Mission Impossible: Family Edition

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Faye Darling promised herself that she would change her family to become the close family they once were. It was New Years and was also the time of year to make your resolutions, whether it's to start that diet you’ve been putting off or to learn a new skill. But for Faye it was different. She had a mission to get all seven of her family members to eat a good dinner together.

Now you must be wondering why Faye Darling is so desperate to tighten the bonds of her family by eating dinner together. Well, the answer is simply because Faye believes that having a close family is important. The Darlings were the type of family that valued quality time with the family. They would regularly play card games and board games on the weekends, and they would also watch movies together. Yet as the Darling children grew up, they became more busy with school, extracurricular activities, and even part-time jobs. As the older children started to become more responsible, Faye’s parents started to take on extra jobs to help pay for college for all five kids. As each individual in the family started to cram their schedules, they ended up talking less to each other. They wouldn't even see each other some days since they would leave and come back home at different times. Afraid that this family would become more torn apart, Faye did some research to see what small things can help her family become closer. She found out that eating as a family can improve relationships by allowing time for the members to bond and socially interact. So she came up with a plan: Operation Dinner Time.

The Darling family has five kids. The oldest is William, a senior in high school, who has many part-time jobs and is busy in preparation for college. Next is Gabriel who's a junior that plays high school sports all year round. He loves his girlfriend and frequently spends the night over at her house. Then there's Faye who’s a sophomore and a perfect student. She participates in many clubs and is favored by all teachers. And finally there are the two twin girls, Hannah and Hailee who are in seventh grade. The twins are usually at home texting or looking through social media. But when dinner’s ready, they don’t want to get off their phones and end up either eating later than everyone else or even skipping sometimes. Faye’s mother recently took up a new job as a substitute teacher and seems overly exhausted lately. On the other hand, Faye’s father works at an airplane company and is often away on business trips.

Day 1. While taking note of each family member’s schedule, Faye calculated how many days she had to complete her mission. Her father leaves for his first business trip of the year on the 20th meaning that Faye has only 19 days to complete her mission. But school starts on the ninth and it’ll probably be near impossible to get all her siblings to eat dinner on a school day. Thus Faye concluded that she has 10 days, till the eighth and the next weekend, to complete her mission.

Mom and Dad are almost always at dinner and the twins won’t be too difficult if I bribe them to do their chores or something, thought Faye. The real problem is going to be William and Gabriel. How will Faye get William and Gabriel on board? She laid on her bed, closing her eyes as she imagined different scenarios to find a solution that would counter the excuses they would make. She clicked her favorite pen and laid her notebook on her chest, yet could not come up with a way. Frustrated, she threw her pen aside and took a deep breath. Composure is key to finding an answer, she thought calmly.

She then tried a different approach and decided she would work on one person at a time. She first thought about how William could get on board. But he was constantly busy so Faye decided to move on to an easier target, Gabriel.

She thought hard for around thirty minutes until a bell rang off in her head. Bingo. Plan A: Black mail her brother by using secret information and evidence she has about him to try to get him to stay for dinner. So Faye jumped up from her bed excited and ran to Gabriel’s room.

“Gabe,” Faye called, knocking on his door.

“What,” he answered with a hint of annoyance. Faye opened the door to see him lying on his bed with his phone.

“Can you start eating dinner at home?” Faye asked.

“Why?” exasperated Gabe wishing Faye would leave his room so he can continue to text his girlfriend.

“Because if you don’t, I’ll tell Mom that you went underage drinking with your friends last year,” Faye retorted.

“Okay? You don’t have proof,” he replied coolly, still looking at his phone. Faye gave him a smug smile as she showed him the photo on her phone she got from one of his friends. It was a picture of him shotgunning a White Claw. Gabe looked up and his face immediately turned into horror but he quickly composed himself.

“Fine. But if you tell Mom, I’ll tell that boy you like, Sam, all your embarrassing stories.”

“What! I don't like Sam,” Faye protested, but her bright red face didn’t convince her brother who expressed a victorious grin.

“Fine!” Faye yelled, storming out of his room and slamming his door shut. Plan A was a fail.

Faye spent the rest of her day trying to come up with another plan which led the day of New Year’s to end and eating dinner with only her mom and dad.

Day 2. Faye was unable to plan nor attend that day's dinner due to the sleepover she got invited to by her best friend.

Day 3. Faye decided that she had no choice but to use bribery to get her brother to be present at dinner. Plan B: To bribe her brother with cash. Everybody loves money right? Faye once again knocks on her brother's door.

“What,” Gabe exasperates as usual. Faye opened the door to see her brother with his girlfriend Sydney.

