[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]

"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.