story continued 3/24/11

Sighing Nora pulled herself from memories of the past and swept up the last of the dirt.

AJ drug herself up the stairs. Each stair groaned and squealed signaling her slow ascent. She took her time in the stairwell prolonging the moment until she would reach the top step and the inevitable dress her mamma would have laid on her bed. Lining the walls were photos that covered every available space and vied for attention.  The first two were of her grandparents on their wedding days.  

With the exception of her mother’s mother, the black and white photos depicted somber individuals with stern-unsmiling faces. In contrast, the woman flashed a brilliant smiled from beneath her veil. Happiness exuded from her and warmth and love radiated from the photo. AJ stared at the photo for a few moments longer. Dying long before Jamie and she were born, AJ sometimes wished she had known the seemingly carefree woman.

 “ANNA JANYNE STOP WASTING TIME!” her mamma hollered at her from the kitchen. AJ scurried up the remaining steps hoping her mamma wouldn’t hear.

Clearing the last step, AJ took a moment to catch her breath and realized she heard Jamie muttering to himself. Curious, she walked past both her mamma’s room and her room where she was sure the dreadful dress awaited her and flung open the door to the bathroom that she shared with Jamie.

At the sudden interruption, Jamie jumped startled and spun towards the now open doorframe. His little chest rose and fell noticeably under his light blue-buttoned shirt as he tried to regain his breath. Adding to his disheveled appearance was his hair was mussed and spiked in every-which-way giving him the appearance of a hedgehog.  The evidence of his hard work shown throughout the bathroom for there were water droplets everywhere and hair gel dripped from his hands onto the white tile floor.

Shockingly similar blue eyes clashed when Jamie glared at his twin, “I thought you were Momma! Don’t scare me like that!” After a momentary staring-eye contest which neither refused to back down from sheer stubbornness, they called a truce.  Similar in looks, thoughts, and personality it was hard to tell where one ended and the other started.

Laughing and shaking her head over his hair, AJ remarked, “Momma is gonna kill you.”

“I made a deal to wear the clothes if I could do my hair,” Jamie replied smugly reaching for more hair gel.

In shock AJ almost yelled, “AND SHE SAID YES?!”

“Yep.”

“She is gonna be so mad!”

Suddenly they heard the bottom two steps creak and they froze with Jamie’s dripping fingers fuzzing his head and AJ, who had not even made an attempt to scrub off the dirt yet, against the bathroom counter.