"Mary!" a little girl said as she ran into her big sister's room. She held a pink dress and a baby blue dress in her hands, dragging them on the ground. "I can't pick which dress I should wear to school tomorrow!"

Mary Lamb looked at her little sister Suzy and smiled. "Blue. You look prettier in blue."

Suzy smiled and jumped onto Mary's bed. "Whatcha doing?"

"Getting my things ready for school. Maybe you can help me." Mary picked up a black top and a red tank top. "Which do you like better?"

Suzy tipped her head to the side, as if giving it due consideration. "The red," a small boy said, running into the room and jumping up on the bed next to his twin sister. He had shaggy black hair falling into his eyes, but pushed them out of his eyes.

"She asked me," Suzy said, glaring at him. She turned back. "Red."

"Perfect." Mary put the shirt on her desk chair. "So, do you each have your outfits picked out, your bags packed with your school supplies, and what you want to eat for lunch tomorrow?"

"Yup," Randy said.

"Yes," Suzy said.

Mary looked at her little brother and sister. "Really?" They nodded. "So if I were to look in your school bags, I would find everything in order?" They both nodded again. "Alright. Randy, I'm checking yours first."

"Wait!" he said, running out of the room. Mary chuckled and looked at her sister.

"You can check mine."

Mary walked to her sister's room and picked up her Jetstream backpack. Inside were two folders, a notebook, and a few colored pencils in her pencil box. Suzy put her blue dress on a chair above a pair of black shoes and looked at her sister. "Told you."

"I know." Mary put the bag down next to the chair. "But if I didn't check, Randy wouldn't run off to do what I'd asked." She left Suzy's room and walked down the hall to the next room. She pushed the door open and found Randy stuffing a pencil box into his Commander back pack. He turned to look at her and quickly handed her the bag. Mary rolled her eyes at the mess he'd made, but he had everything he needed and so she zipped it up for him, putting it on the chair.

"What are you wearing tomorrow?" Mary asked.

Randy looked at his closet and grabbed jeans and a t-shirt from the floor. He put it on the chair and looked up at her. "Can we have Chinese for dinner?"

"You're always thinking of food," Suzy said.

Mary laughed. "Alright. Chinese it is. You guys go ahead and pick what you want from the pamphlet. Remember to have your lists of what you want for lunch tomorrow, too."

Suzy and Randy raced downstairs while Mary finished with packing her own bag. With that done, she hurried downstairs to find her siblings fighting over whether to order white rice or fried rice.

"We'll get a serving of each," Mary said, taking the pamphlet out of their hands before they tore it. "What you two don't eat, Dad and I will split. Now circle what you want." They did and Mary picked up the phone, dialing the number. As it rang, she put a pad of paper down. "Tomorrow's lunch. Write."

"Paper Lantern," a man's voice said.

"Hi," Mary said. "I'd like to place a take out order."

"Shoot," the voice said, sounding bored.

"A serving of white rice, a serving of fried rice, dumplings, sweet and sour chicken, egg rolls, and General Tso's chicken." Mary turned to Suzy and Randy, putting a hand over the speaker. "Anything else?"

"Tacos!" Randy said.

"That's Mexican, you idiot," Suzy said.

"Suzy, don't call him an idiot," Mary said.

"Yeah," Randy said, sticking his tongue out.

"Be nice, Randy," Mary said.

"Is that it?" the voice over the phone said. Mary jumped, forgetting about the order for a moment.

"Uh, yeah. That's all."

"It'll be ready in ten minutes. You can pick up order 29 then," the person said and hung up.

"Rude," Mary mumbled before putting the phone in the receiver. She turned the kids. "All right, guys. We can pick up our orders in ten minutes. How about we head to the library? Pick out a few books."

"Yeah!" Randy said, jumping to his feet.

"Can we get Peter Pan for a bed time book?" Suzy said.

"You already picked the last bed time book," Randy said. "It's my turn."

Mary grabbed her wallet and phone, stuffing them into her pockets. "Randy's right, Suzy," she said, walking to the front door and grabbing her keys from the hook. "It's his turn. But we better leave now."

