothers and sisters. They met at Polytechnic college, my mom planning on being a sports reporter and my dad wanting to be a football coach. After only an hour, she knew he was the one for her. They both agreed that they wanted eight kids. It almost seemed perfect.

They just had family at the wedding if you didn't Shake Maguire, of course--my dad's best man. (Mom likes to call him a 'hotdog.')

A year later, they had my older sister Nora. It was just her for four years so she got a lot of time to go to work with mom. After her, came me and my twin brother Charlie. A year later, they had Lorraine. Even though Charlie and I were twins, I always felt closer with Nora. After that, they discovered that maybe their dream of having eight kids and two careers wasn't going to work so they decided to move to Midland.

After we arrived, things got crazy real fast. Within a year of each other, they had Henry, Sarah, Jake, and Mark. He got them to eight. Their dream amount. But they weren't done. Shortly after Mark was born, mom gave birth to another set of twins, this time girls. Kimberly and Jessica. They got us to ten. After that, my parents got drunk at Shake Magure's celebration of his job as an athletic director. Nine months later, they had Michal. After him, my dad got a vasectomy to ensure that Mike would be the last but he ended up getting her pregnant anyway. He passed out when he saw the positive test.

In 98, they had Kyle and Nigel who got them to the number they have today. They like to think they have stuff under control but we all knew they were just pretending that they had stuff under control.

~~~~

I walk through the crowded hallway with my headphones around my neck as I wait for the chaos to start. It doesn't take long before Sarah starts screaming at Lorraine, and Jake grabs my headphones.

"Jake! Give them back!" I yelled running after him. Mom notices and grabs them, handing them to me. "Thanks, mom."

She smiles and goes back to adding the last finishing touches to her book.

"Lorraine! Come on already! You're going to make us late!" Sarah yells banging on the door with her Lacrosse stick.

I rolled my eyes as dad walked toward her.
"Hey! Hey! Hey!" he yelled picking her up.

"Daphne! Step in and tell 'Cinderella' to hurry up!"

"Temper Sarah," dad reminds her by taking her to another room so she won't damage the door. "But seriously Lorraine. Come on."