Nobody Owens (dansemacabre) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-06-26 21:51:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, brother athelstan, nobody owens |
Who: Nobody Owens and Athelstan.
What: Random encounter.
When: Monday, 6/25.
Where: Graveyard, where else?
Rating: PG.
Status: Complete!
Sometimes, Athelstan liked to go into the graveyard at his church, though he never wanted anyone to see him. Most people wouldn’t understand or they’d think he was Odd somehow. He just found it peaceful. He liked to look at the dates and see if the person had a long life. He’d found the stone of a woman who’d lived to be 102 before; that had put him in a good mood all afternoon.
Bod hummed as he walked from the funeral home to the graveyard. It wasn’t technically part of his job, but he liked to clean off the gravestones of people who didn’t have family to do so. As he made his way to one of the older ones, forgotten and crumbling, he unknotted his tie.
Athelstan had been walking down the centre avenue of the place, but when he heard humming, it brought him up short. He flushed when he saw a young man about his age come into view. “Oh ... I’m sorry. I, erm. Didn’t know there was anyone here.” Awkward.
“Oh, hello!” Bod waved and smiled. “I’m sorry, are you here for a relation? I know the yard pretty well, I can direct you. I work in the home in the back.” He pointed it out, a small, stooping building in the distance.
“No, um.” Damnation, why hadn’t he taken the out? “I was just ... looking. That sounds mad.” Athelstan sighed. “I just like to come walk here. I know that’s odd, but I like it.”
“Oh, it doesn’t sound odd at all. I come here to clean off the stones for people whose loved ones have died or moved. Want to come with me?” Bod grinned, moving to offer his hand. “I’m Nobody Owens.”
“Oh?” Athelstan smiled a little. “I would ... yes, actually. I’m studying religious studies, so I feel rather at home here. My name is Athelstan; it’s nice to meet you.” He couldn’t have heard right, could he? Was this bloke’s name really ‘Nobody’?
“I’m a mortuary science major. You’d be surprised at the crossovers. And it’s nice to meet you too, Athelstan.” Bod had his jacket off and over one arm. He started to walk toward the older graves and one of the smallish mausoleums that a rich tenant had paid for prior to their death.
“Really. What brought you to mortuary science? It must be interesting.” Morbid, perhaps, but also rather peaceful. Athelstan followed him up the path. “And you sound as though you’re from shores I know well. I grew up in a little place called Lynemouth; maybe an hour from Newcastle.” It was rather nice to hear an accent from home, in truth; he liked the voices he heard most of the time, but nothing was quite like home.
“It is interesting. And I don’t know, I wanted to help people during their weakest moments.” Nobody smiled. “I was an orphan when I was a baby, and this is probably my way of paying things forward.” He smiled at the other man’s accent, also pleased to hear someone from back home. Nobody’s whole family had moved to California when he was ten, but he’d never been able to shake his accent because of hearing it so much at home.
“I can say the same about religious studies, really - helping people when they need it. I didn’t choose it, per se, I just didn’t have much of a choice.” Athelstan blushed when he said that - how awkward did that sound, even if that was true?
“You were called to it. I know that feeling.” Bod smiled as he knelt down in front of one of the headstones. “Hello, Mrs. Hawthorne,” he said to the headstone, brushing it off with his hands. Some withered flowers were there, and those he set aside as well. He could compost those later.
“Somewhat, yes. I have a good relationship with God, or at least I’d like to think so.” He stopped speaking as Nobody leaned down, and a smile crossed his face. “You’re very polite. They must be happy someone is.”
“Someone has to look after them,” Nobody smiled. “Why not me?” Nuns had looked after him until he went to an orphanage, then he’d been adopted by the best family in the whole world. Mr. and Mrs. Owens were wonderful people. Sharing his blessings was important.
“Many wouldn’t think to. It just speaks highly of you.” Athelstan smiled. “Something I never quite agreed with at school - I went to boarding school, with an emphasis on worship - was that they said to let God handle the dead, while we concerned ourselves with the living. That never seemed quite right to me.”
“I think maybe it meant let God handle putting them where they go. He can sort of escort them to the afterlife, but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t honor them.” Bod spotted some wildflowers growing a ways away and hopped up to pick them. They’d look pretty on Mrs. Hawthorne’s tombstone.
That made sense to Athelstan. He nodded. “The dead shouldn’t just be forgotten. Especially here, given all the madness that seems to happen.” He spoke generally, just in case this Nobody hadn’t had any dreams or heard of them. He didn’t want to come off as a religious maniac to someone he’d just met.
“I agree.” Bod smiled at the other man, appreciative that someone had views similar to his. “It’s sad, but people forget there’s whole families out here.”
“It’s true. I know I’ve seen an entire family - I think their name was Lopez? - out in the back. It was all the same date.” Athelstan shook his head. “It’s sad, but at the same time, I was pleased to see they were together.”
Bod winced. The story there was pretty sad - in the eighteen hundreds, it had been fairly common for fathers to shoot their ailing families if times got hard - but Athelstan was right. “It could be worse, yes.”
Athelstan nodded. “My girlfriend is interested in Viking history” - that seemed a safe way to put it - “and she’s told me awful stories of families just being liquidated by the jarl, the head of the village. Yet she seems to think the same way; at least they were together.”
“That’s a sad but true fact.” Bod smiled, appreciating that this boy had a girlfriend that seemed as sentimental as he was.
