Chapter 25 (Urias) - Pillow Pummel

 Having 4 family members and 1 bathroom wasn't always a great thing.

"Dad! Come on, I gotta shower before school!" Syllabus complained.

"He really stinks, Dad!" Theorem agreed.

Their Dad's voice was muffled by the closed door. "Go away!"

Not having another else to do, the boys roughhoused with a pillow fight before the school bus arrived.

Theorem made sure to stay upwind of his brother. He really did stink.  "Don't sit next to me on the bus," he warned.

Today was the day, Marisa thought, eagerly grabbing the paper to scour the help wanted ads.  Or not.  No jobs were available for her.

 She didn't let it get her down, just continued to focus on skilling.

 "Mom! Mom! Look at my report card! All A's and excellent conduct!" Theorem cheered, happily waving his report card in the air for her to see.

"Soooo cooooold," Marisa shuddered, desperately trying to warm up.  "I should've thrown a coat on!"

 Theorem hurried back downstairs to play with a friend from school that came home with him.

"You think you're so smart!" Vanessa teased.  "But I bet you can't beat me at Paper, Rock, Scissors!"

"I can too!" he bragged.  "All I have to do is calculate what the odds that you pick one of the gestures."

The children counted off slowly and then

 "Beat you!" Vanessa crowed.

Grrr, Theorem scowled.  "I thought you would pick rock!" he pouted.

"Na na na na na naaaaah!" she teased.

 "I'll get you!" Theorem shouted, chasing after her.

The kids at school sometimes called him a teacher's pet.  It wasn't his fault his Dad was the head of education and his good friend was his teacher.

"You should be very proud of Theorem," Samantha announced over their meal.  "He was the only student in class that read their history assignment," she bragged.

 Look at that grin.

Bedtime and the boys headed upstairs to their room to sleep.

 Downstairs, Urias stayed up late working on his next how-to instructional manual.

 "Yes! Snow Day!" Syllabus cheered happily after looking out the window.

 Marisa felt her stomach drop. Still no jobs available for her.

Although Syllabus was excited at first for his Snow Day, as the day wore on, the boys grew more and more bored.

 "Boys, I'm trying to read," Marisa said, glancing up at the boys as they roughhoused.  "Why don't you go play outside!"

 The pillow battle quickly moved outside.

 Ah, the family all gathered in the livingroom.  Urias worked on his instructional manual, Marisa studied for the position she was hoping to apply for, Theorem read through his Dad's How To Clean manual, and little Syllabus hugged the RoboBear tight.

 Who is surprised that Theorem is one of the top students?

"Mom! Dad! Look! Look!"

After hard work, Urias finally finished his instruction manual for the mechanical skill.

Thankfully since the upper floor was fully enclosed, the family could move the chess table upstairs.  Finally no more frostbite!

 Urias called for a family outing.  Marisa would happily follow him where ever he went.

 School day!

Theorem watched his outgoing younger brother meet other students. 

Urias called for attention and all the kids and teens took a seat for their lesson.  Whenever Urias asked a question, Theorem's hand shot up in the air to answer first.

"Teacher's pet!" Tina Traveller hissed behind him, causing his brother Syllabus to chuckle.

Theorem wondered why nobody called his brother a teacher's pet.  Maybe because he didn't do his homework...

Aw, so in love!

 Marisa was trying not to let the fact that there were no business positions available to get to her.  She was willing to take anything - receptionist, secretary, data entry, cashier, stocker... anything!

"It's good to see you," she said, greeting her sisterinlaw Meadow.  "How are things?" she asked with concern.  It felt like Vito's death had been just yesterday.

"I'm doing okay.  Just try to stay busy," Meadow replied, not mentioning the long, boring days of playing with the cats and laying on the couch.  

 "Oh, another baby!" Marisa said, so happy for her dear friend Allyn.

"No, no, I'm okay!" she said when everyone turned to look at her when she burst into tears.  It was just so frustrating not being able to find a job. 

 Today was Theorem's special day, though!

Theorem took his glasses off and glanced at them with disgust.  For some reason they weren't fitting him right anymore.  He would need to ask his parents to order him a new pair.  Happy Birthday anyway, Theorem!

After all the family shared cake and headed home, Theorem picked up his father's newest instructional manual.

Still nothing, Marisa thought as she threw down the paper.

 *sob* She just wanted to make some money!

Fresh from the success of his other 2 manuals, Urias began another skilling manual.  He received many compliments from people are the town that loved the tips and tricks he'd outlined.

Finally, the family had a second bathroom upstairs!  It wasn't fully enclosed yet, but that didn't keep anyone from using it!

 Syllabus yawned watching his Mom and brother play chess.  It looked so boring.  He'd much rather be having a pillow pummel or playing cops and robbers.  But Theorem was "too old" for that now.

He knew someone that would play with him, though.  He hurried to the phone.

While waiting outside for Tina to come over, another kid his age happened to walk by.  "Hey Cooper," he called, recognizing him from class.

 "I'll be the robber, you be the policeman and Tina can be the hostage!" Syllabus said, pretending to grab a gun. "Pew! Pew! Pew!" he called.

"Nooooo!" Cooper said, shaking his head. "I don't wanna play cops and robbers."

Syllabus looked at the kid as though he had a second head. "Why not?" he demanded.

 So, instead, Syllabus tormented the stuck up kid.

And played Cops and Robbers with Tina instead.  "You got me this time copper!" she called dramatically, falling to her knees.

"Okay, this time, I get to be the robber!" Syllabus said quickly.

"But I like being the robber!" Tina whined and pouted.

"Fiiiiiiine!" he agreed.  It beat playing with Cooper to Party Pooper.

"Best. Friends. Forever!" she told him, before giving him a hug and running home.

Writing the instructional manual seemed to be getting easier and easier.  Urias' current hope was to create a manual for all 7 skills, a complete Encyclopedia for his future descendents.

 "THEOREM! YOUR GIRLFRIEND IN HERE!" Syllabus called when he saw Tesira walk by.

"Gross," he called, hurrying down the stairs. "She's our cousin, you weirdo."

Syllabus shrugged. "More like 2nd cousin. Did you know second cousins can marry them legally in some parts of the world," he called.

 "What is he talking about?" Tesira asked, making a face.

"Just ignore him. He's an idiot," Theorem said, shaking his head.

 Just then, he saw Sookie pass by.  Now she was his actual cousin!  "Hey Sookie, hold up!" he called out.

"Watch this!" Syllabus said, rolling over into the snow by the stack of junked fridges.

"Oh my gosh, be careful!" Tesira called out.

 With a flourish, Syallabus hopped up.  "Ta Da!"

Inside, the kids had some sandwiches and chatted about childhood memories.