Common courtesy dictated close relations should arrive early to a celebration to help set up, so when Jon checked the time and noticed they would barely arrive on time by any normal route, Tatiana pushed him out of the driver's seat and grabbed the handles. "I am NOT letting them yell at us for being late. Bad enough the family is going to be upset over the 'accident' yesterday and the sleeping kid with a surprise doctor appointment." The only statement to be made beyond that came from her husband, sleeping child held in a tight grip. "SLOW DOWN!!!!"

  Keera's house was, as always, tastefully decorated, with the perfect flower garden growing in front and an ornate bike rack set out for the family to place their bikes in. A career woman to the end, Tatiana's older sister kept her home prepared for company at all times, just in case potential clients showed up randomly. Keera and her husband, Henson, owned a florist's boutique in the nearby city, and made plenty of extra money on the side with party planning. Her backyard was set up with a decorative pool, hedge maze, and a reception area ready for the finest wedding. Small wonder the family insisted on holding holidays at her house, rather than anyone else's. Keera had her husband and his family to thank for the needed references to get such a nice job, though it did take a great deal of work to prove herself capable after the fact. This being said, nobody her age did so well for themselves as this.

  When Tatiana came speeding into the lawn, she made sure to show how well she thought of her sister as she used the lawn as a set of brakes, stopping just short enough to plow over the bike rack following the furrows she left in the perfect flower garden. Jon and Tatiana were, surprisingly, among the first guests to arrive. Jon was white as a sheet from his wife's astounding driving skill. "And THAT! is why you were almost killed yesterday!" Keera slammed the door open and stepped out onto the porch, scowling at her sister. The family resemblance was striking. Keera looked almost exactly like her sister, except for Tatiana’s tangled mass of windblown hair and cut up leather jacket that she was wearing to protect her nice clothes. Both were evidence of the wild ride through the thick forest as a ‘shortcut’ to get here faster. "I love you too Keera" Keera stormed out from her front porch.

  "I heard about the accident you had. You better be glad Jon at least has the sense to let your worried family know there was in fact an actual reason you missed a holiday. This time. Don't think I forgot three years ago you 'forgot' to even send a card." "What? Jon was working and I forgot." "All three days?" "ummm. the second one.....I think......I forgot." "Of course you did. And did you 'forget' to bring Hayni? Angus is waiting to see her, but I don't see a child running to meet him." "She's asleep in Jon's arms still." "I'm supposed to believe she's asleep with YOUR driving? We heard you shifting gears for the last few minutes. I wondered how long it would take you to STOP as fast as you had to be going. How in the world could anyone be ASLEEP?" "The doctor knocked her out." "WHAT?!?! HOW HURT IS SHE?? YOU JUST HAD TO TAKE HER WITH YOU TO GO GET THE TWO OF YOU KILLED!!!!! HOW HURT IS SHE? WE COULD HAVE JUST MET YOU AT THE HOSPITAL!!!!!" At that moment Tatiana and Keera's mother came sprinting out the door, pushed Jon away as she stole the bundled up child, and screamed "MY BABY! You're okay aren't you?" The limp child made no response, still knocked out from the medicated lolipop.

  Noticing the limp child wasn't moving, grandma jumped to even worse conclusions. "SHE'S DEAD!!!!! YOU KILLED MY BABY!!!!" Baby in one hand, she started hitting Tatiana with her cane in the other. Keera's eyes widened as she heard this. "WHAT??? YOU SHOULD NEVER HAVE CHECKED HER OUT OF THE HOSPITAL!" Tatiana finally had enough. "IT WAS A SCHEDULED APPOINTMENT!!!! SHE'S NOT DEAD!" She yanked her mother’s cane and threw it onto the porch, shattering a flower pot in the process. Silence fell as more family members, recently arrived through the screaming match, stared at her. Jon had the good sense to hold up the wrapper from the knock out pop for Keera and grandma to see. A collective "oh" could be heard from all around. Silence reigned for a few more minutes as the staring continued and more guests arrived by the minute, most confused by the awkward staring and silence, afraid to speak up and wondering if it had anything to do with Tatiana destroying the lawn, since everyone was in a circle around her passing around the sleeping bundle of joy and the wrapper from the medicated lolipop.

  After the evidence had been passed around, Keera finally spoke again. "Who schedules a doctor's appointment on the second day of a holiday?" Jon put his hand over his wife's mouth before she could speak and produced the letter that was posted on the door. Keera read it out loud for the whole audience to hear. "You didn't 'forget' to enroll Hayni in school did you?" "ummm no. I just didn't want to have to take her to the doctor's office. You know how she gets." "Right, and how many broken bones did this one get. I know you probably told her what was going on before you had her knocked out." "actually, none." The whole family started laughing. Grandma was the first to speak. "okay, really, how many?" Jon spoke up. "none. The nurse needs a few stitches, but no broken bones. Can I have my child back?" Grandma held the sleeping bundle tighter, backing away from the two. "You'll be lucky if I let her go home with you two." She growled, walking inside to put the child in a nice, comfortable bed. Keera proceeded to pick flowers to surround the child with on the bed as a nice surprise for when she awoke, while her husband made tea to set on the table by the bed with some sweets.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  Hayni awoke, not to a horrible doctor's office with some nurse trying to stab her or a doctor seasoning her over an open flame, but to a bed of flowers, with a young girl of about twelve years old that she didn't recognize handing her a cup of her favorite tea and a cookie. Her cousin Angus was on the other side of the bed. "YAY! You're awake finally!" Hayni just smiled, thinking the whole doctor's office was either a nightmare or she was dead and this was paradise. She sipped the tea and devoured the cookie, plus several more she found on the tray with it. "This is our cousin Ivy. She's fun." "Okay, calm down a little Angus. I think Hayni needs to get to know me for herself. She just woke up you know. Run along and play outside for a minute please." "but" "Now." Angus pouted and went out the bedroom door to find some other entertainment. Ivy and Hayni quickly became friends, talking about anything they thought about, losing all track of time until Angus came back. "Grandma wants to know if you girls are coming out for dinner or staying in there all night?" "KIDS ARE YOU COMING TO EAT? Grandma yelled.

