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I’d grown up the middle child of five with a brother and sister on either end The older ones had already left hoe part of my life, there were six other people constantly in , crazy, wonderful people and I didn’t see how I could go fro with everyone in cluster housing, Baphos all the tih a bit of conflict was still preferable to isolation

The door unlatched with a happy pop, opening the first few inches of its own accord on tight new hinges The housing had only been built in the last few years, apparently under so still had that new building feel One that extended to the bedroo under me, still covered with protective plastic

“Up and at ‘e my boot

“I’m still the older one you know”

“Yes and I’m the mature one”

Her eyes flashed mischievously She was still only fifteen, butcontest Then again, she had lots of practice and a pretty good er than me as opposed to five It would be fair to say that Ah our parents didn’t love her any less Even though I’ot a vasectomy after Amelia’s birth

A young, pretty blond, Amelia dressed in the family fashion, that could best be described as ‘Discount Addams Fauys and long dark dresses for the girls, all of us in arht dirt cheap at thrift stores and estate sales

“Hold the other side, please,” I said, unfurling

The flag was the symbol the main Temple came up with to protest the ‘Christianic Panic’ A clear and funny laaboos to disastrous results

When the flag was up, A my books in alphabetical order in the IKEA-style unit affixed to the freshly painted wall While she did that, I set upthe vinyls in the space under it Dad always only used LPs In addition to being born in the late-1960s when they were all that was available, he also joked that the backcame across a lot clearer on vinyl

“Thanks, want me to walk you back to the van?”