8.11 Take it like a man

Michael Kyoti loved his six children.  Although they were often challenging and sometimes difficult to understand, he did have a real affection for them all.  He was really excited because all three of his sons were about to grow up.  He cradled baby Alfie Win, wondering if he would ever cradle a newborn again, and grateful he’d got to experience childrearing so many times.

Jono Kyoti was the first to age up.

He made a big show of deliberating over what he wanted to become in life… but really he’d known for some time…

…he wanted to be a Master Thief.

Seth Kyoti was next, and although he pretended to be holding things together, as he blew the candles out, he couldn’t do it.

He had a massive freak-out at the thought of staying in this madhouse any longer.  He wanted to be Swimming in Cash, but the family were already doing that.  He didn’t want anything else from them.

He was ready to leave  – but there was one person he was afraid of leaving.

Before he left, Seth cleaned his teeth three times, washed his hands twice and tucked his big sister Gemma in.  He was so afraid that she would be destroyed by the government and their alien conspiracy.  He really hoped their parents would look out for her.  He was ready to go but he would miss his big sister more than he could say.

Gemma was devastated to say goodbye to Seth, but she was also glad that he was going to get himself out, and get himself to safety.  She decided it would be her duty to protect their little brother and teach him all the valuable life skills he needed, such as to check for bugs, both the biological and electronic kind, wherever he went.

Alfie Win was such a little charmer that he helped Gemma feel a lot happier.

Joanna was also enjoying having another little brother to play with and she loved spending time with Alfie Win.

Of course, once or twice, Nicola managed to swipe some candy from him and stay true to form.  However, she didn’t get to do it as often as she’d like, because she had other priorities.

She and Jono had made a pact to both rise to the top of the criminal career together – he would become a Master Thief, like their ancestor Joseph, and she would become the Emperor of Evil like their ancestor Cinderella.  Together they would rule the Valley.

All this meant that the Kyotis’ legendary cops’n'robbers room was getting a lot of use…

Of course, policewoman Joanna tried to use the room at different times to her evil criminal siblings.  In the past she’d have been far too good to share her home with her enemy, but since her ‘mid-life crisis’ as the family called it, she’d become much more laid back.

All three began rising up their respective career tracks…

…with Joanna adding another police car to the family’s fleet…

…and Nicola raiding Cinderella’s old wardrobe.

The evil duo were happy to conspire regularly over games of chess.

Joanna’s suspicion of her family members had perhaps gone a little far when she tried to interrogagte her bemused uncle Harry in the town library when he was doing a book signing.

Gemma was still Gemma.  She was still determined not to work, determined to marry a rich man – maybe her boyfriend Joel, if he could ever stick around longer than five minutes.  She was determined not to let THEM get to her.  Since Seth left, she was on her own fighting the enemy threat.  Her teeth-cleaning and tap checking reached new heights of obsessiveness.

On the eve of Alfie Win’s birthday, Michael put the finishing touches to Jono’s portrait.  He had now painted portraits of all five of his older children.  He dearly longed to paint Alfie Win’s as well though he knew that wasn’t likely.

Alfie Win was a strange child.  Not in the way his brothers and sisters were strange, but he seemed to have huge mood swings – he’d be grumpy one minute…

…and the next he’d be easily impressed with what he was doing.  He spent most of his time playing with blocks and occasionally playing chess or doing is homework.  The family never knew whether he’d jump at an idea or resent it, so they mostly left him to his own devices.

Rae, meanwhile, was still making steady progress in the medical field, and was also getting to know everyone in town – finally achieving her lifetime wish of Golden Tongue, Golden Fingers.

Rae encouraged Gemma to go out and meet some of the neighbours too.  she was secretly concerned about her daughter’s desire to marry a rich man and simply live off him, not least because Gemma had seemed to fall for Joel, the first rich man she met, despite there being a large age gap beteeen them.  Rae would never stop Gemma doing what she wanted, but she did want Gemma to be informed about the choices she was making and not spend her days in a marriage she would one day regret.  Their next door neighbour was bemused by Gemma’s assertion that evil aliens were wearing masks to make them look like real people.  Perhaps he wouldn’t be the next Mr Kyoti.

It seemed no time at all until it was Alfie Win’s next birthday.  He was having an excited day – it was time for a party, and cake!  His big brother Seth was home as were his uncles Harry and Wesley and his aunt Emma Mabel, plus lots of the family’s friends and neighbours.  He was going to be a big boy!  However, when he blew the candles out, it wasn’t him that was covered in sparks…

His birthday cake and the table went up in flames!  The family had heard stories about this kind of thing but never experienced it themselves.  There was an old family story about Carmel Kyoti setting a barbecue on fire several generations back, but she was renowned for being the batty old lady that lived in the attic so no-one was surprised by that kind of story.  However, they never expected to experience a fire themselves.

They called the Fire Brigade and four firefighters came… but the blaze was getting out of control and the firefighters told the family they couldn’t hold the flames back, the fire would have to just blow itself out.

Michael was shocked.  He couldn’t let that happen – he couldn’t let there be a risk of fire engulfing those he loved: his children, his wife, his brothers and sister, his friends, his home, his family’s legacy.

Reaching for a fire extinguisher, brave, protective Michael Kyoti walked into the fire.

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