“Do you mind if I ask when you came here?” Athelstan asked, hoping the segue wasn’t too awkward. “It’s just rather nice to hear an accent from home. You sound as though you hopped a flight yesterday.”
“Oh, about eight years ago. My parents came with me, though. It’s why I haven’t lost it yet.” Bod chuckled to himself. “When did you come over?”
“A semester ago.” Athelstan found himself being more honest than usual. “I needed to get away from my parents.”
“Do you not get along with them?” Bod had moved onto another headstone, smiling brightly as he dusted off some acorn hulls from the top.
“I respect them, and honour them, as I ought to, but ... things have changed since I was a schoolboy.” Athelstan smiled. “It’s one of the reasons I came out here; being here in such peaceful surroundings actually helps me think quite a bit. I’m glad you have such a good relationship with your family, though. It’s a blessing.”
“I think I’m doubly blessed because they picked me. I’m adopted,” Bod smiled sheepishly. He felt in his pockets for his phone so he could show Athelstan a photo of himself with his parents. Mr. and Mrs. Owens’ lined faces oozed happiness as they sat on either side of their son at his high school graduation.
“That’s brilliant.” Athelstan actually meant it. “I knew some boys at school who were adopted, and not all of them had such good luck. It was half the reason they stayed at school. Do you have any siblings?”
“Nope, just me.” Bod smiled and pocketed his phone again. “We live with my aunt who’s really my great-aunt, but it’s just the three of us.”
“You could have mine.” Athelstan couldn’t resist the gentle joke, but shook his head. “No, actually, my sister is really very kind. Lynne’s a nun, living in Italy.”
“Wow, that must be the best place ever to be a nun - all the history.” Bod’s eyes went wide with admiration.
“She loves it. She was in England first, obviously, but then her order sent her to Salerno, in the south of Italy. She says it helps her feel closer to her mission.” Athelstan smiled. It had been too long since he’d seen his sister, but at least he had her letters. “She says ideally she’d want to be in Israel, but her order has no presence there; it’s too dangerous.”
“She sounds remarkable,” Bod smiled. “You’re lucky to know someone like that, much less have her for a sister!” Bod was impressed with someone who had such a clear, obvious drive.
“She’s been a blessing through everything I’ve dealt with in my life,” Athelstan said warmly. “I’ve had many crises of conscience where she’s shown me the way. Especially when my parents haven’t been able to.” There was God, of course, but he didn’t bother God for every little thing.
“You and your parents don’t see eye to eye on some things, I take it.” Bod could guess.
“Correct, but it used to bother me much more,” Athelstan admitted, chuckling. “I suppose everyone changes. But as I said, coming here helps me sort through what does bother me. It’s almost like a stand-in for speaking to someone else about it - they can’t obviously offer opinions, but it’s still nice that I can tell them what’s on my mind.”
“That’s a sign we’re growing up, I suppose. When we can realize and understand that our parents have different opinions and aren’t perfect people.” Bod smiled a little sadly. “It has to happen sometime, but that doesn’t make it easier.”
“Of course not.” Athelstan matched his smile. “My parents are extremely religious, and just being out in the world has helped to alter my views. Theirs have stayed the same, so I do my best. I don’t think God has given me more than I can handle, if I can say so.”
“I’m glad that you’re happy, though. Some people would’ve led themselves to just being upset.” Bod smiled at his new friend. “Do you want to go get lunch? I usually get a snack of something after my shift.”
“That’d be brilliant. I know a few lovely spots nearby, if you’re a coffee or tea drinker. I’m afraid I’m a terrible Englishman, though; I prefer coffee.” Athelstan smiled a little.
“I like both,” Bod smiled. “You’re more English than I, I’ve lived here for eight years.” Bod stood, wiping the leaves and dirt off of his slacks.
“Don’t you know, I’d be drummed out of the St. George Society if they knew,” Athelstan joked. “But alas, nothing will ever replace a steaming cup of black coffee for me.” He wondered idly what they drank in Sweden.
That made Bod wrinkle his nose. “I’ve got a horrible sweet tooth, I have to drink those girlie drinks with mounds of whipping cream on top.” He laughed at himself, running a hand through his mop of curls.
Athelstan chuckled. “It’s not for everyone,” he said, hoping it was diplomatic and not patronizing. “Eli - my, erm, girlfriend - thinks I’m mad for drinking it black to begin with.” It was still new, saying he had a girlfriend. It was a good feeling.
That made Bod smile. “You’ve only just started dating, I’m guessing?”
“Yes, essentially. Only a few weeks. I’m very pleased about it, but saying it is still unusual.” Athelstan smiled a little shyly. “She’s a bit more ... take-charge than I am, so my friends tell me it’s a good match.”
“They say we’re attracted to people who have qualities that we lack within ourselves,” Bod said cheerfully. He was super helpful that way.
“Quite true.” Athelstan said. “I certainly hope you find - happiness,” he amended. “Whether that’s a significant other or complete solitude.” To wish someone luck in finding a mate might be rude.
Bod gave a polite and rather gentlemanly bow. “Well, thank you! That’s all we can wish for anyone, isn’t it?”
“I certainly think that’s the case.” He indicated with a nod of his head. “Care to come with me? It’s only a block or so away.”
Nodding, Bod walked with his new friend, delighted to have made one at all. And in the most unlikely of places.