When his parents were busy with the baby or each other, Hektor played with a little doll they had bought at the consignment store. Her name was Helen and she would tell him stories of battles long ago.
It wasn't long before little Diomedes grew into a toddler, as well. He was content to ignore his brother's infatuation with his strange little doll. He much preferred playing with the little block set.
While the human boys might have been slightly ignored by their parents, kitten Edgar was constantly being groomed by one of her parents.
Haemon was growing more and more disillusioned with his life. When he left home at eighteen, he had never imagined he would end up dirt poor with two kids, a constantly pregnant wife and a handful of cats. He thought Antigone would become a rock star. He'd be a famous painter. They'd travel the world, rolling in dough, making love in exotic locations.
But still, his father had never been there for him. So Haemon was determined to be a good father to his kids. He sang off key while Diomedes smacked away at his little toy xylophone.
And before they knew it, Hektor's birthday had arrived.
"Do you think we have enough to buy him a birthday cake?" Antigone asked between bites of her stale grilled cheese sandwich.
Haemon shook his head sadly. "We can barely afford that sandwich you're eating. We definitely can't afford a cake. Let's just go clap for the kid."
So the sparklies engulfed little Hektor
And brought him into childhood. With sad eyes he looked to his parents. "No cake?"
"Sorry son, not this year. But we did manage to make enough this month for a pretty cool gift!" Haemon replied.
They led him to the backyard where a chemistry set they had purchased on sale at the consignment shop waited. "Cool! Maybe I can experiment to make my OWN cake."
Life continued on as usual. Antigone looked after Diomedes,
Antigone fixed the broken appliances,
and Haemon read Hektor bedtime stories while his imaginary friend, Helen watched in amazement, wishing she could be part of the family too.
Despite the fact that her career wasn't going as well as she'd hoped, Antigone practiced her instrument every day. She had finally found a job, but it was for very low pay. And they were a very family-oriented organization. They required her to take extended maternity leave after Diomedes was born.
She used that leave to retain her close bond with her children. Every day she sat with Diomedes and read to him, dragging her fingers along the words and coaxing him to follow along.
Even though he hated being poor, Hektor was really glad that they had cats. He was a real animal lover and wished he could adopt all of the strays he saw sometimes wandering the neighborhood.
Instead, he took that love and focused it on his cats, playing with and grooming them every day. But Dexter was secretly his favorite. He was the alpha, the hunter, always bringing back trinkets and little animals. One day, Hektor hoped that he could provide for his family like that.
But before he could have his own family, there was homework to attend to and his younger brother's birthday.
Both boys were pretty bummed that there still wasn't any cake. So Diomedes instantly declared himself king and in his land, there would always be cake!
"I say, from henceforth, let there be cake! Or off with their heads!"
And so, Hektor scurried off to appease his little brother's demands. He certainly didn't want to lose his head, and Helen was especially concerned. She convinced him to try his hands at the chemistry set again. There had to be a way to get cake from all those weird chemicals.
That night, Diomedes went to bed, sure that life would get better soon.
But Haemon had just learned that life was only going to get harder. They were expecting. Again.
