The Tinkling Piano
"I'm sure the kid knows how far to push himself," John thought to himself as he watched the red haired kid fly around the track at the park. The kid, as John often referred to him, was nothing short of astonishing. His first time at the track with John, they made a bet that only the one who lost the race would have to reveal their name. So they raced and the kid won easily, beating Johns time by a whole two minutes.
It's kind of ridiculous but it makes sense. The kid has longer legs and less mass than I do which makes for a leaner frame and, apparently, a faster track time.
He watched the younger man wiz by him again.
Nope. No amount of science could explain that complete and utter garbage.
The human roadrunner skidded to a stop directly in front of John smiling and barely even hyperventilating.
"Come on John, you know you want to get beat by me again." He said smiling
John only laughed, mostly because he didn't have anything he could really say. "Maybe another time kid, I just came for leisurely run today."
"Ooh, sounds exciting." He said sarcastically.
John smiled again. "Being able to run fast is great and all but there's nothing like taking a great jog." John beamed at the wisdom he felt he impressed upon a young mind. The moment didn't last long though.
The red-haired child bent over with laughter.
John didn't know what was so funny or what to do next until the kid stopped laughing. It didn't take too long before he noticed John wasn't laughing.
He quickly composed himself and admitted: "Dude, you sound like an old man!"
John rolled his eyes. "Whatever speedy. Are you coming on the jog with me or what?"
The kid pondered it quickly. "That sounds fun."
"Alright then, not too fast." John didn't wait for an answer before he started his little trot. The weather was almost perfect. The balance of the wind and sunshine made the temperature on his skin just right. Surprisingly, there weren't a whole lot of people outside even with the gorgeous weather. There were a few hardcore runners and a handful of new mothers running with their strollers holding infants. John couldn't help but wonder why. He got his answer 8 blocks into their jog.
The streets were blocked off and there were food carts and little tents all up and down the street. Apparently, there was an art festival going on.
John stopped and turned around. "Hey speedy, you wanna take a mini break and look at some art?"
"Maybe if you stop calling me speedy." He smiled.
Man, John thought, this kid smiles a lot.
"Ok then, does your family have a nickname for you or something that your friends call you?"
The kids smile wavered just a little so that most people wouldn't have noticed it, but of course John did. He almost asked what was wrong, but then the kid smile unwavered.
"The people at school have nicknamed me The Flash."
"Flash it is then."
They walked slowly down the crowded street, not pausing at any of the little tents until one caught Johns eye. It wasn't a large painting it was slightly smaller but its size didn't matter to him. He walked over to it transfixed, like it had some sort of hold on him.
It had three people on it, a man, a woman, and a child. The canvas the painting was on was black but John was still able to pick out the subtle tones of their skin, so similar to his. The man, who John assumed was the father, had extremely long and thick arms wrapped around his wife and child. The wife had normal length arms but they were wrapped around her child only. The child held one of each of her parents hands, her tiny hands being dwarfed by their more adult ones.
"It's of my family."
John jumped, startled by the woman he hadn't seen sneak up on him. He quickly ascertained what she was talking about though. "You're the artist of this painting."
She nodded.
John turned back to the picture. "What inspired you to make it?"
The artist smirked. "When I was growing up, I always had both of my parents living with me. It never occurred to me that I had particularly good circumstances until I noticed that almost everyone around me only had one parent. When I got older, I decided to try art and this is what I created. It isn't just a piece that means something to me, we all want to be one of the people in that picture. We all aspire to be at this point in our lives." she noticed there were some other people interested in buying her work. "If you're interested in buying it, stick around, I'll give you a good price on it." The artist then walked away to help some other people.
John wasn't sure what to do. He saw the kid and he knew what to do. "Come on Flash, breaks over."
The kid saw him and quickly sped over to him. Before they could meet though, John ran off in the opposite direction always staying just ahead of him.
John wasn't too keen on letting the kid see him cry.
John waited impatiently at the restaurant for Shayera. He kept checking his watch and then staring at the door willing her to walk through it. It wasn't that he was mad at her or anything, he was just really overwhelmingly nervous. He had decided to figure out what she wasn't telling him, no matter the cost.
She walked through the door in a yellow silk dress. She was so striking he almost didn't recognize her. She walked over normally but he saw it as one of the most beautiful things he'd ever seen. He was so distracted by her he forgot to pull out her chair for her. As soon as she sat down realized his mistake.
"Oh, wait! I meant to pull out your chair!" John half stood up flustered.
Shayera laughed. "It's ok John, I know you were probably so dazzled by me that you couldn't think straight."
He tried to defend himself with another quip but none came to mind so he just sat there with his mouth poised to speak. "Uh, yeah you got me on that one."
