Happiness

"Dear, did you hear about the... Incident yesterday?"

Jane's voice began at a normal volume but as a sensitive word bubbled at her lips, she became aware once more of the toddler in her lap & replaced it with a vague implication. Though of course even if Jane had said the intended word, the child was much too small to comprehend her meaning; despite that, & despite Robert knowing that fact as well, he kept the language clean in stead of his wife's direction without much thought.

"Mm, yes, it's right here in the paper. I assume you mean this?"

Robert nimbly leaned around the sharp edge of the glass table to show the newspaper in his hands to Jane; in turn, she held the toddler a bit tighter to prevent her from seeing it, though still, she was much too young to read. Jane nodded gravely at the headline Robert intended her to see & her eyes held a bit more concern when she looked back up at him.

"It was rather close this time..."

Jane's husband nodded as well, & sat back in his chair again; though he seemed to have an uncaring & unperturbed air about him, his expression was carved a bit deeper than usual. He opened his mouth after a few moments to speak, brown eyes behind his glasses staying trained down at the paper, but was soon interrupted by the sudden entrance of his middle daughter booming through the room; a quick glance at the commotion with a neutral face assured him that she was fine & only playing.

"Come on, come on!"

Isabelle slid to a stop a few feet away from the glass table & turned to address the toy following her; a brief moment passed before the metallic sound of gears turning against the faux stone of the kitchen's floor filled the room, followed by the toy's robotic voice.

"Isabelle mustn't run in the kitchen. Isabelle mustn't run in the house."

Jane nodded with a fond smile as the robot's programming beat her to the reprimanding that had been on her tongue, though just as if her mother had scolded her instead of her toy, Isabelle huffed & urged the robot to move faster as she began to turn towards the back entrance of the house.

"Even if I didn't run, I'd still be faster than you!"

The toddler seemed to realize just then that her sister was in the room & began bouncing on Jane's lap to be let down, pulling on her mother's shirt with urgency.

"Mommy! Mommy!"

Jane looked down at the previously quiet child with a slight pout before launching into a pre-warning lecture.

"No running for you, inside or outside. & stay close to your sis--"
"Moooommmmy!"

Jane sighed, though the sound quickly turned into a quiet laugh at she carefully set her youngest daughter on her feet. Lily was quick to stumble after Isabelle now that she was free of her mother. Isabelle waited almost patiently for her sister, though really, she was waiting for the toy with one foot out the door already. In a clamor of giggles & gears grinding, followed by the dull click of the sliding glass door, the children had left the house to play in the backyard, leaving Robert & Jane with some well deserved peace-- for just a little while.

Both adults sighed & leaned back in their chairs in synchronization, causing both of them to exhale an amused sound with fond smiles at each other. Silence passed as Jane took a sip of her long gone cold tea & Robert began to fold up his paper.

"You should do something with the children today."

Jane nodded at her husband's words, swallowing her sip down as she set the mug on the table once more.

"I was planning to take Isabelle & Lily shopping with me instead of just leaving them at the house with Tom-Tom today."

Robert scrunched his nose slightly at the mention of the ever present Tom-Tom, though the action was lost on his technophile wife. Just as the meaning had been lost, Robert quickly decided not to voice his opinion, yet again, knowing fully that it'd only lead to another debate.

"Well, I'll be at work today..."

He began to stand up, stretching slightly before straightening out his button down shirt. Jane nodded in acknowledgment, already knowing where her husband would be today. She smiled up at him just as he leaned down to kiss her forehead briefly.

"If you're all by the office around noon, give me a call & we'll grab some lunch together."

Jane smiled a bit wider at that promise & began to say something, but just as Robert had been interrupted earlier, she was then too, but the eldest child silently walking in. Though he was distracted by the phone in his palm & assumedly listening to something, noted by the small bud pressed into his ear, Jane greeted him anyway, as it was rather rare to see him outside his room this early.

"Good morning, Jack."

Her tone was cheery & her smile radiant in excitement for the day to come paired with the small ting of pride she felt for her son being out of his room this early. Robert passed Jack as he walked through the kitchen, giving his hair a slight pat which only gained him a grumble from his otherwise preoccupied son.

"See you later, kiddo."

Jack gave a half effort wave before quickly going back to typing on his phone, beginning to nod a bit to himself.

"Mhmm. Yupp. Yes, I'll be there at two."

Jane stayed quiet now, for she realized the ear bud was being used for a call; in the meantime, she stood up & walked passed Jack to the kitchen, mug in hand before setting it in the microwave. Jack continued to mumble reassurance to whoever was on the other end, Jane could only assume it to be someone from his work, & just as the microwave beeped, Jack reached up to press his finger against the bud in his ear to turn it off. Jane glanced up at Jack with another beaming smile & her son sighed while sliding the phone in his pocket. He seemed rather disoriented for a moment, side-eyeing the two rooms before remembering what he had come here for. As he went to the fridge, Jane began to speak.

"If you haven't anything to do until two, dear..."
"I've plenty to do until two."

Jack interjected as he shuffled through the fridge for a can of soda, eliciting a slight frown from his mother.

"I was going to say you should come shopping with your sisters & I."

