Smooth Sailing

June 1, 2018

June 1, 2018

The day after I met Véro for the second time, my grandparents came over for dinner. After school, I did my homework as quickly as I could and waited for them to show up, knowing that they would come at least fifteen minutes earlier than they said that they would. Grandma and Grandpa ended up coming at 4:07 when they said that they would be there at 4:30, and nobody was surprised. My occasionally scatterbrained mother wasn't quite done cleaning the living room, but Grandma and Grandpa didn't mind. "Just don't mind us, Audrey," Grandma said with a smile. "Sylvie, Everett, how are you two doing?"

"My class won the tug of war at Field Day today," Everett said while I glared at him. It wasn't fair that we didn't have Field Day in high school, but at the same time, I didn't want to be in middle school again.

"Sylvie?" Grandma said. "What did you do today?"

"Nothing interesting," I said.

"I find that hard to believe," Grandma said.

"I had a test in Chemistry," I said.

"How did you do?" Grandma asked.

"I don't know yet," I said. "I haven't gotten my scores back."

"How do you think you did?" Grandma asked.

I groaned, not wanting to talk about my test any more. "I have no idea," I said. "What are we having for dinner?"

"I was thinking of making a Three Sisters Soup," Grandma said. "Would you like to help me?"

"I'd love to help, Grandma," I said.

"Can I go play some video games?" Everett asked.

"Why don't you help Grandma and Sylvie instead?" Dad suggested.

"No, it's okay," Mom said. "We could all use a break."

"What game are you going to play, Everett?" Grandpa asked.

"Minecraft," Everett answered.

"That sounds fun," Grandpa said with a smile. "Can I play with you?"

"Sure," Everett said.

"At least bring the Xbox upstairs if you're going to do that," Dad said. Everett groaned, but he did go downstairs to disconnect the Xbox and carry it back into the living room so that Grandpa wouldn't have to go up and down the stairs.

Once Everett and Grandpa started playing, Mom asked if she could join in. "Can you even play Minecraft with three people?" I asked.

"Go away, Sylvie!" Everett exclaimed. I retreated back to the kitchen, where I helped Grandma cut up the squash and beans for the soup. If it was later in the season, the vegetables would have been fresh from Grandma's garden, but her plants were still too small to produce fruit. Once I was done slicing up vegetables, Grandma tossed the beans, squash, and corn into a pot and brought it to a boil. She then let it simmer for a while, stirring occasionally. Before long, the soup was done, and Grandma told me to tell the rest of the family that dinner was ready. I went into the living room and shouted, "The soup's ready!" but Everett hardly noticed me. "Seriously, dinner's going to get cold," I said.

"I don't care," Everett responded. "Grandpa and I are making a castle on Minecraft."

"It was his idea, not mine," Grandpa said. "Our castle is looking pretty cool though."

"Maybe we should have some dinner," Dad said, acting as the sole voice of reason. "My mom's cooking is delicious."

Eventually, Mom, Grandpa, and Everett conceded, and we all gathered around the table. We passed the Three Sisters Soup around, and when it was my turn, I spooned a generous helping into a bowl and took a slice of bread to go with it. "Phil, how do you like being commodore?" Grandpa asked once everyone had their soup.