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.
Just a regular kid...
Charlie dreamed of being normal the same way other kids dreamed of being astronauts or firemen, the same way Don dreamed of being a major league baseball player.
He knew it was a fantasy, but he did it anyway.
As a treat, his mother took him along with her to one of her social justice weekend workshops. They had a short workshop each morning for the kids, but the rest of the time was spent doing charity work in the hopes of instilling a commitment to service.
Charlie chose to work at the clothing drive, figuring it couldn't be too hard. He ended up getting assigned to a mountain of shoes alongside four other kids with instructions to pair them up and pack them into bags to be given to needy families.
He'd never seen any of the kids before, but that didn't matter. In less than an hour they were laughing, throwing shoes and working together to fill the bags.
Raphael and Charlie managed to juggle toddler shoes together. Nicole had a knack for finding the mate to whatever single shoe people were stuck on. Obie had more 'knock knock' jokes than any of them had ever heard. Ki, being the oldest, took charge of the whole operation and made sure they got as many bags filled as possible that afternoon.
Later at the hotel, Margaret wondered why Charlie was beaming. When she asked him if he had a good day he just grinned and told her he had, but not why.
He went to bed that night for the first time with memories of an ordinary day as an ordinary boy, instead of fantasies.