A Morning in the Life of Many Ordinary People

Four - Annabeth

I turn over and I am awake. I'm facing the big window and the sun is only just beginning to rise. I know its summer now because my feet aren't cold, and the only time my feet aren't cold is during the summer. I hum happily, at peace, as I sit up and stretch my fingertips up to the wooden rafters of this little house that is so new to me still, before falling back down into the dent my sleeping body has made in the sheets. I breathe in the smell of salt and sun cream and sun. Ever since I moved to Hawaii that scent has followed me everywhere I go, it seems everything here smells like a summer holiday. You can call it an impulse,  you can call it stupid, call it whatever you want, but I always loved Hawaii and the ocean, after all I am a marine biologist, so I guess I do fit in here.

I am still coming around when I hear little pattering footsteps coming towards my bed and then someone gently climbs up next to me and whispers right in my ear "Mummy are you awake?"

"Nope I'm still dreaming come back later." I reply drowsily, before I begin to snore exaggeratedly. I hear giggling and little hands pushing me. "Mummy you're fibbing!" I laugh, my arms shooting out quickly so I can pull Kiara close to me, fingers jabbing and tickling her as she squeals and fights against me. I plant a big kiss on her forehead and we both curl up together under the sheets, my arms around her tiny little body and her legs wrapped around my waist.
'Mummy what are we doing today?"

"Whatever you want jellyfish," I murmur, taking one of her hands in mine and looking at her face. She really is just like a mini version of me, with her poker straight deep dark nearly black hair and her freckled nose and sky blue eyes.

"Well I want to sit out all day on the beach. Maybe swim some. And I wanna take Charlie with us."

"That sounds like a pretty good idea to me," I agree as I pull us both up into sitting position, her sitting in my lap. "Of course we'll take Charlie, he can't stay here all alone."  Her face contorts into a slight frown and she looks puzzled for a minute. I nudge her head gently with my head and ask, "Why the face darling?"

"I was just thinking, can Charlie swim? Would it be okay to take him to the beach? I mean he only just got here what if he gets scared of the water and runs away and we can't find him? Or what if he can swim and he decides he'd rather live with the fishies and stuff? I don't want Charlie to go Mummy I love him." Her face looks so genuinely sad that I want to laugh but I know that wouldn't be such a good idea. Kiara has a pretty wild imagination, she takes things like this pretty seriously.

"Kiara baby, Charlie isn't going anywhere," I tell her reassuringly. "He's not gonna run away, he loves us too remember, and he's a big brave clever dog so I don't think he would be scared of some water. He loves taking baths, remember last time we gave him one?" Kiara laughs a little at this. Last time we gave Charlie a bath he got a bit overexcited and we ended up both soaking wet and covered in the soap suds that were meant for him. "And besides, although dogs can definitely swim I don't think he would run away to stay with all the fish. They live way too far under the water for him to stay with them for long. He needs air, just like you and me, and you can't get much air at all the way down there under the ocean waves."

Kiara looks a little happier after hearing this. "Well, that's okay then," she states
seriously, "Because I'd miss him lots if he did run away."

"And he would miss us too baby. Now, let's go have breakfast kay? I got tons of fruit
yesterday at the shop, all kinds of crazy new stuff for us to try. Dragon fruit and star fruit and coconut and pomegranates and -"

"Mummy what's pomgranates?"

"Well come on let's go and I'll show you." I pull her up and out of bed and spin her around and around before putting her down. She runs off out of the room and I smile to myself. I hear paws on the wooden floors and realise she must have woken up poor Charlie.

I wander into the tiny kitchen myself and begin to make myself a cup of tea, raspberry is my favourite at the moment. "Kiara you want tea? I picked up this raspberry one at the shop you might like."

"Oh yes please.
Can I have some sugar in it?"

"Sure lovely, but not too much." Kiara has a bit of a sweet tooth. "Alright so here's all the stuff I got for us." I start pulling out all the fruit as Kiara sits on a stool opposite me at the table, all kinds of strange new things. I find a pomegranate and hold it up for her to examine. "This is a pomegranate." I hand it to her and she holds it in both her little hands, looking at it and squeezing it gently. "Give it here and I'll open it up for you," I tell her and she hands it over to me gently. She has a way of knowing when to be careful with things. She was very gentle with Charlie when we first brought him back from the pet shelter, I didn't even have to tell her.

 Her eyes alight with the wonder of discovering something new, her legs pulled up to her chin so her head is resting on her knees, and I take a sharp knife and slice the fruit in half. "You see all the little red things? Those are the seeds, and that's what you eat. They're super juicy, here." I slip a few seeds out and place them in her palm. She gingerly takes one between her fingers and put it in her mouth. Then she grins at me and eats the other few I gave her. "Oh so you like it then?" I smile as she nods vigorously and I start taking out the rest of the seeds for us to eat.

"The juice is so pretty," she murmurs as she rubs her fingers together, coating them with the reddish purple. All of a sudden Charlie comes bounding up out of nowhere and licks Kiara, face and fingers and all. "Nooo Charlie no no bad boy!" she exclaims as Charlie subsides slightly, before he gives her fingers one last lick and puts all four paws back on the ground.