Why not? - English

12-06 Pioneer Peril

I entered the Wholefish Cafe, only to be besieged the next moment by a crowd of children wearing capes and pointy hats.

"Hey, what's going on here?" I laughed as James and Sarah popped out of the crowd and jumped into my arms so I could wish them both a happy birthday.

"We're celebrating a Harry Potter birthday, Uncle Sam," Sarah answered me happily, beaming as I handed her her birthday present.

"How? Both of you? At the same time?" I replied in surprise. Did the two really agree on something?

"Together, Uncle Sam. What else?" James immediately corrected me with a look as if I was no longer entirely clear-headed, but still enthusiastically thanked me for his gift. Suddenly I was no longer sure whether the chemistry set and the new football game for the game console would still be well received if they were so into magicians.

"How is it that they are celebrating a birthday together this year and then it seems to be going so harmoniously? Wasn't there a football versus science competition last year?," I turned to Charlie and his wife as the children ran to the next table, surrounded by their friends, and opened their presents.

"Oh, they've been on fire ever since Penny gave them the first book of Harry Potter for Christmas. Since then, they've finally agreed on something," my brother answered me with a smile as he put the cake on another table and the Twins shouted a loud thank you to me before my presents ended up in two piles in the corner. I acknowledged it in silence and decided to ask them both in a few days whether they were still satisfied, even if it had nothing to do with magic. I still had the receipts to exchange it.

"Ah, Penny. She really has a knack for creating harmony," I objected appreciatively, as the twins began to argue about whether they belonged in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw. Bronwyn jumped in and warned them that this behavior would only take them to Slytherin. Since I understood nothing of that, I decided that it was probably time to run away."Um... Anyway, I'll let you continue the party. I just wanted to quickly drop off the presents and have to go back to the station. Have a lot of fun with the little sorcerer's apprentices," I objected, confused, and retreated before I thought of something. "Oh, Charlie. I have something for you too!" I turned to my brother again who looked at me confused as I pulled the charging cable out of my pocket and handed it to him.

"I hope you finally got rid of the old one from your power bank? That could have ended badly yesterday with the Scouts' raft building badge."

"Hey, don't blame me! James knew not to take it. But if it makes you happy, yeah, I already got rid of it. Thanks for the replacement, bro." I just nodded and smiled, wincing as the children cheered loudly, before I waved to Charlie again and fled.

As the door closed behind me, I took a deep breath. In moments like this, I was always happy when I could close the door behind me and not have to deal with argumentative, loud children. Maybe I wasn't cut out to have a family after all, like Helen had made me think I should start thinking about. Apparently liking children didn't mean having the talent and patience to raise them.

"Don't worry, Sami. You grow into this task," I heard my mother's voice and felt her patting my shoulder reassuringly a moment later. I opened my eyes and looked at my parents' faces. How was it that she almost always knew what was going on with me?

“What do you mean?” I pretended to be stupid, while the children’s shouting and cheering muffled through the door to us.

"Children. They can be loud and annoying if you don't have to deal with them every day. But if they are your own and you have to deal with them from the start, you grow into the task and are much better at dealing with their volume," my mother explained to me with a grin and pointed to the children in the coffee.