Pictures that tell 1000 words

The big apple

28th February 2034
"Lily... Lily, sweetheart you need to wake up now." Dianne whispered softly as she gently shook her daughters knee whilst Joe got out of the car.

It had been a long drive home from Brighton. The weekend traffic had effected them to a great deal, meaning that the simple journey which usually took no longer than an hour or so, took nearly twice as long. Meaning that Joe was instantly cursing him self for not getting his family to hit the road until 10 o'clock that night.

"Lily." Dianne reiterated slightly louder so she could hear.

"Huh?" The girl asked as her bright blue eyes opened into the dulled light.

"We're home now sweety." Lily looked with dreary eye sight as her mother flashed her a warm smile and gestured out of the windows. The soft white lighting of the effervescent moon gently lighting the front facade of her home.

The brunette nodded gently as she undid her seat belt, stretching the ceased up muscles in her back as she clambered out of the door, onto the gravelled driveway that she had walked upon thousands of times before.

"Di, can you get the door." Lily watched the exchange between her parents as her dad chucked a set of keys across to her mum, before he opened the back door to the car and carefully undid Alex's seat belt - lifting him out of the car gently.

"Wait, how come I had to wake up but he didn't!" She whined with a yawn as she walked up to the porch next to her mum, who was sat fiddling with the keys in the dark.

Joe chuckled softly as he noted the same tired expression he had seen on Zoe's face when she was thirteen, strewn across his daughters features.

"Because, I can't carry you up to bed anymore." Joe whispered softly as he nodded towards the sleeping little boy in his arms. His fist tightly gripped onto Joe's shirt as his head nestled gently into the crook of his elbow.

"So?" Lily pressed further. "That doesn't mean that he can't be woken up too."

"Well, if it's any help to you, I can carry you into school on Monday. Tuck you into your shirt and keep an eye on you all day if that's what you want." Joe suggested sarcastically. Instantly knowing he had one this little conversation of theirs by the unimpressed look on his daughters face.

"You're so embarrassing Dad." She retorted bitterly - rolling her eyes as she did so.

"Hey, I built an entire career about embarrassing myself so don't knock it till you've tried it."

"It's true... You've seen the video of your Dad doing the Samba." Dianne retorted with a gentle giggle edged behind her voice.

Joe watched as his daughter dissolved into a fit of giggles. The dimple on the right hand side of her cheek deepening instantly - matching that of her mothers.

"Haha very funny." Joe retorted sarcastically. "Now can we get this door open or not, it's bloody freezing out here and I don't know how much longer I can carry this little monkey for."

"I thought you said that he was light enough for you to carry." Lily retorted with a large amount of sass.

"No I just said that you were too heavy. Now get inside will you." Joe said with a smile as he nodded towards the open door that Dianne had made her way through.

"Hello my good boy how are you?" Dianne said jovially as she crouched down to gently scratch the soft fur behind the dogs ear. "Yeah, are you okay." She continued - the high pitched, soft voice she used to talk to the animal causing Joe to smile widely.