Another sweet story involving Auggie and one of his children. Scenario suggested by kkbug. Still working on Christopher's journey for those wanting to know how he turns out.
Although Mandy58 has looked this one over, any misspellings, syntax and punctuation errors are all my own.
Of Covert Affairs, the only things of it I own are an autographed script, a well watched season one DVD, and an autographed photo of Mr. Christopher Gorham. Anything else is simply a pipe dream.
"Dad, the car's here for you," sixteen-year-old Christopher Anderson yelled from where he was perched on a stool at the breakfast bar on the island counter in the kitchen of his parents' suburban DC home. In the kitchen, his mother, Annie, grilled burgers on the indoor grill. After a few moments he hopped off the stool and headed into the front part of the house. He nearly collided with his father, August – Auggie to his friends – as he rounded the corner into the main hallway. "Car's here," he stated matter-of-factly.
"I heard you, and the car, a few minutes ago, Auggie declared. "Is this thing straight? I can't tell," he asked tugging on the ends of his bowtie.
"Move your hands so I can see. … Yeah, it's straight," Christopher said. "Stop messing with it or it will be lopsided."
"Is your mother in the kitchen?"
"Yeah. Need her? I can go get her for you."
"Someone needs to go and get your sister out of the bathroom before we're late," Auggie said and sighed. "What is it with women primping until the last moment? Corry gets more like her mother every day." There was a tinge of exasperation in the last statement.
"I'm ready, Dad," thirteen-year-old Corrine Anderson said coming up behind her father. "And we women like to look our best for our favorite men."
"Let me look at you," Auggie said as Christopher retreated back to the kitchen area. He turned to face his daughter and slowly extended his hands until they brushed against her arms. His fingers ghosted up her arms and he frowned slightly when he found bare shoulders. Corrine's long hair was off her shoulders in a soft up-do. Auggie lightly fingered the dangling earrings. "You get prettier every day," he complimented softly.
"How do you know, Dad? You can't see me," Corrine said lightly.
"Oh, I know that you are. You're the prettiest girl I know next to your mother. You've got to be. You're my daughter," Auggie said quietly. "Our chariot awaits m'lady."
As her father pivoted to head into the back of the house, Corrine slipped her arm over her father's. Together they walked through the passage between the kitchen and the dining room to the back door.
"You have her home by curfew," Annie called from the kitchen.
"Yes, Ma'am," Auggie said as he closed the door behind them.
When they crossed the porch Corrine gasped. "A limo, Dad? Wow! We'll be the only one coming to this silly dance in style." She quickly removed her arm from her father's and extended it across his chest. When he stopped his forward motion, she stood on tiptoe and brushed a quick kiss on his cheek. "Thank you, Dad."
"Anything for my best girl," Auggie whispered back.
When they were in the back of the Lincoln Town Car and on their way down the driveway, Auggie's hand brushed against the soft fabric of Corrine's dress. "What sort of fabric is this?" he asked taking a pinch of the fabric between thumb and forefinger. "I'm not familiar with it."
"It's silk chiffon, Dad. I liked the way the dress looked, and fit on me, even though Mom thought it was a bit too sophisticated for me."
"Your mother says that you look so grown-up in it and that the color flatters you. What color is it?"
"It's called Raspberry – sort of a pinkish red. Why do you want to know, Dad? I didn't think color meant anything to you anymore."
Auggie shrugged. "I still understand basic colors, but I don't know. Just making conversation I guess," he replied self-consciously. "Trying to take an interest in my very lovely daughter," he added.
Corrine placed her hand on top of her father's. "Thank you, Dad. But … comments about my looks coming from you don't mean a lot to me. I know that in your mind I'm the most beautiful girl in the whole wide world. In actuality, you have no idea what I look like. And that's okay, Dad. But your attempts to flatter me are a bit meaningless." She patted her father's hand reassuringly.
"You are only half correct, Corry. I may not know the minute details, but I do know that you are a very attractive young lady. When we are in public together I hear how other people speak to you. And of you. From our hugs I know how tall you are, and that you are fit and lean. I also know that nature has given you the figure now of an older teen. There are older boys and some men who I, on occasion, would like to kill because of the way they speak suggestively of you. Don't tell me I don't know that you are a beautiful young woman. I do," Auggie said firmly to his daughter. "Now, can we talk of other things?"
