Sister
Title/Prompt - Sister
Author - isabelquinn
Word count - 1,015
Rating - G
Summary - Karen helps Kristy pack for college.
Link to table - Link
Author's note - My first fic, woop woop! Mega thanks to ozqueen , both for beta-ing and for putting the idea in my head to try and get back into writing :)
“…seven, eight, nine.” Karen Brewer brushed a long strand of hair out of her eyes. Her ponytail was coming undone again. “KRISTY!” she bellowed. “DO YOU NEED MORE THAN NINE?”
“I DON’T THINK SO!”
She leaned out the front door. “EMILY, WE HAVE ENOUGH!”
“OKAY!”
Karen stacked six boxes into an awkward pile. Lugging towers of mismatched, empty boxes around the house was a difficult job. They were light, but they were cumbersome to carry upstairs. Karen had picked up a knack for it over the last few days. “I’VE LEFT SOME BY THE DOOR, CAN YOU BRING THEM UP?”
Emily’s reply rang clearly from the garage, well towards the back of the property. At almost the same time Kristy yelled more instructions down to Karen. The Thomas-Brewer sisters may not share any genetic material, but that didn’t stop them from sharing healthy sets of lungs.
Karen arrived in Kristy’s doorway, most of her face hidden by the teetering pile. “I’m not sure nine will be enough,” she said, dropping the boxes on Kristy’s floor. “All the boxes that are left are kind of tiny. Some of them are shoeboxes. Sam already took the biggest ones.”
Kristy rolled her eyes. “I know. He already tried to sell them to me. Hey, can you roll up my posters? They’re on the bed. I can’t believe how many I have.”
Karen nodded, and moved towards the stack of sports posters. She had been doing her best to ignore the strangely bare walls. “Are you taking them all with you?”
“Not all of them.” Kristy picked up the largest of the boxes and started filling it. “I think I’ll give some to David Michael. He’s had his eye on one or two for awhile now.”
Karen nodded, keeping her eyes fixed on the bed. Kristy’s room was looking more and more like Karen remembered it from before her dad remarried, before it had been Kristy’s. The house had been so huge and lonely back then. She could remember being four years old and filling the second-floor bedrooms with imaginary brothers and sisters. Kristy’s room had belonged to Florabelle. Florabelle had been ten years old. She had red hair, was a world champion cartwheeler, and loved chocolate chip cookies. Karen could even vaguely remember being scolded by her mom for leaving cookies in the room.
Then the Thomases moved in. And Kristy was a much better sister than Florabelle could ever have been.
“Have you heard about this year’s musical yet?”
“Yeah,” answered Karen, relieved to have an excuse to talk. Hearing nothing but packing-sounds made her feel uneasy. “Nancy rang yesterday. It’s The Sound of Music.”
“Oh, cool!” Kristy grinned at her. “Are you and Nancy going to fight it out for Liesl?”
Karen laughed. “No way. No seventh grader is going to get Liesl. The best Nancy and I could do is one of the other Von Trapp kids. Nancy’s hoping for Louisa. I’d like to be Louisa too, but I might be able to pull off Brigitta.”
“Brigitta? Isn’t she younger than you?”
“She’s meant to be ten.” Karen shrugged. “I’m not turning twelve for a few months yet, and I look young. I could convince an audience that I’m ten.”
Silence fell over the room. It was punctuated by erratic thuds, the sounds of more and more of Kristy’s life vanishing into boxes. Karen carefully kept her back to this. She didn’t want to watch.
“Look what I found!” Emily entered the room with a cheerful jump, dragging a good sized box behind her. “I think this is one that Daddy brought from the grocery store.”
“Oh, thanks Em!” Kristy beamed. “Where’d you find it?”
“Sam’s room.”
Kristy laughed. “Serves him right.” She quickly dumped a haphazard bundle of her possessions in the box. “It’s mine now.”
