Storytelling — Chapter 3: Discovery
“Hey honey!” Roy called over his shoulder towards the direction of the bedrooms. “Did you see the story that I had written on the pad of paper next to the sofa? It seems to be missing…”
“Nope! “Angelica shouted back over the whines of their baby Nico who lay on the floor getting his first diaper change of the day.
Roy looked back at the blank pad of paper puzzled. Scratching his stubbly chin he squinted his eyes and tossed the pad of paper back onto the side table. Did he dream everything last night? Was it possible that I hadn’t actually written anything? He snatched up his grandfather’s pen and dropped it back onto his office’s desks next to the snowglobe before going to the kitchen for his first cup of coffee.
“Are you okay?” Angelica was standing at the doorway with Nico resting on her hip wrapped in blankets yawning to wipe the sleepiness from his eyes.
“Wa…” Roy was yanked out of his trance on the floor tile. “Yeah, no I’m okay, I just could’ve sworn that I wrote a story last night on that pad of paper but apparently I didn’t.” Reaching over the countertop he grabbed the charging cable with the tear near the connector and threw it into the trash can. Good riddance he thought.
“Oh, hmm well… yeah, I don’t know anything about it sorry.” Angelica’s posture had since relaxed. “Do you remember what you wrote? Like… would you be able to write it down again?”
“Do I remember what I wrote? Well it was…it was… “ Roy’s face had drawn a blank. “No, actually I’m not entirely sure what I wrote.” Puzzled, he stared down at his World’s Best Dad mug and the black coffee inside that had begun to cool. “I must really need coffee…” he exclaimed as he rubbed his eyes. “Maybe I just need that jolt.”
“Hmmm, okay… well remember I’ve got that thing with the Merryingtons today at 11am, so I’ll be off with Nico for a few hours. You could try taking some time to write then and see if anything comes back to you.” Angelica stated as she placed Nico on the floor and herself grabbed a fresh cup of coffee. “Should be fun, I hear that they’ll be having a bouncy house so that will be entertaining as hell to watch Nico experience it.”
Reaching into the cupboard for a bowl Roy responded “Ah, yes… the birthday party…”
“I know you can’t stand them, but are you sure you want to stay home?” said Angelica through gentle sips of her steaming hot black coffee.
“Yeah, I dunno… I just never have anything to talk about with that group. It will be good for Nico to get out of the house though.” responded Roy from the kitchen table that he had sat down at. He was in the process of munching through spoonfuls of the cheerios cereal that he had just poured for breakfast. “And besides you know it’s just hella awkward between Marcel and I. Your family, so you can fit in easily.”
Nico was off running after the corgi’s who had decided to chase after each other through the various rooms and hallways. Angelica sat down at the small kitchen table opposite Roy. “You know… we’ve been married for years now, your family too.” She reached for Roy’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. Her beautiful green eyes masking the past hurt. “You can’t let Marcel control your life… what you can and cannot do… you’re simply giving him power over you,” her voice growing quiet and soft.
Roy’s hand twitched slightly sending a spoonful of cheerios splashing back down in the blue bowl below. “I know…”
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The park was beautiful that autumn day. A gentle cooling breeze blew through the tree’s with a twirl multi-colored leaves fluttering around the play equipment and benches within the park. The temperature was warm, but not suffocating which it had been for a couple weeks prior. A lone cloud lay suspended in mid-air without any obvious objective casting a light shadow across half the park to the west.
The food had been eaten by the guests, the songs had been sung, and the cake had been cut. The parents of the children sat around in groups chatting aimlessly about work post the earthquake. Most of them like Roy had been cut-off from their main offices downtown and were on a temporary leave as infrastructure to support their work was being rebuilt. And so they all sat watching their children of all ages run about yelling and screaming their hearts out as they acted out imaginary games through the playground.
The Andersons were laying on the grass under a small maple tree that whistled quietly. Content that he had survived small talk with Marcel, Roy had found himself chasing Nico around the park for the last 30 minutes and his boy ran laughing like a maniac through the grass. He loved to run, and run, and here outside of their small apartment he had all the room in the world to do so. He eyes were aglow with energy as he dashed from tree to tree inside the park.
Arms behind his head Roy lay down on the grass, it was Angelica’s turn to keep an eye on Nico as he played with the Cowly’s children who were taking turns passing about a soccer ball. All things considered it had been a good day. Yes, Marcel had been a bit awkward at first, but it seemed that Roy and Marcel’s unspoken agreement to not talk about anything substantial had allowed them to avoid talking about pretty much anything. It was a win, win in Roy’s mind.
As he lay there he fondly recalled the moment from earlier that day when Angelica had swooped up little Nico and crawled into the fortress bouncy house that had been a party favorite of the other dozen children present for little Sally’s 6th birthday. At first Nico was unsure and made clear his discomfort through the look of apprehension that spread across his face. But as his mother helped support him the sudden realization that he could finally jump like a madman spread across his face and burst out of his vocal chords through the laughter that soared up as he began to bounce.
No more did he have to worry about falling off the sofa, here in the bouncy house he could be free! Everything about him exuded the joy of the moment. For Roy the minute’s melted away watching this little bundle of joy bounce, bounce, bounce.
I’ll remember that moment for a lifetime Roy thought as he looked up the blue sky. A single song bird began whistling a tune from the small forest that ran alongside the eastern edge of the park. The gentle streams rushing water and the low rumble of life from the surrounding city filled the air with a gentle intoxicating harmony. Before long Roy’s eyes slowly began to slip shut.
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“Hey Roy, time to get up! We gotta go” Angelica was staring down at him. The sky above had transformed from a gentle hazy blue to a dark gray as small droplets of water had began to fall.
“Wow… how long was I out for…” Roy grumbled as he struggled to keep his eyes open.
“Not long, actually… maybe like 45 minutes…. But it looks like the storm is picking up faster than we expected… so time to go if we don’t want a free shower.” Angelica quipped as she quickly began to gather up the various random things surrounding their little camp at the park. As Roy stretched and sat up he realized that the other families were likewise quickly picking up things and dashing stuff to their cars. The bouncy house in particular was deflating quickly, losing the lustrous fortress shape in favor of a crumpled pile of plastic sheets.
The pitter patter of the rain began to pick up in cadence and they gathered up the remains of their stuff and said their goodbyes to the other families and birthday girl. The light gray that had made up the sky only moments earlier had slowly morphed into an angry dark swirling mass that was threatening a proper downpour.
Turning the ignition on in the car, Roy glanced over his shoulder to check on little Nico as he sat in his car seat and pulled out slowly from the parking spot. Taking a left at the fork immediately having left the park their car glided down past the high-school which ran across the south of the park. The rain at this point cascading down upon the earth leaving puddles quickly building up at they made their way home.
Through the constant sweeping of the wiper blades Roy could just make out a lone young figure sat on a bench in the rain with their head down. As the Anderson’s car was just about to pass the figure on the bench lifted their head and their eyes looked up straight into Roy’s eyes.
Time froze. Roy had seen those eyes. Roy knew those eyes intimately. He had been staring into them for years. They were Nico’s.
