Passages Two: A Room with a View

A shrill shriek pierced the calm Sunday afternoon, followed by several girlish screams. There was a thundering of little feet and suddenly a tribe of little girls emerged onto the porch, speaking in high pitched little voices. Hutch looked up from where he stood in the garden, and leaned on the shovel. Starsky, lying in the hammock, turned a page in the book he was reading, and laid it on his chest, also looking for the cause of the commotion.

“Uncle Ken!” Hannah’s demanding voice rose above the din. “Adam did it on purpose!”

“Did not!” came the voice from the upstairs window.

Hannah ran down the porch steps so she could look up at her twin. “Did too, you little creep!”

“Hannah!” Hutch and Starsky’s voices scolded at the same time.

She turned and stood with her hands on her eight year-old, still non-existent hips, and glared at them belligerently. “Do you know what he did?” then continued without waiting for a response. “He let his hamster out and it scared all my friends.”

“Did not!” the disembodied voice came from above.

Hannah turned and shrieked, “DID SO!”

Hutch rolled his eyes and dropped the shovel, striding out of the garden towards the enraged little girl. “Hannah, that’s enough!”

“But…”

“No buts. Whether Adam did or did not let Henry out is no reason to screech like that. We can talk about this calmly.”

“I need my own room,” Hannah shot back, clearly not through with the issue. “You said when I got older I could have my own room. Adam has too many cages, I have no room for anything. It’s not fair! You let him get away with everything!” her voice dissolved into sobs.

It took about twenty minutes for peace to reign after that performance. Starsky rounded up the girls and sent them home, Adam re-caged Henry, and the family was now sitting on the back porch.

“Adam, did you let Henry out on purpose?” Hutch asked calmly.

“No, I didn’t, Uncle Ken,” he replied earnestly. “Spike was checking him out again and opened the door by mistake. They’re friends.”

Hannah looked up from where she sat, next to Starsky on the hanging swing, listening intently.

“And that’s the truth?” Hutch asked his nephew.

Adam nodded solemnly then turned to Hannah. “I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh, but when everyone started to scream and it was just Henry and it was so silly….”

Hutch held up a hand to stop the flow of words before the battle began again. “Hannah, we don’t lie in this house and if Adam says he didn’t do it on purpose, then we believe him.”

Hannah nodded, then turned to her other uncle. “Starsky, you think I should have my own room, don’t you?”

“Ummm, that’s a family discussion, Hannah, it’s not up to me alone.” He looked over at his partner. “Hutch?”

“I guess it’s about time we look into this. Adam does have an awful lot of animals that do take up a lot of room.” Hutch smiled at his niece. “And you are becoming a young lady, and need your own space.”

Hannah turned and kissed Starsky before jumping off the swing and running over to hug her other uncle. “Thanks, Uncle Ken!”

Adam scuffed his feet. “It’s not like I keep all the animals in there.”

The men turned to look at the boy. “You don’t?” asked Hutch. “Where else do you keep them?”

“Well, the reptiles are in Starsky’s workroom under the bench where it’s warm…”

“Reptiles!”