Don’t Stay Up So Late

“Slow down, honey,” Aunt Rose requested.

“Okay,” Aaron said with a mouthful of oats.

“Time to go. Okay, Miss Lazy Pants?” Aveil yelled. “Hurry with it, now.” Aaron put down her spoon. She picked up her blue polka-dotted rubber raincoat and ran outside. Aaron ran so quickly that her aunt didn’t even have time to blink.

Zoomushhh… “Hi, Mrs. Halen, am I late?”

“No, but you’re early.”

“Early?” Aaron repeated.

“Yes, early. Oh Aaron, I’m afraid you left your books at home. Can you go get them, please?” Aaron’s face lit up in embarrassment. She opened the door, looked straight ahead, and ran. Aaron was running so fast, as fast as a jaguar, and then she stopped.

“Rose, you little monkey! No, you’re a sloth because you’re slow. I told you to mail the bills eight weeks ago. Oooww! I’m just so sick and tired of you always being so goody-goody, GET OUT NOW!”

Aaron saw the collectors taking everything they owned. Aaron ran to her aunt.

“What’s going on, Rosie?”

“Aaron, I didn’t pay the bills and now they’re taking everything we have.” Aaron looked at a collector and saw that he had a valuable box that belonged to her mother, Avigail. She was so beautiful, and that was the only thing that she had to remember her. Aaron ran up to the man loading the item into the truck.

“No, sir, please don’t take it, please! I’m begging you, please!” she pleaded.

“Okay, okay,” the creepy man repeated, “it’ll be eighty dollars.”

“I don’t have eighty dollars but I’ll give you twenty, sir,” she pleaded. The creepy man looked around to see if any of his crew members were there.

“Hey, kid, I’ll make you a deal. How about you give me the twenty and you get your gift, okay?”

“Yeah, just give it to me!” The man gave it to Aaron and went back to work. Her stepmom looked at her in shock.

“Aaron, good!” she bellowed. “You have money, buy all of our stuff back now, you twit!”

“Sorry,” Aaron whispered.

“Sorry, sorry for what?”

“I spent all my money getting that box back from the man, Aveil.”

“You and your aunt Rosie get out right this instant, you brainless monkeys,” Aveil yelled and stumped away. Aaron looked at Rose.

“What’s going to happen to us?”

“I don’t know, darlin’, but I guess we can call a taxi.”

“If we do, where are we going to go?” Aaron questioned.

“Well, darlin’, I never told you this, but your stepmom used to be nice.”

“Nice?” Aaron repeated. “Rose, have your funny.”

“No, I’m serious.” Rose giggled. “She used to be rich. She married your dad who owned a production farm, and they got money every five minutes, and I am a singer, Aaron. Remember, I used to sing to you at night when you were a small baby?

“Anyway, when your dad died, she lost her fortune, and I quit my career to help her, and she had to sell her mansion to make up for the money, and I bought her an old, casual house out here, and well, when my sister died, I had to take care of you, and when your stepmom found out about that, we came here to live with her. That’s when she became mean and treated you badly.”