Jane crossed her arms as she spoke & her tone was rather terse, but Jack was well aware she wasn't truly angry with him; that frowning pout on her lips that he stole a glance at was more playful than anything. After a moment, he found the soda & stood up with a sigh, pausing to crack open the seal before smiling hesitantly at his mother.

"What are we shopping for?"

He brought the soda to his lips as Jane huffed quietly; she spoke with a wave of her hand.

"Does it matter? It's nice to get out of the house, you know."

"I get out of the house every day, mom."

"Leaving the house for work doesn't count, just ask your father."

Her tone began to sound a bit exasperated & Jack's smile only grew more entertained; his mother was quite the actor, indeed. He sighed again, heavier this time, as though he had put up a long & hard fight against this requested family time & Jane took the signal to smile widely once more. Standing up straight from leaning against the counter now, she clapped her hands together.

"It's settled, then. You'll come with us."

Jack rolled his eyes at his mother's excitement & nodded dully. With a dismissive wave & a few mumbled "Yeah,"s, he turned to leave the kitchen & head back to his room.

"Come get me before we leave. You know where to find me."

Jane grinned to herself in success & took her re-heated tea back to the table. Idly she sipped on it as she browsed through her phone's news app. The excitement of the day before her slowly ebbed away as she read report after report of yesterday's bombing; 'rather close this time,' it was, indeed. In fact, it was just a few towns away from Robert's office. She was sure the city's drones had already cleaned up whatever mess on the road there would be after an incident like that, & thankfully there weren't any casualties this time; just a massive debt for the city to pay now.

Her useless inner commentary on yesterday's bombing quickly came to an end as her two daughters barreled back into the house; her head snapped to the side to see Isabelle leading Lily through the glass doors, the toy robot following after a few moments. The children were panting & smiling, giddy with adrenaline after running & playing together, & though Jane smiled fondly at them for a moment, a reprimand bubbled on her tongue once again, but just as before, the robotic voice interjected.

"Lily mustn't run outside. Lily mustn't run inside."

Jane laughed quietly as the sliding door closed behind the children on Tom-Tom's silent instruction, the action going unnoticed by everyone in the room. Lily blatantly ignored the robot's scolding & instead continued to run, now, to her mother.

"Mommy, mommy, look!"

She held out her small palm to show a few shiny rocks; Jane looked down at them with an entertained & appreciative expression, reaching to poke the rocks as though she's never seen such pretty ones before.

"Oh, dear! These are lovely!"

The child grinned up at her mother & giggled softly before placing them on the glass table. Jane then looked at Isabelle who was leaning down to pick up her toy.

"Why don't we go get cleaned up? We'll be leaving shortly."

Isabelle nodded & brightened significantly as she remembered what was happening today; she was going to go shopping with her mother, instead of spending time at home with only Tom-Tom & Lily for company. As Jane stood up & leaned down to pick up Lily, Isabelle ran off to the bathroom, though Jane was following after at a much slower pace with the toddler in her arms.

After quickly cleaning the dirt & grass off the children's feet & getting them changed into more appropriate clothes for going out in, Jane walked down the hall, again following after Isabelle who was now quite excited.

"Jack! We've leaving!"

Jane called as the three approached the front door.

"Tom-Tom, please activate the house security."

She called in a slightly quieter voice; a more human sounding than the metallic robot's voice echoed around the house in response.

"Yes, ma'm. All electronics are being set to stand by."

The house suddenly dimmed with Tom-Tom's words & as the device continued to talk, the sound of Jack's bedroom door down the hall opening was heard along side the folding noises of the window's drapes.

"All windows are closed. The air conditioning is set to low. All doors except the front are locked."

As Tom-Tom finished speaking, Jack joined the three at the door who now waited for the device to come to an end.

"The front door will be locked as you close it, ma'm. Have a safe day."

Jane smiled widely & reached for the front door.

"Everyone ready?"

Isabelle & Lily nodded, the elder a bit more enthusiastically than her sister, & Jack mumbled a quiet "Mhmm,"

"Thank you, Tom-Tom. We'll be back before dark."

Jane informed the house's device as she opened the front door. Tom-Tom's words were heard faintly as the four walked out.

"My pleasure, ma'm."

With a dull click, the front door was locked behind the family, as the device had said it would be, & they set off together for down town.

Reviews

[Bob Veres]

This is interesting. I was turned off at first by the misspelling of "happiness;" was that deliberate?

Of course, I have no idea where this is going, but that's great with a first chapter; you want to constantly, over and over, leave the reader wondering about something in the future that he/she is impatient to find out, and you're doing that here.

What would I do differently? This is something I kept facing in my own fiction; the balance between plot and description. I found myself putting more words into the description, and they were little unimportant things like when somebody sighed, and what they were thinking--and here, both parents returning synchronized to their feet. When I finally went through my own work, I tried to eliminate any description that didn't move the plot forward or deliver fairly important insight into the characters.

Suddenly, the story was moving forward more quickly and I had a better sense of who my characters were, because I was forced to define them indirectly with fewer words--if that makes any sense.

I don't think the balance here is too far off, but I'd tighten, enhance and drive it forward faster, which also gives you a chance to add to the tension that you're building about things we don't yet know but we have a feeling will be important.

My best advice to everybody who's writing (I've coached a lot of people over the years) is have fun with it. I think sometimes we all take these things too seriously.

When can I see more?