"Yes, Dad. I understand now," Corrine said demurely. "Where are we going to dinner? I do enjoy these one-on-one times with you, but tonight is extra special with the dance and all later."
"This evening we are going to J. Gilberts. A special treat for my best girl for her first boy-girl dance. Even if the boy is your father."
"Wow, Dad. You're doing this up first class tonight! If you're trying to make me feel special, you are doing a bang-up job of it." Corrine could barely contain her excitement.
"It's sort of a special evening for me, too. That you want to be seen in public with me, when that public is your peers, is sort of special. How many of your classmates are actually coming to this dance? I thought that at this age parents weren't to be associated with."
"Oh, Dad, you're being silly now. Some of us have parents that are still kinda okay. Like you … There's going to be about 200 people at the dance. I'm on the committee that planned it so I'm pretty sure of that number. That's how many paid tickets we issued. It's a fundraiser so that helped get kids on board with the idea of dancing with their parent."
"Or more the parents on board with dancing with their son or daughter," Auggie said and grinned.
"Either way, we're going to have fun tonight. I hope anyway," Corrine said.
"Even if it is you laughing at your dear old dad," Auggie said with amusement in his tone.
"Oh, Dad, what would I have to laugh at you about? … Oh. You can dance can't you?" Corrine asked with sudden alarm.
"Yes, I can dance. The slow ones anyway. I'm not too good with the modern ones," Auggie admitted with a bit of embarrassment.
"It's okay, Dad," Corrine replied. "The DJ promised to play lots of slow oldies so that you old people would be able to enjoy dancing, too." Corrine giggled a bit after her last statement.
"We're at the restaurant, Mr. Anderson," the driver stated as the vehicle pulled to a stop. The chauffeur held the car door for Auggie, who in turn offered a hand to Corrine as she exited the Town Car.
"Thank you, Jamal," Auggie spoke to the chauffeur, "We'll be about an hour I guess."
"I'll be here," Jamal said as he closed the car door.
Corrine brushed the back of her father's hand with hers and he lightly took her arm so that she could take the sighted lead for him. She was an experienced sighted guide for her father and he felt as comfortable with her as he did with Annie.
"Yes, Sir, may I help you?" the young hostess asked as soon as the pair had cleared the entranceway.
"Anderson. Reservation for two," Auggie announced with flair.
"Yes. Your table is ready. If you'll follow Brooke, she'll seat you," the hostess stated.
"Do you have a Braille menu?" Corrine asked the hostess before moving to follow Brooke.
"Huh? Braille menu? I don't know what that is," the young hostess replied.
"Yes, we do," an older male voice stated opening a door in the hostess stand. "Here Brooke."
"If you'll follow me," Brooke said as she moved off into the main seating area.
"Square four-top table," Corrine whispered as they approached the table. "Two adjacent places set up with tented napkin between the silverware; water and wine glasses in customary locations."
"You know the drill," Auggie whispered back.
Corrine placed her father's hand on the back of a chair. Auggie pulled it out and held it for his daughter, then, hand lightly brushing the table's edge, moved to the right and located his own seat. He then located the napkin and placed it on his lap, and held up his right hand. He was actually a bit surprised when his menu was brushed against his hand. Beside him Corrine reviewed her menu. After a few minutes Auggie asked, "What looks good?" as he read his menu.
"I'm going to get the prime rib," Corrine said after a few moments.
"That sounds good to me, too," Auggie said a moment later. "Salad or the vegetable blend?"
"Salad."
"Baked potato? Baked sweet potato? Mashed potato? Rice pilaf?"
"Oh, the loaded mashed sounds good," Corrine replied.
"Medium well on the prime rib?"
"Yes, Dad."
"Would you like to feel even more grown up with a virgin cocktail?"
"No, Dad. I'm good with an iced tea. But you can have your beer if you want."
Auggie cocked his head and pointed it in Corrine's direction. "You've been wanting one for the longest time, and now that I'll allow one …"
Corrine laughed. "I know. Just don't feel it tonight," she remarked.
"Okay."