Suzy and Randy race out of the house, leaving Mary to lock up behind them, and ran ahead of her as they made their way to the library. They didn't run too far ahead; Mary could still grab them, but she let them have their fun. If they spent their energy outside, they wouldn't cause too much trouble in the library.

Mary opened the door and her siblings raced to the children's section, allowing her to walk over to the fiction section and get a few books for herself. She found four books that would hold her for a while when Randy presented his choice. She took it from him and smiled. "Princess Fairy Tale collection," she said. "This the book you want?"

"Yup," Randy said, grinning.

Mary nodded and headed to the check out desk. The librarian smiled, telling her the date they were due back and slipping a reminder note into the pile. The Lamb siblings left and Suzy took the books, wanting to carry them to the Paper Lantern. When they reached the restaurant, Mary told them to wait outside while she picked up the order. They sat down on the sidewalk and opened up the storybook for bedtime. They were good kids, even if they did get into trouble now and then.

Mary pulled the door open and walked up to the hostess podium. "I'm here to pick up order 29." The woman nodded and walked back into the kitchen. Mary looked around at the restaurant, taking in the families and couples enjoying their meals. She felt a slight loss. After Mom's...incident, Dad had started to take extra shifts at work, coming home late and exhausted. That left Mary to take care of her siblings and the house. She didn't mind, knowing he was trying to bring home enough money to support them, but it would be nice to have a real family dinner once in a while.

"Hey." Mary turned to find herself facing a teenage boy taller than her with red stripes dyed throughout his pulled back black hair. He had strong features and his black eyes were prominent against his tan skin. He held out a plastic bag of food. "You just gonna stand there or are you gonna pay for this?" he said, breaking her out of her thoughts.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a couple of bills. He took the money, ringing the order up. Mary noticed that he had on a thick leather cuff and flames tattooed on his wrists. "Nice ink," she said. The boy gave her a hard look. Was he that unused to being complimented?

Mary's phone started playing "Sweet Dreams" by Eurythmics. She looked at the caller ID and hit the answer button, putting it to her ear. "Hey, Dad," she said, smiling a bit. "I'm picking up Chinese. I got your favorite; egg rolls."

"Thanks, honey."

Mary paused at his apologetic tone. Her smile fell. "You're not going to be home again, are you?"

"I picked up another shift at the paper. I'll be home in time to see you three off to the bus stop for school, okay?"

Mary bit her lip and forced a smile. "No problem. I'll leave your share of food in the fridge. Take care of yourself."

"Will do," Mr. Lamb said before he hung up.

Mary closed her phone and stuffed it into her pocket. Looking up, she saw that the boy was still at the podium. His expression didn't change, but, by the look in his eyes, he'd heard everything. His hand was out and he dropped the change into her hand. "Thanks," she said, pocketing the coins and taking the bag's handles. "Have a nice night," she added, giving him a smile.

"I'm hungry," Randy said, looking at the bag as she walked out of the door.

"Let's go home, then," she said, deciding not tell them Dad wouldn't be home that night.

The walk home was quiet and peaceful. Suzy was carrying the books and Randy wanted to carry the food, but Mary wouldn't let him, so he just held her hand. He hadn't gotten to the stage of being 'too cool' to be seen with his sisters. Dinner was a fun affair with the twins chatting over each other about what they were going to do when school started and who they were going to sit with at lunch. Mary smiled at their enthusiasm, laughing a little when they started a small food fight. After dinner, Mary cleaned up the dishes while Suzy and Randy got ready for bed.

She went up after putting the left overs away and found the twins waiting for her in Randy's bed. They were in their Pjs and had the book laying between them in the space Mary took for bedtime reading. With only a smile, Mary climbed into her spot and opened the book. Suzy and Randy leaned against her sides, looking at the book.

"Which story do you want first?" Mary said. "You only get one for tonight."

"Cinderella," Randy said. Suzy nodded.

Mary turned to the story and began. By the time she finished the story, both of the little ones were asleep, so she slowly closed the book and set it on the bedside table. She slid out of the bed and picked Suzy up as Randy snuggled into his pillows. Mary carried her little sister to her room and put her to bed, making sure she didn't wake. When Suzy was settled, Mary went down to lock the door, make up their lunches for tomorrow, and then turned in herself. Tomorrow was a big day.