Ch 2: Family Chaos: Ducks in the Basement and Unexpected Consequences

Lilly wasn’t used to being the one in trouble. In preschool, she’d always been the obedient one out of the twins. While Rose would be busy picking fights with bullies on the playground, she would often be found with her coloring book at the picnic table adjacent to the playground. Her teachers often said, “She’s such a sweet and calm child.” Lilly and Rose sat on the floor in Violet’s room as she hissed at them angrily. “How could you two take the ducks from the local pond and put them in the basement?”. Rose answered before Lill could answer, “ Mom and Dad are always saying we need to prove how responsible we can be before they let us get a dog; how else are we supposed to show we can care for a living creature?”. Violet put her head in her hands as she sat on the edge of her bed. “ They meant cleaning your room without mom nagging you, not removing an entire flock of birds from their natural habitat!” she said through gritted teeth. Rose rolled her eyes, “ What could be more responsible than keeping a flock of birds safe from coyotes? As Violet was about to explain why that was not the right or responsible thing to do, they heard the doorbell ring. The twins raced from Violet’s room to see who was at the door. Violet followed behind them slowly. What was she supposed to do now? She didn’t want to tattle on her sisters but highly doubted her parents would notice the ducks eventually. Her dad didn’t go down to the basement daily, but at least once a week, he would go downstairs to look for a piece of equipment for his garden. Her mom’s conversation with whoever had arrived at the front door pulled her from her train of thought. “ I’m the general contractor that Oscar called to come and look at the basement?” the man looked quizically at Mildred, who had opened the door. There was a rule that only adults could answer the front door. The children could not open the door when Mildred and Oscar weren’t home. A look of recognition crossed their mother’s face. “ I’m so sorry, Trent. Yes, my husband did mention that you would be stopping by. Come on in. Mildred continued talking to the gentleman. He’s been so busy at the accounting firm, and finishing the basement has just fallen down the list of priorities.” All three sisters exchanged panicked looks. Since when was their dad serious about finishing the basement? He’d talked about hiring a contractor, and like most people would say, they should join the gym or refinish the cabinets in the kitchen. Now, there was a contractor who was steps and moments away from discovering a flock of stolen ducks in the basement. Lilly was frozen with fright, and Violet was deep in thought, trying to find a solution. Rose was the only one who attempted to rise to the occasion of coming up with a story that would keep Trent out of the basement. “ Trent shouldn’t go down there; all my arts and crafts supplies are scattered all over the floor,” the words tumbled out of her in an anxious rush. It was Mildred’s turn to roll her eyes, “ I think Mr. Trent can avoid stepping on your crayons and markers.” Trent smiled at Rose, “ I’ve been in many spaces; I’ll be extra careful not to step on any of your art supplies.” With a charming wink at Rose, he continued towards the door that led to the basement. There was nothing they could do. With fear and trepidation, they waited as Trent descended the stairs into the basement. He had left the door open as he went down into the basement, and no sooner had he descended six of the twelve stairs than a yelp of surprise escaped his lips. A duck had flown over his head, shuffling happily in the hallway. Mildred screamed, “ Someone get the net in the garage.”  The net would’ve been a sufficient plan if there was only one duck to contend with, but soon, the first duck was followed by three others. Mildred picked up her phone and exclaimed, “ I’m calling your dad to come home with his hunting rifle and take care of this!”. “Noooooo!” exclaimed Rose and Lilly. Lilly had found her voice: “They’re our pets; you can’t kill them.” Mildred put her phone down and turned to face the twins, “ What do you mean they’re your pets?!”. The whole sorry tale was revealed over the next hour. How the twins had snuck out at night to capture the ducks, filled the old kiddy pool with water so the ducks could swim, how they were afraid the twins were that the ducks were going to be eaten by coyotes, and how they had been spending their combined allowances to feed the ducks. Trent had graciously bowed out of the chaotic situation and promised to return when the ducks were no longer in residence. Mildred looked exhausted. She had barely met her work deadline and looked forward to a relaxing evening with her family. She did not have to corral a bunch of birds back into the unfinished basement and explain to her two young daughters why interfering with native species was a bad idea. After a long discussion that included why, even though it’s sad that other animals eat animals, it’s an important part of nature, and nature needs to be left alone, a game plan had been established to return the ducks to their natural environment. Mildred and Oscar would return the ducks to the pond that night. The twins would be responsible for cleaning up the basement with Mildred’s supervision so that Trent could return to the home and give a proper estimate of what it would cost for the basement to be finished. Another part of the punishment was that the twins would have to explain to their father once he’d gotten home and apologize for the inconvenience that returning the ducks to their home would render upon his evening. When Oscar returned from work, Violet, Rose, and Lilly were all worried, huddling together in the twin’s room. “ Girls, dinner is ready. Come down and help me set the table,” their mother’s voice rang from the kitchen. As though they were prisoners marching to their execution, the three of them headed down the stairs with solemn expressions. It didn’t take long to set the table, and James, who had been reading on the porch, came in to join the family for dinner. Once they were all seated and had eaten the meal of pot roast and vegetables that Mildred had prepared, she pointed in the twin’s direction, “ I believe you two young ladies have something to tell your father.” Rose looked up from staring at her plate “ Lilly and I wanted to prove we could take care of a pet, so we took the ducks from the park and made them a home in the basement.” Oscar was not easily surprised. He was an involved parent who, before having his children, had been involved in helping his sister raise his nephew. Very few things kids did surprised him, but this floored him. “ Where are the ducks now?” he asked, his voice incredulous. “ They’re still in the basement. We’re taking them to the park tonight so we don’t get in trouble”, this time Mildred answered. “ Do we have to take the ducks back tonight? I was hoping to watch the new Kelce Documentary.” Oscar had been looking forward to watching that documentary for weeks but had been working a lot of overtime. Mildred turned her steely gaze back to her husband. “ Yes, we are returning the animals to the park tonight; you can watch that any old time.” Oscar sighed and turned back to his wife. “ I assume you’ve devised an appropriate punishment for Rose and Lily?”. She nodded. “ They’re responsible for cleaning the basement before Trent can return.” He tilted slightly. “ I don’t think that’s enough. They need to understand why what they did was wrong. They should both have to handwrite a paper, two pages front and back, explaining why interfering with wild animals is bad and providing examples from species harmed by human intervention. I want to see the feeding of the bears at Yosemite National Park mentioned in both their papers”. Oscar was big on punishments that included learning why something was the wrong thing to do, not just a practical punishment. Mildred was big on using cleaning and chores as a punishment because it added extra leverage to what was normally a losing situation for Mildred. The children were naughty at doing their chores. There was only a slightly higher compliance rate if the added threat of punishment was added. 

