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Chapter Two
Meeting The Cousins
Two hours later their dad stopped in front of a sprawling huge farmhouse with a large front yard and a high wooden fence going all around it. The car honked at the wooden gates and a farm hand opened it. They drove through onto the pathway and stopped the car at the garage to the side of the house.
Climbing down from their car, they saw that many people had come out of the house to welcome them. Their dad hugged the people and some clapped him on his back. The children stared at Daryll and Diana.
An old woman with a kind and smiling face came forward and hugged them. "I'm your grandma, children, won't you introduce yourselves?" She prompted them.
"I'm Daryll and this is Diana," said Daryll, smiling at his grandma.
"Oh that's wonderful," she said and ushering them inside the house, she added,"Come sit at the table and let's introduce you to your cousins while all of you enjoy grandma's special ice cream. Yes?" she asked smiling at the excited faces of all the children.
"Yes grandma," they all chorused and ran into the house to the table. Daryll and Diana too followed them. Grandma chuckled and followed them too.
All the elders were busy catching up with their father.
Grandma brought out tubs of icecream and mixed flavours and added fruits, nuts, fudge sauce, choco chips, wafer, maraschino cherry or crumbled cookie toppings as demanded by the children. They all helped her excitedly making their own delightful sundaes. They all sat down with their own creation when grandma introduced all of them.
"Children, say hello to your cousins Daryll and Diana," said grandma and they all chorused a 'Hello'.
"Daryll and Diana, this is Jasper and that's Skylar," she introduced. Thirteen year old Jasper, got up, came forward and shook hands with them. He was the oldest of all the children, and only a year older than Daryll. "Hi, glad to meet you finally, heard a lot about you two," he said. A ten year old Skylar too came to shake hands with Diana. She said,"Hey, glad to have another girl in our group, we can hang out," she said.
Daryll and Diana grinned. They already loved the children. Grandma looked towards a nine year old boy and said,"Children meet Nicholas, he's our wizard, great at remembering things."
"Hi, wizard Nicholas," they chorused and he grinned at everyone.
"Hey, what are my little buddies enjoying?" said a voice from the door. Daryll and Diana looked up to see a man resembling their dad only younger, enter the room with a smile on his face.
"That's your uncle Stanley, he's your dad's youngest brother," said grandma as she spooned a scoop of butterscotch cream to him. He was twenty five and the youngest amongst all the siblings and yet to settle down. He worked as a process engineer at a manufacturing company nearby.
"Uncle Stan, we made our own icecreams, look," said Skylar, excitedly.
"Looks good, but I love my butterscotch, " said uncle Stanley, with a smile. "Ok, children, I'm going out to visit a few neighbourhood homes who need our help. Would you like to help me?" He asked as the children chorused,"Yes, uncle Stan, " and quickly finished their ice creams. They all thanked their grandma and trooped out of the house onto the porch.
A loud bark startled Daryll and Diana and they turned to see a vicious looking German shepherd rushing towards them at top speed. Diana cowered behind uncle Stanley.
"Uncle Stan, save me, I'm scared, " said Diana, hiding behind him.
"Oh, that's Pilot. He looks scary but he'd never hurt us. Don't be scared of him. He'll just lick you. He needs love. Stroke his ears and he'll be happy," said uncle Stanley with a laugh.
The pilot jumped onto Jasper's arms like a baby, standing on his hind legs. He was almost as tall as Jasper. After licking his master's face, he went to Daryll, to do the same thing. Daryll patiently waited and Pilot got off him, wagging his tail vigorously. Then he turned towards Diana and trotted out towards her. She panicked but kept her cool.
"He'll just lick you, Di, don't panic," said Skylar.
Pilot, went up to Diana and licked her hand. Then he sat down at her feet and looked up at her with a whimper. "Oh, I think he loves you, Di, just stroke his head," said Jasper. Diana stroked Pilot's head and he jumped with joy and everyone laughed.
"Can we go now, uncle Stan?" Asked Nicholas and they all raced to uncle Stanley's truck.
Soon they were on their way to where their uncle Stanley was taking them. He drove down a narrow, dusty road that led to a small tumbledown cottage with broken doors and windows. There were a few hens clucking in its neglected front yard, secured with a broken fence. A malnourished pig was lying in the dirt in a corner.
The front door opened the moment their truck stopped in front of the house. An elderly couple came out to check who had arrived at their humble home. The man had white patches of hair on his nearly bald head. He wore a pair of torn trousers that had seen better days and an old shirt. His face crinkled into a smile upon seeing their uncle Stanley.
The woman was extremely feeble with her back bent and she looked at uncle Stanley and the children with so much affection shining in her eyes.
"Stanley dear, is that you?" She asked as she adjusted her old plastic framed spectacles.
"Yes, grandma, this is for you and grandpa, " said uncle Stanley as he, Jasper and Daryll unloaded a few cartons and took them into their broken shack.
They thanked them profusely and they went on to the next house. Located at the end of a dirty, dusty and pot-holed road, the condition of this house was far worse than the previous one. Dirty children with tattered clothing watched them approach their run down house. Uncle Stanley distributed food and clothing to them too.
After visiting nearly 5-6 houses, it was already lunchtime and the children were too hungry to do anything else. They all returned home to the smell of delicious, fresh, home-cooked food.
Aunt Jennifer, who was Jasper and Skylar's mom was setting up the table. She was a nurse at the Smithville General hospital. As the children trooped inside, aunt Margaret, who was Nicholas's mom, asked them to go to their rooms to wash up before their meal. She was a stay at home mom as she had Raymond, Nicholas's 2 year old baby brother to take care of.
The children went up to their rooms. Jasper would be sharing his room with Daryll while Skylar would share with Diana. Nicholas shared his room with Pilot. Soon they came down to a table full of steaming hot food waiting to be devoured.