A few minutes later a server stopped by the table, "I'm Craig, I'll be taking care of you this evening. May I take your drink requests?"
"The lady will have an iced tea no lemon. I'll have an Amstel."
"Very good, Sir. Do you know what you want for dinner or do you need a few more minutes?
"The lady will have the prime rib, medium well, loaded mashed potatoes, and salad with the house vinaigrette on the side. I'll have the same, but medium rare on the prime rib." He handed the menu in the general direction of the server.
"Thank you, Sir. I'll get your drinks to you and your salads shortly." He moved off.
"Now, Corry, what can you tell me about the theme of the dance. And why didn't your mother have to do this with Chris? Not that I mind. I always enjoy being able to spend time with you. I'm just sorry it doesn't happen more often these days."
"It's okay, Dad. Sometimes I do feel a bit ignored, so does Chris, but we both know it's not your choice that we don't have more time with you. It's the job. Both you and mom have important jobs in keeping our nation safe from those who want to harm us. Us as a nation and as a people. And those that want to harm us are not always in foreign countries." She took up her father's hand and squeezed it.
He squeezed back. When it kept him away from his family for extended periods of time he sometimes hated his new job. And lately with the continuing unrest in the Middle East and the budget talks on Capitol Hill the hours he spent in the office had been long and stress filled. Weeks ago he had blocked out the time from 4 PM on out on his calendar. His assistant was banned, under penalty of losing her job, from scheduling anything, or expecting him to be anywhere, during that time. He was NOT going to disappoint his daughter this evening. When he'd gotten home early this evening he could tell that Corrine was surprised. And pleased. Very pleased. Of course it now meant that he had a Saturday, 9 AM meeting with a very displeased Director of National Intelligence.
"The theme is classic oldies," Corrine began. "Popular groups and singers from 1960's to the 2000 teens. Some I've heard of like the Beatles, Eagles, Madonna, New Kids on the Block, Back Street Boys, Josh Groban, Lady Gaga. Some I've never heard of and can't remember. I think the DJ will play a good mix of danceable tunes – some fast, some slow. I hope so anyway. The dance wasn't my idea, but they made me chair of the planning group. I'm really kind of nervous about it," Corrine admitted.
"However it turns out, you've done your best. And your best is pretty darn good most of the time," Auggie complimented. "I don't tell either of my children often enough just how proud I am of them; but I am. I'm very proud of you, Corry."
"Aw, Dad. You're embarrassing me," Corrine said softly.
"I'm sorry, Corry. I don't mean to do that. I mean outside of the just being seen with me embarrassment."
"Dad, about that," Corrine started.
Craig brought their drinks and removed the wine glasses. A second server was behind him with the salads.
When the servers had gone, Corrine said, "You drink is at 1 o'clock in a pilsner glass. … Now about the embarrassment thing."
Auggie reached for his beer glass, fingers slightly curled until his knuckles brushed the cold glass. He wrapped his hand around the glass, brought it to his mouth and took a long drink. He wasn't sure that he wanted to know how big an embarrassment he was to his daughter.
"Dad, do you think that you're an embarrassment because you're my parent? Or because you're blind?"
"They're not mutually inclusive?" Auggie asked as he located and picked up his salad fork.
"No, Dad. They are not. One of you sometimes embarrasses me; the other one never has and never will."
Auggie paused with his fork full of salad part way to his mouth. "Which one isn't the embarrassment?"
"I'm never embarrassed because you're blind. You can't help that any more than you can help breathing. Yeah, there might be kids my age that might be embarrassed by that, but I'm not," Corrine said confidently. "Once in a while the parent makes me want to run and hide, but really not that often. You and mom aren't in the habit of saying or doing embarrassing stuff. Some of my friends even wish you were their parents."
Auggie finished his bite of salad. "Really?"
"Really, Dad."
That surprised Auggie. And pleased him. He remembered being constantly embarrassed at thirteen to be seen in the company of his parents. And that his being blind wasn't a source of embarrassment pleased him most of all.
The rest of the dinner went by smoothly. Conversation ranged from the normal goings on at school to ridiculous 'what if' scenarios. At one point Auggie began to speak in very rusty Arabic and Corrine slipped into that language without batting an eye. She laughed at him when he had trouble coming up with the right word or inflection and he laughed right along with her.
