On West Avenue

On West Avenue, we pull into Aunt Karen’s driveway behind her Honda Element. Charlie and Joey greet us with wagging tales. Sean initiates a game of hit-the-child before we move on to run-to-the-chair. Star Wars monopoly is another option, but Sean always puts four hotels on Boardwalk. Luccia from next door arrives, demands to be fed. Aunt Karen offers us hot chocolate, but Libby politely refuses for all of us (Daddy’s made us prejudiced against water-based Hot Chocolate). In the evening, Aunt Karen serves spaghetti with parmesan cheese on paper plates. Mommy drives us back home, one mile across town.