The Golden-Plated Boy

   “Ya…I have a feeling you will always have anxiety since you’re a parent now, i think it maybe get easier after the third or second kid” he replied, “Ah, i remember in college for one of my class i had to collect data and it was a nightmare honestly”

“Yeah, I’m cool with two for now,” Davis chuckled. For someone who had always been a strategic planner, two infants had definitely narrowed his view to the here and now. And while he couldn’t deny that a part of him would probably have as many children as Hazel would give him, for now, he could be perfectly contented with what he had. “That’s sorta why I’m coming to you first. I figure starting with a cousin is a good way to get my feet wet. Just go easy on me, yeah?” 

“Don’t be,” they say softly, “You’re not the only one at fault. You were offering something and I wanted it. I try not to live my life with regrets, and what-ifs. Especially now,” now that death felt that much more real than it did a year ago.  “Don’t beat yourself up over it. It’s the past and that’s where it will stay. We were bar buddies, simple as that.”

It hardly felt sufficient; it felt too simple, and neat, and not at all like the truth. Because things like that, they always meant something - that was the problem. And maybe he didn’t love Temple, maybe they were a representation of the worst time in his life, but it didn’t mean he didn’t care... He just didn’t know what to do with it. 

“You brought me toys for my kids,” he said, almost as if it were a thought he couldn’t justify in his head. But it felt significant - proof that Temple was lying, proof that they actually did care. 

Her first reaction was to the infants straddled in the vehicular contraption. She loved children but given the circumstances and nature of the man’s request, it seemed––odd––that they were present. ‘Ignore it,’ she told herself. Eyes trained on the time her wristwatch read, Ele made mental calculations of how much time she could part with before she absolutely needed to be on the next bus into the city. “Not a lot,” she answered honestly, still peaking down at her time-teller, “I can spare you all of fourteen minutes. Anything after that: e-mail me. It might read ‘Sent from My iPhone’ at the bottom but better than nothing, right? Thirteen minutes now.”

Davis wasn’t offended by her briskness; on the contrary, he found her honesty equal parts amusing and refreshing. “Work related, I assume?” he asked rhetorically, referring to her clearly busy schedule. “Guess that’s the perfect segue to my first question - what’s your occupation?” He pulled his notebook out from the stroller’s carrier. “Mind if I take some notes?” 

Harmony was walking down the street when she noticed a man with the stroller. She was looking down at the children when she heard the man speak to her. “Sure, I don’t mind helping”. Harmony replied smiling at the man’s question. It wasn’t that long ago that she had been in school and had been to one who was asking random people to help her on the street. “It’s not that weird. My husband is in grad school so I am used to this kind of thing.” She added, wanting to let the man know that she really didn’t mind helping him. “I don’t have anything going on today so I can talk to you as long as you need.”

The woman looked young to be married, by his estimation (rich, coming from a guy who bought an engagement ring at 18...), and while he was never one to show surprise without meaning to. he’d already shuffled that information away for future use. “Great, shall me take a seat?” he gestured towards the nearby bench. “What’s your husband studying?” he asked, a way to break the ice as they got themselves settled. 

The question caught Leo off-guard, but safe to say he didn’t mind it, glanced up and placed his coffee down, thoughtful smile crossing his features. “I have time,” he responded. “You caught me when I wasn’t too busy.” Truth be told, he’d do anything in that moment to avoid the pile of paperwork he needed to work through for the store, so a distraction was a very good thing.

“Great,” he smiled, taking a seat opposite the man. “I’m Davis. This is Theo and Eloise.” he gestured toward the twins. “I figured they might help me butter up some less enthusiastic participants... I promise I didn’t steal them. They’re actually mine,” he teased, hoping to dispel whatever underlying tension there might be. 

   “They are so cute” he said smiling as he looked at the twins before looking back at Davis, “you almost sound like Ryan with Elliot. He was really filled with anxiety when Elliot was born and even now a little” he added chuckling a bit. “So what is this thing you’re doing for school?”

“Yeah, I don’t imagine I’m going to have an anxiety free moment now until I’m dead,” Davis joked morbidly, though his smile still stayed firmly intact. Theo and Eloise were the kind of thing he would gladly worry about, and the fact that he had them instead of his endless nightmare before would forever be a miracle to him. “It’s this survey I have to conduct - just getting basic background and behavioral information on people in my community...” It wasn’t exactly the most glamorous assignment, but Davis was committed to doing things right this time. 

             “I don’t get it—” Jamie spoke after he swallowed a mouthful of the sandwich that had been prepared by the Feed Lanford group. “We’ve been making up food parcels for the homeless in North End…” He liked volunteering, it made him feel like he was giving back to those who weren’t as lucky as him.  “And some woman in my team starts shouting at the organiser because they were asking for a small donation to get a sandwich?” He shook his head, taking another bite. “She threw her gloves on the ground and stormed off to bakery across the street. Probably spent fifteen bucks on coffee and a baguette with them same filling as mine. What happened to the holiday spirit, huh? 