“Hey Syd. Long time no see,” Faye said, quickly shooting Gabe a disgusted look

“Hi, Faye. How are you?” smiled Sydney.

“Pretty well. You?” Faye replied.

“Same here.” Sydney’s presence threw off Faye’s original plan but Faye was a quick thinker. She could take advantage of Sydney's presence revealing her mission to her. Faye could then manipulate Sydney into forcing Gabe to attend dinner so then Faye won’t have to give him any money. It was a win-win.

“Hurry up. What do you want?” snapped Gabe. He just wanted his brat sister to leave his room so he could spend quality time with his girlfriend. Faye put on her best innocent angel face and puppy eyes as she spoke.

“Hey Syd. You know how our family’s so busy right. I mean William’s almost in college and our parents are working so so hard. So I thought it would be nice if everyone in my family was able to attend dinner together. Just one dinner. But Gabe here seems to be busy hanging out with his girlfriend 24/7. So do you think you can help me convince him to attend just one family dinner? Please.” Faye batted her eyelashes and Gabriel shot her an ‘I’m going to kill you later’ look. Yet Sydney was too convinced and touched by Faye’s motives to notice her boyfriend glaring daggers at his sister.

“I’ll be happy to help you out! I’ll do anything to help out with your wholesome plan,” Sydney gushed. Gabe rolled his eyes.

“Great!” Faye beamed. “ But I haven’t decided the date yet so do you think you can make my brother eat dinner at home every night until the 20th of January?”

“Of course Faye,” she winked. Gabe let out a big sigh and Faye squealed.

“I love you, Syd,” Faye yelled as she ran back to her room. Now all she had to do was convince the twins and William to join dinner. Although Gabe was unhappy and was plotting the murder of his sister, he started eating dinner at home on time which made his mother happy.

Day 4. Faye now had to convince the twins to join family dinner. She knocked on their door. No answer. Faye knocked harder but there was still no response.

“I’m coming in,” Faye called as she opened the door. Their beds were unmade and there was no sign of them.

“Are you looking for the twins Faye?” Mom asked, holding the vacuum. Faye nodded.

“Unfortunately, they’re at a birthday party for one of their friends right now and won’t be back till pretty late.” Upset, Faye goes back to her room and spends the rest of her day reading. Day 4 ends with no progress.

Day 5. Faye barges into the twins’ room to see them making Tik Toks.

“Faye, you ruined the video,” whined Hailee.

“My bad,” Faye apologized with fake sincerity.

“I guess we gotta start over,” fumed Hannah, irritated, as she pressed the stop recording button on her phone.

“Can you leave now, Faye? We’re kinda busy,” retorted Hailee, rolling her eyes.

“No, I have a deal to make with you,” Faye responded stubbornly.

“Well we’re not interested,” sassed Hannah, sticking her tongue out. Faye ignored her.

“If you eat dinner on time for the next fifteen days, I’ll do your chores.” The twins' eyes lit up. Faye smiled knowing she had won them over.

“Do we have a deal?” Faye asked with high confidence, holding out both of her hands for a handshake to seal the deal. Hailee reached out at first but got stopped by Hannah.

“Wait, Hailee. What if there’s a catch.” Hailee immediately drew her hand back glaring with suspicion. Faye threw her hands up to prove her innocence.

“No catch. I just want the family to spend some quality time together. That’s all.” The twins shoot her grossed-out looks as if they're allergic to spending time with the family. Then they turned their backs on Faye as they whispered among themselves. After a couple minutes went by, they turned back around with a nod.

“Deal,” the twins say in sync. They shook hands and Faye left their room, skipping, while the twins continued to film their Tik Tok.

Day 5 ended as a success, having almost everyone but William eating at the table.

Day 6. Faye had to shovel the snow off their driveway since she had to do the twins’ chores. However, Faye didn’t wear enough clothes and ended up catching a cold. She ended up sleeping in her room, skipping dinner. Day 6 ended as a failure.

Day 7 and 8. Because of Faye’s high fever from the cold, she could not plan nor execute any plans.

Days 9-13. Because Faye had started school and was given tons of homework, Operation Darling Family was put to a hold.

Day 14. Today was the second to last day to convince William to join family dinner. Faye knew that on weekends he worked at the local family diner in the evening. But if she asked, maybe William might be able to leave early to eat dinner with the rest of the family.

So Faye woke up and went to the kitchen to see her brother in a suit pouring himself some coffee.

“Morning,” yawned Faye as she rubbed her eyes. “So what’s the occasion?” Will looked up and smiled.

