Oh, wow! I am really smothered by all the wonderful feedback! Thank you all very much for rating and for the nice comments. It really means a lot to me!

Okee…the new update is here! And it’s a really big one! :jig: I didn’t make it as a diary entry, because I wasn’t exactly in the mood for that Enjoy!

EDIT: I forgot to mention that the action in this chappie happens before the other update. In chapter 3 she is writing about the events of the week and um...the "thing" that happens in this chapter. Sorry if I'm confusing anyone... :P

Chapter Four

It was a beautiful, bright Saturday morning. Shadee rolled grunting in her bed and opened slowly one eye to check on the time. It was 6:30.
‘No school day today…’ she mumbled, rolled on the other side and fell asleep for another three hours. Life definitely felt good!
She finally woke up to the cheerful chirping of birds.Yawn. Shadee slipped lazily out of bed and rubbed her eyes wearily, managing to stifle a yawn.



Without hurrying too much, she went to the bathroom to have a quick shower, then got dressed.
Downstairs, on the outdoor table was waiting a deliciously looking breakfast consisting of yummy pancakes, Shadee’s favorite meal! Grandma Gypsy and grandpa Menas came giggling to the table, whispering in each others’ ear. Something was strange about the two of them!
‘Good morning, dear!’ Gypsy smiled at the sight of her slightly dazzled granddaughter ‘Did you have a good rest?’
Shadee nodded.
‘I made your favorites today. Pancakes!’



Gypsy was beaming. She looked so different! Something was definitely changed. Grandpa Menas began to hum absentmindedly and eyed his wife lovingly. This was a really nice thing to witness. Both elderly people were nearing their “Sweet Seventies”, like they liked to call them, but were still in love like on the very first day. They had had five wonderful children and more grandchildren than they could count…
Shadee suddenly realised she had been sitting on the chair with the fork hovering in front of her mouth for a few minutes now. She smiled and continued to eat her breakfast.
After that, Gypsy and Menas headed for the living room to watch the news. It was a thing they loved to do after breakfast. Shadee had watched them before cuddling in front of the TV.



The girl, on the other hand, decided to have some fun that day. She wanted to change the usual routine and do something new. She went upstairs on the big balcony and looked out at the bright morning sky. It was really sunny and warm outside…a dip in the pool would be so refreshing!




Grinning from ear to ear, Shadee rushed to her room and changed in her old bathing suit. It still looked quite good on her! She didn’t have a pool at her parents’ house, so she hadn’t used it too many times…



Having checked her reflection in the mirror several times, Shadee went back downstairs, past her still cuddling grandparents and out in the dazzling sun. After throwing a doubtful glance at the dangerous looking diving board, Shadee decided to go for the ladder. It was safer so…



It really felt good to swim lazily around the cool water. Shadee felt so calm and at ease. Nothing was going to take her out of the swimming pool until lunch! And so it happened. Shadee swam and floated around the surface of the water for a few good hours; her fingers and toes were all shriveled up when grandma Gypsy finally called everybody for a quick lunch.



‘Something smells good!’ smiled Shadee entering the kitchen ‘Grandma! You’ve made falafel! You know how much I love it!’
Gypsy smiled satisfied with herself, but Shadee saw her exchange grins with her grandfather. Once again, the feeling that the two of them were keeping something from her came back to the surface. She didn’t say anything about it though and continued to wolf down the delicious meal.

‘I think I’m going to get some sleep after lunch’ Shadee announced half through her plate of falafel ‘Swimming really got me tired.’

‘But it’s really fun, isn’t it!’ giggled grandpa Menas ‘I like swimming once in a while too. If only my joints didn’t hurt…’

Shadee smiled bemused. She suddenly felt a wave of soft feelings for her grandparents. They had been the best substitutes for her parents she could have imagined. A weird thought shot through her mind: if her family hadn’t died would she have got to know her grandparents so well and love them so much? All of a sudden, her eyes began to burn and her throat seemed stuck with something huge; she could barely swallow the piece of falafel from her mouth.

‘Grandma, grandpa, I love you so much!’ she burst out crying and looked at both of them tearfully.

A big group hug happened afterwards in which everyone cried, even grandpa Menas. Then awkward silence followed.

‘Let’s just all get some rest.’ Smiled Gypsy and ushered them out of the kitchen.

Shadee went upstairs to her room and prepared her bed for a short, refreshing nap. She didn’t exactly like to sleep at noon, but her head hurt a little from staying too much in the sun and sleeping seemed to be the best thing to do.



And she was right. After resting for about an hour she felt as good as new. Descending into the living room, Shadee found her grandma sitting all alone on the couch.

‘Hey there, honey!’ she smiled and beckoned her to sit next to her’ I was actually waiting for you.’

Eyebrows raised, Shadee headed for the couch. She had a distinct feeling Gypsy hadn’t slept at all. But why was she waiting for her?

‘I’d like to tell you something.’ She began ‘Your grandfather and I have been thinking about this for quite some time now…but we’d like to ask you first. To be sure you’d be okay with this.’



