Seated at the kitchen table, eyes still bleary from a late night at the desk, Loukas takes a sip of his freshly brewed coffee. It is early morning and the sun has just begun to peek out from hiding, shading the dim grey sky with a faint hue of oncoming yellow. This is Loukas' favorite time of day. Not because of what is present, rather for what is not. Noise. It's quiet, a rare luxury in the Bowman household indeed. No one is begging for a band-aid, whining for the car keys or crying over phone restrictions. Just Loukas and a steaming cup of dark roast, in the homely abode of the kitchen.
Bringing the mug down away from his lips, Loukas closed his eyes and sighed in contentment. It's moments like these that make early rising worth while. The thing about moments? They never last. And that is something this single father has come to know all too well.
Soon, the sound of a room door opening followed by slippered footfalls reached the ears of a relaxing Loukas. Why couldn't his kids be like all the others? Most parents couldn't get their kids out of sleep. Not Loukas, if anything he couldn't keep his children sleeping long enough!
Steadily the scuffle of pottering feet came closer, and Loukas prepares himself for the morning lecture of: You'll eat what I give you. But instead of a remark of entitlement, Loukas is met with the warm greeting of arms wrapping themselves around his neck. He strokes the two little hands that appear beneath his chin.
"Good morning to you too." he said, pulling the figure out from behind him. Loukas smiled at the sight of his youngest. She'd clearly just woken up judging by the yawn that emanated from her mouth and the trail of dried drool that was crusted to some of the tendrils of her unkempt hair. Patting his thighs Loukas beckoned his little sleeping beauty to sit on his lap, of which she gladly obliged without hesitation.
"How's my Mia doing this morning?" he asked, taking advantage of his daughter's silence. He knew once she fully awoke he wouldn't be able to get a word in edgewise. A small sigh of contentment was his only reply as the young girl nestled her nose into the crook of her father's neck.
Of all his children, Loukas felt the most loved by his Mia. Yes she was a complainer, mischief maker, and holder of a thousand questions but if there was one thing that Mia was the most it was being a daddy's girl. Even when the house held two parents, the youngest always gravitated towards her father. Maybe because he was the one who was always there for her when she fell, or maybe it was that in her eyes he appeared to be the holder of all the answers. But despite all the hours of whining she put him through and the nightmare she could sometimes be, Loukas knew Mia loved him. Which was more than he could say about his older ones.
Since his wife left him, for reasons she did not say, Loukas had never remarried. Not because he didn't want to, nor was it that no women paid him any interest. Many women were interested in him -too many he thought- what they weren't interested in was his trio of toffee nosed children. Loukas really couldn't blame them. Ever since the disappearance of their mother, the children's flaws had only been magnified and seeing as he was left a single father, there was only so much wild energy Loukas could tame.
On most days it felt like he was attempting to fix a rubik cube... only the rubik cube was fighting back. From three different directions. No matter how hard he tried to teach his kids, they just never seemed to learn. Turning off the WIFI worked on his elder two for awhile, up until they figured out escaping to their friends house was a better idea. Loukas had yet to find a suitable punishment for his youngest. The only cure for her it seemed was a mute button, which unfortunately for him didn't exist. Trying to stay patient was useless, trying to keep sane now that was the key.
"So what's on your agenda today?" Loukas asked Mia, as he ruffled his hands through her russet head of haywire hair.
Shifting when her father arose to make her breakfast, Mia let out another yawn, stretching her arms and curling her toes before plopping herself back down into the seat her father had just left vacant.
''I get to meet my new horseback riding trainer who I'll have a two hour lesson with then I will take a test. Once I'm finished cleaning the stalls and putting away the tack, it'll be lunch time so I thought maybe we could go to Chipotle and then after that I have to complete my science essay. When that's done I should probably pack my bag for the sleepover at Stella's tomorrow and then-"
"Whoa, whoa, hold your horses." said Loukas, holding up a one gallon jug of milk. "What did I say about the mile a minute speeches?"
Mia sighed. She couldn't help it if her vocal cords churned out two times the words of an average person and required only half the oxygen. "Sorry." She smiled sheepishly, pulling her designated bowl of lucky charms to her person. Loukas poured her some milk before seating himself down beside her and filling his own dish with the white liquid. Only his bowl filled with a much less sugary cereal.
"And I assume your sister will not be taking you to all these places?" Loukas looked up at the sight of said sister plodding down the steps. Yesterday's mascara smeared on her face, clad in grey sweats, along with one of many pairs of headphones cupped over her ears. As always.
