Chapter 2

"So how is that report on human sexuality coming along?" his mother suddenly asked him at the overcrowded breakfast room.

Dahlia and Erica giggled at the mere mention of the word sexuality. Of course, for girls their age giggling about such things was reflexive.

"Come now, Angelica, back off a little. It isn't due until after the spring vacation," Uncle Bryan said from his stool at the bar. He had taken a seat there because the six spots at the breakfast table had already been taken when he came downstairs, and he wasn't the kind of man who would pull rank on one of his kids for a spot at the table.

"Yeah, and he's been doing his research," Dave's dad added, before sipping his nightly glass of wine and straightening out the paper. Dave wondered how many favours he had called in, and how many more he ended up owing to his colleagues just so he could spend an uninterrupted Christmas holiday with his family.

"'I've done the research, but it's hard to distil it into something the teacher will appreciate," Dave replied.

"He's gay, isn't he? Write a report about homosexuality."

"I've already thought of that, and I'm sure I'm not the only one in class who has considered pandering, although I probably am the only one who rejected the idea. So if I want my report to stand out, I have to write about something else." He shook his head in frustration. "It would have been easier if Mr Grant had outlined specific topics for us to take."

"Yeah, but if it's easy you won't learn quite as much. Isn't that right, Alan?" his mother asked, looking at Dave's dad for support.

Dave rolled his eyes. "I know that, Mom." It was painfully obvious that his biology teacher had a rather Darwinist approach to teaching, and that he wanted to see which of his students evolved to develop their paper writing skills. Those who were successful enough to narrow down the topic to a single issue would get higher marks.

"Isn't that crazy aunt of yours a sexologist, honey?" Alan asked his wife. "Among other things?" he added with a smirk.

"She is, but do you know where to reach her?"

"She's back in the country," Iris spoke up, forcing Dave to look at her, which made his heart beat faster.

On Boxing Day she sought the advice of a hairdresser on how to deal with her type of thick, wavy hair, and now the shiny golden waves looked like they had been deliberately styled that way. She also kept her hair out of her face by gathering the hair framing her face and securing it at the back of her head. Additionally, she now only wore her glasses when she really needed them, which was possible because she wasn't too nearsighted.

Iris caught him staring and blushed. "I've been told she's back to stay this time."

Angelica frowned. "I haven't heard anything about that. Who told you?"

"Aunt Ronnie herself. She called around thanksgiving and said she was back in the country, but she asked me no to tell anyone unless there was good reason because she wanted to remodel her house first."

"The one she inherited?" Bryan asked.

Iris nodded.

Angelica's eyes lit up and she shot her little sister a grateful look before turning back to Dave. "You should call Aunt Veronica."

"Mom, I've never met the woman, and she's never had time for the family before," Dave said, reminding her of his great-aunt's apparently reclusive nature. She was his grandmother's twin, and like his grandmother, other great aunts, female cousins once removed, mother, baby-aunt, and double-cousins, she bore the scientific name of a plant genus. An eternal scholar, she earned several degrees over the course of a decade.

"That's not true," Angelica replied admonishingly. "Sure, she could have made more of an effort to connect with the family on holidays, but she's been globetrotting for her research since before you were born. It's her lifestyle!"

"She did send plenty of mail, and she was always as prompt as possible in replying to any letters we sent her," Alan commented. "And you sure didn't mind getting some new martial arts clothing from her every year, did you?"

Dave felt his cheeks warm up. She had indeed sent him a dogi every year ever since he started doing aikido. Very expensive, hand-stitched dogi of supreme quality. They had to cost between seven and nine hundred dollars.

"I didn't say that I didn't think she cared," he muttered defensively, although he knew his parents wouldn't fall for it. He had got his brains from them, after all.

"Sure you didn't," Alan said, giving him a patronising smirk but fortunately not pressing the issue.

"But I don't want Iris to get in trouble. She wasn't supposed to tell us."

Iris positively beamed at his concern for her. "That's very sweet, but I'm her favourite niece. And it's for a good cause, so she won't say no."

"Do you have her number?" Angelica asked.

"It's in my organiser."

"Let's go get it, then,"

Moments after the two sisters had left, his younger brothers strolled into the kitchen.

Edward would turn thirteen on the last day of January. He was smarter than Dave across the board, and he was a mathematical genius who could crunch numbers like a computer. He could also beat his entire junior high-school chess club simultaneously without looking at any of the boards, but had so far refused all pleas to join the team himself.

That was Ed's problem. He was averse to any kind of competition and formalised measurement of his true abilities, and he was a tad on the antisocial side. The former issue was much to the regret of the faculty, who wanted to bump him up several grades, and the latter much to the regret of the middle school girls, because Ed's nearly androgynous good looks made them weak in the knees.

Like a typical bratty little brother, Frank snatched Dave's personal cereal away and began pouring it into a bowl, knowing that his older brother wouldn't say anything with their father present. A borderline Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder case, he'd be turning twelve at the end of February, and he too possessed considerable intelligence, though it was geared mostly towards mischief.

"Morning, guys," his father greeted the new arrivals.

"Morning, Dad," Frank replied brightly, while Ed merely grunted something unintelligible as he climbed onto the vacant barstool between his uncle and aunt.

Frank glared at Erica. "You're in my seat."

