Luffingtons Chapter Two
Previously on The Luffingtons: Miriam Luffington's (ver 1.0) parents told her they thought it was time for her to strike out and make her own way in the world, so she answered an ad for a legacy founder and moved to dusty, failing Baskerville. Miriam (ver 2.0), along with her pet Cat Stevens, decided to embrace the Legacy lifestyle and find a husband to kick off generation 2 with. She found her three bolter match, Merlin, and they married and had a daughter, Danube.
Now that he had a family, Merlin decided not to reenlist with the military. He set to work trying to find a job locally, but the economy in Baskerville wasn't any better than it had been in Eureka, and local jobs were scarce. He finally found work in a club in a nearby city, which meant an hour commute each way and late nights. But it was better than the chance of frequent deployments to far off places that had come with his previous work.
We both agreed that I should stay home with Danube. It seemed to me that Merlin had definitely drawn the short end of this stick. While he had to spend long hours on the road and long nights working, I would be back at home pursuing my interests and playing with our daughter. But as Danube's babyhood, and then toddlerhood, stretched out, I began to feel jealous of Merlin. He had opportunities to associate with other adults. He got a daily change of scenery.
When Merlin brought up having another child, I put him off, saying I wanted Danube to have my complete attention. But the truth is, I was anxious to get on to the next part of our lives. Danube was growing up, and I was already thinking about when I could get a job of my own, and a life of my own for once. I had gone from living with my parents to being parent with hardly any time to myself in between, and hadn't realized what I was giving up at the time. I didn't want to start over with midnight feedings and diapers and a being completely dependent on me.
It wasn't that I didn't love our family, or that Danube was a difficult child. She was a very sweet little girl, always playing with Cat Stevens or scribbling pictures at her drawing table.
When Merlin was home, he doted on her. No, I loved my family. But with Danube's transition to teenagerhood impending, I was looking forward to some kind of life of my own.
Merlin told me they were looking for a new MC at the club he worked at, and I started practicing my ad libbing and coming up with some snappy monologues. I wasn't great, but I hoped I was good enough.
The morning of my audition, I felt lousy. Merlin said it was just nerves, but I knew better. Merlin was going to get his wish.
And that's how our second daughter, Mersey, joined the family. Merlin could see that I was restless, and he proposed we do things a little differently this time. I would stay home with Mersey while she was a baby, and then we would hire a nanny to care for her while I worked. It seemed like a great idea, and the MC job still hadn't been filled at his club. We hired a local nanny, and I started at the first job of my life. There was only one problem...
The nanny didn't actually do much caring for little Mersey. She was the only nanny in town we could afford, and as it was, my small paycheck went almost entirely toward her fee. So it was back to the homefront for me. Merlin actually offered to be the stay at home parent for awhile, but it wasn't a practical solution when you compared his income to mine.
Mersey was such a different child than Danube had been. While Danube enjoyed drawing picture after picture, Mersey preferred building with blocks...
...and exploring the night sky with her father's telescope.
Her form of playfulness tended to be more mischievous than Danube's had been, too.
Different as they were, the sisters didn't spend much time together, especially now that Danube was a teenager. But when were together, they got along well.
Danube was still as interested in art as ever. She seemed to view the whole world as potential images for her canvas.
Even the people in her world were studied for their art potential. Danube had plenty of friends at school, but her time away from campus she preferred to spend alone.
"Socializing interferes with my art," she would say before heading into her room to paint for hours. She was working hard on her portfolio for Academie le Tour. It was all we ever heard about anymore at dinner; they had the best arts program. It was such an expensive school, though, and we were already stretched so thin on Merlin's one income (that fortune promised in the legacy ad had yet to show itself!), that she would have to work extra hard to not only be admitted, but earn scholarships to pay for the tuition and board as well.
Berjes was only the second friend, and the first boy, she had ever brought home from school, and it was clear to me from the start that she was smitten.
"You've got it all wrong, mom," she tried telling me. "I'm just working on my portrait skills."
Whatever she said, I couldn't help but notice that Berjes portrait took considerably longer than any of her other paintings.
Of course, part of that was from the fact that he got bored posing for too long, so they took frequent breaks.
By the time his portrait was finished, Berjes was a regular at our house.
