Kathleen J. Forbes (forbes_md) wrote in the_colony, @ 2010-03-09 02:48:00 |
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Entry tags: | ^ week 05, alice munroe |
Week 5 - Friday
Characters: Alice Munroe and Kathleen Forbes
Setting: During the morning at Kathleen's Suite (before Kathleen's meeting with Grace)
Summary: Alice visit's Dr. Forbes to have her stitches removed, but the hungry doctor has to eat first. They talked about Jack and Jared then disagree.
Warning: Language
Alice stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. Jared was still sleeping, and it was still rather early in the morning, but she'd figured the doctor would be awake by now. The bruises on her face had all but healed except for a very mild yellowing around her eye. She didn't even really need pain medication anymore for her shoulder.
Kathleen had asked her about her shoulder when she'd came by the previous evening after the Costco run, to be sure she hadn't pulled the stitches out or worse. A brief check proved that they were more than ready to come out, and they'd decided she would come by before the meetup that way she wouldn't be delayed too long.
Pulling her hair back, she quietly left her room and suite, locking up behind her as she strolled to Kathleen's door.
Inside the suite, Kathleen was preparing a bowl of instant Quaker oatmeal with maple and brown sugar. She yawned before placing the bowl into the microwave oven and pressing start. Last night had a little bit more difficult than others, the baby kept kicking inside. At times she thought his was doing flips inside, but it was a sign that his birth was near.
The microwave finished with the oatmeal, and as she open and reached for the bowl, the door bell rung. She quickly took out the hot bowl, and placed it on the counter. The hot bowl caused her to blow on her fingers to cool them, as she rushed to the door. "Just a second," she begged as she tighten the belt around the bath robe she kept from the Hard Rock Hotel.
One quick look through the peep-hole to make sure the person on the other side was friendly, before she unlocked the dead bolt, and then opened the door. "Hey Alice. Good Morning."
"Mornin'," Alice replied, slipping inside. "Y'didn't have to rush, I wouldda waited." The smell of the oatmeal gave the suite a lovely, homey feeling, and Alice felt her stomach grumble appreciatively. She hadn't really eaten anything yet that morning.
"I needed the exercise," she joked. "I was just preparing some breakfast." She walked back to the kitchen, and left the door for Alice to close. "Have you eaten yet?"
"Not really, no," Alice replied, following her. "I was gonna eat after. Is that a problem?"
"Oh right, the stitches," she remembered, which explained why Alice had dropped by. "No, it doesn't matter when you eat, before, during, after," she shrugged her shoulders and smirked. At the counter below the microwave, Kathleen grabbed a spoon and the warm bowl then started to stir. "You don't mind if I eat? I'm starving." The cravings were stronger than ever.
"No rush," Alice said with a shrug, settling down at one of the chairs at the little table. She hadn't expected Kathleen not to be ready, but she couldn't blame her. It had taken a lot for Jed to talk Alice down from the 9AM meetup time she'd originally designated. "I could come back after the meetup, if you'd prefer."
Kathleen sat down across from Alice at the table. "It's only going to take a few minutes to snip and then pulled them out," she said followed by a spoonful of oatmeal. After a few chews and a swallow, she pointed at Alice's shoulder. "How's it feeling?"
"Itchy," the brunette replied, smiling wryly. "Like, all the time. I'd like to itch it right now, actually."
"It's the dry air," she replied glancing at the shoulder. "After I take those out, I can give a bottle of baby oil." She had almost collected a case of baby oil which now sat in a basket in the other room. "It won't hurt it. Actually you should try to keep the skin moisturized daily for a few weeks to reduce the scaring, and out of the sun too," she said with another spoon full of oatmeal moving to her mouth.
Alice frowned a little. Normally she wore tank tops just because it was so hot out. Maybe I can wrap it in a bandanna or something, she mused, chewing her lower lip a little. "How often should I do it? Twice a day? More?"
Kathleen finished her mouthful of oatmeal, "Once a day or twice, depends. After a bath or shower would be enough, and if you use sun block during the day. It should be enough." She reached for the glass of water on the table and took a sip.
"I moisturize daily, twice sometimes to lessen the stretch marks. You must have too," the doctor added.
The sudden topic change was enough to throw Alice off for a moment, but then she smiled. "Well, yeah. But I used cocoa butter, not oil." She tugged her shirt up at the hemline, exposing her midriff. There were a few obvious lines hear her hips, but other than that she was relatively smooth.
"I've noticed a shortage of cocoa butter these day," she joked. It was the kind of dark humor which made their situation bearable.
Kathleen lifted her head slightly to peer over to see Alice's tan skin. "I don't even notice," she complimented, and then return to having one more mouthful of breakfast.
"Everybody's different," Alice said, lowering her shirt again. "I have good skin. My mother didn't really have stretch marks either, except maybe a bit around her breasts. She was a very petite woman, so she got a bit large in the chest when she had me."
Kathleen nodded. Next she left the spoon in the bowl with some oatmeal left uneaten. For her it didn't take much to fill her craving, especially with her stomach being pressed by her unborn son moving into place for the big day. She closed her the lapels of her white robe together over her pink night gown underneath, and then lean back against her chair.
"So what do you think of this party?"
"Party?" Alice asked, brows arching. "What party?"
"Oh!" Kathleen said surprised. "Didn't Searle tell you? Tomorrow is Jack's birthday, and by the way. What is her real name?" It felt unnatural to call her by a boy's name, especially one she associated with an old male friend.