Shayera laughed again. "Well, John I must say I have never seen you so unsuave, I quite like it."
He smiled as he figured out what he to say. "Well if you keep looking as beautiful as you do in that dress, you'll see me like this a whole lot." He smirked.
They continued their banter until a waiter arrived to take their order. John ordered an expensive bottle of wine and two steak dinners. They continued to talk and laugh throughout their meal. He hadn't seen her so happy and jubilant in such a long time he almost forgot what it was like.
During a particularly quite moment following the laughter from a joke, John decided to make his move but make it with tact. "Shay, have I ever told you about my dad?" he was testing the waters.
Shayeras smirk faded a little but came right back.
Just like the kid, John thought.
"Um, I don't think so."
"Shayera, I want to know you more than anyone else in the world," he silently gulped. "So I'm going to tell you more than I've told anyone else in the world."
And he did. He told her his mom was a high school dropout, and that she met his father by complete accident at a club they were both too young to be in. They'd gotten drinks and hit it off, as his mother always said. Over time they'd gotten better aquianted with each other and one thing led to another and 9 months later John was born. At first both of his parents were happy but then his fathers parents found out about it and that was what ruined things.
His mother found out that his father was the son of a billionaire and that he was grooming his son to be the future CEO of a billion-dollar company. Having an illegitimate child was not part of those plans. Johns father fought tooth and nail over the matter with his own father but eventually he was given an ultimatum. Either he stay with the family company and give his son $1500 a week for the rest of his life or he would be cutoff from the family company, no money, no assistance, nothing. He would be completely on his own without a way to provide for his new family.
He made the only call he felt was reasonable.
He left John and and Johns mother but he gave them a home and a comfortable life.
"I didn't know you had a childhood like that."
John had long since stopped smiling. "Yeah." He said lost in his own thoughts.
"Did you ever get to meet him?"
"Yeah, when I turned 16 he showed up at my house and took me out to basically have a guys day. We went sky diving and got burgers and he bought me a car."
"Whoa, lifestyles of the rich and the famous."
John smiled at her little joke. "Yeah, after that we only hungout a few other times. He was almost always busy with the company and when he wasn't doing that he took care of his own wife and kids. It seemed like he just wanted me to know that he still cared for me or something." he looked up to see Shayeras sympathetic smile and steeled himself for what would happen next. "Now that I've told you about my parents, tell me about yours."
Shayeras heart just about skipped a beat.
No no no no no no no. After telling me a story like that how can I possibly tell him the truth. How can I tell him the lies I've told him for so long weren't true?
Shayera began fidgeting, unsure of how to proceed.
She took a deep breath. "What do you know about my family?"
John looked a little perturbed but he answered her question. "I know that you still live with your parents and you have a younger brother. I don't know any of their names, where you live, or whether or not they know about me. I don't see how we can keep going in our relationship if we aren't honest with each other Shay."
Shayera drunk a bit bit more wine before she continued. "What I'm about to tell you is strictly confidential." she looked directly into his emerald eyes.
He nodded.
"Two years ago my parents died in a car crash." Shayera tried to gauge his reaction but John gave away nothing so she continued.
"They were driving home late from a date night when they apparently had a bit too much to drink and my dad swerved off a bridge and fell into the water. They were killed on impact, dead before they hit the water."
At that point, John let a little emotion through the cracks.
"Me and my brother have been on our own ever since. I had already moved out of the house so I had my own apartment already which made it easier for him to come live with me."
"What's your brothers name?"
Shayera was surprised he was still willing to listen. "Wally." She croaked
John just grunted quietly in response.
Shayera kept going. "He's a good kid. He runs track for his school and he is probably the fastest kid in the division. He's got the best schools in the country scouting him out. He's gonna get a full scholarship to one of them and go on to be an Olympic athlete." Shayera looked down. "Honestly, he has to. We don't have nearly enough money for any other option. I had to dropout from college to get a job and take care of him so we would never have enough money for him to go to community college. We're barely getting by now as it is." she stopped, tears streaming down her face.
There was a long silence where she had no idea what John was thinking, whether he was planning on breaking up with her right there or if he wanted to do something about their situation.
"John, I don't know anything for certain in my life right now, but I know that I love you and that won't ever change."
John breathed a sigh. "Shayera, if you want to be in this relationship with me you have to let me in. You have to be able to tell me what's on your mind."
"I honestly don't know if I know how to do that." Shayera said quietly
"Then you have to figure out how before we can move on." John said as he grabbed the check and paid. When he came back, Shayera was gone.
Shayera please figure it out, I won't have much to live for without you.