Annoying Lorena

After moving his hands around each other, Tom decided to relax, letting the scent of the hand sanitizer flow into his nostrils—maybe it'd help to remove the odor that was already stuck in the hairs of his nose.

"Um, Tom?" While focusing on the road as he drove, Dad asked, "Are you sure you're alright?" Mr. Noland may be what Tom refers to as a great father—even in his forties, he still sings karaoke with his children, particularly nursery rhymes, and also plays PlayStation games with him. Even with all this, Tom always sees him as the best man in the whole wide world.

Tom took his time before answering his dad, still letting the scent of the hand sanitizer go down to his mouth... He gave a relaxing sound before turning to his dad. "I touched a pair of lost and found boxers in..."

Dad, not letting him finish, went berserk. "Holy cow, mother of Christ! Are you sure you aren't infected yet? " He ducked away from Tom with a horrible scare coming up his face, like he was disgusted. Tom didn't know if his dad was actually playing that or being serious about it. He pointed at the hand sanitizer, reassuring himself. "I don't think I'll be infected."

"No, no... I mean, before you came into this car, you might've been infected with a little dirty alien sticking out like a sluge— you know— moving in a slimy manner— sluggggee".

Tom almost laughed when his dad ended his sentence with the "sluggggee" sound, like a blower parking out snow on a rough tide road.

"What if I am infected anyway?" Tom decided to play along. "Both of us will then turn into slimy monster aliens." They both fell into a deep peal of laughter. At that point, they passed a green sign board with white writing saying "GOOD BYE FROM DEER PARK."

Earlier, yeah, Tom was leaving his middle high school, not because he was being transferred or maybe he was moved into one of those Catholic boarding schools. Tom and his family were leaving Deer Park due to the nature of his parents' work; they always move from one town to another. One city to another.

His parents were archaeologists. They mostly worked on museums. They sometimes leave the children with their old nanny to go look for historical markers in faraway places. That didn't make Tom miss his dad or mum, because he already understood the nature of their job.

"Welcome to Sweville Town."

                                               ~

"I'm back!" Tom slammed the door of their house as he rushed in. Well, there's a bit of a difference between his old house at Deer Park and this new one here at Sweville. He hung his coat on the rack near the door and went for the stairs before his mother interrupted. "Hey, Mr. Tom." She always called him that due to his scientific intellect. Shuffling through the hallway and down the stairs, beads of sweat were clinging to her brow, indicating that she had been arranging the new house since they arrived.

Reaching out for her son, she held his neck gently as she strode his black flat hair, which fell all the way to his face. Tom perceives himself as not being or looking cool like most of his classmates because of—# 1—his hair. But that never bothered him. He rarely thinks about what people do say about him. Yes, he's a science geek and a sci-fi fan like his father, but he's never been a nerd—those with big round glasses like Harry Potter.

His mum was still caressing his hair. "How was your last day at school today?" She asked. It was the best! But Tom didn't say it aloud; he just yelled it in his head.

"Hungry." That was the only thing he could say with a sheepish smile going all the way across his face. The door went open, with the sounds of the neighborhood flowing in and ending as the door shut.

"Who's got to be petted again? Oh smoochy, smoochy Tom." An irking laugh exploded as it dropped a large box filled with stuff. Thump!

That was Tom's elder sister, Lorena. She was two years older than Tom, and she always ended up making Tom feel like a toddler. Even at fifteen, she never stopped doing that.

"Oh smoochy, smoochy, Tom," curling her hands on her face, making a boo-boo just like the one mothers make for their little kids whenever they cry or intend to cry.

"Oh, smoochy, smoochy T..."

"Don't you ever get tired of this?" Tom asked her, folding his hands and playing the mature kid.

"Maybe I'll, when you stop being a baby and grow up." She exploded into another stressful laugh, getting her to fall on the couch. He always gets a bit provoked when she starts giving that laugh. He doesn't know what his comeback words will be for her anytime she starts with her taunting.

But since she enrolled in a piano music class, which she clearly knows that she isn't good at, Tom, since then, has already found his comeback words for her. "Maybe I'll grow up when you play good music and stop torturing those piano keys, blaming them for being out of tune."

Suddenly, she stopped laughing, and Tom grinned, 'Yepppee', he got her this time. That must've driven into her heart.

     Mom put her hands on her hips. "You two are just about the silliest kids I've ever— " A loud buzz from the kitchen cut her off, "The cookies are ready." She turned and scuttled towards the kitchen. Tom followed suit, but he can feel his sister's glare piercing through the banisters like a laser about to pull down a whole aircraft. 

"Gotta run!" he fled up the stairs, shouting about which room was his.