Level Three. What’s it to be R V?
Level Three – What’s it to be R V?
By Michelle Lloyd.
Things had not been at all smooth for R V of late. There was his difficulty in fitting in at school and then his short trial at taking on an adult’s role that had not gone well. All in all R V had felt that his life had not been everything it should be. Happiness had seemed to be a very distant hope for him. That was all a while ago and in recent times R V felt that life had improved.
School had become far more enjoyable ever since he had been given the task of aiding his friends. People liked him and R V was known by many as the go to guy if you wanted to get ahead at school. Life had become far more to his liking and R V was as he had heard it called once riding on the wave of success!
It was good to feel accepted. R V walked the school like he had a purpose. At home he was loved and doted on by his Mum and Dad. He was an only child. He had a friend who had a brother but he had gone away to study somewhere R V could not pronounce. His friend talked to his brother on the phone, on his Dad’s tablet and he saw him at the holidays. R V had often thought about what it would like to have a brother but he knew that he was the one who got most of the love, affection and care from the Mum and Dad of the family.
It was as he felt life should be and to R V finally he was living the dream. Get up, go to school, get home and see his friends, play games, be looked after by the Mum and then when the Dad would get home Father and Child time would start.
Father and Child time was something that had been introduced to him since he was very little. It was a mutual agreement between R V and his Dad that the garage conversion to Boy’s Play Room was used by the both of them, they had snooker competitions, Xbox multi player mode moments and lots and lots of fun!
Lately R V loved life and his life seemed to love him. There was only one or two issues that had worried him and it was as he walked into the Play Room with his friends New One and Little Herbert and they asked why his Dad was not joining them that he could hold it all in no longer. Out came all his worries about how his parents had seemed to be giving him less and less of their time, then there was the Mum vs. Dad private talks that he was not included in and outrageous as it sounded he had been left on several nights with a babysitter while his parents had gone out without telling him where or why.
New One had his working it out face on, the one he used when he was in Maths class at school and the teacher asked him to answer a potentially difficult question. Little Herbert took to the swivel chair in an attempt to think it out while he did a bit of swivel action.
After a bit of thought New One put it to R V that maybe he was getting a dog. When Lana, New One’s dog had arrived to live with them there had been an awful lot of the private chats between his M and D. In fact as New One expressed it, the dog was probably it because it sounded like his experience of it all exactly. R V was not convinced but with Little Herbert not able to think of anything else despite all the swivel action in the chair he felt nothing but a bit sick and so the dog idea was accepted as a real possibility.
A dog. R V loved Lana but did he want a dog of his own. What’s it to be? R V asked himself to have a dog in his life or not. He loved dogs but he knew that they did have a lot of work that went with them. That evening as he studied his Mum and Dad he watched them talking in an odd way with each other. They were standing too close, talking quietly and then when R V could take it no longer he saw something that decided it all for him, the knowing look went from Dad to Mum and out came his protest that a dog for him at his point in his life was out of the question. To both shocked parents R V quickly went on with his prepared speech as he had been working on it, he did not want to upset them but he was sure that they had not thought this all through, there was all the squeaky toys they would need, they didn’t even have a lead and all the fuss that a life with a dog may have and he had Lana for all his dog needs. R V was sure about it and he had seen Lana make messes far too often. R V’s Mum and Dad did the look thing once again and just as he thought he had made it all clear, put an end to all the oddness that had been an issue in the household and that he would have his parents back as his good old M and D again that his Mum asked his Dad to tell him the news.
A baby. R V had felt as if he had been hit by his favourite toy truck. Several times. A brother? A sister? Or both? He had a friend at school who had twin siblings and he had even heard of some people having three. R V had looked at his parents, he had felt shock, anger and then because he was unsure he did the only thing he could, cry.
In his room R V looked at the tiny picture of a wriggly, little something and tried to think of that as his potential brother/sister. It was difficult. If you half closed your eyes then the odd picture looked like a misshapen toy. His Mum had explained to him that they had known for a little while but they had been trying to prepare him before they told him about it. R V was not sure about any of it. He was not against babies, he understood why someone may like them but he was not a child who liked shocks. He had difficulty with accepting new ideas and this was a very new idea.
R V’s Mum sat with him and put her arm around him. It was a lot to try to understand and when R V asked if she was sure it was only the one baby, she laughed. Laughter was not what he had wanted and he said that he thought that they were not ready for a baby. Dad was far too busy with him and he would not have the time for it. On listening to him R V’s Mum said that he was important to both Dad and herself, his say was something that they would listen to. She explained all about what a new brother/sister could be like for him and yes there would be a lot to get used to but then he would have someone to teach lots of things to, he would be a big brother. R V had to admit he had liked the sound of all that and so when his Mum asked him, what’s it to be? R V gave it a lot of thought. He knew his parents were happy about it and so he thought maybe he should give the big brother role a go. After all life was sometimes not about the shocks but about how you lived your life in answer to them.