[DARROW] Christmastime

[unseentides]

 One of my favourite things about Darrow was its bookstore. Of course, I'd read plenty before, back at Hailsham and in the Cottages and to the donors I was caring for but I'd never had quite so much time to do it on my own towards the end. It seemed back home (it still feels strange to call it that, Hailsham was the only home I am certain of) I was always in between places, trying to care for the minds and bodies of others instead of my own.

But between the volunteering and general errands, I had a lot of time. I'd read a lot of books. Books I'd never heard of, too. It made me wonder if I'd somehow been sheltered by the program, if for some reason there were things that they didn't want us to read, or watch (or think, or feel.) On that particular day, though, I'd found something I was assured was a classic and headed back to my apartment to read. It was a little too cold to read in the park much to my disappointment, but I had the makings of hot chocolate in my kitchen and figured that was almost just as good. I really did enjoy the cooler weather, just not so much when it prohibited me from getting fresh air.

I should have been paying attention but I was so wrapped in the blurb on the back of the book - To Kill A Mockingbird it was called - that I didn't even notice the figure until I bumped into them. "I'm so sorry," I said, before I'd even taken in their expression.

Comments

[theunderdog]

It's for Emily and Rosie's sake that he's come into the bookstore at all. Not that he doesn't like them or anything like that, but he hadn't been intending on stopping in until the girls caught sight of a colorful display in the window, advertising some latest offering in a children's series. He's pretty sure they haven't even read the others yet, but if they want to look at the pictures, he can't object, even if it means he'll almost certainly wind up leaving having purchased the whole set of them.

Once he's seen them back to the children's section, he wanders a little — not so far that they'll worry, but enough to glance over books that don't have pictures in them, that are more than just a couple dozen pages long. In doing so, he doesn't notice the woman until she's already bumped into him, wincing slightly, though it's only in apology. "It's fine," he assures her, shaking his head, expression easing into a small smile. "Don't worry about it. No harm done."

[unseentides]

It was a relief that he wasn't mad because, while most people in the city seemed perfectly decent, you never really knew what might unravel a person. Tommy could be so cool and calm and collected and yet when possessed by one of his rages, anything could have set him off. I smiled, relieved, and held up the book. "I was wrapped in this. Just the description, I mean, but it looks very good. Are you shopping for yourself?"

[theunderdog]

"No, my daughters dragged me in," Brendan says, with a teasing sort of exasperation that suggests that he doesn't mind it at all. They can wear him out, but he has no reason to. Just because he's raising them on his own now doesn't make him any less inclined to bend to their every whim, to give them the kind of childhood he never got, than he was back in Philly with Tess. "That is a good one, though. I haven't read it in years, but it's a classic."

[unseentides]

"Oh, I'm glad to hear it," I said, because even though the saleswoman had assured me it was I could never be certain whether it was the truth or just to get me to buy it. I wouldn't have minded either way, anyway, I'd read just about anything. "And your daughters like to read? That's wonderful."

That was something I'd noticed about Darrow. Though plenty read, more were wrapped in their mobile phones and other technological devices. We simply hadn't had that at Hailsham. We watched films, sometimes, on a big projector with the rest of the school, and at the Cottages we watched television but I always found myself going back to books. This man's children couldn't be all that old, it was nice to hear that they wanted so much to go into the bookstore.

[theunderdog]

"Well, one of 'em really just likes looking at the pictures," Brendan says with a laugh, something almost fond in the set of his smile. It isn't often that he just starts talking about his kids to a stranger, but the woman's response makes him feel like she won't mind. "But the other's started to get pretty into reading. When she can sit still long enough." That's kids, though, and Emily's always been a bundle of energy. He's lucky she likes doing anything that involves sitting still.

[unseentides]

"I think that's all about finding the right thing to read," I said, smiling at the thought. It reminded me of Tommy for some reason (looking back, most things did), who was always so agitated until he found something worthy of his attention. "How old are they, if you don't mind me asking?"

I knew some people were uncomfortable discussing their children with total strangers, but the man had started to anyway, so I saw it fit to continue the conversation. The worst he could do was say no, after all.

[theunderdog]

"Oh, I don't mind at all," Brendan says with a shake of his head. He's never seen any reason to mind discussing his kids. If anything, it seems kind of nice that the woman is interested enough to ask, though when people do, it tends to be a pleasantry as often as not. "Emily's eight now, and Rosie's four."

[unseentides]

"You've got a while until they start to cause you trouble, then," I said, smiling at the thought. I didn't remember my earlier childhood too well, and surely it would have been quite different to Emily and Rosie's, but I spent enough time volunteering with children to know there was a point where they'd reached their independence, start driving their father mad. I didn't know much about it firsthand, of course, fathers and their daughters (I hadn't had one, obviously) but I'd read about it a lot, in books like the one in my hand, and observed enough to think the statement was apt.

[theunderdog]

"Well, they're something of a handful," Brendan says wryly, head tilting to the side. "But yeah, their teenage rebellion is still a ways off." At least he's got some experience dealing with kids in that stage, though it's different with students than with his own children. They're good kids, though, and that's all he can ask for for now, especially now that he's taking care of them on his own.