Monday, Monday
Who: George and Callum Lincoln What: Monday morning Where: George's home When: Late Monday morning Rating: G Status: Standalone complete
George jumped, startled when Callum came out through the french doors onto the deck. She realised she'd been staring out into the backyard, deeply lost in thought and hadn't heard him approach, quickly putting her cooling almost finished cup of tea down on the table and standing up.
"How're you feeling?" she asked, her wrist going to his forehead to feel his temperature.
"I'll live," he managed to croak, reaching for a chair and lowering himself into it slowly when his mother was satisfied with taking his temperature. "Least I think I will, which I didn't yesterday."
She shook her head and put her hand on his shoulder. "There was a stage there where I thought I'd be dragging you off to the hospital, if you remember that?" she told him as she sat back in her own chair. "It wasn't pretty."
"Yeah, shoulda seen it from where I was sitting," he told her with an attempt at a smile, the weak movement of his mouth not quite making it, but George knowing what the twitch was.
"I'm glad I didn't." Though there had been a time late on Saturday night where she'd been praying that if it helped, that she get what it was to stop him from getting any worse. It was a prayer she'd often offered up when the kids had been ill, or hurt and while she didn't think it had ever been answered it was something she would willingly have accepted. Her hand stroked his arm as she took a good look at him. "Would you like to try a cup of tea?" she asked. His face was drawn and still relatively pale, accentuated by his dark hair hanging in rats tails from the sweat.
It took a moment's contemplation but finally Callum nodded his head. "Guess it'd be a change from ice," he mumbled. George huffed a laugh, glad to see him willing to try, which was a really good sign considering how he'd been all weekend. "Do you want to try something to eat? Or is that pushing it a little?" He shook his head. "Let's just give the tea a go huh?"
A few minutes later she returned to the deck, her own cup refilled and another for Callum. She put them both on the table, the steam curling from each in whisps. She pulled a blanket out from under her arm where she'd tucked it, and draped it across his legs. "Don't let yourself get a chill," she said softly, makin sure it was tucked down the sides of his legs before sitting herself down in her chair, hand resting on his shoulder.
"It's fine, Mom, please," he croaked, accepting her gentle fussing with just a good-natured pout. "And I want to say sorry."
"For what?" she said, looking at him blankly.
"For ruining the weekend for you. I know how much you were looking forward to it, and... "
"Oh don't," she said, cutting him off and picking up her tea, bringing it to her mouth as she looked out into the backyard again, not really up to looking him in the eye at that point. "You didn't ruin it," she added, looking down into her tea for a moment as her thumb rubbed along the edge of her cup. "The woods aren't going anywhere too soon and there's plenty of summer left for us to go up there sometime. We have the maps, and the permits, or at least some idea of what to do, so we won't have to rely on anyone else. We'll just go on our own, not bother anyone else, just like we used to."
Callum looked at his mother, knowing her too well to simply accept her attempt at nonchalance. The simple fact she didn't even look at him as she spoke was a major give away. He'd never known her to tell a lie, but they'd all learnt to tell when their mother wasn't saying what she was really thinking, or feeling, when she was hiding something, she wouldn't meet any of them in the eye.
"Right." He didn't have the energy to argue and didn't know what had changed from last Friday night to today, but whatever it was it didn't make him happy. Something had made her like this, and he hoped it wasn't just missing out on going.
Almost as if she was reading his mind she turned and looked at him, meeting his eyes squarely. "I mean it Callum. It was just the way things are. You had food poisoning, and I certainly wasn't going to leave you at home on your own. Simple. And we will go for a hike, very soon, even if we don't camp out."
"Right," he croaked again, lifting his tea and blowing on it as he fell silent again. There was no point in digging further, and her sudden change in attitude was leaving him more than just a little puzzled, but he wasn't about to ask again, especially after he'd received that look. He'd have to give Anita a call.
George's attention returned to the backyard, her tea a few inches from her mouth as she again stared into the distance, Callum following suit and pondering what really had happened.