Hōme sat up at the desk with a sigh as Reia walked into his study. It was a octagon-shaped room with every wall except a single one covered by overflowing bookshelves. Leather tomes, Old papyrus scrolls, and modern paperback bindings filled the shelves in all directions with no organization; it was a wonder he could ever find what he was looking for. The single wall, which wasn’t covered by a shelf, instead had a window seal with a booth-like couch under it, above and around the window hung various nearly grey from dust glass plaques with diplomas, degrees, and honors Hōme had gotten over the years.

  “Let’s go already.” She said with a grimace, having to step over a pile of paper stacked shin high. Placing her hand on the cold metal set of armor against the wall to keep her balance, she frowned deeply. That set of armor had caused the biggest fight they’d ever had. Hōme having went behind her back and spending over $10,000 on it when they were just barely married a year she wouldn’t have known if the tax return didn’t have [Authentic Ibroian Style Plate Armor Replica] written in big bold letters with the price tag next to it- and that’s not even counting the shipping and important fees!

  Just remembering it made her angry, Hōme thought she was going to kill him and so did she. At times like that she simply saw red and her tongue lashed out at whoever was in her vision. But Hōme didn’t run away from that, he was the only one who never did.

  “Sorry, babe, I just need to finish these last few papers.” He sighed looking up to her with a weak smile and tired drooping eyes.

  “It’s Christmas you shouldn’t be working at all.”

  “I know, I know.” He nodded in agreement, “But being a professor was never an easy job.”

  “You basically run the department just without pay. For God’s sake you have a general history degree yet the specialists come to ask you about their field!”

  “You’re making me feel a bit too special here.” Hōme laughed while adjusting his glasses. He always did that when nervous, it was so cute to her anymore almost enough to make her anger calm some.

  “Okay, fine, thirty more minutes and then we have to go. Deal?” She asked with a clap.

  Hōme frowned and scratched his forehead with a knuckle. “Forty Five?”

  With a sigh Reia nodded, “Fine fine, but you’re driving.”

  “Wasn’t I always?” Hōme laughed.

  # # #

  “Mom, mom, mom, mom!” Kanashi laughed jumping up and down as Reia closed the study door behind her. “Can we open presents yet, can we!?” He repeated.

  “You’ve had seven Christmases Kanashi you know how this works!” She barked, “Now go hide before I make you clean something.” She added with a grin to which Kanashi without hesitation ran up the stairs upon hearing. Laughing Reia walked down the hallway towards the kitchen where she saw the light to her own sturdy flicked on. Frowning she entered with a peak and saw Frairk starting at the various plants currently growing inside a glass case. Surrounding him were a mass of rows of pots with plants and sprinkler systems, sinks and insect containers. “What’s up?” She asked.

  Frairk nearly jumped out of his skin at the mention though he managed to hold in a yelp which she frowned at. “N-nothing, just looking at the red flowers.” He muttered out.

  “Salvia coccinea?” She asked, striding into the room. “Pretty aren’t they? They're probably my favorite, next to Lycoris radiata. But those are only in Taiponbo, cocciena is here in Saharis just just a bit further west.”

  “I don’t know what you said.” Frairk frowned, “I just thought it looked nice; the color.”

  Reia grinned and walked over to Frairk, kneeling down beside him she pointed at the red ornamental, “Another name for them is Blood Sage.” She said, hooking him with her arm into a hug.

  “That’s cool…” He muttered.

  “Wanna be a botanist? Is that what you're thinking about? It’s a fun job.”

  “No not really… I just was bored waiting for dad.” Frairk answered.

  “Yeah, me too. But it’s only another 45 minutes. Why don’t you just go play with Kanashi for a bit while you wait? If you have enough fun the time will fly by!”

  “I don’t wanna play with Kanashi, he’s annoying.” Frairk frowned. “He doesn’t wanna play catch or kick, he just wants to play video games.”

  “I thought you liked video games?”

  “Not when he beats me in them every single time we play! It’s not fair, I’m the older one but he’s better than me!”

