David jumped out of bed went to the bathroom and quickly got dressed He looked around his room for the shoes he’d worn the night before His room was covered in the usual adolescent mess of clothing sports gear and video games After a few minutes he appeared in the downstairs hallway dressed in what could loosely be described as the school uniform Well he had the school tie on at least The rest was questionable at best Baggy shirt baggy sweater and baggy pants David’s two sisters were already halfway through their bowls of cornflakes or oatmeal or whatever healthy concoction they were into these days In David’s opinion having two older sisters was the worst bad joke God could have played on a boy David had just turned thirteen Sarah was fourteen and a half as she liked to remind everyone and Emma was almost sixteen 10
Okay Mom relax Where’s Dad David Between their fascination with clothes and makeup David felt at times that life was almost unbearable David the school bus is going to be here in fifteen minutes and look at you his mom said with a sigh asked peering out of the kitchen window He is over in the far field checking on some of the sheep He thinks that fox has been back again The chickens were making an awful racket last night He’ll be back in a minute replied Mrs Davies throwing some toast onto David’s plate David’s dad was a farmer and the family had just recently moved to the area The new farm was massive and at least three times the size of the farm they had lived on before Not only did they have more sheep and cattle but they had far more land to manage The only problem was that David’s dad had 11
so much work to do that he had very little time to spend with his son With only two sisters for company on an isolated farm David could be a handful at times Boredom easily set in and he was always getting into trouble for his antics His imagination and his bad taste in practical jokes were always the cause of friction between he and his sisters He could tolerate Sarah but he had no time at all for Emma He thought she was from another planet today David asked smirking at his oldest sister refuse to talk to him after Friday’s performance He is so embarrassing Emma pouted turning away Emma was referring to the teasing or more accurately abuse David and his friends had subjected Emma and her boyfriend to when he had spotted them walking hand in hand on the way to class Steve was a fair target in David’s Mom tell him to mind his own business I Emma meeting Steve at lunchtime again 12
Emma don’t give me any grief David You’re a jerk Emma snapped storming off to mind although he had been forced to make a quick escape when the almost six-foot Steve had decided he had had enough and went after his new love’s younger brother whispered or I’ll tell them what I saw you doing on Wednesday and how that didn’t look like Steve to me even though it was hard to tell for sure with you all over him her room Sarah followed Emma scowling at her brother as only sisters know how to this bickering barked Mrs Davies Eat your breakfast David looked out the window again His dad had just climbed over the fence next to the large barn where they stored most of the winter hay The barn was also home to the family’s hens He was David give it a rest I’m fed up with all 13
