Room 218, Saturday Night
Bathtime had been a right pain in the ass, as Karla attempted to shepherd six little girls through the night-time ritual of bathing, hair-washing, and tooth-brushing, not to mention taking care of her own toilette as well.
Even with the steadying influences of Rook and Della taking care of some of the younger girls, bathtime had been filled with more water going across the floor and the walls than stayed in the bathtub. Their giggles and squeals had echoed inside the room as they'd discovered the fun of soapsud fights. By the time Karla had gotten her shower, the water had been stone cold. In every stall.
The girls had gotten quite a laugh, watching their mother yelp and run from shower to shower, trying to find one that wasn't like ice.
Then, they'd all trooped back to her room where Karla tried to round up enough nightgowns and oversized t-shirts for all of them to wear as the inevitable scuffle broke out over who would get to sleep where. In the end, Karla had pushed everything out of the way, piled several sheets and blankets onto the floor and declared that everyone would be sleeping on the floor tonight. There was still some awkward scuffling about who got to sleep next to her, but Karla solved that dilemma by laying down in the exact middle and letting the girls array themselves out from her like spokes on a wheel.
Finally, once the last minute requests for water and bathroom trips and fights over pillows were taken care of, hurt feelings soothed, stories read, lullabies sung, and last-last minute bathroom trips taken, one by one, Karla's daughters drifted off to sleep. For a moment, Karla allowed herself one brief, tender smile at them all: curled up, drooling, wheezing, snoring, and breathing oddly. They were all sweet, in their own ways and they all loved her very much. But most of them weren't hers. Monday would come and they'd travel back through their portals to their proper mothers and her future would go on. What happened to those who were from futures she didn't follow? What had happened to little Emma Eleni? Maybe she'd see some of them again? Maybe she wouldn't. It was hard to say for sure.
Hard on the heels of her introspection came the realization that she'd be mothering them all for another day, possibly two and she'd flopped back onto her pillow. Hell's fire and Mother Night. Forget questions of the future. She had a much more pressing concern: namely, how was she going to survive this?
[Establishy!]
Even with the steadying influences of Rook and Della taking care of some of the younger girls, bathtime had been filled with more water going across the floor and the walls than stayed in the bathtub. Their giggles and squeals had echoed inside the room as they'd discovered the fun of soapsud fights. By the time Karla had gotten her shower, the water had been stone cold. In every stall.
The girls had gotten quite a laugh, watching their mother yelp and run from shower to shower, trying to find one that wasn't like ice.
Then, they'd all trooped back to her room where Karla tried to round up enough nightgowns and oversized t-shirts for all of them to wear as the inevitable scuffle broke out over who would get to sleep where. In the end, Karla had pushed everything out of the way, piled several sheets and blankets onto the floor and declared that everyone would be sleeping on the floor tonight. There was still some awkward scuffling about who got to sleep next to her, but Karla solved that dilemma by laying down in the exact middle and letting the girls array themselves out from her like spokes on a wheel.
Finally, once the last minute requests for water and bathroom trips and fights over pillows were taken care of, hurt feelings soothed, stories read, lullabies sung, and last-last minute bathroom trips taken, one by one, Karla's daughters drifted off to sleep. For a moment, Karla allowed herself one brief, tender smile at them all: curled up, drooling, wheezing, snoring, and breathing oddly. They were all sweet, in their own ways and they all loved her very much. But most of them weren't hers. Monday would come and they'd travel back through their portals to their proper mothers and her future would go on. What happened to those who were from futures she didn't follow? What had happened to little Emma Eleni? Maybe she'd see some of them again? Maybe she wouldn't. It was hard to say for sure.
Hard on the heels of her introspection came the realization that she'd be mothering them all for another day, possibly two and she'd flopped back onto her pillow. Hell's fire and Mother Night. Forget questions of the future. She had a much more pressing concern: namely, how was she going to survive this?
[Establishy!]