x-x-x-x
Rome leaned over the back of the couch holding a walking-talking to his ear, it was difficult to hear, but him and his dad tried to take advantage of good hearing days as much as possible to play, so this was one of those times. Castle had bought a new toy, a state of the art radio controlled helicopter weeks before and he was eager to try it out as well as make a game out of it with Rome.
"Sector six maverick." Castle called into his headset as Rome vaulted over the couch and moved into place, following the helicopter as it hovered near the windows, "This is your captain up and on the mount. Listen up, ladies and gentlemen, our fugitive has been on the run for 90 minutes. We're in the pipes. Let's keep our feet dry this time. Jungle Radio. This is One Delta Bravo. Eyes on suspect. Requesting backup. Over."
Rome grinned and surveyed the landscape, pretending he was looking at a computer with sonar and infrared…all the bells and whistles for a state of the art manhunt. In reality it was just his sketch book and a notebook
"Base to Delta Bravo, incoming tactical missiles, starboard side, back up request denied, mission too delicate to involve rookies, you're on your own Captain, god speed!" Rome replied into the walkie,
"Requesting permission to deploy laser activated radioactive immobilizer." Castle called, the helicopter hoovering and moving closer towards Martha who sighed with a bit of frustration as she reexamined her notes and tried to prevent them from being blown away.
"Permission denied." She called out, signing for Rome's benefit "Really, Richard, Roman, I have all of these new lines to learn before my play goes into rehearsal, not to mention the work I need to go over before Thanksgiving break for the sixth grade play."
"I'm going in." Castle answered maneuvering the helicopter so it was heading right for Martha.
Rome was on his feet watching carefully, he lifted the binoculars to his eyes and turned the focus on, surveying for a moment before he zeroed in on his grandmother
"Quick, Evasive maneuvers Delta," he called out "target looks hostile! Income missals!"
"If that comes any closer, you're going to have Black Hawk Down on your hands." Martha warned, her warning coming a little too late, Rome aimed his nerf bow and let it fly hitting the copter and forcing it to landed smack dab on the table amongst Martha's scripts "Oh!" she exclaimed. "Roman!"
"Sorry," he called reloading his bow and shooting an arrow at Alexis as she walked into the loft
"What's all this?" she asked picking up the arrow when it landed at her feet, she threw it at her brother. "Dad?"
"Official police tactical training." Castle explained, Alexis put her bags on a chair next to Martha, Rome made a face, but curiosity got the better of him as he wandered over.
"Black Friday shopping early?" he asked, peeking into one of the bags, Alexis turned around and smacked his hand gently
"Get out of there," she warned,
"Fine, be that way," he replied with a grin, Rome never understood the appeal of Black Friday shopping and was glad that it wasn't part of the Castle family Thanksgiving tradition, at least not the midnight crazy shopping. They might venture out during the day, but never at a ridiculous time like the news always showed. But if his sister had started Christmas shopping this early, Rome might need to do some investigating on his own, he wasn't the kind of kid who went snooping for his Christmas presents to see what he would be getting, he was the kind of kid who went snooping just to prove he could find said presents, but not actually look at them.
"Oh, hey, Dad, did you get a chance to sign that permission slip I gave you the other day?" Alexis called changing the subject
"Haven't you learned to forge my signature yet?" Castle asked checking the helicopter for any damage.
"Credit cards, yes. Permission slips, no. It's for my civics class. Every student has a three-day volunteer internship at one of the city's agencies, law enforcement, sanitation, fire." Alexis explained
"I'll go with fire. They have the best calendars." Martha spoke up taking a sip of wine, Rome made a face and grinned
"I'd go with sanitation," he exclaimed "think of all the cool stuff you'll find" he paused "Bryce was telling Todd and me that he heard about this guy a few years ago, he found a gold pocket watch during his internship with sanitation, the supervisor had told him anything he found he could keep so he was going to pawn the watch to save up for a car, but then he heard about this old lady who had put out a 50 thousand dollar reward for the return of her father's missing pocket watch. It had his initials in it so the kid knew it belonged to the lady." Rome paused, his grandmother, sister, and father staring at him. "I'm just saying sanitation would be the more profitable way to go."
