Chapter 12- A Little Too Late

Chapter 12- A Little Too Late

                Craig had taken everyone out to eat at the Bistro for Kiley’s birthday. Heather was still living with the family as she searched for a place she thought she could afford. It had seemed as though she lived on the phone when she wasn’t working, and she was getting impatient to get out of the house. Velma was missing more often than not, while William had become obsessed with the chemistry set. The atmosphere was charged and ready to explode.

                She almost hadn’t answered her phone as she was supposed to be out for Kiley’s birthday, but when she saw her realtor’s number she couldn’t resist. ‘Maybe this time,’ she thought.

                Heather listened intently, making sure she caught every word over Kiley’s cheers. A place had opened up in a quiet, but older neighborhood across town. It wasn’t too far from most of the apartments her and her mother had lived in for so long. The rate was more than reasonable, and the family was eager to get the place off of their hands quickly. Heather didn’t even have to think twice. She told the realtor she’d be over to sign papers first thing in the morning. With the furnishings just waiting in storage, her realtor promised to contact movers who could retrieve it all and get it to the house the following afternoon if she really wanted.

                “Are you sure you don’t want to see it first?” The realtor was baffled that she was willing to take a place based merely on price point.

                Heather was simply desperate to get out on her own. It was time for William to be completely without her. 

                William had overheard the conversation Heather had with her realtor. The tension between the two had managed to die down to be much less frosty and awkward. However, he still had nothing to tell her, and she seemed to not want to talk to him. He had been working on a project for several weeks now and didn’t have time for emotional toll.

                Heather turned to cheer for Kiley. William put down little Fred and turned to do the same.

                What would he do without her? If his plan worked out, he wouldn’t have Lily Pad around either, and he felt that he hadn’t been without both at the same time for a very long time. Perhaps it was time to find another girl. 

                That option didn’t appeal too much to him either. He’d never envisioned a life without Heather.

                He still couldn’t.

                William turned to join in the celebration just as everyone else had decided that they had cheered enough. Maybe William would always be a little too late.

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                William had been trying to get Velma back at school for days. She had missed so much and Kiley and his dad really were poised to send her to some boarding school that promised to churn out a perfectly molded, well-disciplined soldier.  The world didn’t need another killing robot, by William’s standards, and so he set out to get Velma back into school and with a grades boost too.

                Today was the day she had finally agreed to go back. William sat on the aisle hoping to keep her boxed in so she couldn’t run back off to the pool. He was pretty sure that she was only on the bus today because her crush no longer worked there. Seems Dedrick White had gotten another job and hadn’t bothered to let her know where. William had also picked up where Heather had left off in regards to tutoring her. It would be a waste for her not to pick up at least a D.

                Daphne watched the two stoically. She secretly thought that tutoring her wayward sister was a waste. Velma was really only her half-sister, and Rabe had several other kids by various women around town. He was a low life, in her opinion. Velma must not have fallen far from the tree.

                When Daphne saw Velma actually get off the bus and enter the brick building she was hit by a twinge of regret. Shouldn’t she have been the one to make Velma care?

But the thought only lasted a moment. Oscar was there early with the new car his parents had promised him. She was sure they would take a spin as soon as class was over.

                It was so unfair. She had actually been to school today. She had even sat through, and (mostly) finished a test in math! Why did the school have to call her mother and complain that she still wasn’t passing?

                She was nearly a grown woman! She shouldn’t be in time-out like Fred. She had been so eager to get home too, to show them that she could scrape a C on a test she hadn’t been prepared for. Now, the only thing she wanted was to find Dedrick. Surely he would understand.

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                Often left to his own devices around the house, Fred had discovered how to open doors and go outside. There were lots of things to explore out here, and the house bored him. Tonight, however was different. He felt different.

 

 

                And then he REALLY felt different. 

                Still alone, in the yard, Fred had grown up. The magic that is a birthday still hung in the air around him as he stood silently looking across the yard.

                Daphne had been passing the window when she saw her brother begin to glow. Breaking into a run she had tried to get to him before it was over. Her mother usually remembered Velma’s and Marcie’s birthdays, but hers had always seemed to slip by unnoticed. Now that it seemed Fred was destined for the same thing, she had wanted at least to show him that someone cared.

                Quickly pulling out a noisemaker she hastily tried to pretend that she had been there behind him all along.

                Fred didn’t even flinch as the noise started. He knew he had been alone in the yard. He knew that Daphne was making more of it than she should. 

                ‘Where is mom?’ Fred wondered why only one of his sisters had shown up. If all of them couldn’t be there it was no matter, but mom is supposed to be here, always.

                Daphne’s thoughts were clearly in the same thread as Fred’s. Mom should be there for the birthdays.

                As Daphne returned to the house, Fred thought again of his mother. A single tear slipped down his cheek.

                “Where are you, mom?”

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Poor kid sap scene. Sorry. Hate those. We’ll keep those to a minimum.