Even when he wasn't actually present in body, his image was there on Danube's wall, and she was talking about him as much as she used to talk about Academie Le Tour. The two seemed so comfortable together, and the way that they finished each other's sentences and the glances that Danube threw in Berjes' direction reminded me so much and her father and I. Merlin wasn't as comfortable with his little girl's infatuation. "There's just something about that boy..." he would say, but I think he would have been mistrustful of any teenage boy that spent that much time with his daughter.
Imagine if he had known that Berjes had given Danube her first kiss!
Even little Mersey was growing up.
She was still interested in tinkering with things, just as when she was a little girl. She turned out to be quite handy around the house.
That was a real blessing for us, because Merlin had a tendency to break anything electronic he came in contact with.
She also hadn't given up her more playful habits!
I don't know which of us had been more excited for her transition, her or me. Now that she didn't need as much supervision, I was going back to work! My old job had long since been filled (after all, I had only worked there for two days!) but there was an opening as a lounge singer.
I was worried my old stay at home mom look was too frumpy for a lounge singer, so I asked Danube to go shopping with me to help me pick out some new, fresher clothes. She needed the distraction anyway, since her senior year was drawing to a close and she was anxiously waiting to hear back on her college applications. She had already been granted admittance to her fallback school, Fiesta Tech. The school she had her heart set on hadn't responded yet, and she was a bundle of nerves.
Working every night had me exhausted.
I hadn't been this tired since I was pregnant with Danube! It certainly was a reminder that I wasn't as young as I used to be.
I was asleep when she got the news. Sometimes I wonder if I had been awake, if she'd been able to share with me immediately, if her choice would have been different. Maybe not. She probably would have called Berjes right away anyway.
"Berjes, guess what! I got accepted!"
"No way! You're going to Fiesta Tech, too?"
"Fiesta Tech?"
"This is going to be awesome!"
"Uh, yeah... awesome."
In the weeks leading up to Danube's departure for college, she spent more time than ever in her room. At the time, I thought it was because she was tired of us trying to talk her out of going to Fiesta Tech with Berjes. Now I know that it was more than that. With my own transition to elderhood coming up, she was also planning a special surprise for me.
It seemed like only yesterday that I had moved to Baskerville, young and nervous and ready to begin life on my own! Now I had a job, a husband, and two nearly grown daughters. It had all happened in what felt like a blink of an eye.
Danube's gift, that she had worked so hard on, was hung in the livingroom.
The following morning Danube left for Fiesta Tech. I hoped it wasn't a decision she would come to regret.
Now that he had a family, Merlin decided not to reenlist with the military. He set to work trying to find a job locally, but the economy in Baskerville wasn't any better than it had been in Eureka, and local jobs were scarce. He finally found work in a club in a nearby city, which meant an hour commute each way and late nights. But it was better than the chance of frequent deployments to far off places that had come with his previous work.
We both agreed that I should stay home with Danube. It seemed to me that Merlin had definitely drawn the short end of this stick. While he had to spend long hours on the road and long nights working, I would be back at home pursuing my interests and playing with our daughter. But as Danube's babyhood, and then toddlerhood, stretched out, I began to feel jealous of Merlin. He had opportunities to associate with other adults. He got a daily change of scenery.
When Merlin brought up having another child, I put him off, saying I wanted Danube to have my complete attention. But the truth is, I was anxious to get on to the next part of our lives. Danube was growing up, and I was already thinking about when I could get a job of my own, and a life of my own for once. I had gone from living with my parents to being parent with hardly any time to myself in between, and hadn't realized what I was giving up at the time. I didn't want to start over with midnight feedings and diapers and a being completely dependent on me.
It wasn't that I didn't love our family, or that Danube was a difficult child. She was a very sweet little girl, always playing with Cat Stevens or scribbling pictures at her drawing table.
When Merlin was home, he doted on her. No, I loved my family. But with Danube's transition to teenagerhood impending, I was looking forward to some kind of life of my own.
Merlin told me they were looking for a new MC at the club he worked at, and I started practicing my ad libbing and coming up with some snappy monologues. I wasn't great, but I hoped I was good enough.
The morning of my audition, I felt lousy. Merlin said it was just nerves, but I knew better. Merlin was going to get his wish.
And that's how our second daughter, Mersey, joined the family. Merlin could see that I was restless, and he proposed we do things a little differently this time. I would stay home with Mersey while she was a baby, and then we would hire a nanny to care for her while I worked. It seemed like a great idea, and the MC job still hadn't been filled at his club. We hired a local nanny, and I started at the first job of my life. There was only one problem...