  “He probably feels the same way Frey, when you play sports who wins?”

  “Me, he can’t even catch the dang ball! And when I kicked a ball at him he didn’t kick it back so it just hit him in the balls! Then he went to tell on me while crying!"

  “Exactly.” Reia nodded, “But he still plays with you doesn’t he?” She asked. “Every time you go outside, who's running after you and your friends crying while you go to the park on your bikes?”

  “Kanashi…” He frowned.

  “So even though he’s bad at it he still wants to play with you. It’s not about winning, it's about having fun losing.” With that she stood up and pat him on the head, A slight hint of anger growing as she saw how Frairk was already nearly her height. “So go play with him, please? For me at least.”

  Frairk sighed with a nod and left the room, pacing down the hallway and up the stairs to the 2nd story which Reia watched while closing the door behind her. “Christmas is always fun.” She smiled to herself.

  # # #

  Kanashi frowned as the car bumped along the road, the ham on his thighs making him sweat. “Why couldn’t Frairk hold it?” He asked, looking to the front seat.

  “Because Frairk is already holding the Turkey.” Reia answered, looking back at him with a frown.

  “But I feel sick already… like I’m gonna throw up all over this ham!”

  “Do not do that! I will be pissed if you do Kanashi Solomon Sarumalder!”

  Kanashi grinned at her furrowed brow and tried not to laugh, Frairk too biting his tongue which seemed to only make Reia's eyes burn hotter.

  “It’s fine honey, you’re cooking is good enough that even a bit of Kanashi's throw up wouldn’t make it taste bad.” Hōme said, patting his wife on the shoulder with one hand while the other was on the wheel.

  Both Frairk and Kanashi burst out laughing while Reia shot daggers at Hōme. “What do you mean by that!? Are you saying it tastes like vomit already so adding more won’t make a difference!?”

  “W-what no! I was complimenting your cooking!” Hōme argued, nearly choking on his tongue.

  “Why would you frame it like that! That’s a horrible way to say it. You could have just said “Even if he threw it I’d still eat it just because you made it!”"

  Frairk and Kanashi laughed even harder and Hōme got more flustered as they pulled into the drive way of his parent’s house. A smaller house, about half the size of their own and a single story. The same house they’d lived in for the past forty years. His siblings had already parked their cars out front.

  The Blue Convertible belonged to Chillai Sarumalder, the eldest brother and oldest of the 5 in general. Next to that was a Cherry Sedan owned by the 2nd oldest and only girl Sanorita. With her was her daughter Nina who was only a few years older than Frairk. Then a pickup truck colored orange owned by the 3rd oldest Siracha and whose son Karaka was the oldest of all the grandkids. With the final one besides their own being the black SUV owned by Osorio only older then Hōme; who came out to greet them with a grin as they began to unload their car.

  “Homes!” He laughed deeply, as he walked over to Hōme and gave a hard slap on his back. Hōme nearly buckled over at the surprise attack. “Long time no see man! How come you don’t come around often huh? Don’t love us anymore?” He asked with a laugh.

  “No I just… am busy is all.” Hōme muttered, pushing his glasses up his nose.

  “Hey, how come you don’t get contacts man? I'll tell you what I’ll even pay for the damn things just so you stop wearing those dashboards on your face!” He laughed again.

  Hōme pushed his glasses further up his face and frowned but before he could say anything Reia cut in.

  “I think they make him look handsome.” She said, “They fit his face just right!” She argued putting her hands to her hips. “Osorio if you have a problem with his looks enough to air them you should start looking for men to date. Maybe then you'd actually bring someone home for Christmas one year?"

  Osorio went ghost white with a slacked jaw and Hōme’s glasses rested on his forehead now. “T-tell you what, why don’t you go take these inside for us?” Hōme ripped the ham from Kanashi and thrust to Osorio who caught it as he stumbled.

