T H R E E

A Dead Moth And A Hurt Bird

June pulled her bags, yes bags, out of the trunk of the car. She always was an over-packer. She wanted to make sure she had an outfit for any possible occasion.

"Wow." Marcus looked at the lake house, "Hey, Rob's car is an Oompa Loompa too." Marcus laughed

They walked to the porch and a bug zapper zapped a bug killing it, "Daddy, what is that machine doing?" Becky asked

"Oh, it's getting rid of the moths, honey." Lenny looked down at his daughter, "Where's it taking them?" Becky asked curiously

"Hell." Marcus blurted out

"Dad." June scolded her father

"Don't say that, Higgins." Lenny said

"I'm sorry. Not hell, Mexico."

June rolled her eyes at her father. She loved him and he was a great father but sometimes he didn't know how to answer children's innocent questions with a lie to spare their feelings. Or beliefs.

For example, when June was 6, she had been questioning her father about how the Easter bunny, Santa clause, and tooth fairy were connected and if they were related and he had blurted out that he was the connection and when she asked how he had said that he was them.

Of course he fixed his mistake and told her that he had powers that turned him into each of them but she had to pretend she didn't know it was him cause then she wouldn't believe in the magic of the three fictional characters. And how presents suddenly appeared under the tree, or candy in the baskets on Easter, or money under her pillow when she lost a tooth.

So like most kids, she agreed and then quickly forgot that he had told her that.

"No, it's giving the electricity so the moths fall asleep... electrically." Lenny said. Becky's eyes widened in horror, "It's electrocuting them?"

"No! No, no." Lenny tried to deny "But, Daddy they're dying." Becky said

"It's killing them?" Donna and Charlotte said

"No." Lenny lied

The zapper killed another moth, "Daddy!" Becky yelled looking at the bug zapper

"No, no it's not." Lenny tan on the porch and unplugged the zapper, "Look, they're all alright, I promise you." He grabbed a moth from the zapper "See? Look at this guy." He threw the moth in the air but it fell on the porch "Well, he's still sleeping."

"It's dead, dad." Greg said, Roxanne pinched him, "Ow!"

"Ohh! A porch swing." Mama Ronzoni pushed Keithie making him fall as she made her way onto the porch. June gasped softly and helped keithie up.

"I know what I'm doing this weekend." Mama Ronzoni laughed and walked to the swing squashing the moth on her way.

"Now he's dead." Lenny sighed

The door to the house opened, "Welcome back to 1978 everybody. The lake house." Rob said.

Everyone walked in, the adults looked around nostalgically, "Is this like an Outward Bound thing, Dad?" Greg asked

"It's like an episode of lost." Keithie complained

June raised her eyebrows and looked at Jackson who rolled his eyes at his brothers.

Lenny ignored his two younger sons and stepped forward, "So listen, guys, who's getting what room?"

"Actually, I made a map of who gets which room. I took the liberty of reserving the room with the waterbed for Gloria and myself." Rob smiled

"Ooh! You're gonna do the backstroke tonight." Gloria smiled

The adults plus the two teenagers looked at them disgusted. Donna gasped, "I wanna go swimming with you guys tonight." She smiled

"Oh, honey, we're not really going swimming. What I meant was..." Gloria started to explain

Junes eyes widen and Sally covered her daughter's ears, "That's okay. She doesn't need to know what you mean. I don't even know what you mean."

"I know what you meant. Gross." June looked at Gloria, "Me too." Marcus said from upstairs and then motion him puking.

Donna looked between them confused "Anyway, let's get back to the room picking. Rob, would you like to take us on a tour?" Sally quickly re-directed the conversation before Donna could ask any questions

"Yeah, I'd love to show you a tour." Rob stood up and they all followed "Okay." Rob opened the master bedroom door, "Here's the big daddy. The master bedroom."

