#young phil

“‘Scuse me,” a tiny voice came from Cornelia’s left. She jumped and placed a hand over her heart before glancing down, fighting back the urge to swear in her surprise.

“Good morning, Phil.” She stepped back to let the tiny ginger-haired boy through the kitchen door. “How are you doing?”

He peered up at her, eyes bright. “Alive,” he informed her, very serious.

Well, Cornelia knew where he had learned that. She was going to be having words with Martyn about saying these things to his little brother. “I’m glad to hear,” she said, just as solemn as Phil.

Phil nodded, his lips pursed, and then he trotted further into the kitchen, vanishing behind the tall counter. Cornelia followed him.

“What are you doing?”

A stool scraped against the floor as Phil shoved it aside. He heaved a deep sigh, which Cornelia could hear even halfway across the room. “Train,” he said succinctly. “‘S gone.”

“Your toy?” she asked, joining him on the other side of the counter. He was frowning mildly down at the linoleum, eyebrows furrowed in deep thought.

“Yeah,” he said, and sighed again, a deep, world-weary breath that almost made Cornelia laugh. He sounded just like Martyn when he couldn’t find the remote to the TV. “Gotta find it before I can play with Dan.”

“Where did you last see it?”

Phil shrugged helplessly. “Dunno. I looked in my room and mum’s room and under the couch already, though.”

Cornelia could hear both of Phil’s parents in the backyard, their voices a low murmur as they shuffled through the plants in their garden. She was almost certain that Martyn was with them. “Have you checked outside?”

“Haven’ gone outside today,” said Phil.

“Ah,” she said. “Hmm. Well, would you like some help looking for it?”

Phil trudged away from Cornelia and into the sitting room. “Guess so,” he said.

Cornelia joined him in peering behind the TV stand, digging through the couch cushions, and tilting back a loveseat to glance beneath it. The toy train remained stubbornly lost.

Phil also looked stubbornly lost once they had both gone over the entire room. He propped his chubby hands on his waist, clearly mimicking his mum’s motions. “I need my train,” he said adamantly. “Dan won’t wanna play if I don’t have it.”

Setting a photo frame back on its place on a bookcase, Cornelia smiled down at him. “I’m sure he’ll play with you even if you don’t have the train. Don’t you have lots of other toys?”

“I need the train,” insisted Phil, and then he marched back into the kitchen. “What time is it?” he demanded of Cornelia, who had followed him instinctively. He reached up, and with determined strength, hauled open the refrigerator door.

“Just after nine in the morning,” she informed him, after a swift glance at the clock on the wall.

“Snack time,” Phil said decisively. He plucked two apples from the crisper and somehow, with a clenched, stubborn set to his jaw, managed to cram one in each of his small jeans’ pockets. The denim bulged hilariously on both sides of his waist.

“Who’s the other apple for?” Cornelia couldn’t resist asking, although she knew this routine by heart, as it happened every day whether she and Martyn were visiting or not.

“Dan,” said Phil.

“Ah,” Cornelia said.

Phil looked very put-upon all of a sudden. His small shoulders rose up and down with a massive breath, and he stared up at Cornelia. “Need my train,” he said, gaze deep with something beyond Cornelia’s knowledge.

“Do you want to look in your room again?”

“No,” he said. His forehead crinkled as he thought deeply. “I looked a’ready.”

“You visited Dan yesterday, yes?” asked Cornelia.

“Yes,” said Phil heavily. “Every whole day before lunch.”

Time was somewhat of an abstract concept to six-year-olds, Cornelia thought. A whole day wasn’t quite...ah, but she was getting sidetracked. “What if you left it when you visited him?” she suggested.

Phil shook his head instantly, assured of his answer. “Didn’t. I ‘member taking it back with me.”

“But if it’s not here - and you’ve looked everywhere, right? - so then it must be there.”

Phil did not look very impressed by her reasoning, but after a long moment of consideration, he shrugged slowly. “Can check,” he said reluctantly.

“If it’s not there, we’ll look more over here,” she assured him.

Phil seemed a little appeased by this. “‘Kay,” he said. “But we hafta find it. Else I can’t play with Dan anymore.”

“We’ll do that,” Cornelia agreed.

Satisfied, at least for now, Phil headed for the back door. “Bye!” he said. “Going to visit Dan now!”