A small story where I take advantage of the fact that the same actor played two characters and run with it.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Check back in twenty years maybe I'll get lucky.
All Becomes Clear in the Moonlight
It had taken some time to get the children calmed down after the battle and into bed. Miss Price came upstairs and caught the tale end of Mr. Brown singing a lullaby as Paul finally drifted off and he shut the door.
"In a most delightful way."
"What is that?"
"An old song my nanny use to sing."
"You had a nanny?"
"Many actually. My sister and I were certainly not the most well behaved children."
"I was not aware that men who have never lived like kings could afford such a luxury."
Mr. Brown said nothing.
"So you lied about that too?"
"Lied is such a dirty word, my dear, I prefer to say repressed a portion of my life that has nothing to do with me now."
Miss Price stepped in front of him her eyes hard.
"Explain."
He moved passed her and went downstairs, staring out the window of the living room he began.
"I once lived in a completely different world, with a different name, and so I see it as another life. I was so young no older than Paul is now. My parents were wrapped up in their own lives they didn't save much time for us. She, my nanny, came to change all that. In her own special way, I still don't know how she slid up that banister."
"She was like me?"
"No nothing like you. Not a witch I mean, as you know witches have brooms. Anyway we went on many adventures together and at the end she somehow got us to be a real family. She left after that, she had done what she needed to do. It was wonderful for a while and then…and then the war came. The war to end all wars it was supposed to be," he said while looking at the destruction that still littered the front lawn. "So much for that."
He was quiet for a while, deep in thought, and Miss Price let her own mind drift back in time. She herself had few memories of that era, but she did remember feeling so small and helpless in the wake of it. It was one of the reasons she he wanted to help in the war effort now. She started as Mr. Brown spoke again.
"My father was one of the many who never came home. Life was never the same after that, the world was never the same and I'm ashamed to say I didn't cope well with it. Suddenly I had to be the man of the house before I was ready. I was angry and a handful to my mother, God rest her strong soul, I left as soon as was able determined to make it on my own. Determined to find her."
"To find a nanny?"
"As I said she was a remarkable woman and I was sure she could fix what had been broken just as she had before. I searched long and hard for others like her or her herself. I became an illusionist on the whim that I could perhaps even become like her. Then I started the school in hopes that one day someone would come to me.
"And then you came along. Long after I'd given up hope, embittered by failure, lost all I'd wished to gain, you changed all that. Never have I had such a wonderful time in all my life."
Miss Price came over to comfort him.
"Mr. Brown-"
"Banks, Michael Banks."
"Michael, I'm flattered, but I can't be your saviour I can't throw up barriers against the outside world."
"No, no that wasn't what I meant. What I mean is you make it easier to face the world. Having someone to share my problems with, to have and hold. To love."
He softly kissed her and smiled shyly.
"I hope I was not too impulsive. I was never very good with women."
"You weren't impulsive it seems everyone but us knew," she said her eyes looking up to the children's bedroom.
"Yes children are known for being very observant and not entirely tactful."
She laughed and leaned against him, letting his hand hold hers.
"What will you do now?"
"I will do what I should have done many years ago. I've been running away, being a coward for too long now. You performed your service and now I must perform mine." He smiled in wistful memory. "Jane always said I was just like father."
Cosmic Creepers looked on at the scene and it almost seemed as though he was smiling, if cats could do such things. Quickly he went to an open window and dashed into night.
Down at one of the many crossroads he met a woman and yowled at her impatiently.
"Yes I know I'm late, but you should know I can't be everywhere at once," she said sharply snapping her umbrella closed. "Now if you would be so kind as to direct me to the first house I have a schedule to keep."
Cosmic shook his head and meowed.
"One? No I am certain there were two, there were two groups of children sent here were there not?"
He nodded and quickly explained the new circumstances.
"He did, did he?"
She looked up to the house just visible beyond the brow of the hill and smiled.
"Well done, Michael."
The End