learn to fall

“Chilis in the chili,” Charlotte said, nodding sagely–and immediately taking another long drink of her wine. But, looking around the bustling market, she pointed out some of the brightly colored food vendors. “That place had some, like, sausage and bratwurst–it smelled super delicious,” She said, pointing at a green-and-red colored stand with white ribbons. “I think that place had some sandwiches and wraps and stuff.” She said, this time pointing at a red-and-white colored stand with green ribbons. “And… I don’t know, there’s a lot of food, honestly. I’ll be honest, I was mostly focused on the chili.”

Beatrice watched as Charlie pointed out all of the different stands, eyes wide. It all sounded so good. “I mean the chili smells really good so I don’t blame you there. There really is a lot of food, I can’t really make my mind up.... would it be overkill to get a little bit of everything? Or not everything everything. But. Enough.”

Valerie knew how easy it was to get sucked into staring at a phone. More often than not, she found Twitter more entertaining than her coworkers, and she was probably one of the few people who still had a daily streak on Candy Crush. So as the other woman spoke, Valerie found herself smiling. “Well, thanks. I’ll probably run into you someday with my nose in my phone, anyway, so… good to know I’m not alone,” she joked. “I’m fine, yeah, no worries. I just got off work, so my brain isn’t exactly in its finest shape.” She brushed her hands off on her pants before offering one out to Beatrice to shake. “I’m Valerie, by the way.”

Beatrice couldn’t help but laugh when they implied that she had her nose in her phone. “Oh, I don’t normally have my nose in my phone, I’ve usually got my head in the trees.” She was well aware that the expression was head in the clouds, but trees was more apt, in her situation. “It’s just that the stupid thing went and died, again.” She sighed, shoving it back into her pocket. “As long as we’re both okay. I know what it’s like when you get off work and you’re in brain fog mode.” She said, taking Valerie’s offered hand. “I’m Beatrice. Most people call me Bea.”

“Huh. I just met someone who was from there. Chicago specifically,” she replied. Bridgette rolled her eyes at the mention of LA and New York. She wanted to visit them but they didn’t seem like the first places she wanted to go. “Yeah, too close to spring break to go to Miami or New York.” She definitely wanted to go somewhere where she couldn’t possibly run into anyone she knew. “What about somewhere in Europe or South America? You ever think about going there?” Bridgette set her travel book down and turned her body to face Beatrice more directly. 

“I’ve only been to Chicago a few times.” Beatrice had enjoyed her time there, as much as she enjoyed herself in any large city. It was before she’d formed her pact, while Papa was still alive. She hadn’t cared about their surroundings as much as the company. They were the only kinds of vacations they could really afford to take, going into the city for the weekend. And she would have been happy with a tent at a campground, but it was fun to go into the different museums. Beatrice wasn’t that surprised when Bridgette turned down her suggestions. They were just very different people. “I haven’t thought that much about it but I would like to see the rain forest.” She really hadn’t given much through to traveling abroad, but she would much rather go to South America than Europe. She wasn’t sure if she could stand being in a plane for that long. At least with South America she had the option to drive. “Is there anywhere specific you’d want to go there?”

“Hm. Where are you from again?” Bridgette asked, not remembering where the girl was from because she didn’t pay attention the first time. “I’m not sure. I guess sight see and go out on the town. See what different places have to offer,” she added. She didn’t think she wanted to go with her friends, just be by herself since she was always surrounded by people. If she wanted company, she could go out and find it easily in a city. Anywhere was good as long as it was far away from Edgewood. Maybe even find somewhere else with a large magical community to see how it different it was from Edgewood’s community. She was even open to going somewhere to learn more about magic outside of being home and around her siblings. “Probably not somewhere colder, unless there’s places that interest me. But I’m open to any where really.”

“Of course not.” Charlotte just nodded and gave Bea’s arm a placating pat. Something always works until it doesn’t, but Bea was an adult capable of making her own adult choices. Unfortunately those choices also included horrific puns. “Oh honey, no,” Charlotte groaned, then laughed. “Chilly chili is not what we want on a day like to day. But chili with more chilis, now that might be something I could get behind.”

Beatrice knew that her phone was going to give up on her sooner rather than later, and that she should really give it up before it go to the point and she was left stranded. But. Phones were expensive. And it’s not like she was totally helpless in the event of an emergency. “You know I’m not good at puns.” Beatrice said, swatting playfully at Charlotte when she groaned. “That said I could get behind some more chilis in the chili. Probably. What else have they got?”

“For sure, but you know I’m not one of them,” Dominic said with a smile. To be honest, an intentional hear attack might even be considered attempted murder. Well, that thought kinda dampened his mood. “I didn’t say there was. But flashy is not everyone’s style. Especially with ‘modern’ decor being all neutral tones.”

Dominic laughed. “No, I guess you aren’t. You know, I played baseball in middle school. For a short time.” He’d wanted something normal and away from his family, but with his sleep deprivation from avoiding nightmares it was impossible to find the energy for sports. “Now I watch soccer sometimes, but still wouldn’t consider myself a huge sports fan. Do you ever watch the Olympics? A lot of that stuff is probably more your speed than ball sports. Like maybe figure skating or gymnastics?”

Beatrice could feel the disgusted expression forming on her face as Dominic mentioned modern decor. She didn’t understand the aversion to color. So many work places were already so sterile, why did they want to carry that into their home? Also gray was not an accent color, it was just more boring!  “Well that’s a problem for them. Honestly makes me just want to give them even more flashy gifts, just to spite them.”

