Neil and Bassy

I'm headed back to Egypt in a few days. As soon as I'm done with my next book. You see, I'm under contract with my publisher for 3 novels. Since Interview with a Mummy is flying off the shelves, I decided on another Egyptian-themed novel. I don't have a title yet, but it's kinda, sorta, a sequel to "Interview."

I’ve also been poring over legal documents on the internet, trying to study international adoption law.  The process is so agonizingly slow, I wonder if the children will be grown before a decision is made on the case. 

 

 
You know, while I was working on my book, I heard the strangest thing. 

Neil's laughter.

Seriously, it's the first time since he got here that he actually allowed himself to laugh out loud. He's always been so withdrawn, quiet and keeping mostly to himself. It's good to see the two of them, Neil and Bassy, hanging out together. You'd never guess, though, that Neil is the one who is 4 days older than Bassy is.

 

 

 

Bassy appears to be the tonic that Neil needs. I've seen how he hangs onto every word Bassy says.
But given who Bassy’s father is.... I really don't think it's a good idea having him as a 'role model.'  I mean, all Bas has to do is just flash that killer smile of his, and girls swoon and bat their eyelids. Although I've noticed how Neil still stays in the background, hanging back and letting Bassy steal the limelight.

 

I am apprehensive though, when those two are together. They could get themselves into all kinds of mischief. Although I did tell Noah that Neil never once broke curfew, he and Bassy DID sneak off to the theatre one time. But hell, boys will be boys. They need to let their hair down at some point.

I was a teenager once.  Hell, I did worse things than those boys. I practically lived in the back seat of a cop car.   Mom and I were at each other’s throats almost every day. 

 

It's something we always seem to neglect.... feeding the fish.  But Neil took it upon himself to maintain the aquarium, diligently feeding the fish, cleaning the tank.  Even the maids conveniently ‘forget’ to do that, even though we pay them $125/day to do it. 

 

Let’s not go there about the boys’ appetites.  

Mom fixed a pipin' hot plate of burgers last evening, the boys ate them all by themselves.  Nobody else had any, not even dad. Then again, they are teenage boys, they’re supposed to eat to ballast those growing bodies (and out of control hormones). 

It was good to see Neil eating too.... he was so thin, his skin was in poor condition from snacking on junk food, and now it has a healthy glow.  At first he was merely picking at his food, staring at it as if it was some alien thing from another planet, then we realized why..... he’d been living on bread and jam and ice cream, and the only time he'd get 'decent' food, was at school, or the leftovers from a meal that Sadie would bring home, after she'd finished work. 

I thought dad was off his rocker, agreeing to take in Neil, but now, I see that he did the right thing. My nephew is flourishing. He's growing up so fast.

Dad was right.  Again.
One thing about my father that folks just don't seem to understand, is he may seem like he's 'out there' or his head is in the clouds. But he has his finger on the pulse of situations like no one I've ever known.

Now I understand why he's been so supportive of the adoption. Not once has he ever disagreed with my decisions but simply nodded his head..... he knew.... he's always known...but that's just dad… That’s just who he is. 

Lazy Sunday part 2

Other than that it was a pretty lazy Sunday around here. "You going to work out?" Mom asked.
"Nah, I'm going to the pool."

See, this is what Bassy ended up doing at the neighborhood pool. I don't think he swam for five minutes, lol.

Not too far from where Bassy was doing his best walrus imitation, dad was, well, being dad. He's still the most famous man in Sunset. And still capable of making women weak in the knees. I've heard he's never turned down an autograph.

Meanwhile, across the street from that signing, I was in the park bungling a batch of hot-dogs at the neighborhood cookout. I'm still not sure what made me go...

Lazy Sunday

My brother has always liked hanging out in my room.

I don't quite know how to explain it -- even when we were in the old house, he liked hanging out in there, doing his homework and whatever.

So this morning he woke up and turned on the TV and he was watching some sci-fi about a mad scientist building an army of servo robots who attacked him. The background music was, how do I describe it, futuristically haunting and chilling.

"Hey," I told him, "you know dad composed the soundtrack of that movie huh?"

"Cool, I didn't know that," he replied, looking at me.

