A/N: I'm really nervous about posting this? I don't know. Let me know what you think. I'll be continuing this for at least another chapter, but if you're interested in more, let me know :)
The salesman fiddles with the clasps of his briefcase uncomfortably in the dining room. The kitchen windows are open and there's a breeze running through the house, ruffling the dusty lace curtains that drape picturesquely behind the strange man. The curtains haven't been touched in years, not since Grammy died. Pappy never goes into the dining room, not even to talk to the accountant, Mr. Bill. They always stay in the living room and sit on the couch and spend more time talking about the other farms than Pappy's.
The salesman is wearing a heavily starched brown suit and Scott can see the sweat starting to turn his white collar grey. It's a hot July day. Scott isn't allowed to go in the dining room because Pappy said he was doing grown-up business, but Scott's crouched on the staircase just out of sight, listening intently. His hands clasp the railing tightly as he leans forward, eager to find out what's going on. He can't see Pappy, but he can hear him pacing back and forth on the other side of the room.
"It's the first offer you've received on the house, and it's been on the market for almost five months," the salesman says finally, after a long silence. Pappy sighs, and Scott frowns. He doesn't understand what they're talking about.
"It's too far below the asking price," Pappy replies. Scott hears the rustle of his clothes as he stops walking back and forth and leans back against the wall.
The salesman makes a face. "The house is in complete disrepair. I don't think you're going to get a better offer. And if you let it keep sitting there, the fees are going to start to add up. The sooner you get rid of your son's house, the better."
Scott pictures his house in his head. He knows that's the house they're talking about, now; Pappy is daddy's daddy. The house is a long car ride away, in a city. It has stains all over the walls, but they're not Scott's fault, even though daddy blames some of them on him. There used to be bugs living in the basement. It was Scott's job to kill them, or they would get into the food.
Scott doesn't live in that house anymore, he lives with Pappy. Daddy's gone. Pappy says he's gone forever, but it's hard to imagine forever, because it's a long time. Scott's used to Daddy being gone, even though sometimes when he hears the screen door slam or a truck on the road he thinks that it might be Daddy coming back for him. Pappy says that now Daddy's dead, he won't come back. When Scott asked if it was just like Mommy leaving, his pappy got quiet and after a while he said, "a little like that, yeah. But it's not the same."
Scott doesn't mind living with Pappy. He helps Pappy do the chores and Pappy treats him like a grown-up. Except for today, because Pappy won't let him go in the dining room.
"Isn't there anything you can do?" Pappy asks, and he sounds sad. Scott starts to feel worried the way he always did when it got dark and Daddy wasn't home yet. He tightens his hands around the railing, even though the wood digs into his hands. "We're struggling, Mr. Carter," Pappy says, and Scott can practically feel the way Pappy's shoulders slump even though he can't see it. Pappy always stands up straight, because he says bad posture is a sign of bad breeding. Scott's hands are sweating. He doesn't like it when Pappy gets quiet, or sad. He especially doesn't like it when Pappy starts to sound like an old man, because even though Pappy's hair is grey, he's still strong and he can lift a lot of things, not like an old man.
"The farm's in trouble," Pappy says. "We can't compete with commercial growers who've moved into the area. I wouldn't make this your problem, but... the boy's mother is sick, on top of everything else. She needs someone to take care of her, and I'm the only person who cares enough to try. It's an expense I wasn't prepared for... on top of buying groceries and medicine for her, the cost of gas is up again and she lives pretty far. I don't know how I'm going to make ends meet if we don't get this house sold... I don't know if I can take an offer that low without having to sell the farm, too."
Pappy's voice sounds strained, and Scott watches the salesman grimace and fidget even more. "I... I don't know what I can do," the salesman says, but the look on his face shows that he's making a decision. "Well, okay. I think I can help you out. There's a few strings I can pull."
Pappy moves into Scott's line of sight, and he has a big smile on his face. He shakes the salesman's hand gratefully. "Thanks so much, Mr. Carter. I appreciate that so much." The salesman mumbles in response, and rises from his seat. The two older men wander out of the dining room into the front doorway, Mr. Carter getting ready to leave. Scott hastily gets to his feet and pretends that he's just coming down the stairs. He doesn't want Pappy to know he was eavesdropping.
"Come say goodbye to Mr. Carter, Scott," Pappy says when he sees his grandson. Scott goes to him and they step out onto the porch together, waving as the salesman gets into his sedan and drives away.
They stay on the porch together in silence for a few moments.
And then Scott says, "But my mom's not sick, Pappy."
Pappy looks down at Scott sharply, frowning. Scott meets Pappy's blue eyes and realizes that he just gave away his secret. He shifts from one foot to the other uneasily, but he doesn't break eye contact. Pappy's the one who looks away first. "No, she's not sick," he says slowly, his bushy eyebrows furrowed slightly. "But he was tryin' to stiff us. Nobody gets one over on me. Or on my grandson, right?" Scott nods eagerly. "You do what you have to to get by, Scott. That's the way it is."
Scott's pet dog is named Alan. He's a border collie like the other farms have, except he wears a spiky collar and he knows how to talk.
Alan isn't real, Scott just imagined him. Scott's teachers at school say Scott is attention-starved and causes disruptions because wants people to notice him more. He acts bad because it's the only way he knows how to make people pay attention to him. Pappy makes Scott come with him to the parent-teacher interviews because he can't stay home alone, even though Scott insists Alan is old enough to babysit.
Scott hates going to school, and he hates learning and he hates his teachers and he hates the other students. The teachers and the other kids hate Scott too. He gets in trouble all the time and no one wants to play with him at recess, and when they play tag he's always it and no one gets off tee and when he quits because it's no fun everyone calls him a baby.
If he was allowed, Scott would spend all day with Alan and Pappy doing farm stuff and exploring. Alan and Scott are going to be explorers when they grow up, and Scott has known it ever since he watched Indiana Jones and read Treasure Island and The Hobbit and King Solomon's Mines. All the kids in Scott's class like Harry Potterbest and want to become wizards, because that was the book they read together out loud. But Scott isn't going to go to school anymore, he's going to get a gun and kill lions and dig up treasure and fight a dragon.
(Scott has read the fourth Harry Potter book and Harry fights a dragon, but Harry Potter doesn't get any treasure or meet dwarves and he still has to do tests and go to class. Scott is going to build a boat like the Dawn Treader and sail to the end of the Earth. None of his classmates are invited.)
Scott's Pappy never gets mad at Scott. Pappy is proud that Scott is his grandson and teaches him how to run the farm. Pappy says he's raising Scott the proper way, not like his dad. That's why Scott reads so many books. They're the books Pappy had on the shelf, and he told Scott that when he was a boy he didn't watch TV, he read books. Pappy's favourite is The Story of the Treasure Seekers, and he read it out loud to Scott every night before bed for the whole month of August. Now it's one of Scott's favourites, too.
Pappy sometimes teaches Scott lessons Scott doesn't understand. Once, Pappy tried to teach Scott about moral relativity because Scott's teacher said that lying was never okay. "The truth is subjective, Scott," Pappy said with a serious face. Scott wasn't sure what relativity or subjective were. Pappy said he'd understand some day.
What Scott is starting to understand is that the real world and books weren't really that alike. No matter how much Scott searches for a magic portal or a long-lost buried artifact, he can't find one. So instead of being whisked off on a high-flying adventure by a band of merry comrades, he has to keep going to school. His only consolation is that all of his classmates have turned eleven and none of them have been accepted into Hogwarts, either.