Chapter Two Part One

Hey there! Its been eight months now since Mother died. Allen doesn't even remember Mother. A few weeks ago he happened to see some of his friends being picked up by their mothers, and asked where ours was. Hes so young, so I always thought he would have at least some memories of her. Until he got older anyhow. But I guess not. Mother never spent much time with Allen, so I understand how he doesn't remember much about her.

Yesterday Carly had a rather unpleasant experience. Allen just entered the fifth grade, and his teacher was going to talk to his class about where babies came from. So while Carly and Allen were doing their homework Allen asked Carly something.

“Hey Carly? Can I ask you something?”

“Sure. Did you spell a word wrong?” Carly was used to being asked to look over Allen's homework.

“Where do babies come from?”

Poor Carly. Her face drained of all color. And she made the most hilarious face ever!

Carly tried to give Allen an answer. But all she did was open and close her mouth, like a fish out of water. “You know,”Carly said very slowly, testing each word. “It. When a man and a woman... Crap.” Carly dropped her pencil, and pressed her hand against her cheek. “Why do you want to know?”

“Because at school we're going to be told about where babies come from. Mrs. Smith gave us permission slips for you to look at. If I don't get permission, then I don't get to find out. Did you sign it?” Allen looked absolutely fearful.

“I didn’t see a permission form. Did you see it Cecily?”

“No I didn’t. Did you forget to give it to me when you came home?”

“Oops.” Allen disappeared under the table, and I could hear him rummaging through his bag. Then he popped back up and handed Carly the form, who immediately handed it to me. I kept stirring the mac and cheese as I looked it over. It looked like he has buried it beneath his books. I looked at the date. He was supposed to have it turned in on Wednesday. Good thing he asked about it today. That was in five days!

“I'll sign it later tonight. You can turn it in on Monday.” I put it aside so I could concentrate on making dinner.

“Thanks sis.” Allen looked relieved. He wouldn’t be so relieved the day he sat down and heard where babies came from. He still thinks girls have cooties. Except for his sisters. We couldn’t possibly have cooties.

“Carly?”

“What?”

“So where do babies come from?” Allen asked again.

She so thought she had gotten off the hook.

Carly's eyes crossed. “They come from the stork!”

Allen's eyes widened. “Really?”

I glared at Carly, who of course didn’t see it as she was looking away. She knew I didn’t approve of lying to Allen. “Carly,”

“What?” Carly put her homework away, and folded her arms. “I'm not comfortable talking about the birds and the bees.”

Allen looked confused. “The birds and the bees?” He looked to me for help.

Truth be told I wasn’t comfortable talking about it either. I wasn’t prepared for it. “How 'bout I get some books for you to look at. And if you have any questions you can come ask me.” That would make it so much easier.

Allen smiled. “Alright, cool.”

And so the rest of the night passed on by without any more unpleasant experiences.

Except for the toilet clogging up. Ugh, gross! Carly to the rescue!

Allen spent Saturday at the park selling cookies, pies, and brownies. He just had to have a bake sale. And it was rather cute seeing him cooking, making those little cookies on his tiny stove.

“Yes, I think I will have this pie. That’s $2, right?”

“Yes sir, it is.”

Allen made it home just in time. The cops were starting to look for youngsters who were out after curfew, and were keeping a close eye on him.

So we decided to spent the rest of the night playing tag.

“Hey Cecily, stop staring at the scenery!” Carly tagged me. And I got Allen.

The next morning Allen was reading the newspaper, seeing what was popular for Sundays baking. It looks like its brownies and pies.

Allen had to quickly hide his money. He decided it might be best to not sell any baked goods today.

Carly decided that the bathtub needed to be repaired. I just hope she doesn’t break it. But then again, she is good with a wrench.