Rolling the Dice: A Random Legacy

[MarianT]

        Polly had hoped that she and Philip would be able to travel to France together, but Calvin’s arrival meant that would have to wait. She would have to go by herself, to pick up the varietals she still lacked. But the next trip, she promised Philip, would be awesome. Thanks to her adventures, she was able to achieve a high-level visa.



   On her return, Polly went to the consignment store to start selling some of her nectar. The proprietor was out, but Polly’s mother was there, flirting with someone about the same age as Polly.



Elinor gave her a look, as if to say “Don’t blow my cover,” so Polly didn’t greet her with a loud “Hi Mom!” Appaloosa Plains was turning into Cougartown for sure, she thought. Her brother Gus seemed to be a magnet for elderly women, along with several of the boys she’d known in high school. And it wasn’t just the women. Both her friends Kristina and Danelle were involved with men old enough to be their fathers. Maybe she’d feel differently when she was an elder, but for now Polly was very censorious.

   Philip decided to go ahead and arrange for an adoption. Although adopting a child would be more practical, both he and Polly really wanted a baby girl, so that was what he asked for. He wasn’t sure what to expect when someone came inside and left a basket on the floor.



   Luckily it turned out to contain a baby girl. They decided to name her Nicole.



   Time flew by and before long, Calvin was walking.



   They decided to prepare him for his future by teaching him the names of the different jobs he would be taking. “After you work as an architect, you’ll go into sports,” Philip told him.



   “And after sports, you’ll become a journalist,” said Polly.

   “Jur-lis!” repeated Calvin.

   “Close enough,” said Polly. “That’s my little genius.”



   One night they had a sad event. The stray dog outside died, and the Grim Reaper came for him. Polly felt sorry for the maid they had just hired and hoped she wouldn’t decide to give her notice.



   Once Calvin started talking it was time for Nicole’s birthday. The party consisted of Polly and Philip; Calvin was too busy playing with his pegboard set to pay much attention.



   As soon as she put on her new outfit, Nicole started learning how to walk. Even though she was a couch potato, she seemed to enjoy the activity.

[MarianT]

They grow up so quickly, thought Polly. It seemed like only yesterday that she was reading to Nicole.



Only yesterday that Philip had been teaching Nicole how to talk.



Only yesterday that Calvin grew ready for school.



Both he and Nicole had turned out to be quite handsome children. Calvin had inherited his father’s eye color. The blond hair came from Philip’s side of the family as well.



   Who Nicole resembled was not a matter of conjecture, but Polly was sure that somewhere was a mother who would have been very proud.



Nicole liked being alone and had a tendency to talk to herself, although she claimed she had an imaginary friend named Pat.



   It certainly seemed like only yesterday that Polly had made the last batch of nectar that she needed to complete her wish to have a cellar worth $10,000.



   On the other hand, such were the vagaries of time, it seemed as if Philip had been having a midlife crisis for ages, although she knew it hadn’t started until after Nicole’s birthday. One of his wishes had been to move to a larger house, which Polly had been happy to go along with. She just hoped he wouldn’t decide he wanted a divorce.



   The house wouldn’t have been her first choice, but it was the only one available in Appaloosa Plains. They had added an extra bedroom over the porch for the children. Calvin said that he might like to move out to the garage when he became a teen, but at the moment it was where she had her nectar machine and Calvin his workbench. He had taken a class in inventing, where they had stressed the basics: put a fire alarm in the same room; make sure there’s a shower or pool nearby; and don’t hit your fingers with the hammer.



   Polly was glad they had taken these precautions (well, hitting himself with the hammer was probably unavoidable) because Calvin had set fire to himself the first time he tried to make something.



Polly was glad that he had known what to do because she had been too frozen with horror to even think about getting the fire extinguisher. After a brief shower, Calvin had finished making his widget, a tentacled wind-up.

   But all that was yesterday. Today Calvin was leaping into his teen years.



Polly thought he looked quite nice.

[warr2098]

I love this story 

[ApplesApplesApples]

It all goes by so fast! Calvin certainly is handsome. It's just so funny that the only part of them that lights on fire is their backside.

[Simboy134]

It all goes by so fast! Calvin certainly is handsome. It's just so funny that the only part of them that lights on fire is their backside.

I know funny right

[MarianT]

Whoops -- when moving files around for the 1.34 patch, I managed to save another file on top of this one. So move this story to the graveyard, please.

[ratchie]

Oh that is such a shame.

Rachel