Under the Full Moon

“I can't believe you.”

“What? I'm a woman of my word. I got you sweets and got you home in time for your show. I should be elected best sister of the year.”

It was raining once again and they finally made it back to their two story home. April still couldn't believe they walked all the way there and back. Her feet were killing her but her goal to dress nice was far greater than pain. She sat down on the front porch to take off her shoes as Daniel opened their cherry red front door.

“No... but... did you really have to go back and get that singing fish as well?”

April gasped and took the fish from the ground and held it up in her hands, “now take that back! Billy the Bass didn't do anything to you!”

She pressed the button and it started singing once again. The boy only rolled his eyes as he went inside. April followed after, balancing a mirror, a still singing fish, and her shoes in her arms. No way was she going to drop these. Walking inside, they were instantly met with a chaos of noise and a sparkling clean floor. Music was echoing through the house engulfing the home in the sounds of Latin America. A vacuum was being used in the living room to the left, and Cody was standing on a chair in the dining room to the right dusting the tops of artwork.

“I sure hope you guys had fun,” Cody's sarcastic tone called from the other room.

Daniel's face scrunched up confused as he looked to April who just shrugged. How was she supposed to know what was going on? They were out of the house before their mom was even up. The two of them wandered over to the dining room catching a glimpse of the cleaning lady busy working in the living room. Cody now stood on the table dusting the light fixture. He was still dressed in pajamas and his normally perfect hair a mess. He didn't even shave. This was bad.

“Remember when Dad said he was going to invite the news team over for dinner?” April slowly shook her head no, “exactly. He called about two hours ago asking if we had dinner picked out yet.”

Oh no.

“How's Mom dealing with all of this?”

A crash soon followed in the kitchen with their Mom yelling and cursing something in Spanish.

“You should have seen her an hour ago.”

Dad was never one to really think forward with events like this. If he had it his way, we would probably just order KFC and the guys would talk all night about sports. No matter how much the rest of the family would also enjoy this, especially so last minute, every party they've thrown over the years clearly showed they could not do this. For one, these were people who had a little higher than average pay checks. Their Dad after all was a host on the Grander Morning Show, which caters to nearly all of the MidWest. Also bringing the “team” over meant their families would also be coming over.

Daniel clawed at his face with a loud moan. Which also meant that Julie Baxter would be hovering around Daniel most of the night.

“Why does Dad always do this?” he moaned.

“Beats me,” Cody shrugged as he jumped off the table, “though, if I had the Lewinsky twins follow me around like Julie does to you. I would be happy.”

April gave a big frown and only shook her head, “no. No you wouldn't.”

“They're hot and still have that british accent from their abroad trip to the UK last month. Yes. Yes, I would.”

“Daniel? April?? Are you home?” mom yelled from the kitchen.

Daniel then bolted upstairs chanting that if she couldn't find him then he didn't have to clean.

“I second that motion!” April took her things and ran after him.

Their mighty plan didn't last long. Mom caught up to the kids and they were immediately put to work. After cleaning the bathrooms and spending nearly thirty minutes in the rain organizing the patio furniture for the chance it would stop raining, she was finally able to get back to her mirror. Her room was the converted attic space. Cody didn't want to give up her old room, and she kind of wanted to be away from the rest of the family. With one sky light and two nice windows she thankfully had plenty of light. The closet and bathroom were small, but at least she could call it her own. And no rent, that was nice.

After getting ready for the night, she went to the one good wall that wasn't slanted in the room. She had a trunk, a floor lamp, and the perfect spot for the wooden framed mirror. The rest of the house had a very classic look to their mom's taste, but her room was far more cosy. She placed a nail in the wall, positioned the mirror, and stepped back to admire her find. She smiled at her reflection and fluffed at her hair a couple of times for fun. She even threw a sun hat and scarf on that were laying on the trunk. After applying a bright red lipstick she turned to the mirror.

“Mirror...mirror...on the wall. Who is the most glamourous of them all?”

She gave a big laugh at herself and removed the hat and scarf from around her neck. Though, for a split moment she could had sworn she saw something in the mirror. Like a face or something. Her red smile changed for a moment as she stared at the square frame. She looked behind her then back at the mirror which was the same as it always was. She gave a little shrug as she heard a pounding at her door at the bottom of the attic stairs. People were here. Time to be professional.