Inwood, New York
“Jimmy!” He groaned and tucked his head under the pillow, clamping his left arm down over it. He must have laid on it, though, because it was tingling. Besides he knew better, and was right to hold it against him because he felt the insistent tugging on it with another chorus of “Jimmy!”
“G’away,” James grumbled from under his protection from the sunlight that shone through the closed window. Once the light got in his eyes, he would never get back to sleep.
“Oh… come on, James, gettup already.”
“Oof!” He gasped, bucking up as he felt a sudden weight drop down on his stomach. “Rebecca!” He snapped, the pillow flinging across the floor as the little girl laughed shortly. She’d run and dropped all her weight on him before scrambling away to safety. He flung both arms out to grab ahold of her, but missed. “What did ya do that for!” He said, rubbing his stomach.
“Well, you woke up, didn’t you?”
“I should go back to bed to spite ya.”
“Auntie left you in charge,” His younger sister declared with hands on her hips. He rolled his eyes. “I’m hungry.”
“You know how to fix yourself breakfast,” He scoffed and buried his shoulders back down under the thin quilt. It was getting colder in the mornings now, just another good reason to sleep later on a Saturday.
“Well the girls might wake up.”
“They always sleep in,” He said pointedly.
“Well why do you need to?”
“I was up late,” He said nonchalantly, turning back to look at her.
“You mean you were out all night with your new friend.”
“His name is Steve, and it was my idea, not his,” James defended, finally sitting up in bed. Steve was a little better at following the rules than him but just barely, and only when it suited him James was starting to learn. He was a good guy though, nice to talk with. “Out with it Becca,” He insisted, sitting up again and fixing her with a stern look. “What’s the real reason?”
She looked up at him with matching pale blue eyes, small hands fidgeting suddenly and James’ gaze softened. “I’m scared James…”
“O’ what?” He asked, his voice dropping softer as he flung his legs over the side of his cot and leaned his elbows on his knees.
“Everything’s so different here…. It’s hard...”
“Hard how?” He encouraged, patting the bit of bed next to him. Becca came over and scrambled up onto the bed. So this was about the move still, then? It had only been a couple of months, but he’d thought they were all adjusting pretty well. Losing Pops was… almost impossible, he knew that. It was for him, he’d gotten in a lot since then, getting kicked off the base. Somehow he thought they'd let him stay. The military was all he had ever known. Now both Pops and his home was gone. There was no looking back on it, though. They were in New York now, with their Aunt. He was almost thirteen, though, and Becca was still just a little kid. She wasn’t probably old enough to really lose Mama in the right way…. But Pops she was.
He glanced down at his sister, wrapping an arm around her little shoulder’s softly. She kept her gaze fixed down on her hands before she started to speak again.
“I don’ want to leave you again… I like Auntie Ida it’s just… well the girls didn’ like it when you stayed back in Jersey…”
James softened at her admission and frowned, tugging the little girl into a hug. She was really that upset over it? He honestly hadn’t thought about her minding it so much. He knew why she was bringing it up, though, but it was already done and it was a good opportunity for her.
“Boarding school up in Albany is great, Becca, ya said you liked it, didn’ you?”
“I do,” She said, her voice squeaked and he leaned down to realize she was crying slowly. “I jus’... I just… I don’t want to lose you too Jimmy!” She declared, throwing herself around his middle and burying her head into his stomach. James frowned, reaching down to run his hand over her head to calm her down. Her little sobs slowed down after a moment and he coaxed her to stop hiding her face.
“Hey, Rebbeca, I’m serious now, lookat me,” He said firmly, waiting until she looked up, rubbing at the corner of her eyes. “Now you listen here, I ain’t never going to leave you, okay?”
She smiled a little but then a frown dropped again. “Poppa used to say that too…”
“Yeah but Poppa was in the military, sis, it wasn’ his fault what happened.”
“I know!” She cried indignantly.
“Come on now, I’m the toughest guy you know!” He declared triumphantly, boxing his arms out, which managed to make her hiccup a giggle.
“You’re a troublemaker you mean,” She grinned.
“Maybe… but I can take care of myself,” He promised squeezing her hand. “So you’re not goin’ to get rid of me, ever!” He said cheerfully, before he stood up and stretched. "Well now that you went and got me up, I’m hungry too,” James said and nodded towards the door. He'd fix them both some ferina.Becca smiled and hopped off the bed. Just as they got to the doorway, she tackled him and hugged him tightly.
“I love you James,” She squeezed harder and he reached down to rub her back.
“Love you too Becca.”