  “I- I didn’t mean anything by it Reia, I swear I’m just jostling him ya know!?” He laughed. “I swear-”

  “It’s fine, it’s fine, she’s just joking is all.” Hōme slapped his brother on his back hard as he could yet it seemed to not even make the man wince. He only nodded his head, mouth still running as he walked into the house. Spinning to look at Reia, Hōme’s sharp brows arched and he frowned. “I’m very upset at you for that, Reia.” He said before closing his door softly and plucking the turkey from Frairk who looked to Kanashi. Both sharing a confused shrug.

  “S-sorry.” Reia sighed, face tomato red.

  # # #

  “Where did Kanashi go?” Hōme asked as he looked around. That boy always gets lost somehow. He frowned.

  “He’s fine, he’s fine.” Pere- Hōme’s father said, waving his hand through the air. "Back when I was a kid we used to just run around all day, swear we could have died and no one would have known until we didn’t come for dinner that night. As soon as the street lights came on we were inside or our dad would’ve taught us to be home by that time!” He laughed with a deep chuckle as he stroked his thick white beard.

  “Grandpa Socorro was a mean one, alright.” Sonarita sighed as she waved the steam out of her face from checking the Tamales.

  “So was Grandma Bea! She used to whip us with a switch if we put our elbows on the table!” Siracha added, raising a finger as he sat at the dinner table. “Swear she used to just do it for fun too! I still have scars on my ass cheeks from her!”

  “I should have done the same! Maybe you would have learned to behave! I always had a problem with Beatrice but God bless her heart she knew how to run a household full of bad kids!” Emila- the mother of the five siblings barked. She herself was cutting up the ham and turkey while Reia watched nervously. “It’s good honey.” She smiled to which Reia grinned warmly in relief.

  Frowning at his question not being answered Hōme strode out of the kitchen / living room into the entrance room where Frairk scanned a book on Dinosaurs he’d plucked from somewhere in the house- a book which Hōme smiled at seeing as it was one he had got as a Christmas present for his birthday decades ago. “I got that for my 8th birthday, you know.” He said walking over to Frairk and taking a seat on the couch next to him. “I liked Dinosaurs so mom went and got me the only book she could find- little did she know it was a college text book.” He laughed.” Took me six months to read and I had to rent a dictionary from the library in school for it. But I felt like the smartest guy ever for having finished it.”

  “You read it?” Frairk asked looking up from the page. “I was just looking at the pictures.

  Hōme frowned and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, “Have you seen Kanashi? At all?”

  “Yeah he was arguing with Nina about the coloring book she brought. He wanted to look at it but she said it was a secret.”

  “A secret?” Hōme asked, raising a brow.

  “I dunno it’s what she said.” Frairk shrugged.

  With a sigh Hōme nodded and stood up, “Maybe I’ll ask Karaka.” He added.

  # # #

  Kanashi crawled through the brush, thorns ripping at his flesh and rocks pricking his palms as he did so but he didn’t care. He continued onwards until he saw it just ahead, the thing he wanted, what he needed so bad. Just a little further and those gold colored orbs would be his.

  The smell of grilling meat, pool chlorine and winter air burned his nose, but his mouth still watered in search of flavor. And just when it felt as if he would give up he reached his destination and plucked the first lemon from the tree with a grin. He’d been banned from eating lemons, they told him it was bad for his teeth but no one could stop him now. They were all his to eat.

  # # #

  Frairk heard laughing and yelling from the other room and closed the book with a clap. He’d lied there, he didn’t like to lie but seeing how proud his dad was about finishing the book and needing to use a dictionary, he didn’t want to hurt his feelings. To tell him he wasn’t just looking at the picture and that he didn't need to look up a single word he'd read.

  “You might be special but don’t expect others to treat you like it.” That’s what his little league coach had told him when he’d laughed at another kid for striking out every time he got up to bat in a game. For Frairk he’d never done it once, he just swung the bat and the ball went flying. Even the adults with curve balls he’d only ever missed once. And the shame that made him feel was enough to spend the whole weekend swinging the bat until his hands turned bloody from blisters.

  Setting the book down on the coffee table he walked into the guest bedroom where he saw Karaka and Nina, the former 17 and the later 14 while Frairk was only 11. He knocked on the already cracked open door.