Mia gave her father the look that said, ya think? But by the look she got shot back, it was obvious that Loukas was not overly fond of the prospect of taking on the role as chaperon.
"Whatcha lookin for?" Mia asked, noticing her sister's eyeing of the first floor.
"My stupid phone charger." moaned the older sister with a tired tone.
"Well if it's so stupid why are you looking for it?"
The weary teen looked over at her sister, a puzzled expression etched on her features. Mia's uncanny gift of unwavering remarks never ceased to amaze her. Well... maybe annoy is the better word.
"Because my phone died that's why."
"So why do have your headphones on?"
"Maybe so I don't have to hear you."
"But if your phone died you can't have music so why are they on?"
"So you can ask me more questions."
"Why?"
"Would you just shut up!"
"Paige." warned Loukas, as he narrowed his eyes on his eldest. Though he had to admit, he did find the conversation between the two rather humorous. It was enjoyable to witness his youngest inflict her torture on someone other than himself and seeing as how she drove Paige crazy, Loukas began to think of ways he might be able to use Mia to his advantage. Maybe making Paige babysit her would speak some sense into his rebellious teen.
Paige just huffed and rolled her eyes, then returned to delving into crevices and flipping over pillows in search of her precious charger.
Finished with their breakfasts, Mia went to take a shower in preparation for her day of appointments and Loukas was left with the draining task of checking in on his one and only son. Thank God there is only one, Loukas thought.
Coming to his son's bedroom, Loukas stared at the two new signs the boy had adorning his door. One was of a Gandalf silhouette stating, You shall not Pass and below it was posted the hobbit parchment that reads, No admittance except on party business. Loukas shook his head then began to knock on the door, despite that previous experience had proven that no one will answer.
"Joey? Wake up, your gonna miss the bus and I'm not driving you to school."
There was a period of silence before Loukas heard the creaking of bed springs, soon followed by a muffled reply. Which was, -as Loukas expected- "I don't want to go to school."
"I didn't ask you if you wanted to I'm telling you. Now get your butt out of bed and get ready."
"Ugh... Fine." groaned the teen. The sound of his son sliding off the mattress was enough to satisfy Loukas, so with that out of the way he moved on to the second best part of his day. A hot shower.
~~~
"You sure you have everything?" Loukas asked Mia for just about the fifth time. An hour later, Paige and Joey had gone off to school. Paige in a bus and Joey on the sidewalk. After taking his shower Loukas planned to hit the crammed schedule head on, and now both dad and daughter were ready to head out the door.
"Yes dad, I checked like ten times!" giggled Mia. "Alright alright," Loukas laughed. "just checking to make sure."
Taking his daughter's over sized tote Loukas stepped outside, somehow managing to lock the door behind him with a bag in one hand and Mia's entwining fingers in the other. The two walked down the cobblestone pathway that led away from their L.A. estate home and down to the three car garage. Halfway there... they hit a hiccup. The first of many.
"Oh, wait!" Mia paused, causing her father to stop as well seeing as her grasp on him was like a dead weight. "I forgot my helmet," She released herself from his hand and ran back to the house to retrieve her most important piece of riding attire. But as quickly as the clicking of her boots ran off, did they come pottering back.
"What now?" Loukas said, though not really wanting to know. A sheepish grin crept up Mia's lips. "The door is locked." she said, holding out her palm. She watched as her father reached into his pocket and pulled out the house key, handing it to her.
Loukas scrunched his face as loud noises of clanging and banging could be heard coming from inside the house, along with Mia's voice. "Ah there you are- oh and my crop too! I knew I was forgetting something..." Loukas rolled his eyes, did you now? Mia's voice continued to rant on and for a moment Loukas thought she'd forgotten the reason she even went back in to the house. "OK, helmet, crop, gloves- ooh jelly beans!"
"Mia!" Loukas yelled, nearly exasperated. And the morning hadn't even started!
"Coming!"
Looking up to the sky, Loukas took a long exhale. "Oh Lord help me." he said, squinting into the clouds. Soon Mia was back by his side, her cheeks packed like a chipmunk with last Halloween's leftover candy. Loukas really didn't feel like asking her what the expiration date on the bag had been.
"Come on dad we're gonna be late!" she said, once again grabbing his hand and pulling him along. Yeah I wonder why, he thought. "Wait!" Loukas stopped her. "Did you re-lock the doors?" Mia looked thoughtful as she sucked on a bean, but then commenced to bite her lip. Loukas sighed.
It was going to be a long day. A really long day.
