Voss Boy//Greg Feder

Chapter 4

Macie walked into the house with Greg as Becky came running out of her parent's room crying.

"What's wrong Becky?" Greg asked his younger sister.

"Mom--mommy just told me there is no such thing as the tooth fairy," Becky sniffed.

Macie looked over at Greg who looked like he had no idea what to say. She bent down so that she was on Becky's level rubbing the little girl's arms.

"Well of course there is a tooth fairy, silly," Macie smiled.

"But mommy said that if I put my tooth under the pillow she'd put a dollar under it. If the tooth fairy was really why would she have to do that?" Becky asked.

"Because the tooth fairy is a very very busy lady. Sometimes she gets so busy that mommy's and daddy's have to help her out a little bit. It takes a lot of work to get everyone's tooth in one night," Macie said.

"Really?" Becky asked looking at Greg.

"Yeah," Greg nodded his head, "Sometimes mom just has to help out."

"Now. How about you go round up all of the kids and make sure they're in the bedroom," Macie said, "We're gonna make cupphones. Greg and I will get the supplies."

"Okay!" Becky smiled before running off.

"That was a nice save," Greg smiled.

"Oh, it was nothing. I hate when little kids cry," Macie said.

----

"Can you hear me now?" Greg asked trying to see if the cup phones were working, "This is so cool!"

"Loud and clear," Macie smiled.

"I thought we had a deal," Lenny said walking into the bedroom.

"What's up, dad?" Greg asked looking over at his father.

"Are those cupphones?" Lenny asked.

"Yeah, Macie taught us. Cool, huh?" Keithie asked from his spot under the bed, "Hey check out Becky's"

"Look, Dad. I have a cup waiting. I gotta call you back, I'm on with SpongeBob," Becky said.

Curly started barking into the cup from his spot next to Keithie making Macie laugh.

"Was that a turkey?" Bean asked opening the chest that he was in.

"Yo, Andre, can you hear me?" Greg asked from his spot on the bed.

"Crystal clear. Can you hear me?" Andre asked from his spot in the bathroom.

All of the kids went back to talking into the cup phones as Lenny walked toward the bathroom.

"Attention, children," Lenny spoke into Andre's cup phone, "Uh, there's been a request from the phone company. Would you please install cupphones in every adult bedroom right away? Thank you."

All of the kids ran out of the room each taking cups to the parent rooms.

----

The sun had set several hours ago and Macie couldn't sleep. She was currently sitting on the front porch.

"Hey," Greg said walking out and sitting beside her.

"Hey. Can't sleep either?"

"Not really," Greg said, "I really should sleep since we're leaving tomorrow."

"Yeah. You wouldn't want to look sleepy when you get to Milan," Macie laughed.

"I kind of wish we could stay," Greg admitted.

"You'd skip out on Milan to stay here?" she asked.

"I mean yeah," Greg shrugged, "I've been having a lot of fun. Plus I've made some great friends."

"Well just because you're leaving tomorrow doesn't mean you we can't stay friends," Macie said.

"Yeah but once I leave and you go back to your normal life things won't be the same," Greg said.

"Well no, they won't be exactly the same," Macie said, "But we both have phones. We can still talk to one another. Let me see you're phone." Greg pulled the phone out of his pocket handing it to the girl. She went to his contacts putting her number in. She then held the phone up snapping a picture to set as the contact photo. "There. Now we can stay connected."

"You mean you'll actually text me back if I text you?" Greg asked.

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I?" Macie asked.

"No reason I guess," Greg shrugged looking out over at the lake in front of him. As much as he was looking forward to Milan he also didn't want to give up more time like this. He'd grown close to Macie and Andre over the past few days. Part of him was scared that would all fall apart when he left.

Macie leaned her head on his shoulder, feeling him tense up but immediately relaxing. "I promise if you text me I'll text back."

----

Macie stood wading in the lake with Greg and Andre as Charlotte, Kethie, and Donna stood on the bank skipping rocks. "Donna you wanna try?"

"Sure. But I stink at sports," the girl shrugged.

That's alright. Here," Kethie said picking up a rock. Macie smiled at how sweet the boy was being toward her sister. "Hold it like this. Get down low, throw it, and let the rock do the magic."

Donna threw the rock as it skipped across the water twice. "Oh, I did it!"

"Good job!" the kids clapped.

"Bravo," Roxanne clapped.

"You know how to skip rock Mrs. Feder?" Donna asked.

"Are you kidding me? I am the best at this," Roxanne smiled, "Give me that. Now watch this." She threw the rock but instead of it skipping it hit Greg right in the stomach. The boy bent over with a groan.

"Are you alright?" Macie asked putting her hand on his shoulder.

"Oh my God, baby. Are you okay?" Roxanne asked.

"Yeah, Mom, I'm just glad to see you having some fun," Greg winced.

"Oh, no. This isn't good," Roxanne shook her head.

"What?" Kethie asked.

"Well if I can't even remember how to skip a rock there is no way we can leave," Roxanne said.

"Are you serious?" Greg asked.

"We're staying?" Kethie smiled.

"I think we're going to have to," Roxanne confirmed. The kids started cheering. Macie immediately pulled Greg into a hug. She was beyond happy that they were going to stay. The rest of this trip was going to be great!