The next few weeks passed in relative peace. The twins, with lots of whining, successfully cleaned the basement. The ducks were returned to the park without incident. Trent returned and gave Oscar an estimate for the work on finishing the basement that was acceptable enough for Oscar and Mildred to decide it was time to finish it. Since there were going to be construction workers in and out of the house finishing the basement, they had decided to plan a family vacation to Washington, DC. Oscar had recently received a significant job bonus, and Mildred had always wanted to go to DC. The last family vacation they had gone on together was before the twins had been born. It’s not that they hadn’t wanted to take their family on a vacation; it just seemed easier to keep the four youngsters at home while still potty training. Now that everyone could go to the bathroom independently and weren’t at risk of wandering into traffic, it was time to give the good old family vacation another go. Mildred had found a house they would rent in the Virginian countryside, and Oscar was planning the list of museums they would visit. James was most looking forward to the Air and Space Museum. Violet was excited to see all the history museums she possibly could. Rose wasn’t particularly interested in going to DC but hadn’t been on vacation ever, so she was looking forward to going someplace new. Lilly had been told she could select the first audiobook they listened to on their way to DC. She was stuck between the Bunnicula series and the first Harry Potter book. She had recently read both of the first books in the respective series but was struggling to pick. She ended up selecting the Scorccer’s Stone because it would technically be her turn longer because that book was longer than a Rabbit-tale of Mystery. 

They were now all packed into the minivan, Oscar driving and Mildred being the dutiful navigator. The children were all within reach of a drink and snack. “ Are you all excited for this trip?” Oscar asked, checking to see their expressions in the rearview mirror. A collection of mumbled yesses greeted his eager smile. “ If y’all like this trip, maybe we can take more in the future?”. Mildred and Oscar exchanged a brief but telling glance. They hadn’t told the kids yet but planned to pull them out of the local public school to home-school them. They were still fine-tuning the plans and didn’t want to say anything until they had a good idea of what they were doing.

The trip to DC was a dry run, and I wanted to see how everyone got along while they were also trying to learn. There were many reasons why Mildred and Oscar were considering homeschooling. Oscar thought they could provide a more customized curriculum for each child that would lead to more engagement in learning. Mildred’s motivation, at least in her mind, was slightly more simplistic. She knew once Violet went to middle school, there would be no more recess. Mildred believed in children playing outside and being outside as much as possible. She and Oscar had discussed homeschooling since Violet was old enough to attend kindergarten. Mildred hadn’t been ready to leave her career to stay at home, but after three years at home, she was prepared to leap. Her thoughts were interrupted by Oscar, “ Why don’t you take a nap, honey?”. Now that she thought about it, she was tired, and a nap would be nice. As she drifted to sleep, her worries about telling the children melted awake. Hours later, Oscar nudged her awake gently. “ We’re here”. She opened her eyes and saw they had arrived at the bed and breakfast.