Emily hopped amongst Kristy’s sports equipment in a hopscotch-like pattern. “Kristy, are you taking your juggling balls to college? Can I have them?”
Kristy was carefully sorting through a pile of t-shirts. “Yes, I’m taking them to college. No, you can’t have them.”
“Why not?”
“Because they’re mine. And I might need them; kids have birthday parties in Philadelphia too, you know.”
Emily sank to the floor, and began trying to balance a baseball bat on its end. “What about your Mets cap? Can I have that?”
“No! And stop trying to scam me out of my stuff.” Kristy dumped the smaller of the two t-shirt piles into a suitcase. “If I find something I want you to keep, I’ll let you know.”
Emily sighed. Karen caught a glimpse of Kristy’s suitcase and raised an eyebrow. “That’s all you’re taking?”
Kristy had switched to a new task. Her entire upper body was under the bed and sounds of rummaging filled the room. “Of course not,” came her muffled voice. “I’m also taking pants and underwear.”
“Kristy, that’s like… four shirts! How often are you planning on doing laundry?”
There was a pause. “I didn’t think of that. Can you grab some more?”
Karen stepped around Emily, who was still busy with the baseball bat. She tugged open Kristy’s shirt draw, torn between one urge to roll her eyes and another to laugh. Heading off to college with four t-shirts in tow was such a typically Kristy thing to do.
Karen pulled the drawer out as far as it could go, wondering if Kristy had ever cleaned it out. There were shirts stuffed at the back that she hadn’t seen Kristy wear in years, shirts that wouldn’t even fit her anymore. She curiously pulled out the farthest one. After one glance, she realised immediately why Kristy had kept it. It was a crumpled white t-shirt with faded red iron-on letters, some of which were starting to peel. Karen smoothed over the letters, trying to push them flat. The words KRISTY’S KRUSHERS were still perfectly legible.
She folded it carefully and placed it in Kristy’s suitcase, hidden under the other shirts. Karen sighed, trying as hard as she could to stop thinking about what life would be like without Kristy.
Author - isabelquinn
Word count - 1,015
Rating - G
Summary - Karen helps Kristy pack for college.
Link to table - Link
Author's note - My first fic, woop woop! Mega thanks to ozqueen , both for beta-ing and for putting the idea in my head to try and get back into writing :)
“…seven, eight, nine.” Karen Brewer brushed a long strand of hair out of her eyes. Her ponytail was coming undone again. “KRISTY!” she bellowed. “DO YOU NEED MORE THAN NINE?”
“I DON’T THINK SO!”
She leaned out the front door. “EMILY, WE HAVE ENOUGH!”
“OKAY!”
Karen stacked six boxes into an awkward pile. Lugging towers of mismatched, empty boxes around the house was a difficult job. They were light, but they were cumbersome to carry upstairs. Karen had picked up a knack for it over the last few days. “I’VE LEFT SOME BY THE DOOR, CAN YOU BRING THEM UP?”
Emily’s reply rang clearly from the garage, well towards the back of the property. At almost the same time Kristy yelled more instructions down to Karen. The Thomas-Brewer sisters may not share any genetic material, but that didn’t stop them from sharing healthy sets of lungs.
Karen arrived in Kristy’s doorway, most of her face hidden by the teetering pile. “I’m not sure nine will be enough,” she said, dropping the boxes on Kristy’s floor. “All the boxes that are left are kind of tiny. Some of them are shoeboxes. Sam already took the biggest ones.”
Kristy rolled her eyes. “I know. He already tried to sell them to me. Hey, can you roll up my posters? They’re on the bed. I can’t believe how many I have.”
Karen nodded, and moved towards the stack of sports posters. She had been doing her best to ignore the strangely bare walls. “Are you taking them all with you?”
“Not all of them.” Kristy picked up the largest of the boxes and started filling it. “I think I’ll give some to David Michael. He’s had his eye on one or two for awhile now.”
