The sisters who inspired my dual-POV fantasy: a 4 and 5-year old

I finished writing a dual-perspective fantasy based on my two daughters.

Right now, the older one (who we will call Fig) is 5 and cries when main Pikachu leaves the other Pikachus on Pokemon (which she’s just discovering).

She cried when I told her why her younger sister cannot walk as well (“I don’t want her to have a owie booboo in her brain!”).

And she cries when her sister pinches her - like, a lot.

Like, more than the younger one does when she falls and her knees bleed, which is often.

But to be fair, so is the pinching.

The younger one (who we will call Honey), startles easily at dinnertime.

If you say her name too loudly for banging her fork on the table, or eating with her hands, or taking your food off your plate without permission, she’ll jolt, throwing whatever’s in her hand up toward the sky, sending food, utensils or sometimes water, into the air.

She also scrambles to get into my lap quickly before her sister can, laughing, simply because she knows she’s taken something her 14-month older sister values more than anything - my attention.

Yup, those are my protagonists.

Their behavior even at 4 and 5 is rife with inspiration for two teenage sisters and it feels a little bit like cheating because I see their motivations, wounds, and essential emotional needs so clearly.

At the heart of it all, though, the jealousy (constant), resentment (often), humor (everyday), is love - a fierce protectiveness of the other against everything else, even us parents.

“Mommy,” Honey will say. “Why are you mad at Fig?”

“Because she came out of the bathroom naked and didn’t wipe her butt, nor wash her hands - it’s gross.”

“Ok Mommy, but maybe that’s because it’s hard for her,” she’ll explain in her little 4-year-old voice, putting out her hands like a question.

And that love is such a beautiful thing.