Alice Munroe (ex_barebones985) wrote in the_colony, @ 2010-10-22 16:39:00 |
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Entry tags: | ^ week 21, alice munroe |
Week 21: Thursday
Characters: Alice Munroe and Jamie Walker
Location: The Farmhouse
Summary: Walker is left with Alice while Leo discusses his conditions for living on the farm. Alice does her best to console Walker in the meantime.
Walker couldn’t believe they were finally here; the farmhouse Leo had shown him only once or twice since they’d arrived in Oregon. What Walker didn’t know --what Leo had kept a secret even from him-- was that Alice had been there all along. He stood next to her on the front porch as Leo was led away and felt a wave of fear wash over him. Their dependency on one another had only deepened in their time apart from the Colonists, and separation was something they’d each have to start getting used to again.
He slipped his small hand into Alice’s and looked up at her, his red-rimmed eyes wet with worry. Alice’s face was pinched in a concerned expression, and it took her a moment to smooth her expression enough to look down at the boy with some semblance of reassurance. Just looking down at Walker was enough to relax her a little, in fact; she’s missed the little boy as much, if not more, than his adoptive father. Without asking his permission, she easily crouched down and slid her arms around him, picking him up and settling him on her hip. He was a little heavier than she remembered, but molded like clay against her.
“It’ll only be for a little while, sugarpie,” she told him. “It’s all a bit hard to explain, but he’ll be okay. I promise.”
“Is Leo in trouble?” he asked. Leo had seemed nervous for a few days now, and Walker wasn’t blind to a single one of the man’s patterns.
Alice chewed her lip as she moved back into the house. There wasn’t a whole lot of places they could really go for privacy where someone wouldn’t come in on them, so Alice led them to the only place she knew of that would be quiet: the attic.
“Kind of,” she answered at last.
“Oh.” Walker contemplated this for a moment, wondering what sorts of things grown-ups would get in trouble for, but fortunately for Alice the boy was distracted by pretty much everything he saw inside the house. By the time they reached the top of the second, narrower staircase, he was wiggling to get down and explore. “Is this your room?”
“No, this is the attic,” Alice replied, crouching again to let him down. The room was mostly dark save for one high window, and already getting a bit dusty. It definitely had the smell of an old storage space. “We’re keeping a lot of stuff we took with us from Las Vegas up here. Extra pillows and clothes and stuff.”
Walker made his way over to the window, dragged over a stool, and stood on it to peer outside, pressing his hands against the glass. He looked over his shoulder to make sure Alice was still standing behind him; the attic was extremely intriguing, but also a little scary. When he saw her he smiled warmly and turned to face the yard again.
“You guys got goats?!” he exclaimed suddenly, having spotted a few of them grazing not far from the barn’s doors.
Alice cracked a small smile, though he didn’t see for all that he’d pressed his face into the glass. “A couple. Got some cows too now, and some chickens. And the horses, but you knew that already.”
Alice took a moment to thoroughly look at Walker as he stared out the window. He was an absolute mess, not nearly as gaunt as Leo had gotten but painfully thin. There was dirt smudged on his hands and face, and his unkempt hair had bits of forest debris; twigs and pine. His clothes were covered in dirt, wet with spots of melted snow, and finished with a sprinkling of horse hair as he’d been absolutely obsessed with Greg’s horses.
Walker let out a yawn and rested his forehead on the windowpane. “Is it almost dark time, yet?” Darkness meant fire, food, and sleep, in Walker’s mind, and it had become something to look forward to these past few weeks.
Alice blinked for a moment in surprise at the question. She had expected him to still be upset from being separated from his guardian, and that had been her main reason for bringing him upstairs in order to calm down. She definitely hadn’t expected him to be so mellow, or to ask such a question.
“No, sugarpie,” Alice said after a moment. “We’ve still got a few hours before sunset, I think. What do you need where it’s gotta be dark first?” Before, all she’d had to do was keep asking until she got the question right; she was still quietly amazed that he was talking to her, and so easily. He obviously trusted her, and felt at home again the moment she’d taken him into her arms on the front porch.
“Leo makes the fires at night,” Walker explained. “So no strangers see the smoke.” Leo was so strict on many things, and a lot of the time he unwittingly made the boy feel scared and insecure. Strangers, he was certain, would come in at any time and take him away. Thinking about this, he glanced around the attic, his eyes welling with tears suddenly. Though a mere few minutes had passed, the six year old was certain it had been hours. “What’s taking so long?”
“I wish I knew, sugarpie,” Alice replied, moving over to where he stood by the window and resting her hand on his head in what she hoped was a reassuring way. “But why don’t we pick out some clothes for him while we wait? Or maybe we could go downstairs and get you cleaned up? I could make you a sandwich while you take a shower.”
“Okay,” he sniffled and wiped at his eyes with his sleeve, agreeing with any and all of Alice’s options. Walker grabbed her hand so he could hop off the stool.
“Which do you wanna do first?” she asked him. It would have been easier just to pick for him, but she wanted to hear what he wanted.
“Does the hot on the water work?” Walker asked, skeptically.
“It does,” Alice replied, then smiled conspiratorially. “I just tell everyone it doesn’t.” It wasn’t even an ounce true, but she hoped to get a smile out of him. “You should see them when they come out. It’s so funny.” Walker grinned.
“Does your bathtub have bubbles in it?” he squeezed her hand as he asked, the two of them heading out of the attic.
“We don’t normally use the bathtub,” she told him, leading him to the next set of stairs. “But I think we can make an exception for people who like bubbles.”
“I do!” Walker’s eyes grew wide and he grasped Alice’s hand with both of his, to reiterate his point.