Trevor Tyson drove up in his truck up to the Tyson ranch. He gathered his things and made his way out to towards the house. As he walked in, he was glomped by a brown-haired girl.
“Hiya, T,” she said as she held on. “How’s your day been?”
Trevor chuckled as he patted Anna’s head. “Not too bad,” he said in response.
Anna looked over to what Trevor was carrying and asked, “What you got there?”
Trevor sighed and said, “Work…lots of homework. I’ve got a bit of work to do to be ready for next week’s meeting.”
Anna stuck her tongue out in disgust and said, “That looks like too much work for me.”
“Well,” Trevor said with a sigh, “Between with what happened to Ms. McCoy and the Halloween Dance, we’re a bit behind, so we’ll need to get caught back up.”
“Well, you best take that upstairs and come back,” a female voice called out from the kitchen. “It’s time for dinner.”
“Yeah, mom, I know.” Trevor tapped Anna to get her to release him, which she did so reluctantly. He made his way back to his bedroom before placing his backpack down and the stack of papers on the table. He then made his way downstairs to see Anna setting the table for dinner. He took his place followed by his brother and his father. His mother carried in a large pot filled with a stew. “This smells good, mom. What is it?”
“My own vegetable stew, and it has everything that a growing bull needs,” Irma said with a bit of a grin. After giving thanks, the family took turns passing the pot and filling the bowl with the stew.
“So, T,” Anna said, “When’s Mel gonna come back?”
Trevor coughed at the question and once he stopped, he said, “When she’s ready to come back.” After a few minutes he asked, “And are you ready for your fourteenth birthday?”
“I guess,” Anna replied, “I mean, it’s only this Thursday.” She took another slurp of the soup and then said, “I wonder if I’ll end up being more of a beef cow like Dad or will I be more of a dairy cow like Mel.”
“Whatever you’ll be,” Irma said, “You’ll be beautiful.” Anna smiled when she said that.
“So, son,” Jacob asked, “Mind telling me why you were so late tonight?”
“Well,” Trevor replied, “It was the academic team practice went a little long.” Trevor sighed, “Between what happened to Ms. McCoy and the Halloween Dance, we haven’t had much time to practice. We’re a bit slow answering the questions, and we were getting more questions wrong than right.” He sighed as he continued, “We’re a bit rusty, so a little extra practice should get us into shape by the time of our next competition.”
“When’s your next competition?” Irma asked.
“Friday, down in Spokane,” Trevor replied. “And it’s gonna take a lot of work for us to be ready.”
“Well, just do your best,” Irma said, “And we’ll be proud of you no matter what.”
“Thanks,” Trevor replied. As the family finished their meal and Trevor helped clean up the table before going upstairs to study the material Virginia gave them. Even though they were behind, Trevor was determined to do his part to do well on the academic team meet coming up.