A Pleasant Story

Chapter Twenty-Two

Pleasant Milestones



It was a sad group who returned to the Pleasant home following the memorial. Each was lost in her own thoughts and walked quietly. Angela trailed behind, fighting her conflicting emotions about Dustin.





As they approached the house, Lilith speeded up and said, “I’ll check Mitch!” Mary-Sue dismissed the nanny while Lilith ran upstairs. She found him sleeping soundly, but he began to wake as she watched him.







He'd been installed at the end of her room with his crib and a bed for Kaylynn. It was a little crowded, but she didn't mind. She loved her little brother and thought he was the cutest thing ever!

He seemed happy and clean, so she just picked him up for a little cuddle time. His tummy felt a bit flat though, so she thought he might want a bottle.





Lilith looked down at him lovingly as he ate. She wished he could have come into their lives sooner!





She had just finished feeding him when Kaylynn came in.


"Hey," Kaylynn said, "Did you talk to Dustin at the memorial? I've been thinking about those poor kids a lot."

Lilith told her, "Dustin's taking it pretty hard, but he's got a lot of support, so I think he'll do okay. I love that Beau turned into a teenager while we were there! That was a surprise."

Kaylynn nodded, then said, "Mitch is ready to become a toddler--I thought we could have just a little family thing tomorrow. Sound good?"











The next day, Lilith held her brother in front of the cake as Mary-Sue, Kaylynn, and Angela gathered around to witness his transformation into a little boy.


She noticed that Angela seemed pretty bored, but at least she was there!


Lilith swayed back and forth with the baby as everyone blew their "growing up" horns.

She tossed him into the air and cheered as he became a toddler.






She caught him -- suddenly he was an adorable little boy wearing a . . . WHAT was he wearing?

Mary-Sue laughed at his outfit. "I couldn't find any boy clothes for him with the girls' old things, and they were all pretty worn out, so I thought he could wear this until we get a chance to shop for some toddler boy outfits."

"But what IS it?" Lilith asked. "I've never seen an outfit like this for a baby."

"I'm not really sure," Mary-Sue said. "I guess someone at the clothing store has a sense of humor!"






Mary-Sue continued, "But now that he's a toddler we can see if he's a music lover!" She set the little xylophone down on the floor and they all watched expectantly as Mitch tried it out. But . . . no siren sound.

"Oh, well," Kaylynn said. "But just because he doesn't have a passion for music doesn't mean he can't enjoy it. He seems to like playing with the toy, anyway."






Kaylynn took a moment to give Mitch his first lesson in potty training. It went well, but it sure was boring!








Angela then turned to her Mom and said, "If we're done with this, I'd like to leave for college today. There's really no reason to wait because I've got enough scholarships."

Mary-Sue said delightedly, "That's great! I think you are going to love it!”






She continued, “And I can’t wait to meet you at Academie Le Tour when you arrive so I can watch you turn into your college self!"

Angela hesitated a bit, then said, "I'd really rather go alone, Mom. They'll send the van for me, and I know it's not a fancy train, but it will be fine. And when I get there . . . I kind of would rather not have my Mom there. I need to show I'm grown up. You know."

Mary-Sue said, a bit sadly, "Well sure, honey. I don't have to come. I get it."







Kaylynn thought to herself that Angela should be glad she had a Mom who wanted to share her experiences and support her, but she didn't say anything about that.

What she said out loud was, "I have to leave for work now--is it okay to leave Mitch without a Nanny?"

Mary-Sue nodded as Lilith said, "Of course!"






Angela just said, "I need to go finish my packing and make sure I don't leave anything."


A few hours later, Angela came downstairs and announced, "I'm ready to leave now." She moved toward the phone to make the call that would call the college van to pick her up. She’d already put on her coat as though she was anxious to be gone.





Mary-Sue objected, "Kaylynn will be home soon. You need to wait for her, please. I know she'll want to say goodbye."

Angela thought to herself that she didn't really think Kaylynn would care, but she said out loud, "Okay. I'll wait."

Lilith added, "And you might say goodbye to our brother, too."








Angela replied, "Um, he's sleeping. But I said goodbye to him in his crib."

Kaylynn arrived home then, and they gathered to watch Angela make her phone call. While she dialed, Kaylynn told Lilith she'd been promoted to hostess.


"Wow," Lilith said. "At this rate you'll be a celebrity chef by next week!"





Angela finished her call and said, "Well, bye everybody."

Mary-Sue gave her a brief hug, which Angela tolerated.

Kaylynn said, "Have fun at Academie Le Tour!"





"Right," Angela thought as she climbed into the van. "I'll have fun, all right. But not there."

To the driver she said, “La Fiesta Tech. And step on it.”







The house seemed more peaceful after Angela had left.

Lilith turned to her Mom and said, "So I want to go too, but I work tomorrow, and if I get a promotion I'll be at the top of the career track and can get the Young Entrepreneurs scholarship. With my athletic scholarship, that should be enough to cover my expenses pretty well."

Mary-Sue hugged her. "I can't believe both my girls are growing up so fast!"





Lilith told Kaylynn, “I want to go to the mall. Are you okay watching Mitch?”

Kaylynn laughed, “I think so! I can’t tell you how great you have been helping me with him. He’s got the best big sister ever!”