Dave shook his head. Frank had already been sensitive about the fact that his slightly younger cousin was about an inch taller than he was, and things got worse when she beat him at a video game on Boxing Day. After that he ignored her completely, unless he was exploiting an opportunity to put her down. Poor Erica was clueless about the fact that she had bruised his prepubescent male ego, and his behaviour was extra painful to her because they actually had a lot in common and she really liked him.

"Cut it out, Franklin," Alan said in a tone that plainly left no room for argument, and shot his youngest son a firm stare to reinforce it.

Frank mutinously muttered a few words, before sitting right next to Erica, on the chair Iris had just vacated. He proceeded to pointedly ignore Erica.

"So, what are you boys up to today?"

"I'm going to the Tanakas' to help Stu test out his new PlayStation," Frank said.

Dave grinned. Stewart Tanaka was a very short kid of Japanese descent and was Frank's best bud, which was both to Mr and Mrs Tanaka's delight and distress. Delight, because Stewart had settled in well at school after Frank befriended him, and distress because they seemed to be a magnet for trouble.

"That isn't supposed to come out till September next year," Ed mumbled.

"His grandparents brought it over from Japan, where it came out on the third. They arrived yesterday."

"Did Stu ask his parents if it's okay for you to come over?" Alan asked, and Dave could see where he was going with this. After all, he couldn't imagine the Tanakas wanting his hyperactive brother over when there were two elderly people with jetlag in the house.

"His grandparents said they wanted to meet me right away. They didn't believe him when he told them I know Japanese," Frank explained, sounding a tad indignant, and prompting Dave's grin to widen. Frank had a knack for languages, absorbing them like a sponge. He also had an instinctive understanding of grammar and an excellent ear for intonation. He spoke French more fluently than Dave and most other Canadians who weren't from Quebec. He had also picked up some Tagalog and Spanish from his paternal grandparents' Filipina housekeeper. The Japanese, of course, he learnt from tapes, instructional videos, and the Tanaka family.

"Do you think they'd mind if I came along too?" Dave asked. He too wanted to see what the newest gaming console could do, but his main reason was that he wanted to spend some time with Stewart's cute older sisters.

"Sowwy, Mifter Tanaka doesn' wan' you sniffing aroun' Cindy an April," Frank said around a mouthful of cereal.

Dave rolled his eyes. The Tanakas respected his parents for managing to get a good education while partially taking care of three young children, but they were still wary of him perpetuating the family tradition with their daughters. "I don't know why they're worried about me. It's Ed their girls are pining over."

Ed actually graced his comments with a cocky smirk. "Jealous?"

Dave shrugged. "Nah, I get enough attention at school." He wanted to add that it was regrettably only from the immature girls his age, but he decided to keep his mouth shut.

"What about you?" their father asked Frank. "Any girls chasing after you?"

"I hope not. Women are more trouble than they're worth!" Frank grunted, his face so disgusted it was comical.

"Don't let your mother hear that," their father said chuckling, before returning his attention to his paper and leaving his sons to banter about the merits and flaws of women while they had breakfast.

"We're not too happy with it either, are we, girls?" Aunt Michelle interjected, giving Frank a mock glare.

"I'm sure he'll change once he grows up," Dahlia said, viciously jabbing at Frank's bruised ego.

"Don't tease him," Erica, of all people, said as she rose to Frank's defence.

"I doubt a cold fish like you would ever be worth any trouble," Fran shot back at Dahlia. Then he turned to Erica. "And you have to mind your own business."

"That's it!" Alan said as he folded his newspaper. "Your cousin's only been nice to you since she got here. So what if she's taller? You'll be taller by next year. And people will inevitably better than you at certain things, so you'd better get used to it. Now, if you don't apologise to her you're not going anywhere today! Is that clear?"

Frank's face reddened in outrage, and his mouth opened and closed as he thought of and rejected several replies, until he finally seemed to get a hold of himself and snapped his jaw shut.

"Well?" Alan pressed, when Frank still hadn't said anything after a handful of seconds.

Frank looked at Erica, and the genuine look of hope and hurt in her eyes appeared enough to melt his heart. "I'm sorry for being such a jerk, Erica."

Erica rewarded him with a smile that lit up the room, signalling that all was forgiven.

"And you can come with me to the Tanakas, if you like."

"Thanks ... I'd love to."

"That means that neither of you will come with me to buy fireworks, right?" Alan asked.

"Shoot, you'll do that today?" Frank asked.

His father nodded. "The good stuff will be gone if we wait much longer."

Frank sighed. "Well, that PlayStation won't go anywhere. I'll let Stu know I'm going with you after breakfast. Do you want to come along, Erica?"

"Yeah!" Erica nodded enthusiastically.

"Why don't you take all the youngsters with you, Alan," Aunt Michelle suggested. 'They could use the fresh air."

A lot of men who bought the enormous, gas guzzling Chevy Suburban were supposedly compensating for a certain something. Dave knew his father wasn't one of them, since he'd seen his flaccid member as well as the occasional morning tenting in his sweatpants. In their family the enormous vehicle served a very practical purpose, for Alan used to be a Scout and loved the outdoors. The family spent at least one week every summer holiday camping, and on every camping trip he told his sons it was how he met their mother.