Tabi Larsen

The death of Tabitha and the birth of Tabi.

It was the age-old story of a man and a woman falling in love, getting married, and living happily.  They had three girls, all intelligent and beautiful.

The first was almost like an adult in a baby's body, eyes that were bright blue and seemed like they knew everything, dark hair that added an air of sophistication.  Caroline May Larsen.

The second girl was wide-eyed and curious, like any normal baby.  Her eyes were oddly dark, with a strange depth.  Her hair was brown that sometimes seemed like it was glowing red like embers.  She had a profound need to see, experience, and understand everything herself.  Tabitha Ruth Larsen.

The third was much like the first with wide blue eyes and golden hair, and looked upon the world with an air of understanding and calm.  Sophia Anne Larsen.

----

Tabitha sat in her mother's lap, looking at the family photo album she held.  Sophie was napping in her crib across the room, Cara was outside playing.  Mother turned to a page with a photo of many people, most of whom looked distantly familiar.  Across from this was one of the people alone, a woman whose smile was mischievous and playful.  As Tabitha stared, the woman's smile seemed to challenge her.  I'm going to explore the world and visit the man in the moon, they said, and you can't stop me.

Tabitha frowned.  Who was this woman to mock her, to be so cocky when they didn't even know each other!  "Momma,"  Little Tabitha said indignantly, pointing to the offending picture, "who is she?"

Mother smiled, and gently pushed a stray lock of hair in place on her middle daughter's head.  "Aunt Beatrix.  She died around the time I was born, she got sick.  Everyone called her Bea,"  Her mother said in a voice as smooth and soft as butter.

Bee-ya.  Tabitha's frown deepened and brows furrowed.  The name was like the faces; distantly familiar.  Bea.  Tabitha repeated it over and over in her mind.  It had a sort of round quality to it; not perfect, but a little bumpy, like a pebble you rolled between your palms.  Bea.

Satisfied, little Tabitha slid off her mother's lap and set the photo album on the floor.  "Bye, Momma,"  Tabitha added as she ran outside to play, not wanting to put away the heavy book.

Without putting on shoes or socks she hurried to the 'secret' hideout her sister and her friends played in.  It was just a small burrow in a few large bushes, where there was a hole big enough to crawl through and a large room like the inside of an upside-down bowl.  Sunlight came through the leaves and lit up the patted dirt floor, and the children were convinced the magic of this space prevented anything but the sun from seeing them while they hid inside.

The others were playing submarine and the children went quiet as Tabitha burst in, the tolerated brat sister of Captain Cara.  Captain Cara meaningfully took a few steps toward Cabin Girl Tabitha.  "Back to work, everyone, there'll be no slacking on my ship!"  Cara said loudly.  The other three went to work.

"Wait, I thought this was a submarine, not a boat," Navigator Thomas said, turning away from his compass (borrowed from his grandfather).

"Well, I thought submarines could also be called ships," Cook Ashley said in an argumentative tone, holding up a stolen wooden spoon.

"No!  Ships have sails.  A sub is a sub," Thomas said, crossing his arms.

"I wanna take a break," yawned Janitor Stephen, before Ashley could speak.

"Okay.  Let's take a break," Cara said, sitting down.  Tabitha was about to join her.  "No! You'll get in trouble, Tabitha.  Don't get your indoor clothes dirty."

Tabitha stood defiantly, not because she didn't want to get in trouble, but because she had a point to make.  "My name is not Tabitha!"  She said, with all the indignation her tiny four year old body could muster.

Ashley and Thomas started giggling profusely, and even Stephen chuckled.  Cara smiled like an adult would at a child, even though she was all of six.

The little girl formerly known as Tabitha pouted, feeling tears threaten to show themselves.  She swallowed them and told herself in her mind that she didn't care what those stupid big kids thought.  "It's not! It's Tabi now!"

Ashley giggled more and wiped invisible tears from her eyes.  "Like a cat?"

"No!  I'm not a cat!"  Tabi stamped her bare foot.

"Aren't tabbies like mutt dogs, but cats?"  Thomas asked between gasps for air.

"Yeah, I think so," Ashley looked unsure.  "My grandma calls cats tabby cats all the time, but only the gray ones."

Tabi's eyes started to overflow with tears.  "I'm not a cat!" she said more forcefully.  She couldn't see anything through the mist on her eyes.

"Hey, hey!  If you want a nickname, it's fine." Tabi felt her sister's embrace.  "Tabitha's pretty long any way, right?"

The other children felt bad.  They assented, mumbling small apologies and half baked excuses to go home.  Little Tabi ruined all the fun.

The two sisters left the secret hideout soon after, leaving behind Tabitha.

----

Tabi Larsen frowned.  "Huh?"

Nanny sighed, the small woman seemed to have little patience for Tabi.  "Aren't you even a teensy bit excited to see children your own age?"

Tabi didn't like the thought that she wasn't the only five year old in the city, but as she thought about it she realized how baby-ish it was to think so.  If her family had kids, wouldn't every other family have kids?  And they wouldn't all be big like Cara or babies still unsteady on feet like Sophie.

"S'cool!  S'cool!"  Sophie giggled.  She was a smart baby, but also a happy one.  And she wasn't really a baby anymore, she was a little kid.  Three years old.

"Yeah!  You'll have fun learning and making friends!"  Tabi knew Cara was lying, coating her words with a sick fake enthusiasm.  Cara went to school every day for the last two years, and she didn't like it much.

But when Tabi thought of going to school with her older sister, she warmed to the idea of them finding a camaraderie in hating it.  This is my little sister, Cara would say to her friends, She's pretty cool for a five year old.  She hates school too.  Tabi could be like the big kids.

No, when she went to school she would be a big kid.

Big kids complained and went to school and did their homework and chores and played with friends.  Tabi could do that too.  And Tabi would be doing that.

"I am excited," Tabi said in wonder.  She was going to be a big kid in a few weeks!  Little Tabi!  And she could walk around with authority over the little kids, who hadn't grown up yet.  And she could laugh at how stupid they were with other big kids.  A whole new world of possiblity loomed before her.  She was becoming a new person again.

Tabi Larsen, the big kid