Pocket Full Of Sunshine

“Well… I don’t know, I’m pretty torn. Part of me wants to do the same and go spoopy, but then no one ever really does a classic Jack-O-Lantern anymore, do they? Triangle eyes, goofy mouth with just a couple of teeth. The Halloween standard.” Peach tilted her head to the side, appraising her pumpkin the way an artist would before carving into a marble block. Then she saw the knife and her eyes went wide as she instinctively put a hand out, though she didn’t stop him. “Please be careful, Luke. Don’t leave me down a friend and Dawn without a dad.”

“Oh, classic, I can get down with that,” he says, laughing as he continues to cut open the top, “I’m a quarter giant, I don’t even know that this could cut my skin by accident. And if it did, I’d probably live. I think you and Dawn will be just fine,” he says as he meets her gaze. Pulling out the top as effortlessly as plucking a rose petal, he opens a drawer to pull out a spoon to pull out the guts, “Oooh, do you want to make a pumpkin pie too? Do you want some pumpkin?” he asks, glancing down at Dawn as she wags her tail from her bed across the room.

“You want to have tea with me? Now?” Marilla’s tone was incredulous, and she arched an eyebrow at Luke. She couldn’t believe what he was suggesting– not only did they just meet, but it struck her as odd that anyone beside her sister (and Max, she added in the back of her mind) would want to spend time with her willingly. She wasn’t the most pleasant person to be around, and even though she’d only been in New York for a little over a month, people knew that. She came very close to sputtering, but was thankfully able to compose herself before a string of incoherent sounds came out of her. Instead, Marilla said: “You… you don’t have to do that.”

Luke looks to her, his head turned in immediate confusion as he scratches the top of Dawn’s head, “Well, it’s not marriage,” he says with a soft laugh, “It’s just tea or whatever. You don’t have to, I mean, I won’t be hurt,” he says, still smiling irreverently. 

Marilla couldn’t help but to laugh. “Wouldn’t it be great if getting a dog could solve all my problems?” She replied, then shook her head sadly. “I don’t think I’m really pet owner type. For one thing, I wouldn’t know how to care for one. And for another, I’m never home anymore. I’m always at my store or with my sister. It wouldn’t be fair to the animal.” Lately Marilla had taken to throwing herself into her work, doing everything and anything to occupy her time and avoid going to her Wintervale home. It suddenly felt too big and empty, a reminder of how she’d spent most of her life pushing others away. “But you’re right, exhausted is exactly the for how I’ve been feeling. It would probably do me well to try and be more positive. Or at least, to be around more positive people.”

“I mean,” Luke shrugs, “I can understand that. I usually just bring her with me, and if that’s a problem I just carry her around. It’s not usually a problem,” he says with a smirk, “I mean, she comes to work with me. I really never want to be away from her. And they’re not too tough to care for but, like, make your own choices,” he shrugs, still obviously wanting to encourage her. He nods as he listens, offering her a smile, “Well, I think positivity can do a lot for someone. It won’t solve all of your issues, but, it won’t hurt,” he chuckles, “We can start out now. How about over some coffee? Or tea? Or a biscuit?” he says, addressing the final suggestion to Dawn, who begins to wag her tail enthusiastically. 

“No, I don’t have any pets. Not since Sheba,” Marilla replied, and her expression became troubled– more than it already was. She realized that Luke would have no idea why she was suddenly frowning at him and his dog, and so she sighed and explained: “Sheba was a puppy that I took in when I was a girl. She was a little thing, a mixed breed, and so sweet and well behaved… but my mother hated her. And one summer when I came home from school, she was gone. She ran away. At least, that’s the official story,” Marilla laughed, bitterly. “That woman. She was hateful, and mean, and she spent her entire life trying to appear better than everyone around her. She taught me that that’s what I had to do, and I believed her. I wasted so much time and energy proving that I was superior in every way… And now I’m miserable. And I have no idea what I’m doing, or what I’m supposed to be doing.” The witch took a breath, only just starting to realize that she’d been standing on the street, ranting to a complete stranger who definitely didn’t deserve to be subjected to all her problems. “I’m sorry,” she told him, quietly, “I don’t know where any of that came from.”

Luke stares up at her, having knelt down to scratch behind Dawn’s ears as he listens. It was troubling, of course, but he tried not to let it show on his face. “Well, it’s good that you can see that,” he says that he stands, shaking his head, “Hey, it’s alright, if you can’t unload your problems on strangers, who can you?” he asks with a small smile. He nods, “But, I think, knowing that that outlook was making you miserable is really the first step. I mean, I can’t imagine how exhausting it’d be to be constantly trying to be better than everyone else, you know?” he asks, cocking his head. He stroke Dawn’s ears as he continues once more, “I think everyone comes to a time in their life where they feel like they don’t know what to do with themselves. I like to think that, like, it’s okay to just be,” he says with a small gesture, “To just work on yourself and figure it out, you know? And maybe you should think about a dog. They really do give you purpose, I think.”

@lukeschroder

“You know, normally I wouldn’t agree with you there, but I think it’s different on Halloween.” Peach generally wasn’t a fan of horror movies, but she wasn’t opposed to seeing them during the spookiest month of the year– Or when a friend asked (or dragged) her to go. She gave Luke a warm smile. “I’ll go with you, and we can scream together. But we have to load up on snacks first. You can’t see any movie without snacks, scary or not.”

“It’s an excuse for a good cry,” Luke says with a broad smile as he leans towards her, “I’m all about catharsis,” he says as he shakes his head. As she agrees, he nods and beams again, “Sounds perfect! We can scream in harmony, and everyone will be very jealous of our beautiful pipes,” he says, stroking a hand over his throat for a moment, “Oh, hell yeah, I’ve got a bottomless bag that we could totally use. I love hiding weird shit in there. I used to keep my tuba in it so I could whip it out randomly,” he pauses, a goofy grin crossing his face, “The tuba, I mean.”

“People apologize far too much these days,” Marilla said on a sigh, more to herself than to Luke. It always annoyed her when strangers would say how sorry there were for the most trivial things– like taking up space or voicing an opinion. She was the type of person who never apologized for anything, and perhaps that was one of the many, many things that was wrong with her. She frowned. “I mean, it’s all right. She wasn’t bothering me.” The witch looked down again at the dog, her expression softening as she reached down to gently pet her head. “And I’m Marilla. Ross.” She gave Luke a little smile.

Luke hums thoughtfully at that and smiles, “Oh, sure, you can do anything too much, even eat chocolate,” he says with a chuckle, “But apologizing can be good, I think. It means you care about people, about their time, that sort of thing. You don’t wanna apologize just for existing, but, you know,” he shrugs. “Nice to meet you, Marilla, I think Dawn feels the same,” he says, looking down at the dog who is wagging her tail as she sits. “Such a good girl, yes you are,” he says, in what can only be described as a ‘doggy voice’, “Do you have any pets? Dawn’s my one and only lady right now. I think that’s just how she likes it.”