Acknowledgements:
Omi as always
The BTN8rs - with apologies
The Numb3rs dot org crew - since I did the whole alphabet inspired by their challenge
Disclaimers:
"A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend" - Willow, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
I do not own any Numb3rs characters nor do I have any rights to
anything related to the TV show Numb3rs. I plead fair use and claim
only my own writing and characters.
When Charlie weaseled out of piano lessons in favor of building his own instruments based on mathematical principles, Don protested at first. He later relented when he saw that Charlie was doing way more work than the required thirty minutes a day of practice Don had been assigned.
What Don didn't realize was how much Charlie enjoyed his projects. Inevitably he'd lose interest in playing his creations once they were built and perfected, but he crafted them lovingly.
Years later, Charlie came across a xylophone he'd built in the garage and marveled at how much effort he'd put into it.
It hit him then that he didn't put all that care into the instruments just out of a sense of accomplishment. Each of them was, in its own small way, a gift to his mother.
Even though Charlie didn't realize it until he was thirty, somehow he knew she always understood.