R. Stine - Red Rain

They both laughed.

He knew Elena would take it in stride, as she did everything. There would definitely be problems with her along the way. A teenager with three younger brothers in the house? No way there wouldn’t be conflicts and fights and tears. But Elena could always be counted on to ride out any emotional wave.

Ira was a different story. Take him to town for lunch and talk to him again? Tell him he had to pitch in and make this work? Tell him the family really needed his help?

Mark knew he’d just roll his eyes and say, “Tell me something I don’t know.”

Or worse: “Shut up, Dad. You’re a jerk. ”

The twins were on their backs now, sprawled on the beds, luxuriating, sinking their heads into the pale green pillows. The room was pale blue and green, water colors, soothing and perhaps, a reminder of their island home.

Roz and Mark had put a lot of thought into all this while Lea was working to bring them off the island.

“Let’s show the boys the rest of the house,” Lea said. “Come on, get up, guys. We’ll give you the grand tour.”

Elena led the way downstairs. Her room was at the near end of the hall. She pushed the door open so the boys could take a glimpse. Above her bed, she had a framed poster of a girl gymnast, arms outstretched, flying high in the air. The closet door was covered with cutout photos of actors from the teen-trauma TV shows she watched on her computer. Skirts and jeans and colorful tops were strewn all over the floor. Elena had a lot of good qualities, but she wasn’t neat.

“Nice room,” Daniel said. He pushed Samuel out of the doorway to get a better look. He pointed to the gymnast poster. “Is that you?”

Elena rolled her eyes. “I wish.”

Daniel started into the room, but Elena pushed a hand against his chest. “Two words to remember about my room, guys,” she said.

They trained their blue eyes on her. “Two words?” Daniel asked.

“Keep out,” she said.

They both burst out laughing. As if she had made a hilarious joke. They laughed and shook their heads. Daniel raised his hand for Elena to slap him a high five.

“You’re funny, Elena,” he said. Samuel nodded agreement.

“I’m serious,” Elena insisted.

“Let’s move on with the tour,” Mark said. He guided the boys to the next room. His office. He pointed out the desktop PC and his shelves of psychology books, and the piece of moon rock on his desk. They took a quick glance but didn’t seem at all interested.

At the end of the hall, Elena said, “This is Ira’s room.”

The boys shoved each other as they eagerly trotted down the hall. Their too-big sneakers made floppy sounds on the thick, white carpet. They all burst into Ira’s room.

He lay sprawled on the bed, white earplugs in his ears, tapping away on a handheld game player. He didn’t stop or look up as everyone invaded his room.

“Ira?” Mark called. “Earth calling Ira. You have visitors.”

Ira tapped away, eyes on the game player.

The twins walked around the room. Daniel strode to the two windows, pushed back the gray curtains, and gazed down at the front yard and the street. Afternoon sunlight poured in, making his blond hair glow.

Ira’s room was bare and undecorated. The walls were plain white. On the narrow strip of wall between the windows, he had a small, framed photograph of himself shaking hands with New York’s governor, after Ira had won a state citizenship essay contest.

No other art or decoration in the room except for a small black stenciled octopus on the wall over his headboard. Mark didn’t understand the octopus. Ira wasn’t into sea life at all. In fact, he was timid and frightened around the ocean.

A low bookshelf stood beside the long white counter that served as his desk. The closet door was closed. No dirty clothing on the floor.

Ira didn’t like clutter. He said keeping his room white and bare helped him concentrate on his homework. Nothing to distract him. And he said it helped him sleep at night because there were no scary shadows.

Samuel studied Ira’s laptop. Photos of Ira and his friends on a class trip shuffled on the screen, Ira’s screensaver. Daniel moved to the bed and sat down on the edge of the white quilt.

Lea tugged the earplugs from Ira’s ears. He sat up straight, blinking in surprise. “Hey-”

“We’re showing Daniel and Samuel the house,” Lea said. “Do you want to tell them anything about your room?”

Ira shook his head. “Not really.”

“Awesome room,” Samuel said. “Sunny. Like an island morning, you know?”

Lea leaned toward Mark. “Don’t you love their accent? Sometimes the way they talk. . it’s like poetry.”

Daniel stepped up to Ira. His face turned serious. “Can I have your room?”

A short laugh burst from Ira’s throat. “Huh? I don’t think so.”

Lea took a step toward Daniel. “You like Ira’s room, sweetheart? It’s kind of bare, don’t you think?”

Daniel didn’t respond. He wrapped a hand around Ira’s upper arm. His eyes locked intently on Ira’s startled face.

“No. Really,” Daniel said, lowering his voice. “Can I have your room?”

Ira raised his eyes to Mark. A pleading glance. Mark felt too stunned to react.

“I’ll have your room,” Daniel repeated, patting Ira’s shoulder. “Okay?”

“Mark, be reasonable. It’s a perfect solution. I can’t believe you’re the one being the hard-ass about this.” Lea’s hands were clenched into tight fists over the kitchen table.

Mark reached across the table to take her hand, but she snapped it out of his reach. “I think I’m being the reasonable one,” he said.

“I think I am,” Roz insisted. She had put Axl down for his nap and joined them in the kitchen for what had started out as a quiet discussion and, much to Mark’s dismay, quickly elevated into a shouting match.

Ira was sulking in his room. Elena had taken the twins on a walking tour of the neighborhood to show them the bay. The boys were hopping up and down with excitement and had no idea of the conflict they had caused among the three adults.

Lea took a breath and started another attempt to persuade Mark. “You saw the look on Ira’s face when the boys wanted his room. He was sick . He was about to have a fit.”

“Of course he was,” Mark started. “He had every right-”

“So then they saw the guesthouse and totally fell in love with it,” Roz interrupted. Mark gazed at the dark stains on the front of her sweater. Axl was constantly using her sweater as a napkin.

“They don’t know what they want,” Mark said, turning to Lea. “How could they? It’s like they stepped onto another planet.”

“They know they want to live in the guesthouse,” Lea said, jaw clenched, eyes about to tear up again. “And Roz has agreed to move up to the attic.”

“It’s better for me anyway,” Roz said. “I can keep a closer watch on everyone if I’m staying inside the house. And the attic is even roomier-”

“And that way, Ira will keep his room,” Lea said. “That’s so important. I wouldn’t do anything to hurt Ira’s equilibrium.”

“No! No way!” Mark jumped to his feet, nearly knocking over his chair. “I built the attic room for the boys. They should be in the house. We don’t know anything about them. We have to take special care of them. We can’t have them living by themselves in their own house, even if it’s in the backyard. That’s crazy .”

Lea motioned with both hands for him to calm down. “We want to make them happy, Mark.”

Mark felt his throat tighten. “So you’ll do anything they want? Is that your idea?”