  As soon as they made it downstairs, Ivy went to Hayni's great aunt, Jewl, and loudly asked "Grandma I'm twelve now. Can I sit at the grownup table with you?" Jewl smiled. "Of course you're getting older. That's why we need you to stay at the child table. Somebody has to take care of Hayni and Aangus. Those two will make a big mess and we need a mature grownup to help them out." Ivy pouted and stormed off to the child table, washcloth placed in her hand to go wipe the cucumber dip off Hayni's face from forgetting to use a spoon. The way the child made a mess astonished everyone, burying her face in the dip and using her hands to push it into her mouth. Tatiana shot Jewl a quizzical look. "Grandma? Since when were you a grandma. Last I remember your son died a year ago to some maniac. Childless." "Yes, yes. Ivy was his wife's child. Sadly, from that same maniac. Long story, but her family didn't want her, and I couldn't let my baby go and become some servant to the foster care system." Keera glanced up. "Aunt Jewl! Are you CRAZY! What if he comes looking for her. He's coming out of prison in another nine years. You know they diagnosed him with Brink's syndrome. For someone like that, prison is nothing. He can't feel pain, doesn't care, and can't change his mind about ANYTHING!" "I know. I know. That's why her family refused. I'm old already. If he comes around in nine years, what do I have to lose. At least I can protect her better than some unbriefed foster home." Within moments Ivy was suddenly happy to be at the child table. It was far easier to clean up a child than to bear the roaring argument at the adult table. Especially an argument over her parentage with so many expletives and insults that her ears were burning over words she had never even heard, much less understood. And she thought she knew every curse that existed. Even worse, the adults acted more like children than the kids did. After a few particularly bad insults towards Tatiana, the returning volley included some very runny eggs exploding on Keera’s face. This was, of course, only the beginning of the mess, as Keera responded by splashing her drink at Tatiana, who ducked and allowed it to hit her own mother instead.

  After a minute, Hayni finished her bowl of cucumber dip, then grabbed Aangus' hand, yelling "Lets go!" Seizing the opportunity to escape the noise, Ivy raced after them outside. Hayni practically threw Aangus into the passenger seat of her father's bike as she grabbed the key her mom thoughtlessly left in the ignition, turned it, and proceeded to destroy her aunt's lawn doing donuts and racing as fast as she could. Ivy saw this, turned around, and ran back inside. "GRANDMA!!!!!!! HELP!!!!!!!" She went unnoticed for several minutes, unable to penetrate the roar of the argument as she dodged the occasional punctuation of flying food. Eventually she stood on the table, took the main course, picked it up, and smashed it on the table as hard as she could. She was still ignored, despite the fact that she just ruined the best part of the meal, plus several of Keera's best dishes, at least out of the few that remained intact. She then tried the obnoxiously loud doorbell Keera had installed. For her efforts, she was barely met with Keera’s response of “WELL HURRY ON IN AND HELP ME EXPLAIN TO MY @#*@%&*%^ STUPID *^&*%*& OF A SISTER THE BEGINNINGS OF BEING A (&^*(^&*% HUMAN BEING!!!” Finally Ivy decided it would be best if the two problems met. She ripped a brilliant red sheet from under the adult’s table, still ignored, and raced outside. She began waving it around for Hayni to notice. She did, and immediately began chasing it around Ivy as she was led straight into the open door. As Hayni ramped over one of her uncles’ heads, the adults FINALLY noticed there was a problem. Fortunately, he was ducking a pot pie at the time. It was just a little too late, however, for anyone to react as the bike was now racing along the table, making them forget the argument as Hayni smashed her way out the giant stained glass window at the end of the dining room. "THE CHILDREN!" Tatiana was up first, racing out the door when she realized the engine outside was her husband's bike. Everyone else was right behind her, save Keera, who took one look out the window, then at her table, and ran upstairs crying. It was Jon, of course, who managed to stop the circus. "ICE CREAM!" he yelled. Hayni's hand went right to the brakes. Jon and Tatiana jumped on, pushing tatiana in with Aangus, then sped off before the mob could burn them alive for this. "Aangus, you're staying with us tonight. We'll drop you off tomorrow when they calm down a bit." "Honey” Tatiana giggled “I think we ruined their Curnoleums' day." "ya think? I'm not showing up tomorrow." "What? We only ruined the second day?" "Tatiana, I think they are going to be spending the next month cleaning up the mess you and Hayni made." Hayni piped up. "Aangus helped too." They made a quick stop on the way home and the two children, plus Tatiana, were enjoying quadruple scoop ice cream cones for the rest of the day.