The Lassiters Ch. 6 The Twins Are Growing Up Pt. 1

The twins were now teenagers. It seemed to happen so suddenly. One day Lori was a twirling angel in her pink tutu, the next she was a beautiful young lady dancing to the radio and practicing to become an accomplished cook like her mother.

 

 Lori was still pretty dramatic, but aren’t all teenage girls? In this case, she lost a game of pool to Melanie Flynn and her reaction was a little extreme:

One day Trey was tinkering with his train set, the next he was shaving (at least every other day) and restoring a car. John offered to help him with it, but his mechanical skills seemed to have deteriorated over the years. He said as he turned to walk into the house, somewhat demoralized,

"Well, son, you seem to have it pretty much under control so I'll  leave you to it."

 

 

How could the years have gone so quickly? Melora looked at photo albums of all four of the kids at some of their birthday parties. She brought one in to share with John from five years ago and they laughed as they recalled how happy, innocent and trusting their children had been when they were small—when they had counted on John and Melora for everything and clung to their parent’ side.

“John, look at those sweet faces! Remember when they liked to spend time with us?” Melora laughed.

Those days were gone; yet this was now such a time of promise. As for wanting to be with their parents, it was natural that they now preferred time with their friends.

After all, we became a lot dumber in the last couple years since the twins turned 13,” John pointed out.

John and Melora had two adult children and they’d been through this before so they knew that when the twins got to be about 21 Mom and Dad would somehow be considered intelligent again.

The twins were still close to each other when they were at home, but they frequently had divergent interests when it came to their social life away from the house.

Life was still as hectic at the Lassiter home as always, but many things had definitely changed, while others remained the same. For instance Lori still loved her piano and books and ballet. And Trey was here there and everywhere—outside whenever possible as he always had been, playing soccer and basketball, swimming and fishing. Both the kids were very disciplined about their schoolwork and exercising, but otherwise they were typical teenagers in many ways.

 

Melora and John had changed somewhat, as well. John suddenly decided to rethink his style in facial hair. Melora was secretly relieved. She’d never said anything, but she hated what she called "scraggly" type beards and the unshaven look. She thought if a man was going to have a beard then do so! Just be sure to keep it well-trimmed. The wispy things that had been in style in the last 15 years made it look like that was the best a man could do. Far from it with John, who had a heavy beard; that was probably why he decided to change to this new style, less area on his face to shave. Personally, Melora thought he was handsome and didn’t need any facial hair at all or maybe just a mustache, but about all this she kept silent except to say that she liked the new look. That was not like her—keeping silent--but she was afraid if she gave an opinion, he’d start telling her what clothes to wear. He frequently was opinionated enough—no sense in asking for it.

And he was not the only one making a few subtle changes. Melora had grown her own hair a little longer again and was now wearing her it in a chignon. It was easier when working in the kitchen. John actually told her he liked her hair this way, which surprised and relieved her. Not that she had planned to change it if he didn't like it. She'd been a hair stylist many years ago and nobody was going to tell her how to wear her hair.  

The routine was a little different at home; they’d fired the maid a few years ago, she was a plaguing nuisance, frequently leaving beds unmade, and constantly stamping her foot like a child, complaining about every minor inconvenience. For instance if one of the Lassiters happened to be using the bathroom when she decided she wanted to clean it. Actually that was every time anyone used the bathroom, because as soon as one of them shut the door Lucy Hanby made a beeline for that particular bathroom, ranting when she couldn't get it.

Melora was staying at home so she felt she could handle the housework with occasional help from the kids and John. Besides, she figured she needed the exercise. In the last couple years she had gotten a little pudgy. “How did my backside get so big?” she wondered. It seemed to Melora that she gained weight more easily than before, yet it was harder to take off than ever ever. (The cheesecakes and berry pies, you know).  Anyway, John claimed  that she was just “zaftig” and looked “voluptuous”.  He really does have a strong streak of “sweet” in him at times, Melora thought fondly. Smart man, John.

The fact was that both of them were aging. Their senior citizens years were right around the corner, especially for John, who was eight years older than Melora. Perhaps that was why they wanted a last fling with their looks. Melora declared she would never be gray as long as there was anything in a bottle that would make her hair red. John didn’t care if the gray showed or not. He was only now starting to get white threads along the sides of his head.  He had the kind of black hair that turns silver and looks attractive and distinguished.

“That’s unfair and it stinks,” Melora grumbled from time to time, “You’ll just look more handsome and sophisticated, while I’ll have to be a bottle redhead till I die.” 

If she let her hair go back to brown and it had gray in it, it wouldn’t be sophisticated it would just be a mousy light brown with gray streaks. So she continued to color it. She no longer remembered NOT being a redhead, anyway. She had to admit the truth: women aged faster than men. Melora had noticed, though, that while this was true at 40 it seemed to her that around 60 most men seemed to catch up. Ha Ha.  That for you, buddy! Still, even though they were slowing down it did not keep them from getting frisky now and then. And they had perfected their skills at Swedish and hot stone massage. That was a sure-fire way to get frisky.

John’s career had been moving along for the last six years, being promoted a couple of times. When the twins entered high, Melora put her foot down. He’d been working from 10 at night to 2 am. The kids and she were on one clock and he was on another. She begged him to quit/retire, whatever he wanted, just stop working now. So John turned in his notice at DePasse chemicals. He didn’t really mind that much, after all. There were new projects at home that he had in mind…

John and Melora had no idea that things were going to get complicated and quite soon.

Next update: The Lassiters Ch. 6 The Twins Are Growing Up Pt. 2