Alice frowned immediately. Searle hadn't told her, and neither had Jack for that matter. So I'm not invited, apparently, Alice thought. For some reason, it left an uncomfortable ache in her chest. Jed also hadn't told her. A bitter part of her almost thought to spill what the girl's name was to the doctor, but it wouldn't be fair. Especially considering how much Jack clearly disliked her.
"You'll have to ask her," Alice finally said. "It's not my place to tell. But to answer your first question, no; nobody told me about a party."
Kathleen let out a sigh, not about the name, but for the possible reason Alice might not have been asked. She did not want to say, but she did owe the woman that much for allowing her to become part of the group. "I think it's because of that boy who's staying with you. He sounds like trouble. Jack told me he attacked her."
"'Course she did," Alice replied, a hint of agitation in her voice. "Except that she probably didn't mention that he was in a gang, and that he actually didn't hit her. He held her down. I'm not giving him a medal, but I'm not going to put a bullet in him either. Kids do stupid things when they don't have anyone to take care of them." She paused, her eyes moving back up to Kathleen's face. "Did Jack also tell you she got drunk and then ran away from the hotel when Jed told her she couldn't do it?"
"No, she didn't. I didn't know that, but I don't think it excuses him. He was still an accomplice to an assault," she shook her head. "That poor girl, I feel for her. It must have been traumatic for her. Especially at her age, and without her parents. It's fucking terrible." She picked up the awful habit of cursing during her tour overseas.
"Everyone has a story, Kathleen," Alice replied. "But it sure taught Jack a lesson not to go wandering off alone, thinking she was tough and in charge, didn't it? She's lucky it was just a couple teenagers who found her and not some skeezy guy ready to rape her once he found she had nothing valuable."
Kathleen waved her hand. "You're absolutely right, and thank God nothing like that happened." She paused to look into Alice's eyes. "No one is really safe. You had a close call, too. Just imagine what you felt afterward." The brunette scowled a little in response before looking away from her entirely.
"It's not exactly comparing apples and apples," Kathleen continued, "but you were scared for your life for a second there. And so was she, when those boys held her down and started to beat on her. You don't forget those moments. Me and you are adults, we can deal with it a little better, but she's twelve 'til tomorrow." Kathleen felt passionate about this because she had seen some truly cruel things done to children. It broke her heart in Afghanistan. It even made her feel a little light headed now, as she backed away after saying her piece.
"Then you must'a grown up at a real fancy school where kids didn't get beat up or picked on," Alice said stiffly. "Because what happened to her ain't exactly out of the ordinary. She'll live. If she was really that fragile, she wouldn'ta lived for as long as it took Jed to find her. She wants everybody to baby her but treat her like a grown-up at the same time. I'm sorry that I'm actually letting real life happen to her and not showing any pity. If she wants to grow up so fast, then she needs to learn to live under shit circumstances."
Alice sighed, unable to just sit in one place anymore. Without asking she moved to get a glass from Kathleen's cupboard, going to the tap to get herself a glass of water. She'd installed tap filters in all of the building's rooms before they'd all moved in last week. "Actions have consequences. She got drunk and ran away, and a few kids beat her up. I can feel bad for her, but I'm not gonna wrap her in bubble wrap. Jared might not've even had a choice in being in that gang. If he didn't go with the flow, they would've done a lot worse to him. So long as he's sorry for what he did, I'm willing to give him a second chance. You should, too."
Excuse me. Kathleen did not say that out loud but it shown in her eyes. It didn't matter if she had a protected life growing up in Helena and attended Catholic schools, but Alice had no idea what she saw in the war zone. She sat there looking at Alice until she got up to get a glass of water. She then just shook her head and blinked; she wasn't hearing all of Alice's words. The images of those children at the clinic that was blown up by a suicide bomber kept filling her head. All the while thinking that they never had a chance.
Kathleen turned away, her back toward Alice as she faced the door. Her eyes began to sting and her hands started to tremble. It was as a wound had been open inside her chest. She sat there silent, trying to fight against the wave, until Alice finished with her last sentence.
"I don't have to," she said not looking back at Alice. Instead her eyes were drawn into a far off gaze toward the floor.
Alice turned back toward her, confusion obvious on her face. "What?"
The blond snapped out of the brief trance which distracted her. The flash of images disappeared but the emotion was still there. Kathleen wet her lips, niffed, and then turned her head to look at the brunette. "I said I don't have to," her green eyes were raw around the edges. "He's not proven anything except that he's grown teenager that thought it was alright for his friends to beat up a small kid. Just like those fucking Taliban that forced kids to set off IEDs." The emotions had turned to anger, but it wasn't toward Alice.
"He's not a killer!" Alice nearly snarled, her own anger rising to the surface and much more direct. "Christ, you can't sit here and compare what happened to me and Jack as being in the same damned ballpark, and you sure as hell can't compare a kid holding down another kid to grown men who made children use bombs! For fuck's sake, he could have been one of those kids himself!" She put the glass down, though a part of her saw visions of herself throwing the glass into the sink basin and breaking it. "Y'know what? Obviously this is a bad time. I'll come back later."
Kathleen closed her eyes with a slight shake of the head, then drew a deep breathe. When her eyes open again, she acknowledged Alice. "Yeah, it's probably not a good time." Her eyes darted downward, her skin felt flushed. She had enough sense at the moment to know that she was not thinking rationally right now.
"I'll come by again after the meetup or something," Alice muttered. "I'll let myself out."
Kathleen did not reply, she simply got up and walked to her room and closed the door. Her emotions were all mixed up, but she had been through this before and knew it will past. She only needed some time to regroup, and later she would seek and find Alice to apologize.