The Bet of Lucas Benedict

The sun is shining and the birds are singing.

There's a cool breeze blowing through the window, making me feel refreshed and alive. I feel like I could get up and do anything today.

I look out my bedroom window at the beautiful house we bought last year. I'm in my new room on the second floor; everything is white with red accents and filled with all kinds of neat things. My parents really splurged on this room for me when they found out that they were having a boy. There's even a telescope in my window, which I love to use to watch the ships floating in the harbor. It's so fun to watch them as they're coming into port, docking and unloading goods from all over the world.

The smell of bacon wafts upstairs, and I can hear everyone downstairs talking loudly. Little footsteps run past my door, then stop abruptly as if whoever it was had tripped on something. My little sister gives an exasperated grunt, then continues moving towards the kitchen. My brother follows not far behind her, though he has less trouble navigating the house than she does. They're only five years old and still learning how to walk, but they seem to enjoy getting into everything anyway.

"Good morning sleepyhead!" my mother calls from downstairs as she sees me standing by the door putting on my sweater. "Come down stairs and have some breakfast." She wrangles the kids into their chairs and cuts up their eggs for them, setting them down at the table before turning back to check on her frying bacon in the other room.

My father sits at the head of the table with his paper opened up to read while he eats his breakfast, as usual. He smiles at me as I sit down next to him and give him a kiss on his cheek before taking a sip of coffee from his mug. There's nothing better than being home again after being away at school all semester; it's even more special now that we have two kids running around so energetically!

"School starts tomorrow," says my mother as she sets a plate with scrambled eggs, bacon, toast and hash browns in front of me "You need to be well rested so you can hit the ground running." She runs her hand through my hair affectionately before returning to check on her younger kids for a moment, who are bickering about whose piece of bacon is bigger or smaller than whose or which one of them got more egg or less egg than each other did.

"We should probably drop off those applications for babysitters today," says my dad "We don't want to leave three young kids alone all day long." He folds up his paper neatly and puts it aside on his empty plate before getting up from his seat. He walks over to where mom was standing earlier when she was checking on Rosie and Ethan, giving them both a hug before kissing mom lightly on her cheek and heading out of the kitchen without looking back at us all seated at the table together.

"Well that went fast," says mom when dad leaves "Let's clean up breakfast before he gets back." Mom finishes dishing up some eggs onto individual plates for each of us before sitting down across from me with her own food in front of her while Rose sits in her lap while eating hers off of a sippy cup with one hand while Ethan sits next to me half-heartedly playing with what's left of his egg with his baby spoon while staring off into space dreamily. Mom takes a bite out of her bacon strip and smiles contentedly after chewing it thoroughly, looking at each of us individually before sighing happily as she turns back towards her plate to pick up another strip from it with a grin spreading across her face as she watches us all eat happily together like a happy family enjoying our meal together...and just like that, it's gone. The smile disappears from mom's face as she watches dad walk through the door carrying suitcases behind him...and walking ahead of him is another woman carrying several shopping bags full of new clothes for herself and an infant carrier strapped across her chest holding a baby no older than three months old inside it!