Last night Audrey and I went to a dinner party, leaving the girls to fend for themselves in terms of supper and the evening's entertainment. Glory was a bit of a concern, as she'd been quite resistant to going to dance that morning, but as we prepared to leave, the two of them were in the shower together, singing The Arrogant Worms' "War of 1812" at the top of their bitty lungs:
And the white house burned, burned, burned.
And we're the ones that did it,
It burned, burned, burned.
While the president ran and cried,
It burned, burned, burned.
And things were very historical,
And the Americans ran and cried like a bunch of little babies WahWahWah
In the war of 1812.
As I kissed Glory goodbye, I whispered, "Please don't be a pain the ass for your sister at bedtime, okay? I'll hear."
"I won't," she said.
I went over and kissed Fenya. "Don't be a pain in the ass tyrant to your little sister tonight, huh? I'll hear."
She nodded. "I won't."
When I called home to check on them at half past eight, Fenya was in good spirits; the quesadillas she had made for supper turned out well, they'd watched a movie, and Fenya had painted Glory's nails. "That's great," I told Fenya. "What movie did you guys watch?" I assumed it would be something girly that I would balk at as a regular Friday night screening.
"Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow." Fenya said. I thought was a pretty cool choice for a twelve-year-old to make: a 2004 film that aspired to look like it was made in 1934, and largely succeeded, even if very few people appreciated it, and I told her so.
When we got home, both girls were curled up asleep in Glory's lower bunk, along with the dog. Glory was lodged against the wall, using her bear Isabella as a pillow and with no real covering on her, so Audrey got her up and sleepwalked her to first the bathroom, and then to Fenya's bed.
In the morning we discovered that the evening had gone swimmingly, thanks in part to an agreed upon schedule of events, which Glory had written out in her journal. Things followed this course right up until bedtime, which coincided with Earth Hour, which they had planned to observe, but had forgotten about.
After turning off all the lights, they realized they'd forgotten to leave out something to see with. They were unable to find the candle lighter in the dark, even with the illumination provided by their MP3 players. Fenya did not want to try lighting a candle with matches (thank goodness), so Glory suggested they seek out a flashlight so they could at least get changed for bed.
Shortly after that, Fenya had heard a noise, and told Glory to be quiet. Glory started to bristle a bit at that, but when she figured out that Fenya was listening to something else, she got a little apprehensive. Sure enough, our thirty year old house was creaking and groaning, but every now and then an unfamiliar sound filtered through that put them off.
From that point on, it was pretty much all spin control for Fenya, keeping Glory calm and getting her ready for bed. The two of them and Nitti did end up getting to bed safely and more-or-less on time, so we'll score that one as a win. After all, character is who you are in the dark, right?
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