Christmas Morning

Perfect Little Family

"Emma?"

I sat up abruptly. "What?" I asked, maybe a little too loudly. As a consequence of the night before's lack of sleep, I had accidentally dosed off into my breakfast. My mother was looking at me sharply. "Your brother just asked you something, Em.", Dad clarified.

My younger brother, Peter, shot me a look. "Oh." I said, shaking my head to clear it. Peter took a breath before asking again. "'Cowboys - Showdown at Sundown'- y'know, the sequel to 'Cowboys - New Sheriff, Old West' that movie I really really loved, just came out, and I really really really want to see it, and Mom said there's a movie theater in town, and you probably don't really have anything better to do, so will you take me?" He rambled without stopping to breathe. "Pleeeeeeeeease?", he added as an afterthought.

There are three things you should know about Peter.
1.) He has an all too large attachment to using the word "really".
2.) He has an even larger attachment to Cowboys and the dumb movies about them.
And, 3.) He has absolutely no respect for my schedule, nor the things I care about.
What's worse is that my parents encourage #2 and #3. About the cowboy thing, they say it's 'good for him to have a hobby'. As for my schedule, whenever Peter has anything HE wants to do, they make me drop everything to cater to his every need, which, in my opinion, only makes him think it's okay to completely disregard my need to do my own thing.

"Ooh, ooh! I wanna go too, Emma! Momma, Daddy, I wanna go!", my six year old sister Nora piped up. "Hold on, I didn't even say I would take Peter, now I'm taking Nora?", I looked at each of my parents, incredulous.

"Emma, don't be ridiculous. Both of your siblings want to go to this movie, so just because you've decided to be a grump this morning doesn't mean you get to opt out of taking them. And what Peter said WAS true, you didn't have any other plans for today.", Mom reprimanded me.

"I know, but why can't you or Dad take them? Who said I didn't have plans? I could have plans, you don't know." I said, a little annoyed. Daddy laughed. "Right, and DID you have plans?", he asked, fully knowing the answer. I made a face. "Well, um, no. But that's... That's besides the point." I said with a little cough. Dad raised his eyebrows at me. "Mm. Yes, well, if you take the little cowboy-" he chuckled at Peter. "And, the little cowgirl, to the movies, then you can bring them back here, and you're free to do whatever you want for the rest of the day." Nora looked extremely pleased with herself, and Peter (despite being happy he was going to get to go to the stupid movie) seemed unhappy that he had to bring Nora with him. "Anything else, within reason.", Mom added to me, ever the worrier. I sighed. That was fair, I didn't already have plans, and I rarely ever actually hung out with the tiny troublemakers, and it's not their fault they can't go by themselves. Besides, afterward I could explore the town a little.

"Alright. Finish your waffles, and then let's go upstairs and get dressed.", I told them. " 'Kay!" Nora grinned excitedly. She doesn't really care about Cowboy movies, but she does love getting to do 'big kid' things with Peter and I. Peter poured an amount of syrup on his waffle that Mom would never approve of, but, Peter being Peter, she let it go. They both ate quickly, excited for the planned adventure.