“Some people are just dicks,” Davis shrugged by way of explanation, digging into his own sandwich. “I’d think she’d at least feel some sort of shame over causing a scene, but apparently some people just have a flair for the dramatics...” 

“Not yours.” The male replied, “But something tells me they all reside in the same club. You know, the stuck-up rich asswipes club. Gotta be an exclusive member.” Grant it, throwing his mother in there was a little unfair, considering it wasn’t so much her, as it was the rest of them, but they were hardly on great terms either.

Davis barked out a quick laugh at the image. “Possibly true,” he agreed. “Maybe fatherhood’s just made me soft, but the way I see it: as long as your kid is happy, and not an asshole, you’ve done your job. Fuck what everyone else has to say.” 

Clara looked upon in mild horror as he used his short collar to wipe away his forehead, her eyes widening comically at the not-so-hygienic gesture. “Hold on there, Sampson,” she remarked, her nose scrunching up as she rummaged through her backpack, found a clean towel, and offered it to the blond. She couldn’t believe it took her that much time before she finally wound up giving the spare towel to him, if only because she too was worried of her growing sweat and tiredness. Certainly not as bad as his, though. “Yes please. Lead the way?”

Davis did something of a skeptical double take at Clara’s proffered towel, his amusement at the gesture obvious as he accepted it and unceremoniously rubbed it all over his face before opting to drape it around his neck rather than return it to her in its current state. With a nod, he headed off in the direction of the bakery, savoring the slower pace and feeling his breath finally coming back to him. “Y’know, I think going to a bakery pretty much negates all the work I’ve just done here. Is there at least some sort of Freshman 15 for parenthood I can blame this on?” 

Emil smiled a little, not thrown by the man’s suspicious response. It wasn’t as though he was some serial killer, but the man in front of him had no way of knowing that. “I believe we met about a year ago,” he said. “I offered her my pretzels at a bar, if memory serves. She and my son have become very close, he thinks the world of her.”

There was still a strange twinge in his chest every time he discovered another part of Hazel’s life he had no knowledge of. It wasn’t that she wasn’t allowed to have a life all her own, but it just served as a reminder that so much of their lives had been separate. And the main person to blame for that was him. “Yeah, well, it’s sort of hard not to,” he said with a small, almost sad smile. “How old is your son?” 

               Glaring at him up and down, she took a step back and wondered why he was being so formal. “Why are you being weird?” The brunette asked, looking down at her watch to determine whether or not she could spare the time. “Stop being weird about it—” She grimaced, “And I’ll do it.”

That was... the first reaction he’d had of the sort today, and he had to admit that he immediately liked the woman for it. “Fair enough,” he chuckled, feeling some tension release from his shoulders. “It’s just, you wouldn’t have been the first person today to think I was accosting them. There was an old lady who whacked me with a surprisingly heavy purse not too long ago, so I’m erring on caution... I’m Davis, and I swear I’m actually a student.”  

Lucy had never been the one for small talk, especially small talk with strangers. There was something about an unrecognizable face walking towards you with a goofy grin that made her cringe. Since she had made her way to America, she seemed to be cringing a lot. The same scenario began to play itself out as she watched the person, albeit with kids, walk up to her and immediately begin questioning. “What?” she questioned back, “School?” the question had come back more rude than she intended but she was still working on her ‘tone’ problem.

“Yes, school,” he said amusedly, picking up on her accent and assuming some sort of language barrier. “Y’know, that thing where you go to learn? Scuola?” he offered helpfully, hoping he’d picked the accent right. 

Emil couldn’t help but smile at the sight of the babies, and then he realized that he knew the man. “Davis, yes?” he said. “My son and I are friends of Hazel, she has told us much about you. I’m Emil, and my little boy is Lucas.” He smiled again at the babies, before looking up at him. “Oh, yes, of course, you may ask whatever you like.”

Admittedly, all thoughts of the survey quickly fell from his mind at the stranger in front of him having more knowledge of him than he had imagined. Maybe it was just the suspicion that had been trained into him, but he couldn’t deny that it set him slightly off balance. “Uh, yeah... Sorry, how do you know Hazel?” 

   “Sure Davis. I have some time to spare” he replied as he adjusted his backpack, “I did not know you went back to school and how are the twins doing?”

“Yeah, figured I’d better start actually doing something with my life,” he joked with a self-deprecating shrug. “Twins are good-” he moved the stroller out in front of him so that Lucas could get a better look, “-They’re getting big, which I suppose is a good thing, though it doesn’t do anything to ease my anxiety that they’re basically going to grow up in the blink of an eye...”