The nanny didn't actually do much caring for little Mersey. She was the only nanny in town we could afford, and as it was, my small paycheck went almost entirely toward her fee. So it was back to the homefront for me. Merlin actually offered to be the stay at home parent for awhile, but it wasn't a practical solution when you compared his income to mine.
Mersey was such a different child than Danube had been. While Danube enjoyed drawing picture after picture, Mersey preferred building with blocks...
...and exploring the night sky with her father's telescope.
Her form of playfulness tended to be more mischievous than Danube's had been, too.
Different as they were, the sisters didn't spend much time together, especially now that Danube was a teenager. But when were together, they got along well.
Danube was still as interested in art as ever. She seemed to view the whole world as potential images for her canvas.
Even the people in her world were studied for their art potential. Danube had plenty of friends at school, but her time away from campus she preferred to spend alone.
"Socializing interferes with my art," she would say before heading into her room to paint for hours. She was working hard on her portfolio for Academie le Tour. It was all we ever heard about anymore at dinner; they had the best arts program. It was such an expensive school, though, and we were already stretched so thin on Merlin's one income (that fortune promised in the legacy ad had yet to show itself!), that she would have to work extra hard to not only be admitted, but earn scholarships to pay for the tuition and board as well.
Berjes was only the second friend, and the first boy, she had ever brought home from school, and it was clear to me from the start that she was smitten.
"You've got it all wrong, mom," she tried telling me. "I'm just working on my portrait skills."
Whatever she said, I couldn't help but notice that Berjes portrait took considerably longer than any of her other paintings.
Of course, part of that was from the fact that he got bored posing for too long, so they took frequent breaks.
By the time his portrait was finished, Berjes was a regular at our house.
Even when he wasn't actually present in body, his image was there on Danube's wall, and she was talking about him as much as she used to talk about Academie Le Tour. The two seemed so comfortable together, and the way that they finished each other's sentences and the glances that Danube threw in Berjes' direction reminded me so much and her father and I. Merlin wasn't as comfortable with his little girl's infatuation. "There's just something about that boy..." he would say, but I think he would have been mistrustful of any teenage boy that spent that much time with his daughter.
Imagine if he had known that Berjes had given Danube her first kiss!
Even little Mersey was growing up.
She was still interested in tinkering with things, just as when she was a little girl. She turned out to be quite handy around the house.
That was a real blessing for us, because Merlin had a tendency to break anything electronic he came in contact with.
She also hadn't given up her more playful habits!
I don't know which of us had been more excited for her transition, her or me. Now that she didn't need as much supervision, I was going back to work! My old job had long since been filled (after all, I had only worked there for two days!) but there was an opening as a lounge singer.
I was worried my old stay at home mom look was too frumpy for a lounge singer, so I asked Danube to go shopping with me to help me pick out some new, fresher clothes. She needed the distraction anyway, since her senior year was drawing to a close and she was anxiously waiting to hear back on her college applications. She had already been granted admittance to her fallback school, Fiesta Tech. The school she had her heart set on hadn't responded yet, and she was a bundle of nerves.
Working every night had me exhausted.
I hadn't been this tired since I was pregnant with Danube! It certainly was a reminder that I wasn't as young as I used to be.
I was asleep when she got the news. Sometimes I wonder if I had been awake, if she'd been able to share with me immediately, if her choice would have been different. Maybe not. She probably would have called Berjes right away anyway.
"Berjes, guess what! I got accepted!"
"No way! You're going to Fiesta Tech, too?"
"Fiesta Tech?"
"This is going to be awesome!"
"Uh, yeah... awesome."
In the weeks leading up to Danube's departure for college, she spent more time than ever in her room. At the time, I thought it was because she was tired of us trying to talk her out of going to Fiesta Tech with Berjes. Now I know that it was more than that. With my own transition to elderhood coming up, she was also planning a special surprise for me.
It seemed like only yesterday that I had moved to Baskerville, young and nervous and ready to begin life on my own! Now I had a job, a husband, and two nearly grown daughters. It had all happened in what felt like a blink of an eye.
Danube's gift, that she had worked so hard on, was hung in the livingroom.
The following morning Danube left for Fiesta Tech. I hoped it wasn't a decision she would come to regret.