Karen nodded, keeping her eyes fixed on the bed. Kristy’s room was looking more and more like Karen remembered it from before her dad remarried, before it had been Kristy’s. The house had been so huge and lonely back then. She could remember being four years old and filling the second-floor bedrooms with imaginary brothers and sisters. Kristy’s room had belonged to Florabelle. Florabelle had been ten years old. She had red hair, was a world champion cartwheeler, and loved chocolate chip cookies. Karen could even vaguely remember being scolded by her mom for leaving cookies in the room.
Then the Thomases moved in. And Kristy was a much better sister than Florabelle could ever have been.
“Have you heard about this year’s musical yet?”
“Yeah,” answered Karen, relieved to have an excuse to talk. Hearing nothing but packing-sounds made her feel uneasy. “Nancy rang yesterday. It’s The Sound of Music.”
“Oh, cool!” Kristy grinned at her. “Are you and Nancy going to fight it out for Liesl?”
Karen laughed. “No way. No seventh grader is going to get Liesl. The best Nancy and I could do is one of the other Von Trapp kids. Nancy’s hoping for Louisa. I’d like to be Louisa too, but I might be able to pull off Brigitta.”
“Brigitta? Isn’t she younger than you?”
“She’s meant to be ten.” Karen shrugged. “I’m not turning twelve for a few months yet, and I look young. I could convince an audience that I’m ten.”
Silence fell over the room. It was punctuated by erratic thuds, the sounds of more and more of Kristy’s life vanishing into boxes. Karen carefully kept her back to this. She didn’t want to watch.
“Look what I found!” Emily entered the room with a cheerful jump, dragging a good sized box behind her. “I think this is one that Daddy brought from the grocery store.”
“Oh, thanks Em!” Kristy beamed. “Where’d you find it?”
“Sam’s room.”
Kristy laughed. “Serves him right.” She quickly dumped a haphazard bundle of her possessions in the box. “It’s mine now.”
Emily hopped amongst Kristy’s sports equipment in a hopscotch-like pattern. “Kristy, are you taking your juggling balls to college? Can I have them?”
Kristy was carefully sorting through a pile of t-shirts. “Yes, I’m taking them to college. No, you can’t have them.”
“Why not?”
“Because they’re mine. And I might need them; kids have birthday parties in Philadelphia too, you know.”
Emily sank to the floor, and began trying to balance a baseball bat on its end. “What about your Mets cap? Can I have that?”
“No! And stop trying to scam me out of my stuff.” Kristy dumped the smaller of the two t-shirt piles into a suitcase. “If I find something I want you to keep, I’ll let you know.”
Emily sighed. Karen caught a glimpse of Kristy’s suitcase and raised an eyebrow. “That’s all you’re taking?”
Kristy had switched to a new task. Her entire upper body was under the bed and sounds of rummaging filled the room. “Of course not,” came her muffled voice. “I’m also taking pants and underwear.”
“Kristy, that’s like… four shirts! How often are you planning on doing laundry?”
There was a pause. “I didn’t think of that. Can you grab some more?”
Karen stepped around Emily, who was still busy with the baseball bat. She tugged open Kristy’s shirt draw, torn between one urge to roll her eyes and another to laugh. Heading off to college with four t-shirts in tow was such a typically Kristy thing to do.
Karen pulled the drawer out as far as it could go, wondering if Kristy had ever cleaned it out. There were shirts stuffed at the back that she hadn’t seen Kristy wear in years, shirts that wouldn’t even fit her anymore. She curiously pulled out the farthest one. After one glance, she realised immediately why Kristy had kept it. It was a crumpled white t-shirt with faded red iron-on letters, some of which were starting to peel. Karen smoothed over the letters, trying to push them flat. The words KRISTY’S KRUSHERS were still perfectly legible.
She folded it carefully and placed it in Kristy’s suitcase, hidden under the other shirts. Karen sighed, trying as hard as she could to stop thinking about what life would be like without Kristy.