A new creative writing piece

“We agreed no more toys for the kids until Christmas.”

      

“It’s a £2 truck, Minerva, what’s the big deal?”

“Where’s the treat for Bonnie then? If it’s no big deal, why not buy two toys?”

“Don’t start this again, not now; I’m not in the mood for it.”

Jimmy sat in his room, playing with his new truck, listening to his parents argue downstairs. It didn’t really bother him, not anymore. Ever since daddy and his new mummy got married, all conversations seemed to end in loud voices and angry faces. It didn’t matter though, because Jimmy was the proud owner of the reddest, most amazing-est truck that ever was ever.

“How are they supposed to feel like siblings if you keep treating him so differently? How’s Bonnie supposed to feel? With her brother being spoilt rotten while she’s left wondering why she couldn’t have the £3 doll she asked for two days ago.”

“Dear God you can nag woman.”

“Don’t you DARE speak to me like that!” Screeched mummy, making Jimmy jump and nearly drop his toy. Nearly, but not quite. Nothing would make him let go of shiny new truck. Jimmy loaded it up with Lego brick debris, and drove them over to the under the bed dump site. 

“Look out below! There’s rubbish from the giant red super truck!” Jimmy dumped the rubbish, making sure not to squish any of the dumpsite workers, because the truck was a goodie truck, not a baddie truck.

“See how happy he is?” Daddy asked Mummy, “Why are you making such a fuss over a little red truck, if it’s going to make the boy so happy?”

“When was the last time you bought Bonnie something? Hmm? When was the last time I bought Bonnie something without getting Jimmy anything? It’s all the time, Ryan, you ask for extra sauce on Jimmy’s ice cream, but you leave Bonnie’s cone plain. You come down to the school when Jimmy’s being bullied, but you tell Bonnie to toughen up. It’s wrong, Ryan.”

Jimmy’s bedroom door opened. Bonnie came into Jimmy’s room, and sat down near the bed. She didn’t say anything, so neither did Jimmy. Anyway, he was too busy saving the village of people from a fire, a terrible fire that only a big red truck can stop. Bonnie watched for a while, with her knees tucked up under her chin, without saying anything. 

“Mummy?”

The loud voices stopped for a moment.

“Yes, Bonnie honey what is it?” Mum called up. Her voice sounded oddly high, like she had breathed in one of those balloons from birthday parties. Jimmy liked breathing in the balloons; they made him sound like a mouse.

“Why doesn’t Jimmy have to wait till Christmas?”

It was a while before Mummy answered. Daddy didn’t say anything, but Jimmy new the answer, it was obvious. It was because he had been so good all year that Santa didn’t mind him having an early present. Bonnie must have been bad or something, that’s why she doesn’t get as many toys.

“It’s because Jimmy was a very good boy for daddy yesterday, helping me carry in the shopping like that.” Daddy called up. Jimmy was too busy to agree with daddy. The old blue truck had gotten jealous, and challenged the red truck to a duel. 

“I was good too, I helped carry in more shopping than Jimmy.”

Daddy sighed, “yes, but Jimmy is a lot smaller than you, so it was harder for him. Look, you can have something tomorrow, ok?”

Bonnie got, up and walked over to the door. “I don’t want anything, I’ll wait till Christmas.”

“You see, she doesn’t want anything. So what is all the fuss about? Let’s just get on with dinner so we can get the kids to bed.”

Mummy didn’t say anything. She didn’t even tell Jimmy off when he played with his truck on the dinner table. Jimmy let Bonnie play with his old blue truck, and they raced each other around the living room all night. Daddy came in 8:30 and told them both it was bed time.

“Where’s my mum?” asked Bonnie, while they were brushing their teeth. Daddy didn’t answer he just told them both to get a move on. Jimmy decided that he didn’t like daddy tonight. He was being really mean. He didn’t even say goodnight properly to the truck, like Jimmy asked him to. 

The next morning, the house was too quiet. There was none of the usual noise, no Bonnie asking everyone to help find her bow. Mummy obviously didn’t need to go to work, because she wasn’t trying to find her keys. In fact, no one was saying anything. Jimmy didn’t like it. He went downstairs, to ask his daddy what was going on. He had decided to forgive daddy for being mean, because daddy had bought him the best ever truck of all time.

Daddy was in the front room. He looked like he was crying, but Jimmy knew that daddies didn’t cry. Daddy had a new toy too! It was only a little toy, but maybe Jimmy’s truck could rescue it from a group of bigger toys after breakfast.

Ryan sat on the sofa, sobbing silently. It felt cold, and hard between his fingers, not at all like the day he had placed it onto Minerva’s hand. Till death do us part, he recalled them both saying it. The vow still held true. She had parted, and he had died a little.