teenaged wasteland

August 2026 - Peter Ottomas is 44, Samantha Ottomas is 43, Tommy is 16, Emma and Sophie are 13, Paul is 9, Matt is 4.

Life is even more hectic at the Ottomas house during the summer, with all of the kids home from school but only Samantha home during the day. And with kids ranging in age from four to sixteen, and bedtimes ranging from 8 PM to 1 AM, most nights they don't manage to all sit down to dinner together.

Tommy will be starting the 11th grade in September. He's in a weird place in the Ottomas family; he's closer in age to the twins than to Sharla and Tommy, but he's much closer to his older brother and sister than his four younger siblings. He's been waiting to go to college every since Sharla left three years ago, but he still has two years of high school left. For now he spends most of his time in his room, playing on the computer and trying to avoid the chaos in the rest of the house. He also works part-time as a cashier at iRobot to help pay for college.

He has his own room, but that doesn't keep his siblings out of his stuff. His sisters are constantly barging in to use his computer, the only computer in the house, and his little brothers like playing with the toy robots he brings home from work.

Maybe it's not surprising that Tommy feels left out at home since the next kids in birth order are twin girls, Emma and Sophie.

They don't really bother with any friends besides each other. Most days they just hang out in their room together. When Sharla left for college, they moved into her old room on the first floor. It isn't much larger from the room they used to share, but it has it's own bathroom, so they don't have to share with their brothers anymore.

Emma is a tough kid. She recently went through a growth spurt, which she uses to her advantage, like when she's giving her older brother a noogie.

"Mom, make her stop!" Tommy complains. It's so embarrasing getting beaten up by his little sister.

But even though she picks on Tommy, she's very sweet with her little brothers, always ready to help her parents take care of them.

Sophie has always loved art, and now that she's 13 she's started dressing and acting like a hippie. But despite the outfit, she has a lot of ambition. She wants to be mayor someday, and she's already started practicing giving speeches.

Poor Paul is stuck being the middle child, awkwardly between the twins and the baby Matt. He spends most of his time playing with their dog Dakota.

He's also close with his little brother Matt. They share a bedroom on the second floor, the same room that Tommy and David once shared.

Tommy is four this year; next year he'll start kindergarten. It's strange for Samantha to realize that after so many years and so many kids, she's changed her last diaper, potty trained her last kid.

Sometimes she thinks about having another baby, even though she knows they don't have the space or the money. Seven children should be enough for anyone. But with her youngest child starting school in a year, she can't help but miss having a baby in the house. Maybe David or Sharla will have a baby soon...

*****

I couldn't fit it into the narrative, but I couldn't resist including this picture. Emma came in to use his computer, but Tommy got some revenge!

Also, Peter and Samantha are super fertile! After their latest woo hoo, she got pregnant (at 43!), but I canceled the pregnancy and put her on birth control because I didn't think they could handle an eighth kid. For the most part they've stopped rolling baby wants, and I take it to mean that they agree.