"Yeah, ew Rome, Bryce heard that story from a senior last year, who probably heard it from another senior, it's an urban legend. Anyways, I'm good on the profit. I went with law enforcement. Detective Beckett already said it's cool if I volunteer down at the station." Alexis replied
"Oh, well, as a member of the NYPD volunteer squad, I would be happy to show you the ropes." Castle offered
Alexis smiled and shook her head
"Actually, Detective Beckett is giving me my orientation course tomorrow morning."
Then I would be honored to carpool with you or share a cab."
"Mmm." Alexis replied, just as Castle's phone went off.
Rome grinned
"When murder calls!" he exclaimed, chuckling Castle reached over and ruffled Rome's hair before walking away, leaving the controller for the helicopter on the table, Rome grinned and lunged for it, "this is base to Delta Bravo, mission is back on, I repeat mission is back on, prepare for launch!" He hoovered the helicopter over Alexis' bags and slowly dipped the toy closer and closer. "Target acquired, I'm going in," before he could drop the helicopter into the bag, Alexis shooed the helicopter away, took her bags, and headed upstairs.
Not to be deterred, Rome ran into his dad's office and grabbed the wireless webcam off the desk. It was light enough that the helicopter could fly with it attached and Rome had seen his dad attach it many times, it was always fun watching the webcam from a height with the helicopter. He also knew the distance the helicopter and the remote could be apart, so grabbing his dad's laptop, Rome returned to the family room. Martha had gone back to studying her lines and Castle with a goodnight and a hug had headed out to a case with Detective Beckett.
Carefully attaching the webcam to the helicopter Rome made sure the device and the computer connected and launched the 'copter a second time. Using the webcam's image for guidance he maneuvered the toy up the stairs, towards his sister's room, she had left her door open which was a positive sign and when Rome sent the helicopter in, she was nowhere in sight, another positive sign. The bags were sitting on her bed and Rome grinned victoriously
"Roman what are you up to?" Martha asked, glancing up from her scripts at her grandson, wary of the mischievous grin plastered on his face.
"Nothing," he replied looking at the screen carefully, he didn't even notice his grandmother come up behind him
"Roman Camden Castle are you spying on your sister?" she asked and he shook his head "then what are you up to?" she looked at the screen "did you attach one of those web thingamabobs to your father's helicopter toy?"
"You mean webcam?" Rome asked and Martha gave him a 'don't push your luck' look "I mean kind of, she wouldn't let me look in the bags so I went the inventive route" he explained, "I spotted one of the receipts for her shopping, it said Macy's on it and the bag looked like it could be big enough to hold a pair of shoes," he offered, trying to tempt his grandmother into letting him continue and Martha sighed, she sat down next to Rome and waved her hand.
"I may regret this, but go ahead." She sighed again
Rome moved the joystick so the helicopter was hoovering right over the bag and began slowing letting it glide down towards the bag. Rome had accounted for pretty much every part of this mission except for two things: what he would do if Alexis caught him or what would happen if he got the helicopter into the bag. Unfortunately they both happened at the same time, as he moved the 'copter in towards the bag the camera went nearly dark, with only bits of light on the edges. It was too dark to see into the bag.
Of course this blackout didn't last long as the camera found light again, when the helicopter was yanked out of the bag,
"Uh oh," Rome muttered
"What happened?" Martha asked
"I think the mission is about to be terminated…by unseen forces," before Martha could question that, Alexis' face appeared on the webcam screen.
"Rome!" she exclaimed
"Busted," he muttered as the screen went completely dark from the camera being shut off. Seconds later Alexis came down the stairs, no helicopter in hand. "Uh, Lex," Rome started "I think you may have forgotten something,"
"I didn't forget anything, you and dad have lost your helicopter privileges,"
"but,"
"No buts, you'll get it back after Thanksgiving, if you're lucky," she patted him on the head and went back upstairs. Rome sighed and shut the controller off.
"Mission failed," he grumbled "debriefing in nineteen hundred hours."
"Using a helicopter to spy on your sister Roman, really."
"Not spy on Lex, spy on the Christmas presents." He sighed "oh well, was fun while it lasted"
"Well now that that's over with have you finished your homework darling?"
Rome nodded
"While I was at Lexington."
