“Sam? Sarah? Get ready to go to your game we have to leave in 30 minutes” Nancy
Sam and Sarah played in their final soccer match of the season with as much excitement as they could as it was their favorite thing to do. Except Sarah who loved to do ballet as well and Sam loved to bang on his drums. When the kids had wore themselves out and help beat the other team it was time for celebrating. For dinner they went to the kids favorite restaurant Chuckee Cheese where a kid can be a kid.
That night the kids played while Nancy and Stan finished decorating the tree. “Let me put an ornament up mommy please?” begged little Sarah. Nancy Nancy
When it was time to go to bed the kids asked for a bedtime story. “Which story do you want to hear tonight kids?” Nancy Nancy
The quiet night air was filled with the sounds of sirens coming as smoke poured out of the house. Sam and Sarah stood outside under blankets crying. The firemen had pulled them out first and were back inside looking for their parents. After what seemed like days the firemen came out to tell the children the bad news. “We cant find your parents, it looks like they have died in the fire. I am so sorry” the chief looked into the tear filled out eyes of the twins and gave them a hug. “What was the cause of the fire?” one of the other fireman asked the chief. “It looks like it was started by the Christmas tree, one of the candles at the top was not put out and fell and caught the whole tree and house on fire.”
“Such a tragedy…” the firemen said with a sad sigh. The chief could only shake his head in agreement.
The next day Sam and Sarah were staying at the local orphanage until they could be placed in a home. Their case worker came to talk to them. “Hello kids, my name is Anna and I am going to take good care of you. It appears your parents who loved you so very much left a will and you will be placed with your grandma Doreen and grandpa Jerry to live as soon as we get the paper work taken care of. So you will be staying here for a couple more days.” Anna tried to smile at the children but Sam and Sarah looked so sad still. With nothing left to comfort them from their home the kids had been giving some donated clothes and were not adjusting well at all.
A week after the fire struck that killed Nancy and Stan the parents of Sam and Sarah the twins went to live with their Grandpa Jerry and Grandma Doreen. “Now kids I know you probably wonder why you did not get to live with your Grandma Catherine but because she lives alone since your Grandpa Harold died 3 years ago, your parents wanted you to have as much love and care as possible for the rest of your lives. Okay?” Anna smiled at Sam and Sarah who tried to smile back. “Thanx Anna” Sarah gave a small smile at her before holding hands with her brother as they climbed the porch steps to their new home.
Grandpa and Grandma lived in a three story house on the other side of the town. It was almost in the country it was so far from life but there was a house across the way and another on either side just more spread out. The kids had only spent a little bit of time here when they could as it was a far drive for their parents to make more regular then the basic holidays.
“Hello kids” Grandma Doreen opened up the door and gave Sam and Sarah a big hug. This only triggered the kids to start crying again as Doreen O’Darcy reminded them so much of their parents. “Hello Doreen, is Jerry at home as well? I need to speak to you both in private…” Anna smiled at Grandma. “Yes he is at home, he’s just watching some tv. Will you all please come in?” Shutting the door the kids settled on the couch with the remote. “Watch whatever you want” Grandma said with a smile patting them both on their backs before going into the office on the side.
“As you know Stan and Nancy left you the children to take care of till they are both 18. They have a savings account that was opened for the kids that will take care of their needs. Sadly the kids will not get anything else since the house was a total loss from the fire a week ago. We have given them some donated clothes and a few toys but as you know as we spoke on the phone they have nothing else. No books, nothing. We made up a list of things they like to do and other things of interest for you but I am sure you are somewhat aware of their likes. Sam is into drums even if he lost his in the fire. He loves reading as well. Sarah also loves reading, they both love soccer. But she loves doing her ballet, singing, and playing guitar. Its really too bad they could not have some of their favorite things here. Soon as they get a chance they will let you all go look at the house to see if you can recover anything but as I said before the house itself was such a loss that there was not a lot they could save. Any questions?” Anna pulled the papers and folder out handing it to Jerry. “Thank you Anna, no we don’t have any questions for now. They are our grand kids and we love them and will take care of them best we can. But if we have anything to ask what is your cell number?” Jerry pulled a tablet out of the drawer and a pen to write it down. “It is…hang on here’s my business card…” Anna smiled and handed one of her cards to Doreen. “Just call or email me anytime I check my emails several time a day or my phone is always on.”
