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Post by fly on Oct 20, 2011 4:26:40 GMT 10
“Mr. Murdok, Fiona’s found her way up a very tall tree and is refusing to come down,”
Not exactly something a 5-year-old’s guardian wants to hear over the phone during work hours. It had been three years since Asher had assumed the role of parent for his niece, and still the nuances and techniques of rearing a child were eluding him. While he was by no means terrible with children, he often found himself at a loss for how to deal with a child as young as Fiona on his own with no prior experience in the field of parenting. Half the time he didn’t know if he was bringing her up right or launching her down a path that would require some therapy at the end of it, but there was one thing that remained constant; he was head over heels in love with this curly haired girl. He couldn’t explain it. Chalk it up to biology, but the moment he met her in that social services office, a part of his heart had been snatched clean from him; unwittingly commandeered by this little cherub of a human being. He was unquestioningly smitten with this child who up until 2 days prior, he hadn't even known had existed. It was that very feeling of unfaltering, unquestionable love he’d felt at their first acquaintance that now moved him to come to her aid this very morning that she’d found herself up a tree.
“She’s been up here all afternoon and won’t come down,” the panicky schoolyard monitor informed Asher as she paced nervously under the leafy boughs of the large chestnut tree that towered well above the roof of the school house. Eyes narrowing for sharper focus, Asher caught sight of the little girl nestled up against the trunk of the tree on one of the top most branches; her nobly Band-Aid slathered knees tucked up under her chin. Seeing her up there, a mere speck of a person, terrified Asher to no end, yet he couldn’t help but feel a simultaneous twinge of pride at the height she’d achieved on the tree. She was a tiny thing! Even getting to the first branch for her would have been an accomplishment, let alone getting to the 10th.“We’ve tried to coax her down,” the plump woman continued, rubbing her drooping cheek with apparent fear “-but she seems pretty adamant in remaining where she is.” Asher, unsure of really the best course of action to take in a situation like this, decided to act on his first impulse, which was to remove his socks and shoes and hoist himself up into the great tree. “Mr. Murdok!” The woman called up after him as he began to scale the rough bark of tree boughs, “-this tree’s a dangerous one to climb! Is this really the best idea?” True, climbing this tree was maybe not the smartest idea in the world, but right at this very moment, getting to Fiona was his most important objective. Muscles propelling him, hands yanking, and toes gripping, Asher managed to heave his way up to the branch where his little girl sat tucked so tightly into herself that she appeared barely more than the size of a barn owl.
The first thing he noticed about her was the wet patch on her sleeve where tears had fallen. She was upset. Instinctively, Asher reached out to her, his large callused hand coming to rest on her itty bitty little knee. He didn’t say anything. For a while they just sat in silence, his palm cupping her knee as the gentle breeze lulled the quivering leaves around them. Then, without words, as if there was some language that existed between them where words were unnecessary, Fiona uncurled herself from her balled up position and wrapped her arms around her uncle’s neck. Though little, her grip was firm, and he knew that she was ready to come down from her sanctuary. Exhaling gently, Asher positioned her legs around his midsection and proceeded to ease himself down trunk, all the while Fiona clasping herself to his back like a spider monkey would.
When the two reached the grassy earth once more, Asher saw the puffed up monitor skittering her way over to assess the damage and reprimand them both for such reckless behavior, but with a gentle hand Asher signaled her to give him and his child a moment. The lady looked as if she might implode, but nodded and allowed them a moment to themselves, proceeding towards the other children at the playground on her thick, stumpy legs. Waiting a fraction of a minute, Asher tucked his arms around Fiona’s legs that until now had been gripping his sides and spoke. “The seagulls at you again Fi?” he asked in that quiet rumbling way of his. His voice was free of judgment or anger. While upset that she’d climbed the tree to a point where injury could have been serious; he knew that there must have been a reason for it, and he suspected it was because of her other classmates who had an affinity for picking on her. In response to her uncle’s question, the little girl hugged her arms tighter around his neck and buried her corkscrew curled head of black hair into his shoulder. He sighed knowingly. “I told you, ignore ‘em and they’ll get bored. That’s what seagulls do. They’re not like you or me. We’re spider monkeys,” he said touching the toe of her little yellow shoe affectionately. “You’re still a baby spider monkey yet though, so you gotta wait for me if we’re gunna explore the trees, okay? I know you’re pretty good at it, but ol’ plump Mrs. Moorhen over there,“ He said indicating at the hall monitor with the nod of his head, “-gets a little frightened at what we spider monkeys can accomplish. You understand? No climbing unless I’m around?” he asked, not exactly in a stern manner, but his tone suggesting that he was quite serious. After a while of waiting, he felt Fiona’s head nod against his neck. “We made cards for mother’s day and they were laughing at me cuz’ I put your name on it,” she squeaked. Asher felt his heart lurch. He opened his mouth to say something but found he was at a loss for words. All he could do was hug her legs a little tighter to him and plant a stubbly kiss on her hand hook just under his chin. “Lets go find your shoes monkey.”
Noticing that he’s managed to acquire a sizable bloody scrape on his arm from scaling the tree, Asher plodded up to the school building with his child still clinging onto his back. Once inside Asher unstuck his niece from him and told her to go to her cubby and collect her shoes while he looked for a Band-Aid to cover the reddening scratch that was blossoming on his sunburnt skin. Ducking his head into the nearest classroom, he found himself face to face with a beautiful brunette woman in possession of a pair of intelligent green eyes.
It was like his stomach was somersaulting backwards into his abdomen. In response to the tumbling routine occurring in his stomach, his mouth suddenly went dry and he was rendered unable to do anything other than look at this beautiful woman wordlessly. Oh, this wasn’t the first time he’d turned into a slack-jawed fool in front of her. It was pretty much every time he caught sight of her in passing that this happened, which for him was more than embarrassing, because they ran into each other often. It wasn’t just at his niece’s school that they happened upon each other, but also in the street outside of school hours, and every damn time their eyes met Asher would regress about 20 years and become a tongue-tied, sweaty palmed 5th grader. Realizing that he was just standing there essentially staring at her, Asher quickly lowered his eyes and wet his lips, hoping that it might help squeeze some intelligible sounds out of him. “Uh, Hi, I gotta… I gotta, scratch. From, the, uh, tree outside. I was wondering if you maybe had a Band-Aid?” He asked, becoming painfully aware of how idiotic he sounded. He also became aware that amongst all the times they’d seen each other in passing, this was the first time he’d ever spoken to her.
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