"You know what? Lenny should have that." Eric said Lenny denied but Roxanne stepped forward without hesitation, "Honey. Come on, let the kids have it." Roxanne raised her eyebrows at him "It's a fun time for the kids to be together and they can do kids' things. Come on, go share it. Share the master bedroom." Lenny told the kids

The kids all ran into the room with the nanny, "Hey, dad." Greg called from the room, "What's the big box attached to the back of the tv?" Greg asked as him and keithie examined it

"It's the tv, dumbass." Jackson looked at his brother annoyed. Lenny hit his arm gently and gave him a look, "They didn't always have flat screens there, sport." Lenny told his sons

"Wow, that is some Stone Age shiznit." Keithie looked at the tv

"Yeah, that's wack." Lenny said sarcastically

"I need a room with heat." Mama Ronzoni said. "It's summer. It's like 95 degrees in here." Kurt said

"There he goes again." Mama Ronzoni groaned "I got bunions."

"You know," rob stepped forward, "I actually have a poultice I make, using Maize and herbs."

"Just say corn. Maize is corn, everybody." Marcus said "Yeah, but he says Maize because it sounds more mystical." Kurt said

"Well, I like the way he said it." Lenny said and then copied rob, "Maize."

Used to the guys teasing him, Rob rolled his eyes, "It's fantastic, okay?"

"Is it a-maize-ing?" June asked smiling "Good one." Lenny smiled and gave her a high-five

"Just spread it on cloth and moisten and heat it, and then apply it directly to the affected area." Rob explained

Mama Ronzoni nodded, "okay. Well, my affected area is pretty big." She took her shoe off showing her toe

They groaned in disgust, bean screamed and ran off. June gaged, "I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit." She whispered to her self.

"Where am I sleeping?" She asked Rob. He looked at the paper, "Right through here." June grabbed her bags, "I put the teenagers together." Rob said and June and Jackson followed him down the hall, "June your room is right here, and Jackson you're here." Pointed to two different rooms that were across from each other.

~🌻~

Everyone was now settled in. June had now changed out of her dress and into a pink printed cheetah pint bikini with a skull on one side of the top, and put a pair of shorts on and then slid her platform flip flops on.

She was lying on the lake dock with her feet dangling down into the water. Her headphones in, iPod laying beside of her, Avril Lavigne playing loudly in her ears.

She always said, "if headphones are in your ears, you shouldn't be able to hear anything else around you. And if you can, get new headphones or just don't use them."

She strongly believed that if you are using headphones they should be at full volume. If you weren't going to use headphones to drown out all other noise, just take them out and play your music out loud.

A shadow blocked her view of the sun. When she opened her eyes she saw Jackson looking down at her, "What are you doing?" He asked

"Lying in the sun." She smiled and sat up, "Well trying to." He chuckled and sat beside her

"What are you doing?" She asked "Looking for you." He said "but I found you now."

She laughed softly, "So you're brothers..." he looked at her "They're uh, they're...something." She looked at him

"Spoiled little shits?" Jackson asked, "I mean, I would never talk about a child like that." June said

Jackson stared at her, "...but yeah." She nodded

They laughed, "Yeah, very entitled." Jackson told her, "You know I was under the impression you didn't have siblings. I mean you never mentioned them before." June said

"And now that you've met them do you see why?" Jackson smiled, June smiled back and nodded

"Hey, I wonder if there's a hiking trail somewhere close by." June wondered

"I don't know." Jackson said June stood up and grabbed her shoes Jackson followed, "Dad!" She jogged up the dock.

Marcus, Rob, Kurt, Eric, and Lenny were sitting out facing the lake. Marcus looked at his daughter.

"You know kind of what around here, right?" She asked "Why?" Marcus asked skeptical. June narrowed her eyes, "Nothing bad. I was just going to ask if there's like a hiking trail. Or woods nearby."