When dinner was over, including a shared slice of cheesecake, Corrine discretely assisted her father in calculating the tip and total and in signing the credit card slip.
After they exited the restaurant Corrine stated, "The car and driver are here waiting for us."
"Oh? Okay then. Let's go and dance," Auggie stated lightly.
As they were pulling into the drive of Cooper Middle School, Corrine exclaimed, "We're going to make a grand entrance, Dad! There are lots of people arriving now, too."
"You know, I didn't use the car service so you can make an entrance, Corry," Auggie cautioned.
"I know, Dad. But it's still kinda neat," Corrine said a bit more soberly.
As the driver opened the car door for them Auggie allowed a small grin to flash across his lips. He hadn't needed to hire the car for this evening, Annie had offered to chauffeur over and to come and get them afterwards, but he had hired the car and specified the Town Car just so that Corrine would feel special tonight. And if making a splashy entrance helped make her feel special …
A variety of greetings to Corrine met Auggie's ears as they exited the car; most were along the lines of 'Way to make an entrance, Corry!'. This made the pleased grin flitter back across Auggie's features.
Once inside the gym, Corrine guided Auggie to one of the large round tables scattered around the perimeter of the gym floor. Corrine's best friend, Cassie Mayhew, and her father, Drew, were already seated there. Her other girlfriend, Holly Stevens, and her father, Charles, arrived shortly after Corrine and Auggie were settled in. Introductions were not needed; the three men were familiar with each other from their daughters' soccer games. The three men fell into easy conversation as their daughters chattered away.
"Okay, kids, grab your parent and come out to the dance floor," the female DJ announced a few minutes later. "I've got a nice slow tune ready for your first dance; a tune that was an oldie when most of your parents were young – the Eagles, 'Best of My Love.'
Corrine grabbed her father's hand and they moved to center court on the gym floor. As he gathered his daughter up in the traditional dance pose, Auggie whispered, "Just don't let me run us into anyone or anything."
"I won't, Dad," Corrine whispered back as the music began. For the next four minutes Auggie gracefully steered his daughter around the makeshift dance floor.
"That was much more enjoyable than I thought it would be," Corrine remarked as she led her father back to the table.
"I'm glad," Auggie commented. "Those dance lessons I paid for finally come in handy."
"You took dance lessons?" Corrine asked in surprise.
"Long time ago; but I was mostly commenting on the ones that I paid for. You're a very graceful dancer."
"You're not bad yourself."
"It's been a while since your mother and I've been dancing, but I used to be able to bust a few moves on the dance floor."
Auggie sat out the next few dances – faster ones for the kids – then danced with Corrine for the next slower one. That set up the pattern for the evening: dance one, sit out one or two and chatting with the other parents. He did join in on the Macarena but that was the extent to his participation in the faster dances. That is until the DJ announced she was going to play the Lionel Richie song 'Dancing on the Ceiling'.
Auggie leaned over and asked Corrine, "Did they teach you rock and roll or swing moves in those dance lessons you took?"
"Yeah," Corrine said. "I can do that kind of dancing. Why?"
"I'd like to dance this one with you. Show you another side of your dad."
"I'm game," Corrine encouraged as she tugged on her father's arm.
"Whatever you do, don't let go of my hand," Auggie cautioned his daughter.
"I won't," Corrine assured.
About a minute-and-a-half into the dance that was full of swing moves and spins, Auggie became aware that the only sounds in the gym were those of his and Corrine's feet and breaths, and the music. He understood that he and his daughter were suddenly the center of attention. That did not bother him; he just hoped that he wasn't embarrassing Corrine too much. As he ended the dance with a flashy dip, the crowd erupted in a short burst of applause.
"Corry?" Auggie asked as he followed her lead off the floor.
"Oh, Daddy, that was wonderful! I had no idea that you could dance like that. I guess no one else did either. Everyone cleared the floor for us and was watching only us. That was awesome," Corrine replied excitedly.
"You're not embarrassed?"
"Not at all," Corrine replied as she squeezed her father's hand. "It was actually kinda cool."
