World Traveler

“Marcus, our baby girl has her first job,” Sammy’s mother cooed at dinner that night. her dad had just gotten home, she didn’t really know what he did, but he was gone a lot. He had a nine to five job, but he was always out later than that, usually till six or six thirty. By the time he would come home, it would be dinner, but she never thought about that. She thought about how he taught Sammy to ride a bike when she was five because she bet Liam she would learn first, which she did.

“Oh did she now? Doing what?” She was proudly a daddy’s girl. Whether he was always home or not, they were close. He read to Sammy at night and snuggled up with Sammy in the big rocking chair in her room, just to keep the monsters away.

“I’m gonna de-liv-er papers dada! A nice man hired me. I start on Sunday to pick up my first weeks worth.” Susan spent three hours teaching Sammy what to say to her dad when he asked. She wanted to sound smart, but of course she became tongue tied on ‘deliver’ she had done that when they were practicing too.

“That's great baby girl! I’ll take you on Sunday to get everything. I wanna meet your new boss.” His smile was hiding something only Susan could read. He wanted to make sure his baby girl was safe and he would do anything to make sure she was.

Sammy smiled up at her parents before glancing at Liam, who was frowning at his full plate of food. “Hey, psst, hey Liam.” He looked up at his twin before dropping his head once more. “Liam learned a new song today!” Liam glared at her, trying to shut her up. Liam loved to sing. Besides picking on his sister, it was his favorite thing in the world. He sang everything he could understand.

“Did you son? Want to let us hear it?” Liam shook his head quickly, but Susan smiled at her son. “Will you sing for us if I play piano with you?”

“I don’t know Mommy, I’m not that good.” The truth was he was upset they weren’t paying attention to him, that his parents kept talking about Sammy. When she brought him up, he was happy, but he knew his parents would want him to sing.

“Well baby, we think you are. Come on, please? After dinner, we’ll do it.” Liam nodded, knowing he had lost and looked to Sammy. She was smiling happily at him, glad he was going to sing. He sighed and smiled back. Sammy wasn’t bad, and she meant no harm. If she thought he could do it, he could.

Dinner was finished in silence and the Payne family quickly moved to their living room where Susan’s baby grand piano sat, just waiting to be played by her delicate fingers. “Okay Liam, what song did you learn?”

Liam blushed, “‘I Want It That Way’ by the Backstreet Boys.” Sammy picked on him for singing along to her CD, but he couldn’t sing to girls, he wasn’t a girl.

“I love that song baby. Okay, Marcus, Sammy, you two sit over there. Ready Liam?” Liam took a breath and nodded. Susan pressed the keys on her piano and Liam came in on cue. Marcus was impressed, but not surprised. Where his baby girl was a go-getter with dreams of travel, his darling son had dreams of being a singer. Marcus and Susan always told him that fame isn't everything, but he didn’t want the fame. ‘I want to sing to people and make them happy.’ His eyes glimmered and Susan had just laughed when he told her that.

The two ended their song, and Liam messed up a couple times, but he didn’t dwell on it. He finished the song and faded out. Sammy squealed from her father’s lap and tackled her brother, happy he sang perfectly. Marcus and Susan joined in a group hug before leaving to clean up their mess from dinner.

Sammy and Liam sat on the piano bench, holding hands. “Thank you sissy. For telling them. I want to be a singer so bad.” Sammy leaned over and pecked Liam’s cheek, the affection was nothing new to the twins.

“Thank you for showing me that job. Now I can save money and travel to places like London and New York and Sydney!” Liam chuckled at her. “You could always come with me you know. We could be the t-trav-traveling twins. Best friends till the end.”

“We can always be best friends Sammy.”