An Excerpt from a Writing

From The Magic Video Game 4: The Upbringing of a New Comedian

It was around 9:15 in the morning, and Levi just woke up. He got ready for the day and then walked downstairs to the dining room table. He didn't eat anything yet. Instead, he put his head in his arms, which were resting on the table and tried to fall back asleep. He had no idea why he woke up so early. This was most definitely not right for him. And it was most definitely not right for anyone else in the house. Everyone was at home at the moment. The parents were conversing in the common area. Olivia was with them. And Evelyn Maeve was trying to keep Levi company.

Somehow, Levi was able to fall back asleep at the table. When Evelyn Maeve knew about this, she went into the common area to be with everyone else. Everyone knows that Levi is not a morning person. And, because of this, they knew not to bother him. But the two family cats, Duchess and Prussia, didn't know that. They both got up on the table and rubbed their faces against Levi's arms. Levi didn't move. He was sound asleep. However, he heard the home phone ring, which was by his left arm. He slowly grabbed the phone without moving his head, and he answered it in the nick of time.

"Hello?" Levi answered sleepily on his end. He was so surprised that he could hear the phone ring.
"Hi, Levi. You just woke up?" Louise asked.
"Yes, I did."
"Sorry I woke you up."
"What time is it?" Levi asked, half-awake. Louise knew that, in her little brother's voice, he had just woken up.
"It is 9:30," Louise replied.
"Oh wow. It's so early."
"You think?"
"For me, it is."
"That's true."

Levi was still on the phone with Louise. However, he had no idea how well he could converse with his oldest half-sister. Given the fact that he was half-awake and was trying to fall asleep. Levi had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. But Louise wasn't nearly as confused. She just knew that Levi was just now "getting out of bed." Levi knew that he wanted to go back to bed. And no one would be able to dispute that. Not on Levi's terms. He would know that for sure.

"I was calling because I will need one of you guys to babysit my kids," Louise said.
"When?" Levi asked, fighting to wake up.
"Around noon, if that would work."
"So, what's up?"
"My sister-in-law has an emergency," Louise answered.
"Everything okay?" Levi asked.
"It will be. She needs to have her appendix taken out, we think."
"Been there, done that."
"That is true."
"She'll have a great time, that's for sure."

Levi then got off the phone with Louise. There was absolutely no way that he'd be able to go back to sleep. It was probably good that he couldn't. Louise's sons, David Lemster, or Lemmy, Caleb Ogden Brian, and Andrew Harrison, would be here within an hour, and Levi needed to be awake for them. Primarily because of how rowdy they really can be. Evelyn Maeve has kept them in line in the past. However, a fourteen-year-old girl couldn't do everything by herself. Sometimes she would need a little help from her brother. And he was perfectly okay with spending at least some time with them. He has actually helped calm them down in the past. 

Evelyn Maeve somehow realized that Levi was now awake. He still had his head in his arms, which were resting on the table. But his adopted sister knew that he couldn't be sleeping now. With that in mind, she walked over to the dining room table and stayed with Levi to keep him company. She was actually excited about their nephews coming over. Levi wasn't as excited. He was more excited about going upstairs and falling asleep on his futon. But then again, maybe not. He probably wouldn't be able to do such a thing at this hour. Rather, it would be a better idea to converse with Evelyn Maeve.

"Morning, Levi," Evelyn Maeve said as she came into the room.
"Morning, Evie Maeve," Levi replied, still sleepily.
"Our nephews are coming today."
"Yes, at noon."
"That will be nice to have them over," Evelyn Maeve commented.
"For the most part, yes. But they can be a bit of a handful, especially Lemmy," Levi remarked.
"True. Lemmy can be very rowdy.
"And he's nearly eight years old."
"Eight year olds can be so rowdy though."
"Oh, I know."

Levi still didn't want to get up right now. He was okay with their nephews coming over. But he has always hated the mornings. But mornings have always loved him. This was a total catch 22 for Levi. He and Evelyn Maeve wanted to spend time with the little nephews, but they wanted some more time to get ready for the day. The idea that their nephews were coming over motivated Levi to wake up more quickly.

He got ready for the day, and then he came back downstairs. Levi saw Olivia sitting at the dining room table. He wasn't quite sure what she was doing at first, so he left her alone. Levi made himself another sandwich. He was hungry again. Then, after he quickly ate his sandwich, he forgot to make his bed. Before doing anything else, he ran upstairs to do that. Then, he knew that his nephews would come any time soon. He had to come back downstairs. And he thought he needed to come back downstairs soon.