“Baseball?” Beatrice said, squinting at him before shaking her head. She couldn’t see it. “I love the Olympics.” She said, laughing at how easily he’d read her. “Figure skating and gymnastics are some of my favorites but I like the slope sports too. And the luge. I get really nervous? But there’s a thrill to it.”

“Mmhm, I know, it went swimming last year more than I did.” Charlotte hummed. “But if you want to get a new phone, all you have to do is ask–Wyatt and I can help you.” It often left Charlotte ill at ease, wondering just how much of this was Bea’s forgetfulness and how much was influence from her patron beckoning her to disappear in the forest. “Excellent,” Charlotte smiled. “How do you feel about chili?”

“It went swimming more than I did.” Although it was true that Beatrice was know to just jump into the water, fully clothed, without checking her pockets, she was also famous for putting her phone in the pocket that it was most likely to fall out of, or forgot to zip her bag after she put it in. “I know. But this one still works, there’s no need to replace it.” She would have to replace it sooner rather than later, she knew. But it still worked. You didn’t replace things until they were broken. “Chili sounds... well I would say chill to make a joke but it just doesn’t sound right.”

Dominic laughed at her joke. “I would hope not. That would be a bit rude.” He thought about all of the times he’d purposefully tried to surprise people as a kid, but the idea of intentionally trying to cause a heart attack was so outlandishly cruel it looped around to being funny.  “It really is a popular bird, I guess for its flashy look. Do we know any sports fans of the Cardinals down in St. Louis? Or maybe the ones in Louisville?” He asked, mostly joking. This bird was way too pretty to pass as sports merchandise. 

“No doubt that it’s rude, but there are mean people out in the world.” While no one had ever tried to actually give her a heart attack, she’d certainly been pranked and scared over the years, some more friendly than others. Being the weird kids had it’s drawbacks, mostly the fact that it left you open as a target. “Nothing wrong with a little flash.” Beatrice said, before wrinkling her nose and shaking her head. “Dominic. Come on, you know I don’t really know much about sports, why would I know what teams the people I know are fans of?” Sure, they could wear the shirts, but she had a hard time keeping tracking of which teams were from which sports, much less which logos went with which names.

Looping her free arm around Bea’s, Charlotte rolled her eyes, fondly. “I feel like I’ve failed you as a stand-in mentor–you’ve lived in the Kingsley Academy for how long now and you still can’t remember to plug your phone in? For shame!” She sighed dramatically, but quickly perked back up. “But you made it here, that’s the important part. And no, I did not, but I’m due for a refill, so let’s go fix that!” Patting Bea’s arm, Charlotte headed back towards the line for wine. “Oh, also, did you eat yet? They’ve got so much food here, it’s unreal.”

“I do plug my phone in! My charger just only works fifty percent of the time and the battery doesn’t hold a charge that well any more. This phone has gone swimming more than once.” Beatrice defended herself even though Charlie was right, she could stand to be more diligent in charging her phone. “Well then, lead the way.” Beatrice said, following her lead as she patted her arm, happy to follow where Charlotte lead. “I’ve nibbled, but I could eat.”

“Thanks. It’s nice to meet you too,” Heather said, finally thinking about social graces after she realized that she should introduce herself. She didn’t think that the other looked too out of sorts, considering the situation. What Heather was going to remember from meeting Beatrice was how she handled the situation, not how much of a mess she was. She nodded. “Yes, let’s shake.” She held out her hand. After shaking, she said, “So, is that good.”

“Yes, I think that seals the deal.” Beatrice said, nodding affirmatively once they’d shaken hands. Heather was, admittedly, a little strange, but Beatrice knew that she wasn’t on her best footing and couldn’t exactly judge anyone, not that she’d want to, in any case. “Really, I can’t thank you enough for helping me out with this.” She said, gesturing towards her head.

It took all of Karen’s self control to only chuckle instead of bark a laugh when the girl protested that she shouldn’t be thinking of how busy she was because it’s Christmas. “Hence the to-do list!” she exclaimed, keeping the polite smile on her face. Someday this young girl would learn what that meant, how different Christmas was as a parent, and then she’d understand, she thought to herself with a shake of her head. At the topic of skating, Karen waved the notion away with the hand not holding her hot chocolate. “Oh I do know how to skate. I’m from the Northeast, we went skating every year. And I taught my children to skate as well,” she added, gesturing to the ice where her children were certainly holding their own better than some others. “I’m just sitting this one out. I do agree you might have dressed a little warmer for the skating rink though,” Karen acquiesced, looking the girl up and down. “You must be freezing.” 

Dominic’s hand shot out to grab the bird before she dropped it, but she got a hold of it. Pulling it back, he laughed. “Sorry Bea. I didn’t mean to give you a heart attack.” He hadn’t seen Beatrice in a few weeks, but he was sure he’d see her around more for the holidays. They didn’t talk much, but he found her to be a nice addition to the Kingsley household and was glad that his mom and Charlotte had someone else around the house. “Thanks,” he said as he took the bird and turned it over in his hands. “I think the bright red bird really goes with the season. I’m not really sure who would like it though,” he thought aloud.

“Most people usually don’t.” Beatrice joked, knowing how easily she startled, how caught up she could get in her own head. She’d startled her fair share of folks over the years as well. Now that she’d more or less recovered she could more fully appreciate Dominic’s company. She always enjoyed spending time with him, glad that he didn’t resent the space she’d carved out for herself in his family. Grateful, even. “That’s what I was struggling with, too. You see a lot of cardinal ornaments and decorations, and the red on this one is truly eye catching. It’s what drew me to it.”