As Corrine placed his hand on the back of the chair, someone firmly patted Auggie on the back. "Way to show the rest of us up, old man," Charles Stevens teased. "Who knew that a person of our advanced age could move like that?"
"Well, Chuck, you'd be surprised what moves this old body still has in it. If Corry's game, we might just do that again in a few minutes," Auggie confessed lightly as he settled into his seat at the table.
A few songs later, when the DJ announced Michael Jackson's 'Billy Jean', Corrine tugged on her father's arm. "C'mon, Dad. Let's swing dance again. That was fun."
"Okay," Auggie said as he rose from his seat and followed his daughter onto center court again.
For the next five minutes the pair danced their hearts out. This time they were joined by a few other couples. By the end of the song Auggie was slightly out of breath.
"Oh, Dad, that was even better than the first one," Corrine commented on their way back to the table and her girlfriends.
"One last slow dance is all your Dad, has left in him," Auggie reluctantly admitted.
"I'm getting tired, too," Corrine acknowledged. "The time for the dance to end is getting close," she added a few moments later.
Auggie took his cell phone out of his jacket pocket and put the Bluetooth headset into his ear. "Damn," he muttered under his breath moments.
Corrine leaned toward her father. "Dad?"
"Time for a new phone I guess," he whispered disgustedly. "VoiceOver shut itself off again." He ripped the headset off his ear and began to shove it and the phone back into his pocket. Corrine gently took the phone from his hands.
"Mom? Or car service?"
Auggie sighed. "Car service. I was going to text them to come back in about twenty minutes."
A few moments later Corrine simply said, "Done and acknowledged." She wrapped her father's hand around his phone.
As he put the phone in his pocket, the opening strains of Cher's 'If I Could Turn Back Time' reached his ears.
"If I could turn back time; If I could find a way I'd take back those words that hurt you and you'd stay
I don't know why I did the things I did I don't know why I said the things I said; Pride's like a knife it can cut deep inside; Words are like weapons they wound sometimes."
Auggie closed his eyes and listened to the words. It had once, before jazz had become his music of choice, been a favorite oldie.
"Dad?"
He put his finger to his lips.
When the song ended, Corrine asked, "Do you ever wish you could do that?"
"Do what?"
"Turn back time," she stated pensively.
"Before I married your mother there were a few times that I regretted an ended relationship. That's part of life, Corry. But that stopped when your mother said that she'd marry me. And there will always be times when we'd like to take back something we've said," he said contemplatively.
Another faster dance, then the DJ announced, "Okay, boys and girls, grab the parent. It's time for the last dance. A slow one. It's by a couple of moderately know singers from the 1980's, Don Henley with Bruce Hornsby. The title is 'The End of the Innocence'. In a few weeks you'll be leaving the halls of middle school. I thought that some of the lyrics are appropriate to this time in your lives."
Moments later the song began and Auggie took his daughter tenderly into his arms and danced with her for what he thought would probably be the last time until he danced with her at some point in the far away future at her wedding – if they even had weddings in the future.
At the end of the dance Auggie bent his head enough to softly kiss Corrine on the forehead. "Thank you for the dance m'lady. Our chariot should be awaiting us. Shall we bid our adieu to those we shared a table with and head for home? … Or do you have to hang around to supervise the cleanup?"
"I just helped plan the details. The cleanup committee gets to stay late and put everything back where it belongs."
"Okay, then," Auggie said, "shall we head for home? … Hey, how about running through DQ and getting some ice cream?"
"As tempting as ice cream sounds, I'm ready to go home now. We have ice cream in the freezer if you really need some," Corrine advised.
After finding and saying good-bye to the Stevens and the Mayhews, and a couple of other parent-child pairings, Corrine led her father down the main hallway and out to the waiting car.
Partway down the main walkway from the school, Corrine reached up and stopped her father. She moved to stand in front of him. "Daddy, thank you for a wonderful evening. I know you dropped a lot of money on the car and dinner. You really didn't have to do that. But that you wanted to make this evening extra special for me ... I'll remember tonight forever. I love you, Daddy." She rose up on tiptoe and brushed a quick kiss on his cheek.
Sorry, no mushy stuff between Annie and Auggie. I'm working on that, too.
Did you like this one? Too saccharine sweet? Comment? Comments encourage the muse.