As she walked into her house, she found herself almost immediately ambushed by a tiny form, all wild, light brown, hair and green eyes and grass stained jeans. “Hi, Cammy,” Kalina smiled down at her, prying herself free. “How was your day?”
“Good!” her little sister answered with a huge grin, before toddling back into the living room. From the way she was walking, Kalina was pretty sure she could use a diaper change, but she had just gotten in – let someone else deal with it.
She had barely gotten two steps inside when she found herself face to face with her reflection, staring back at her in a rather annoyed way. “It was your turn to set the table,” it informed her.
“It’s not dinnertime yet,” Kalina shot back. “I’m getting to it.”
“Well, it’s already done now,” Crisanta sighed before wandering off into the kitchen. “Why don’t you see if Camelia needs changed?”
Kalina considered asking her sister something that probably would have gotten her in a lot of trouble, but instead she took the high road, and pretended she hadn’t heard her. She loved Crisanta, of course, but at some point she had turned into a miniature version of their mom. That sort of thing was bound to happen eventually; it was kinda sad to see it happening so soon. On the other hand, Crisanta probably found it sad that it was taking so long to happen to Kalina. When had they become so different?
Kalina shook her head wistfully, starting to head towards her room, only to trip over a large, stuffed bunny, likely having been dragged out because of the season, only to be forgotten in the middle of the floor. If she’d have set her backpack down, she probably would have been able to keep her balance. She hadn’t.
“You okay?” Camelia asked, eyes wide with worry as she waddled towards her big sister.
“I’m fine,” Kalina sighed, getting back up and then reaching down for her sister’s hand. “Come on, let’s go get you a dry diaper.”
“Kalina!” Crisanta snapped finally, though she quickly calmed herself a little, remembering Camelia was there as well. And noticing the other shoppers around them turning towards her helped, also. “Mom told us to stay together,” she said, lowering her voice. “We’re just here for clothes.”
“It’ll be fine,” Kalina assured her. “I’ll be back before she is.”
“That’s not the point!” Crisanta protested, but her sister was already gone, off to the video game store next door. She could be so frustrating sometimes… It was hard to believe that she was the oldest, if only by twelve minutes.
“Let’s go look at some dresses,” she told Camelia with a sigh, leading her towards the toddler’s section. Camelia followed happily, though from the tugging on her hand just a few moments earlier, she knew that Camelia would rather have gone with Kalina. She would have liked to deny it, but she couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy – she was the one who usually watched Camelia and took care of her when mom and dad weren’t around, not Kalina. Kalina hardly paid any attention to her at all.
“Hurry up,” Crisanta caught herself saying as she tried to pull her little sister along faster than her little legs could go. She slowed back down, though she couldn’t quite find it in herself to voice an apology.
