Breadcrumb 11 - Ginger Bread

I had been ready to run out the house, grab a taxi and drive through the whole town. And call the police in the meanwhile. And tell Ace to take his car and drive to the hills... Anywhere...

But then I received a call from Jessica.
She asked me if I knew Rye was on his way to the harbor. Or at least... he was sitting on a bench, somewhere near the harbor and it seemed like he was on his way there.

So it turned out Rye had really wandered off this time. He had wanted to go to the sea, and see it in real life.

But he had quite underestimated the whole trip and taken a rest on one of the benches on his way. Where he fell asleep. And fortunately Jessica saw him while driving through town returning from her (ex)-boyfriend (things were still a bit complicated).

So, we tried to change things, and I managed to make time to spend with Rye. Together we looked at his homework, in the meanwhile talking about his new teachers, and PE, of course.

But, I guess, it is hard to kill old habits, and how could I ignore my other baby crying?

"You just don't care enough about me!" were things he would scream at me. I felt so confused. I just didn't know... I knew he was right. Of course he was. I should give him more of my attention. It was just... I couldn't ignore Tiger... Could I?

Ace and I talked about it. A lot.

"I just don't know what to do..."

Ace considered it for a while, and finally came with a brilliant idea. We should find a nanny. Someone to babysit our baby, so there would be more time for Rye. And more quality time for Tiger as well.

So... That is what we did. But the thing is... I guess Rye was just jealous of any kind of attention his brother would get, that he didn't get. Even though I got to spend more time with him, I felt jealous about this girl giving more attention to Tiger than to him. Even though she was there just for that: to look after Tiger.

We did everything in our might to please the boys. I don't know if it was really the right thing, but in a way it was probably also the right thing for ourselves. We needed a bigger place, more space... and so we bought a new house. We bought an empty lot and built our own house.

Also we decided to our boys needed a make-over. They were growing and kept on growing, and new clothes and a new hairstyle (also as Tiger was reaching the age to go to elementary school) wouldn't misfit them.

I guess both the boys were quite pleased with their new looks.

But nothing really drew them closer. Even going together to school with the local bus didn't motivate them to talk to each other. Yes, they were sitting together, but that was about it...

Also, they were just so different. You could see it in every situation, every time. Rye had no problems when it came down to meeting new people. He was kind of the extravert part of my offspring. Tiger was scared of everyone, still. When we insisted they should meet Jessica, my dearest friend (though I hadn't seen her in a while), it was Rye who stood up front, and Tiger kept himself silently in the back. Staring at Jessica in disbelief.

I admit... There is something mysterious about Jessica. I noticed it the first time I met her. And I guess I have always been fascinated with it, but becoming closer and closer friends it started to recede into the background.

So I suppose that was the reason why Rye became involved with the Prattle-twins. Or maybe he just liked them. I don't know. But they also had this mysterious thing about them. Something in the twinkle of their eyes, I can't really tell.
I have no fears, however, as other mothers might have (I knew some other mothers had, if it came down to the Prattle family), as I knew Jessica. And Jessica was perfectly fine. So why not give the twins benefit of the doubt?

And Tiger...?

He seemed to have a bit of a feminine side to his character. Which I loved in a way, as he joined me when I did the laundry, when I cleaned the house (though we had a housemaid by now), when I did the cooking. And the latter I liked the most, so we bought him a tiny oven, so he could make his own delicacies.

And Rye was just the right person to take advantage of this...