When Anna left Doreen went back out to the kids with Jerry. “Hey kids. How are you doing?” Grandpa asked the kids smiling at them. “Okay grandpa. I am doing okay I guess…” Sam sighed and tried to smile. Sarah smiled at them “I am doing okay too thank you grandpa?”
The rest of the day the kids spent unpacking their few clothes. “Tomorrow we will take you shopping and get you some things that will be yours. And a few things I am sure will help. Have a good night kids” Grandma kissed each child on the head before turning off the light and going out. “Good night Sammy” Sarah said rolling over in her bed. “Good night Sarah” Sam replied before going to sleep himself. Sarah lay in bed with a few tears in her eyes wishing so much she could go back to a few weeks ago with her mommy and daddy still alive. Sam too lay awake for a long time feeling very sad and missing his parents too much for words.
The next day the kids barely having slept woke up with the sun and climbed the stairs back down to the kitchen. Grandma was setting the table while Grandpa made some pancakes. “I heard you guys love these things! So we wanted to make you some. Do you like chocolate chips in them?” Grandpa asked smiling. Sam and Sarah smiled big in reply. Once finished the family enjoyed their first breakfast together.
When the kids were done eating Grandpa and Grandma took them to the down town area for some shopping. “You kids want to get some clothes? Then I was thinking we could look into some soccer stuff, ballet and at least price some musical instruments. I don’t know how much they come new we may have to replace your used. Anything else you need or want please let us know money is no object you lost everything!” Grandma was trying to not get all emotional but Sam and Sarah still didn’t smile much and looked like they both could cry any second.
After getting all the clothes they thought they needed Sarah tried on ballet shoes and found a pair she liked, along with a leotard, two pairs of tights. They picked up two soccer balls, new outfits for the kids, and priced musical stuff. “This is too costly for either of you. I’m sorry. We will have to get it used online or save up. Maybe you can use your friends stuff till then?” Grandpa suggest hopeful in his voice.
When they got home it was getting dark so the kids got ready for dinner and started putting their clothes away. When they were alone they finally started talking.
“I miss mom and dad Sam. I miss them so much I cant think about anything else. I need a distraction. I hope we can get something to do soon. Soccer wont start up for a few more weeks and I really want to not think about this. We should get a library card tomorrow. School wont start for another few weeks so we have to do something…” Sarah sighed and started lightly crying before turning her face away to find a tissue. Sam looked at his sister with the greatest of sympathy trying to not cry when he replied. “I know Sarah. It will be okay I hope. I do not know how long it will take but I have to believe it will be okay in the end. And yes we need distractions. Maybe we can look online for some musical stuff or find a used music store. I recall how long it took our parents to buy our stuff in the first place…” Sam went to look out the window. The cold night had turned cloudy and light snow was beginning to fall. “Guess tomorrow we can always play in the snow…” he concluded before going downstairs for dinner.
After dinner the kids sat at the television trying to find something good to watch. Nothing was on so they stuck on the weather channel. Grandma walked in when they both looked very bored. “Hey don’t you guys like to read? Do you want to get some books tomorrow? Do you have library cards yet?” She tried to smile at them to get a reaction out. Sarah looked at Sam before replying. “No. We was going to get one next year. We had so many books at home we never really needed a card…but we can get one maybe tomorrow if its not too snowy out?” Sarah was hopeful. “Sure. Sure. That wont be a problem at all. Unless we are snowed in. Then we will have to wait a bit longer. But we can always make snowmen and snowwomen too…” she said with a smile. “And have some hot chocolate. Bet we could have some now too if you want?” Both kids smiled in response so Grandma brought two cups out for them.
That night as snow fell from the window Sarah and Sam slept for the first time in a week and started dreaming about things they did not understand. “Sam? Sam? Its morning look outside it stopped snowing!” Sarah was smiling at her brother. Sam opened his eyes and looked out the window too. “Sarah I had the weirdest dream last night. It was about this planet that I had never seen before. And…” he paused looking at Sarah who was looking shocked at him. “And it had creatures that I had never seen before and there was 3 suns and 2 moons…” Sarah finished. “Guess Sam we had the same dream again. How strange. Do you think this planet exist?” Sam shrugged. “I do not know Sarah but it was a very cool dream. I hate to admit that I have not been sleeping really since that night…” Sam looked away. “Me neither Sam me neither.” Sarah agreed.
