Fedora
~~~Years Ago~~~
The maple leaves of the autumn air give the scene of the brick buildings color. The young boy watches out his window of the car. His parents driving the young genus to his new college in Boston, Massachusetts.
The Harvard sign was big and bold. It matched the logo on his sweatshirt. His dad made the final turn. The parked in front of his new dorm.
His mother's curls reflected the afternoon sun and her floral dress made he look older. His father had his hat on. It was something Toby always saw on his father's head.
His future was starting and he thought of his new life, and how he would never look back. Everything was coming together.
"We're here son" Mr. Curtis said snapping him from his thoughts.
They get out and help Toby unpack and get everything to his dorm. It's been a few hours and his parents are getting ready to leave. His mother kisses him and hugs him. She has tears in her eyes. His father decided to hug his only son that is going to college so early in life.
"You'll be fine Tobias." He says. He takes his hat off of his own head and gives it to his son.
Toby is surprised that his father gave up his favorite hat to him. He has never been so kind.
"Love you Tobias. Behave baby." His mother says giving him one last kiss.
They drive away and Toby stands alone in front of his dormitory. He takes the hat off and looks at it. It's his now. The only thing his father has given him that he has actually wanted.
Toby's dad had never done birthday gifts because they were too poor and he gambled their money away. His dad was more rude and fake to his poor mother. She just suffered through and his father was forced to deal with her illness. That's why he would save her by learning how to help her.
~~~~Present Day~~~~
"Happy?! Have you seen my hat?!"
"Wow… Doc it might be at the garage. Why are you so panicked?" Happy was very confused. He had never been so protective over losing it before.
"No not that hat!" He was nearly in hysterics.
"What other hat do you wear?"
"It's my hat!" He was frustrated that she didn't understand.
He sat on the floor wear he once stood and curled into a ball and cried. She hurried down next to him. This outburst came from nowhere. One minute they were unpacking their things into their new house and now he is freaked out and sobbing. Happy pulls him close to her and holds him, unsure of what to say. He cries.
"Toby?... What's going on? Please, Talk to me."
"My hat. My-hat. The only thing my dad gave me out of love was the hat off his head that he only ever wore, when my parents dropped me off, my first day at Harvard."
"Tobes… Where was it in the apartment?" She looks as he holds her and his head rest on her shoulder.
"The spare room."
"What box did you have it in."
"Toby's important crap." He mumbles.
"Moving trucks lose things all the time-" he cuts her calm voice off.
"No Happy I can't lose it!"
"It's not. Relax. It's not. I didn't want anything too important to get lost so I brought everything marked important to the garage. Your hat must be there. I can call Walt and have him look."
"Thank you." It was all he could say.
After Toby made no move to get up Happy realized how much her back didn't like sitting on the floor. She pulled him up and pulled him to the couch. Toby understood.
Happy reaches to the table beside the couch for her phone. She calls Walter.
"Hey Walter…Could you go to behind my desk...there's a stack of boxes that I didn't want getting lost in the move. Can you check for a hat. It's Toby's….in the one marked 'Toby's important crap'. It's there? Thank you. He needed to know. Thank you. See you tomorrow bye."
"Thank you for checking."
"Of course. I know what it feels like. Throughout all my years moving around in the foster system I kept a monkey that my mom picked out for me. It's like every child gets a stuffed animal or blanket from their parents when their born. I had my monkey and purple blanket."
"I had a cat. They gave me a blue stuffed cat it's in that box too." He smiles at the memory of his blue cat. "His name was boo bury because I couldn't say blueberry. Then I had a blue blanket I called it boo boo 2."
Happy smiles and giggles. "My monkey was Romeo and my blanket was binky. How confusing is that for a baby to scream for her binky meaning blanket instead of actual binky."
Toby laughs. He moves his hand to rest on his wife's stomach. He kisses it. Happy runs a hand through his hair. They smile at her stomach. Suddenly she kicks and both Happy and Toby look at each other.
"She kicked… Toby I think that was a kick. She kicked for the first time." Happy says. Toby leans in kissing Happy's lips.
"That's our baby girl." Toby says. He kisses Happy with more behind it than just happiness. "She's gonna Love wearing fedoras."
"No. I can't handle having two of you hat wearing idiots."
"You calling her an idiot?!"
"No. I'm calling my husband an idiot. No child of mine is gonna be subject to wear fedoras."
"But you know I'm sexy as hell in my fedora."
"Yes you my sexy husband not my sweet innocent baby girl."
"Think of how cute it would be to see our baby, half of both of us, would look in a baby fedora."
"That'd be cute…."