Okay with what?
Gypsy cleared her throat audibly. She seemed to be having a really hard time saying what she wanted to say.

‘You know how much we love children, don’t you, dear?’ she asked, looking Shadee in the eyes ‘We love hearing little footsteps around the house, having a little one to take care of.’

It began to dawn on Shadee what her grandma wanted to tell her, but she kept quiet and listened on.

‘While I was young, the house was full of children. But then they all grew up, one by one, and left the house to have their own families. What me and Menas would like is to adopt a child.’ She beamed at her granddaughter happily.

Shadee immediately jumped to her feet. Gypsy stood worriedly up too.
‘You want to what?!?’



‘Honey, don’t get this wrong! We’re not trying to replace your father! No one’s ever going to do this…we just need to feel useful and…’ her voice trailed off.

Millions of thoughts went through Shadee’s mind. She had clearly not expected this!

‘ But grandma…don’t you think it’s a little too late to adopt?’ Shadee’s voice sounded coarse ‘You know, you’re almost seventy years old. Raising a child takes time and patience and-’



She stopped and looked into her grandmother’s eyes. It was clear she had expected this reaction from her. But wasn’t she right? Even if she hated to even think of this, Shadee’s knew that her grandparents could die any time at that age.

‘I know what you’re thinking, Shadee.’ Gypsy sighed ‘Me and Menas could die any day now. But I’ve got this covered. I’ve already talked to the adoption agency and we are allowed to get a child. If anything bad happens to us in the next few years, the little girl or boy will go live with one of our children. I was thinking about your uncle Zenyth, he says he’s alright with this. If this happens more years from now and you’re alright with this you could…you know…take our place as a parent.’

Shadee looked once again at her grandmother. She seemed so excited and happy about this, that she couldn’t deny her this pleasure.

‘Well, if you’re sure this is what you and grandpa want…I’m totally okay with it!’ she smiled widely.

Her grandparents were ecstatic when they heard this. Just couldn’t believe their ears. They spent the rest of the day talking about it. Were they going to adopt a girl or a boy? How old will the child be? How will they decorate the room? Shadee found her self getting really excited at the thought too. A few days from then a little aunt or uncle was going to roam the house, nibbling on books, making a lot of noise and stuff that small children usually do. But this thought seemed to give her wings!



Hope you liked this…like always, gimme feedback! :D

I really like this story I was surprised! I wasn't even excpecting them to want to adopt!

That picture is a classic I loved it and i wasen't expecting them wanting to adopt! so cool!

Thank you! I did hope it would be a surprise... glad no one's seen this coming!

Great update! Can't wait to see the new family member!

I didnt expect that either. Great story!

Ahh, Great update Cory, for some reason I saw that coming but I think its great!

Yay!

I love this story so much.

Awesome story, I can't wait to find out her new adopted uncle/aunt! Keep going, you're story is so good and I love the art in your pictures, your graphics are the best I've seen, five stars!

I TOTALLY didnt expect that! Im glad it wasnt a surprise like 'Honey, your grandfather and I are really aliens and we want your body to host the next generation of aliens..." blah blah blah. Those stories are good... Its just refreshing to read a story with a "real life" surprise and not something so far-fetched.

This was really a great chapter... Your chapters always live up to the one before, and I am really enjoying reading this story.

boolPropped

EDIT: CONGRATS! This story is now featured!

I loved the update! Very unexpected!!!! :D
And I too like falafel!

I just finished reading the story so far. I like it. and like michelle said, that pic is quite funny

Thank you very much everyone! I'm feeling ecstatic right now! Very very many thanks to boolpropped, it was a very nice thing to do! And also thanks to Lyric for the star!

jenny: *sigh* oh well...seems I didn't exactly surprise everyone :D


This really cracked me up! :laugh: I'm not much into SF stuff (just "antique" SF stuff like Harry Potter ), so no alien hosting for me! :bump:

omg i love it!! when they were hugging on the couch i kind of thought ohh no grandma is pregnant!!

yeah thats what i thought too. lolol i was like wtf? shes like 100! ahh...scary thoughts:P

LOL It did cross my mind, you know! But adopting is a little better...

Wow! Amazing update, I totally did not expect that. I can't wait to see the kid!

Heh, I love how she's so conciencious about being nice to "unpopular" people and disliking the popular ones, yet she also can go off and check out how great she looks in her swimsuit.

As always, great pictures! I can't wait for th next update.

When I started reading the newest chapter, I actually had a feeling they were gonna adopt...

As always, great story, great pics, and you have a lovely way with words. :D

Ohh- I love this story!! Amazing update! I thought they were heading off to the "Im really an Alien" Theme to, but this is mucho better =]
Great job!

Yeah, i saw it coming aswell, but wow, i love this story

Thank you! I'm still happy I managed to surprise a few people... :D

are they just adopting one lol i can just see them since they love kids going off and adopting like 5 and be like SUPRISE!

That is a nice idea...but no, there will only be one child. Five would be too much of a handful for a pair for elderly people :D