The day was beautiful outside. The kids played in the snow for a while making snowmen, and snow dogs, even snow ladies and snow kids. Sarah loved making snow angels. Sam just looked on. In the evening the kids went into town with Grandma to get library cards. Each one of them picked out 5 books to come home and read. It was a good day.
The next day Grandpa wanted to bring out the old Christmas Tree. “Hey kids. Its almost Christmas. So I thought it would be cool to bring out our fake Christmas Tree. You know what you want this year? Santa Claus is going to bring you something special I am sure!” He said with a big smile pulling a large dark green tree from the garage area. “You can help me decorate if you want…” he concluded before dragging the tree and box of ornaments out from the garage. Sarah started to cry she could not stop herself. Sam tried to not cry and was comforting her. Grandpa had no idea what was wrong. “What’s wrong kids? What did I say?” he asked confused. “It is okay Grandpa. It is just that the last thing we did with our parents was decorate the tree before the fire… you can decorate we will just watch if that is okay…” Sam got a tissue for his sister. “Here Sarah” he said with one last hug. Sarah sniffed and wiped her eyes. “Sorry Grandpa. It seems like just yesterday we had such a fun day and then they were gone just like that…”
After the tree was decorate and the presents lined up the kids helped hang some stockings. The house looked like Christmas again. “How many days till Christmas?” Sarah asked her Grandpa. “Just two more days! You excited?” Sarah just lightly smiled before going to get her book to read by the fire. Sam smiled at him before leaving. “She blames herself you see for the fire. She thinks she is at fault even though it was a candle that had nothing to do with her. She helped decorate more than I did so she thinks its her fault they died. Do not worry, it is not you…”
Before they knew it, it was Christmas. Fresh snow on the ground the kids woke up early and ran down stairs and were shocked to see what was under the tree. The cookies had been eaten and the milk drank. There was toys and candy in their stockings. But what shocked them the most was what was under the tree.
“Merry Christmas Kids!” Grandma and Grandpa yelled from the kitchen already downstairs waiting. Sarah squealed opening up the odd shaped gift with her name on it. “It is a guitar! Oh my gosh. A guitar? You got me…I mean Santa got me what I wanted! I am so happy!” Sarah was smiling so big now. “Thank you so much!” she concluded staring at the strings. It looked brand new.
Sam was next opening his large packages one by one. He knew what it was by the time he opened the second one. “Oh my. You got me drums? Really? I can not believe this! Thank you guys so much. I mean thank you Santa” he said with a big grin. “This is the best thing you could do for us. We really needed the distraction. I will set it up later…”
After all the presents had been opened and the trash picked up the kids played with their new musical instruments. They had each gotten some books their grandparents knew they loved and missed. A few toys and some more clothes. Plus a backpack each with some supplies for the up coming school year.
On new years eve the kids went with their grandparents to down town to watch the star fall from the top of the building. “I am so sleepy!” Sarah said yawning as they walked back to the car. “Happy New Year kids its 2011 what do you think of that?” Grandma said smiling as the kids got into the car and went home.
With school starting in another week the kids felt it was time to really explore their new home. They had spent so much time being sad and then reading and playing with their musical instruments they had nearly forgotten they had barely seen their large new home at all. “Tomorrow we should get up and explore! We are almost out of free time then we will be too busy to do it. What do you think Sarah?” Sam smiled at his sister. “Yeah Sam lets explore I really want to see this house for what it is…” With no rules set in place to prevent them from doing so the kids planned to explore the house over the next few days.
“Do you think that they will mind if we explore? I hope not I really want to find out if there are any secrets here! It is a big house after all!” Sarah concluded. Sam smiled at her again. “I do not think we need to ask to explore why would they hide anything? It is not like they have a dungeon with dragons or something…” Sam said with a laugh.
Smiling the kids went to sleep finally. Sarah was finally happy for the first time in a while. “Good night Sam see you tomorrow” she said with a yawn. He smiled back at his sister knowing tomorrow could be a fun day after all. “Good night sis, love you” and both kids fell into deep sleeps. Dreaming again about the fake planet with all its suns and moons and creatures.
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