“Good morning Faye. I have a job interview for a company my friend’s dad owns. My friend recommended me for the spot that just opened, since I mentioned that I was looking for another job that fit my schedule better. The job’s flexible and the pay’s pretty well,” answered William, turning his back to pop the bagel out of the toaster.

“Dang. How many jobs do you have now?” Faye asked curiously, pouring herself a glass of water to quench her thirst.

“Three. Tutoring, serving at that one diner, and the occasional Uber. But I’m planning on quitting tutoring since I've been quite busy. And I'll probably quit working at the diner soon since it’s been clashing with my schedule.” Will paused and looked down at his watch. He muttered something under his breath and shoveled his bagel and chugged his coffee.

“Sorry Faye. Gotta get to my interview. See you later,” called Will as he grabbed his bag and rushed out of the house before Faye could say anything. Oh shoot. I totally forgot about asking him to stay for dinner, thought Faye as she slapped her forehead.

Faye ended up not seeing William until after dinner. Apparently, he had to work at the diner today since one of his coworkers was sick and he was the only one available. Faye had trouble sleeping that night, in fear that her family would continue not talking to each other.

Day 15. The last day to get the last child of the Darling family to join the dinner. Faye was starting to lose hope, for when she woke up this morning, she found that William had left the house already. Faye spent her entire morning thinking of a way to get William home in time. Suddenly, Faye caught a whiff of curry from the kitchen. She goes to investigate and turns out it was her mother making microwaveable curry for her lunch. Out of nowhere, a memory of William inhaling Faye's special Indian Butter chicken, appeared in her mind. This led to her coming up with a plan to persuade William to come back home for dinner. Faye was desperate and decided that this would be the last chance to get everyone to eat dinner together.

William loved food and would constantly joke that he would do anything to be able to eat Faye’s Indian Butter Chicken everyday.

So Faye told her mother that she wouldn't have to cook tonight’s dinner and texted William that Faye was going to make his favorite tonight. Faye spent her afternoon making Indian butter chicken, rice, Caesar salad, and a chocolate lava cake. Faye loved to cook when she’s stressed since all the scents of food usually relaxed her. But ever since she got into high school, her free time diminished and she started to cook only on occasions. The smell of cumin and the variety of spices filled her head, yet the anxiety and the heavy pounding of her heart did not go away.

It was 7 o’clock p.m. when everyone except William seated around the table as Faye started serving dinner.

“Wow this is amazing, sweetie,” praised her mother.

“It looks delicious, Faye. You really outdid yourself this time,” complemented her father.

“Thanks Mom. Thanks Dad,” Faye said, forcing a smile and swallowing her disappointment.

When everyone was about to start eating, they heard the front door swing open and loud footsteps came closer to the kitchen. The family all stopped eating and turned around to see William out of breath as if he had just ran a marathon and his face flushed red as a tomato from the cold.

“I…made…it,” panted William with his hand on his knees gasping for air. He winked at Faye.

“You alright Will?” asked her mother concerned, standing up. Will held his hand up.

“I’m fine. Don‘t worry about me.” The mother sat back down and Will soon followed suit. Faye was a bit in shock that her plan had worked but quickly shook out of her daze as her heart filled with joy and relief. She grinned from ear to ear like the Cheshire Cat, serving William his food while the family all began to eat and chat.

William told Faye that he had left his phone in the car when Faye had texted him. When he read the text, he immediately headed home, but because of a terrible accident, it created horrible traffic. Normally it would have taken him about fifteen minutes to get home, but with the traffic, it took around forty-five minutes. William finished his story by saying how glad he was to make it home in time for dinner. He then started to snarf down his dinner in gusto as if he hadn’t eaten in three days and did not speak for the rest of dinner.

“Well this was a wonderful dinner,” said her mother as she finished her plate. “We had everyone here and the food was delicious, thanks to Faye. We should eat together more often.”

“I agree. Perhaps a few times a month would be nice,” nodded her father as he finished his third plate.

After eating, the kids all played Uno while the parents retired to bed. They were all having a blast until Gabe started making fun of Hailee for gaining so many cards. Hailee got upset and ended up storming off into her room. She screamed that she hates this family and that she would never eat dinner with them again. Hannah followed her in an attempt to soothe her sister's wrath, while Faye scolded Gabe for being such a jerk. Gabe brushed it off saying that Haillee was being sensitive. He no longer had the motivation to continue playing the card game and went back to his room to FaceTime his girlfriend. William said that he was getting tired so he too decided to get ready for bed, leaving Faye all by herself.

Although it wasn't perfect, she was able to get her family to start bonding. Faye sighed, cleaning up the cards and went to bed. Faye slept that night with disappointment because her hard efforts and the time spent went unrewarded. She decided she would give up on her mission for now but she always has next time right?