A Round Robin

Legacy

FABULARES

ANIMALIA

Welcome back to Fabulares Animalia! Last time we

left Castoria with her newly enlarged family standing

at the edge of a barren lot. Jacob decided not to go to

college due to the family’s lack of funds. Castoria

gave birth to two sets of twins, Chupacabra and

Lechuza, then Rookin and Coyote.

I wanted a big house. Big enough for all seven of us.

But our meager savings was only enough to build a

shell of the first floor and the master bedroom of the

second floor. Again I felt like a failure to my family.

I made a decision, in retrospect it was not a smart

one. But I desperate to provide for my family. I took

out $100,000 loan. The most I was qualified for.

Somehow I would have to pay it all off. But that was

the least of my worries. I was going to build our

dream home.

The loan mostly finished the house. All but the

exterior. Andrew said we should finish the

outside on our own after we pay off the loan. But

the inside was fully furnished.

While my beloved got the kids settled in the new

nursery, I headed for the kitchen. The kitchen is the

heart of home. I whipped up a batch of holiday cookies.

They would be perfect for a treat in our new house.

Andrew managed to potty train Lechuza in one go.

Things were turning around. At our old home, we were

too busy trying not to trip over each other to potty train

children.

We had a little bit of money left, not enough to do

much with. I kept $500 and put the rest toward

paying off the loan. It only brought it down to

$98,000. But it was a start.

Jacob grew to adulthood that first night. He decided he

wanted to be a Captain Hero instead of following his

father’s footsteps in the gaming career. I felt bad that

Jacob didn’t end up going to college, but he never

seemed too disappointed.

Rookin’s and Coyote’s birthdays were also that night.

I let Jacob take Rookin to the cake, as much as I

wanted to do it myself. Jacob loved his half siblings.

The boys grew up in a shower of confetti. Rookin

looked more like me, with my nose. Coyote was more

like Andrew, though he had my jaw.

Andrew wasn’t sleepy at all that night. He spent the

night teaching Chupacabra to talk.

Not to leave Lechuza behind Jacob taught her to

walk.

I brought home a promotion that day. My progress up

the career was slow. To tell the truth my heart wasn’t in

it completely. I would much rather be at home with my

children. But we needed the money.

Three of us working still was not enough to pay off the

loan quickly. The first interest charge was tacked on

with our bills. I dug for treasure in the backyard to

pay off the additional $5,000. And we weren’t much

closer to paying off the principal.

I put aside my worries to bring my oldest children to

their birthday cakes. It was hard to believe they would

be going to the school the next morning.

Chupacabra grew up rather dramatically. My Lechuza

grew into a beautiful young girl. Thankfully she was

too young to start thinking about males and mates. I

fear that I would lose her one day to a dashing young

man.

I paid off what little I could of the loan, between my

promotion bonus and digging. I managed to pay off

the interest and another thousand off the original

loan. Despite the large amount left to pay off, I had no

doubts that one day we would be debt free.

It was so strange the next day to send the children to

school. Jacob saw them safely to the bus before

heading to work himself.

The house was so empty and quiet while Rookin and Coyote were sleeping.

“I want another baby.” I told my husband.

“Now, with the loan to pay off?” He asked.

It was a senisable question and one I should of expected.

“Yes,” I said to himself, “We’re not getting any younger, by the time we pay off the loan

I’ll be too old to have children.”

“Alright.” He agreed.

My beloved took a nap while I played with our children.

Coyote was exceptionally clever and quickly learned to

talk. Though he was a stubborn child. I tried to dress

him in normal clothes, but he would take everything off

but his diaper and that silly New Years Ribbon.

The afternoon passed quickly. And the older kids

came home drained of energy. They weren’t used to

not getting a nap in the middle of the day.

Chupacabra tried to sneak off without doing his

homework. I roused him from Jacob’s bed and helped

him with it. Luckily for the first day it was mostly

handwriting and addition.

My beloved helped Lechuza, she complained she was

too tired. But he got her through. She was very smart

and finished much faster than her brother.

My youngest child let itself be known after work the

next day. I hadn’t even been sure I had gotten

pregnant. I had no morning sickness what so ever.

The school bus got home the same time I did.

Chupacabra aced his first math test. Getting another

sibling was not a cool by comparison.

All too soon it was Rookin’s and Coyote’s birthday. My

little boys were growing up. I’m all that more thankful

Andrew and I were having another child. I’ll miss

having infants around.

They both inherited my chin, Rookin however looked

more like his dad. Coyote looked a lot like me, but

was much more mischievous than I ever was. They

were extremely competitive that first night. Coyote

bragging that he could eat the most cake.

There wasn’t enough beds for all of us. With the loan

hanging over our heads, I couldn’t convert the nursery

into the boys room. Jacob offered them his bed and

slept on the couch. I began to worry that Jacob would

feel that he has to move out. I didn’t want to force

him, but I didn’t want him to have to stay here forever.

