"Ok," Sam said tiredly. "We've already covered this. Betsy," he said, looking at his niece, "you already got your privileges, you got them a two months after we moved here. And you, Ebony, got yours as well a few weeks later. We all know that was only right and fair, and you can get away with anything that my son, Tommy could have from the beginning."
Sam sighed, and looked to two adults sitting in a love seat on one side of the room. "Uncle Adam, Aunt Steve, I'm still just not quite sure you two really should get all of those same privileges, it might cause too many problems. I'm fairly sure you should, but I'm just not quite ready to—"
A noise from the other room cut Sam off, and he glanced angrily at a closed door. "Norman! Cut that racket out! You can't come out of your room until you start behaving! Now keep those two girls quiet, and don't make me come in there!"
Sam turned back to Adam and Steve and was about to continue speaking, when some mumbling started. He glared at the other child seated in front of him, young Ashton. He admonished the child, who wore a simple yellow shirt and cut-off shorts. "Ashton, you wait your turn. I haven't figured out how to handle these two yet, much less someone like you!"
Turning back to the adults, he spoke once more. "Now, I'm prepared to accept that you want and deserve some of the same privileges, but we cannot allow—" Sam's sentence transformed into a frustrated growl as the power went out, struggled to come back on, and settled for a barely lit brown-out.
"What am I supposed to do now?!" He cried. "I can barely keep the lights on in here, much less figure out how to settle the problem with these two!"
Just then, Sam's wife, Lady, grabbed a flashlight, turned it on, and held it upwards, reflecting the light off the ceiling to illuminate the entire room. "Sam, dear, calm down. We have been through far worse than this before and we came out of it alright, remember?" Sam grudgingly nodded. "Good," Lady continued. "Now do you remember why we moved out here, away from our former homes, to live here together under this roof?"
Sam nodded. "Yes, we were tired of being mistreated."
"And why did our nieces and nephews and aunts and uncles all start moving here?"
Sam grumbled, "They were tired of being mistreated, and thought things would be better here."
Lady stood up, walking over towards Sam. "That's right, dear. They were tired of being mistreated, which is why we all came here. Things aren't the best right now, no, but they will get better in time. But throughout and despite that, we cannot allow ourselves to forget the best parts about ourselves."
Sam glanced at his aunt and uncle, sitting quietly on their love seat, and then over towards Ashton, waiting hopefully for some attention. Lady glanced at him, pride in her eyes despite Sam's hesitation. "Give it time. Remember how much you fought against Betsy and Ebony, when they brought up their problems? You hated it then, but now you take it for granted that they should have and deserve equal rights and privileges. This will be the same, in time. "
Sam nodded slowly, and opened his mouth to speak once more.