"Oh." Before Marcus could say anything else they heard Greg and Keithie yelling at a Video Game

"Why are they inside right now, anyways? Why would they not come out here and enjoy the lake?" Lenny wondered, "At least I have one normal kid." He motioned to Jackson

"There wasn't a time of day that I wasn't outside. We were never in." Eric shrugged

"Look, there's blood squirting everywhere!" Keithie yelled

Lenny sighed, "I can't take it anymore." He got up and ran inside

After a minute Lenny came out carrying Greg and Lenny over his each shoulder, "That's it. No more video games." June watched amused "no more cell phones. No more texting." He set them down

"Just from now on, while we're here, stay outside and play." Lenny told them

The two boys looked at him like he just grew two heads, "What are we supposed to do?" Greg asked

"Just play like normal kids. Come on, move it." Lenny told them, "Actually, June asked about woods so that's what we're doing. Where's Becky?" Lenny said

Eric and Kurt got up to get their kids as well.

~🌻~

"This is great. Thanks a lot, June." Greg glared at her.

They were all walking in the woods. Greg and Keithie were the only ones annoyed.

"Okay, you know the outdoors won't kill you right?" June said they've both been throwing her small glares

"Yeah? What if we run into a Snake?" Greg asked

"Or a bear?" Keithie added

Lenny and Jackson rolled their eyes, "You know how to run, right?" She asked and they narrowed their eyes at her.

After a couple more snide comments from the boys Kurt spoke up, "Hey, Greg, when we were kids, your dad used to talk us into doing the craziest stuff. I remember one time, we got our shower curtains, put them in shopping carts and went shopping cart sailing."

The dads laughed "Wait, how did you steer?" Andre asked "We didn't." Eric said

"How'd you stop?" Keithie asked "You just smashed into something. That was the fun part." Lenny laughed

"Remember when we used to shoot bottle rockets at each other?" Marcus asked "You always go for the guys face cause you want to blind him." He smile

"Okay, no, that a little much, pal." Lenny stopped him, "No. no, I know. Kids, don't do that. You know what, erase, reboot." He made a rewinding sound

"Okay. Look, look. Make a tree fort. I'll get you started." Lenny picked up a branch

"Rob lived in one of those for a year." Eric laughed "Why?" June looked back at Rob, "My dad took away my roller skates." Rob said with a sigh

"Uh-oh. Vietnam flashback." Marcus smiled

"Wait a minute. Are you kidding me?" Lenny walked off they followed him confused. He walked over to a rope on tree.

"Rope on a tree, baby. You know what that means." Eric said "we get to hang ourselves?" Charlotte asked

"Are you kidding me? You see a rope and a lake and that doesn't make you wanna go nuts?" Lenny asked

"June used to love those." Marcus smiled remembering June when she was younger always swinging and jumping into water from anything she could.

"Alright, come on." Lenny motioned for her to come over

"What, no." June smiled and shook her head, "You have a bathing suit on, June. If you weren't going to get in the water, why wear it?" Marcus looked at her

"I don't even have a towel." June said "You'll dry off on the way back come on." Marcus told his daughter

She sighed, "Fine." She said smiling and kicked her shoes off and took her shorts off and walked over to Lenny and grabbed the rope, "Go up high." He said and helped her up on the rock

Jackson watched her, his eyes roaming her body.

She jumped off the rock holding onto the rope and dropped into the water.

They clapped. She smiled and wiped the water from her face.

"Alright, my turn." Eric said stepping forward. He jumped off the rock and swung but didn't let go of the rope, "This was a mistake!" Eric yelled, "Leg go!" They yelled at him as he started to swing back

"I can't let go, I'm too scared!" Eric said and then hit a tree and rolled down the hill, "That was awesome!" Keithie smiled

June swam out of the lake, "oh, god! Oh, god, my legs snapped! Oh, my god, the bones sticking out!" Eric crawled up the hill. They all looked away "I need help! It's a stick. I got you." Eric threw the stick and laughed

The dads all laughed, "Daddy, that bird is hurt." Becky pointed at the bird who was limping

Jackson helped June out of the water, "Oh, my god. I'll go get a shoe box." Lenny ran off back towards the house

"Hey, did you really land on the bird, man?" Marcus asked as he helped Eric up, "Um, I'm not sure. I did hear a chirp and then a crunch-like noise, but that could've been anything." Eric shrugged

Marcus laughed, "Okay."

~~~~

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