The conversation then turned to Neil. I told him I'd gone over there and seen to him. "How would you like it," I asked him, "if Neil came to live with us for awhile?"

Bassy shot a look at me I cannot quite explain.

"It'll only be till he picks up his grades."

Bassy was all TOO happy about this. You see, Neil is technically his nephew, but in reality it's closer than that, more like his brother. Neil is actually 4 simdays older than he is but you'd never know it.

Bassy Plays Hardball

Bassy had joined me at the table after mom left. The two of us are a study in contrasts -- we literally have nothing in common except our last name and the names of our parents. I stole a glance at him. Goodness, I can't believe he's gotten so tall and handsome now. If we weren't related.... just kidding.
"Vanna," he began, clearing his throat. I knew it was coming. When he wants to tell me something he starts humming and hawing and he has these long pauses in between words.
"What is it, Bassy?" I looked up from the ratatouille to see his blue eyes boring into me. When he wants to get serious, he lets me know about it.
"This adoption business -- if I'm gonna be uncle to these children, I'd like to go to Egypt with you and meet them."
My mouth flew open. "You -- go to Egypt?"
"Is there anything wrong with me going?" he asked me. "I mean, I'm old enough to go now."
"Bassy!" I tried to remind him that he was still in school.
But he had already backed me into a corner. "From what you say on the blog, they sound pretty cool."
I let out a smile. "They're awesome, really."
"Who knows, maybe I could go inside a tomb or two."
There's something more than a little bit unsettling about tagging my kid brother along on tomb raids. What have I done to this poor little boy?

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

I strongly suspect Bassy is going into the family biz.

My mother long ago gave up on my prospects of becoming a musician. To be quite honest, she never really tried. And my father never pushed me. Though I like music, have had guitar lessons, and like playing, there were other things I liked more, namely painting, astronomy, writing, and chess, among others. And of course there were my secret forays to the cemetery at night.

So I'm not surprised that she is now fiercely overseeing Bassy's musical development. Of course, it helps her that he has more talent in his pinky than I have in my whole body. And he seems to have an interest in it, if only because she is pushing so damn hard. What he doesn't seem to have, though, is the 24-7 obsession with music that dad does. He has other interests, like computers and cartoons and cooking.

I think Bassy should do whatever he wants to do with his life, not because mom wants him to do it. Sometimes I wonder if one of these days, he is going to rebel. So far, though, he hasn't, and mostly it's because of his demeanor. He isn't like me at all, and about that I'm actually glad. I think if mom were doing that to me, I would have rebelled already.

More girl trouble

Yo, Bas here. Just givin' y'all the 411 on what's been goin' on here while mom & dad are runnin' around Egypt with Vanna. Don't show mom this pic of me drinkin' llama juice. She'd have a heart attack.

I headed over to my friend Jeannine Ratliff's after school and ran into... her twin sister Paige. Let's just say, even though she's prettier than Jeannine, she's not a very nice person.

She came jumping down my throat for no reason at all. I was actually trying to be friendly with her.

School is a drag, tho. I wish Savannah was here to help me with geometry. She's the math whiz of the family. Truly, I dunno how she does it.

After I finished my geometry homework, I went outside 2 listen to Paige, who'd picked up a guitar and was tryin' to strum a few bars of my dad's pop-classical hit "I Would If I Did."

So, I was outside talking to Jeannine, and Paige came interrupting us, too. One of them is bad enuf. Both of 'em... well...

Mom and dad go to Egypt!

So, I'm checkin' my email and Vanna's blog post, and I find out that she's filled out papers to try to adopt these 2 Egyptian kids.

Personally, I think she's crazy.

Not that the kids aren't cute, from the pix she posted they're adorable... but I'm not sure about this.

Apparently mom has found out about Vanna's plan, too. Of course she's found out. It was in the paper! If mom wasn't already teed off at Vanna, if they hadn't already had this big blowup over her book, then this latest thing has really set her off. So much so, that she and dad booked a flight and headed to Egypt themselves! Since I still have school, I plan to stay at Noah and Neil's while they're gone. I can't see myself in this house by myself.
I'd only been to Noah's place once before, when I was still little and Neil's parents were getting married.