When Lilith returned, she found Kaylynn reading to Mitch in the living room.

"I got Mitch some new outfits!" she said, “And a logic toy!”






"Oh that's so nice, Lilith!" Kaylynn exclaimed. "Let's see them!"

Lilith took Mitch upstairs to dress him, and brought him back in a cute pair of overalls.

"So sweet!" Kaylynn squealed. "He's my little farmer! Thank you so much! That was really nice of you."





"Are you hungry Lilith?” Kaylynn asked, “Let's eat something."

As they ate the spaghetti Kaylynn whipped up, she asked Lilith about her career plans.

"Do you know what you want to do?" she asked.






Lilith shook her head. "Not exactly. I know I want something active, but I'm not sure if the athletic career is right for me. I don't really love sports, and you really have to love sports in that track."

"I'll bet college will give you some time to figure it out," said Kaylynn. “I wish I'd been able to stay in school but, you know, simoleon problems. But it won't matter if I can have my own restaurant!"







They suddenly heard a siren sound from the hallway where Mitch was playing with his toys. Lilith went and sat in front of him while he played with the matching blocks box Lilith had brought him.

"Hey Kaylynn," she yelled. "I think Mitch loves science!"

Kaylynn clapped. "Oh, that's wonderful!"





Once Mitch was settled for the night, Kaylynn and Lilith sat on the floor to hang out a bit. “I am really going to miss you when you go,” Kaylynn said.

Lilith nodded, “Me too! But I plan to come back and visit a lot. I can’t wait to see how Mitch grows up!”

Kaylynn handed her the album she’d used to come up with Mitch’s name.

"Take this with you. I'm sure someone will have a turntable there, and you can learn all the songs for us to sing at Christmas."





The next day, Mary-Sue watched Mitch while Kaylynn and Lilith were at work. As she gave him his bath, she thought how fun it was to have a little one in the house again. Maybe she might have another one herself? It wouldn’t be a problem now that she could be young any time she wanted!

She laughed. "Better find a boyfriend, first! I don't think I'd want to do it all on my own!"







When Lilith returned home from work, she jumped from the car and celebrated. She'd been promoted to the top of the career! She could go off to college TONIGHT!







She ran into the house to tell her Mom the good news and found her in her bedroom. Mary-Sue congratulated her.

"So, what was the promotion to?" she asked.

"Uh," Lilith said, "It's um . . . " her voice dropped to a whisper, "team mascot."

"What?" Mary-Sue asked her to repeat it.

"Team Mascot," Lilith sighed.







Mary-Sue laughed. "Okay, you know what that means! Let's see it!"

"Mom, it's really lame! And I'm never going to wear it to work because I'm going to college!"



Mary-Sue mock-scolded her. "Now now, young lady, you know I will never let you leave this house until I get to see it!"






Lilith sighed and put on her work uniform.

"OKAY THEN! SATISFIED?" She laughed in half-anger as stood in her llama costume.






Mary-Sue applauded. "I love it! It's so YOU! But you know who will love it?" She pointed upstairs. "He's ready to wake up."

Lilith climbed the stairs and got Mitch up from his nap. As his Mom had predicted, he seemed delighted with his sister's funny animal costume, and squealed happily as she tickled him.






Lilith carried him downstairs so he could play with his toys, but hugged him reluctantly before she set him down. "I'm going to miss you, little bro, but I'll come back and visit you when I can, and I will definitely be here for your childhood birthday!"






Lilith changed back into her clothes, then greeted Kaylynn when she returned from work.

She told her the news about her job, which meant she'd be leaving that night.

Kaylynn said, "I'm really happy for you, but I'm sad, too. You've been such a help with Mitch!"


Lilith thanked her, then said, "There's one last thing I want to do before I leave."







She leaned down and pulled Mitch to his feet and said, "Okay buddy, your big sister is going to teach you how to walk! This is the one thing I cooperated with learning when I was a kid, because anything that made me go faster was a good thing!"

When Mitch had learned the skill, Lilith tossed him in the air to celebrate.







He was ready for bed then, so Lilith carried him upstairs and got him into his pajamas and kissed him as she put him in the crib.

"I'll miss you," she said. "Be a good boy!"







She gathered the rest of her things then went downstairs and told her Mom and Kaylynn that she was ready to go. She hugged her Mom and said, “And you'll meet me there at school when I arrive?" Mary-Sue nodded. “I wouldn’t miss it!”





Then she hugged Kaylynn and called the van to take her to college.






To her surprise, she got THREE scholarships. She had completely forgotten that she'd get the Extraterrestrial Reparation Grant from the time she got abducted by aliens on her teen birthday.

"Well," she said happily. "I guess getting probed paid off after all!"






When the van arrived, Mary-Sue followed her down the walk to wave goodbye, then shivered and said, “The first snow! It came to wish you good luck!”





Mary-Sue went back inside as Lilith climbed into the van. Lilith got into the front seat and introduced herself to the driver. “I’m Lilith and I’d like to go to La Fiesta Tech, please.” The driver smiled and nodded.




Suddenly, Lilith jumped out of the van and looked back at her house. As much as she was ready to leave and grow up, she’d also come to appreciate all she had here.





Then she wiped her face and got back in the van.

As it drove off, Mary-Sue watched sadly until it disappeared in the distance.




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