I had more on my mind to worry about too. I entered

the final trimester. I hoped to have twins again. Both

sets were deeply bonded to each other. I would hate

for my latest child to feel left out.

Not to say that they didn’t have other friends. Coyote

brought a friend home of school his very first day. I

can’t remember poor boy’s name. He and Coyote spent

hours playing upstairs on Andrew’s pinball machine.

Our home life was pretty chaotic, but every once in

awhile I made dinner for the family. It was a rare

night that most of us were home to eat it. Poor

Andrew was working that night.

Jacob had a great idea to help with the loan

payments. Despite three working adults, our wages

were only enough to pay of the interest. He used our

limited funds to buy a driveway and an old wreck of a

car. He worked on it all day Saturday, it was hard to

keep the younger kids away from it. Although Jacob

seemed to enjoy all the questions they asked.

Andrew left for work and Jacob made steady progress

on the car. I started writing articles for the

newspaper. I couldn’t get promotions while on

maternity leave, but I could earned a little extra

writing articles about housework and physics for the

Riverblossom Gazette. I even learned a few things too.

I had just emailed off an article when familiar pain

shot up my spine. I was in labor!

“Mom are you okay?” Rookin asked in a tiny voice

from behind the couches.

“Yes dear, come say hello to your sister.” I smiled.

Just one this time, despite my hopes for twins. I

named her Wind.

The first thing my beloved did when he got home that

night was pick up wind from her crib. The sight of him

gently cradling our youngest made my heart ache. I

knew we would have at least one more. I wasn’t ready

to stop having babies just yet.

I couldn’t sleep being so excited, Andrew had gone to

bed after feeding our daughter. I knew I shouldn’t

wake him. I applied my energy to the car outside. I

wasn’t as mechanically inclined as my step son, but I

knew one end of a wrench from the other.

I finished the car and painted it blue. I sold it for over

$5,000. Pretty good since it was and $800 piece of

junk when we got it.

I used part of the money to start converting the

nursery into Rookin’s and Coyote’s room. Wind was

still asleep in her crib. I didn’t have the heart to wake

her and move her into the crib in the playroom.

I bought another junker. Jacob was brilliant, took a lot

of work to fix up the car. But it definitely paid off.

Sunday I took the kids to the park. Andrew wanted to

try fishing. We left Jacob at home with Wind, he said

he wasn’t feeling up to the park.

“I’m gonna catch the most fish!” Coyote called from

the top of a hill.

“Nuh uh.” Rookin and Chupacabra protested in unison.

I smiled to myself, were my brothers that competitive

with each other, I couldn’t remember.

In the end Rookin caught the most fish. He was

named after a shark, Andrew thought it was fitting. I

agreed, but he didn’t show any interest in wanting to

eat the fish that he caught.

Darkness fell and I realized we had been gone all day.

“Come on kids, let’s go back home.” I said.

“Do we have too?” Coyote pleaded.

“Yeah Mom we’re having so much fun.” Lechuza

chimed in.

“Yes, it’s getting cold and we have left Jacob with

Wind all day, he needs a break.”

They like fishing so much. As soon as the pond out

back thawed they ran for their fishing gear. I worried

about them in the cold all day, but ooh and aah

accordingly when they showed me their catches.

Andrew finished another car, this time painting black.

It sold well and we were able to get the loan down to

$73,000. A little more than a quarter paid off.

Wind’s birthday came quickly. It felt like it had barely

been a day since she was born.

She grew so seriously and she had a bit of a mean

streak. The first thing she did was tug my hair. Ouch!

“Andrew, I want one more.”

“Are you sure, we not getting in younger.” He said seriously, “It might be

risky. You might actually morning sickness and you’ll have to give up all

the spicy foods you love.”

“I don’t want Wind to feel left out, since she’s not a twin.”

“Well I can’t argue with that.” Andrew chuckled, “Get over here.”

Yay! I finished another chapter without a huge long wait. *blows noise

maker*

Anyway. All Castoria’s kids are very unique looking I’m surprise that I

didn’t end up the FBE with the long time in between pregnancy. It’s so

hard to pick a favorite in the bunch. I wanted Wind to be a twin because

of her legend namesake. I should of just chosen twins but I couldn’t

resist hitting the random button. It’s always more fun with the risk of

quads.

Wind is named after a Lipan Apache myth. I don’t know if this is a

actual real myth/legend or if some writer just made it up for their

book. But I was getting a little desperate on finding local legendary

creatures. Anyhow according to the myth Wind and Thunder were

arguing about who was more important when it came to taking care of

the earth. Wind thought it was most important, but Thunder thought

they were equally important. Wind said some mean things and drove

Thunder away. Wind tried to take of the Earth itself by blowing as hard

as it could. By the Earth was parched and dry without rain. Wind

admitted its mistake and apologized to Thunder. This myth came from

a book called Texas Indian Myths and Legends by Jane Archer. She

wrote it a lot better than I did, but you get the jist of things.