"Hi, Olivia," Levi said as he walked downstairs.
"Hey," Olivia replied, finishing a novel.
"What are you reading?"
"Murder mystery."
"I think I read that book once," Levi stated.
"You did?" Olivia replied, looking up at Levi.
"If I can remember correctly."
"It's a great book. You should read it again!"
"I probably will, but I'm not much of a reader."
"Me neither, but I love murder mystery."

A few minutes later, Levi heard a knock on the door. He ran toward the door to open it. But he tripped and fell to the floor. Hard. Olivia ran toward the door to open it. But she tripped on Levi and fell to the floor. Hard. Then, their mom helped Olivia and Levi get up, and she walked toward the door to open it. She couldn't quite understand why they would think they'd need to run to the door. Maybe they wanted to see their nephews that badly. At least neither Olivia nor Levi was hurt. But neither of them could get to the door in time.

Louise was standing at the front door with her children, waiting to come in. She has a key to the house, but she somehow left it at home. With this in mind, she would need someone to let her in today. Even though Olivia and Levi were not seriously injured, they were embarrassed and amused, all at the same time. And their mom was also amused. She opened the door for her first daughter and kids.

"Hello!" Mrs. LeVole, their mom, greeted Louise at the door.
"Hello!" Louise greeted back.
"So, you're handing over your kids for a while?"
"Yes. Brian's sister needs her appendix out, and we were going to see them."
"Hope everything will be alright with them," Mrs. LeVole remarked.
"She is going to get surgery in forty-five minutes, and she'll be in Merrillville," Louise said.
"That's good."
"Yes. We caught it early."
"Things like that you never know will happen."
"Exactly."

After they all came into the house, Mrs. LeVole and her oldest daughter, Louise, were conversing at the dining room table. Olivia and Evelyn Maeve were drawing cartoons with Lemmy. And Levi was sitting on the floor in the common area with the two younger twin boys.  Mr. Cranston, the kids’ dad, was going to be home in about an hour, as he was coming in from Chicago. So he would be able to make goofy voice impressions to everyone once he'd come home. Levi wanted to play video games, and the two younger boys wanted to watch him. Andrew Harrison was interested in a stethoscope, which was somehow lying on the floor. Who would have done something with this? Levi probably couldn't remember what someone might have used the stethoscope for. But the one twin wanted to try it out.

"What is this?" Andrew Harrison asked Levi.
"It's called a stethoscope. You put the round piece on your chest, and you can listen to your heartbeat with it. Wanna try it out?" Levi offered.
"Yeah!"
"Oh, okay."

A few moments later....

"I can't hear anything!" Andrew Harrison exclaimed when he had the round piece on his chest but didn't have the ear pieces in.
"You don't have the ear pieces in," Levi replied.
"Oh."
"Can you help me?"
"Sure."
"Thanks, Wevi."

Levi gently put the ear pieces in the little kid's ears. Then, he took the round piece and put it on the little kid's chest. Levi couldn't help but watch his nephew get so interested in hearing his own heart beating. After all, he is pretty little, so he probably couldn't remember hearing it before. Caleb Ogden seemed uninterested. He would rather be playing video games than trying something new. He watched, but he didn't participate. Andrew Harrison, who was interested, then put the round piece on Levi's chest. Levi was perfectly okay with this, after being so afraid of his heartbeat at a young age. Since he has been dating Mackenzie, he outgrew that fear.

Levi closed his eyes when his nephew was listening to his heartbeat. There wasn't any reason, he just felt relaxed at this point. Andrew Harrison put the round piece everywhere on his chest because he's only a little kid and doesn't know any better. This had been going on for about two minutes, and then Andrew Harrison was a little sick and tired of listening to heartbeats. Right now, Levi didn't really care to listen to his own heart beating. He just wanted to continue playing video games. And so did Caleb Ogden. Andrew Harrison was sitting on the couch staring into space. However, he didn't see any aliens. That would've been weird.

​"What should we do?" Evelyn Maeve asked Levi out of the blue. She had just walked into the common area from the kitchen.
"We're just playing video games at the moment," Levi replied.
"Well, I was thinking later."
"There are lots of things for us to do with the kids."
"Yes. Lots," Evelyn Maeve repeated.
"What were you thinking?" Levi asked, still focused on his video game.
"Ice cream. Cupcakes. Cream soda. Anything else sugary."
"Ice cream?"
"Whatever floats your boat."
"We can decide later."