  “Sup, Frey?” Karaka grinned, raising the beer in his hand as Frairk entered.

  “You’re allowed to drink?” Frairk asked, tilting his head.

  “I’m allowed to do whatever I want, long as I don’t get caught ya know.”

  “But when he does he gets spanked still.” Nina joked to which Karaka's face went red.

  “Don’t listen to her, she’s got dumped twice in a row because she’s like this.”

  “Did not! I told you not to talk about that!” Nina yelled, throwing a pillow from the bed at Karaka as hard as she could, which he caught while laughing.

  Frairk watched on with a frown until Karaka turned to him and raised the beer. “Wanna drink?” He asked.

  “M-me?” Friark looked around he saw no adult watching and Karaka nodded.

  “Just a sip- I swiped it from my dad when we got here, he went crazy looking for it until he gave up. The whole time it was in my pants!” He laughed.

  “You won’t tell on me right?”

  “Only if you don’t tell on me.” Karaka grinned.

  Taking the can- which was already room temperature he took a sniff and the smell burned his nose, it was… cold smelling, like snow but also a bit sour. With a quick sip he let the liquid touch his tongue and he nearly dropped the can if not for Karaka swiping it. “Blegh!” Frairk gagged, “what the heck is that! It tastes like soap!” He whimpered,wiping his mouth with his shirt.

  Karaka laughed deeply and Nina giggled behind her hand. “It tastes bad huh? I swear it’s better when it's cold but I don’t think I could swipe a cold one around here. Grandpa Pere’s got eyes too sharp, I thought he was gonna belt me when he saw me pull one out a few weeks ago. I just told him I thought it was Diet Ragnar Cola and he believed me! Well, I don’t wanna play that game again.”

  “So you are still getting spanked then huh? Seventeen and getting hit with a belt. I should tell that to Mirah al’Gonaz and see if she still want’s to go out with you next week!”

  “You do that and I’ll tell Sanorita about you sneaking out to meet Madrid Chontai! You'll never talk to a boy again!" Karaka laughed.

  “N-no you wouldn’t dare-” Nina barked back jumping at him.

  Frairk left the room as the two continued to argue, he didn’t want to get told on no matter what. He’d never gotten in trouble for something like that before and he didn’t want to. Getting in trouble means breaking trust, and breaking trusts means you get to do less. That’s how it made sense to him at least.

  Walking into the Kitchen / Living room which was only split apart by where the carpet ended and the tile began he strode over to the back wall where he saw his mom and dad, Reia and Hōme talking.

  “Mom, are we gonna open presents soon?”

  “We need to eat Frey first, we’re just waiting to find Kanashi to start.” Reia said.

  “Where is he?”

  “We don’t know, somewhere in the garden we guess but when we called his name we couldn’t find him.” Hōme sighed.

  “I’ll go look for him then-”

  Just then they heard a blood-curdling scream from outside, spinning around the glass door flung open and everyone raced out of the house to see what was going on. On the side yard tucked behind a tree they saw Emilia with her face ghost white and hands to her mouth.

  “What’s wrong mom!?” Siracha asked, sliding up to her- though when he looked to where she was his own jaw dropped to nearly his chest. “K-Kanashi..” He muttered.

  “Kanashi!?” Reia and Hōme yelped with a shiver. Running to where they were with Frairk close behind they looked around the tree and over the chain link fence and saw that where a lemon tree once was- full of ripe lemons in the dozens, there now sat what seemed as many peels and a swollen stomach Kanashi who’s face was turned sticky yellow with juices as he groaned.

  "M-my Lemons..." Emilia whimpered.

  “I don’t so feel good mom…” Kanashi muttered.

  “How many did you eat!?” Both Hōme and Reia asked in unison with a slacked jaw.

  “31…” Frairk said, “I counted them right now…. 31. He ate 31 lemons…” Frairk laughed aloud, and soon everyone else joined him, the entire family laughing as Kanashi whimpered holding his stomach. “I think I'm gonna throw up…” He muttered.