"Well if you're looking for something to do I took the liberty of obtaining a copy of the script for the Lion King," Rome's eyes bugged a little, he was seriously regretting doing ALL of his homework at Lexington, he knew his grandmother, her idea of 'looking over' the script would entail practicing the lines and seeing which lines fit Rome's supposed acting style best. He knew Gram was convinced getting him to try out for the lead of Simba was in all likelihood zip to none, but that wouldn't stop his determined thespian grandmother from trying all sorts of parts, her version of throw things against the wall and see what sticks.
"Uh gram," Rome started "I don't want to hurt your feelings but I really want to go for the backstage parts. I was looking at pictures of the sets for the Broadway play and I really think I can recreate those pretty close to the originals. I've even got a great idea for Pride Rock." Though Martha was a little disappointed about Rome's lack of enthusiasm for acting (she knew she had plenty of time to convince her only grandson otherwise) she was hopeful at his enthusiasm for the set designer role, especially as he pulled out his sketchbook and began to sketch the design he had in mind. "So we get one of those rolling staircases and put the locks on so it doesn't go anywhere. We can get Styrofoam or cardboard from the recycling or ask people to donate it and paint it the color of Pride Rock and put it all alongside the staircase and attach a platform to the base so it's sturdy"
"My goodness Rome this is very professional," Martha exclaimed as Rome sketched out the finishing touches of the contraption itself.
"Thank you," he said softly "I was also thinking whoever plays Rafeki, should wear a harness like this one" he began to sketch Todd dressed as a baboon and wearing a harness over the costume, just because he knew Todd was thinking about trying out for the part of Rafeki, for the sole purpose of being able to hit whoever played Simba in the head. "That way they're extra secure. Todd doesn't mind heights but if someone else plays that role it'll be a good thing and whoever plays Simba is going to have to go up there too."
Martha reached over and hugged Rome close.
"Roman I may want you to be the star of the play, but I want you to do whatever makes you happy especially if it is this." She added kissing the top of his head.
Rome sighed, he knew she was being sincere but he also knew his grandmother
"I haven't completely decided not to tryout. I'm still debating it." He assured her and she beamed with pride
"That's my boy." She paused "if that is the case let's look at Simba's lines" Rome held back a groan and just nodded, better to humor his grandmother than hurt her feelings.
It was almost 11 o'clock by the time Rome was able to drag himself away from his grandmother. They had gone through nearly the entire musical (songs included) and the only reason she let him go to bed was because by the time they reached Hakuna Matata, Rome's hearing was gone, even with his hearing aids.
Rome let out a wide yawn as he shuffled past his sister's room from the bathroom they shared, he was completely on autopilot as he changed, used the bathroom, washed his hands and face, and brushed his teeth. Alexis pulled open her door as she heard him shuffle past and stared at her brother, before glancing back in her room at her clock.
"Are you just going to bed now?" she asked, Rome rubbed his eyes sleepily
"Huh?" he mumbled in between another set of yawns
"Guess that answers that question," Alexis replied chuckling as she wrapped her arm around his shoulders, guiding him towards his room.
"Are you nervous about tomorrow?" Rome asked, yawning again "is that why you're still up?"
Alexis nodded
"A little, it's mainly not knowing what to expect."
"Well," Rome started "you're at least with Detective Beckett, she'll help you out." He explained as he climbed the ladder to his bunk, he paused at the top, turning around so he could see his sister's reply.
"True," she smiled "and it wont belong before you're picking too, do you think you'll want to stay with sanitation?" she added, her smile growing, Rome laughed a little and slid under his covers
"Naw, I'll probably do law enforcement too, maybe Detective Beckett can set me up to work with the sketch artist at the precincts, I can learn the tricks to the trade and use that as my volunteer time." He replied with a grin, neither sibling added to that, both were thinking the same thing, by the time Rome was in high school and getting ready to do his internship, his hearing would be long gone and it would be extremely difficult for him to follow along as a sketch artist.
"Good night Rome," Alexis said
"Night Lex," Rome yawned, before curling up under his blanket.
x-x-x-x-x
When his alarm clock began vibrating the next morning, Rome's first instinct was to roll over and go back to sleep. This however was short lived as he remembered what day it was. Alexis had her internship at the 12th, which meant that since her and their dad were going to the same place, she'd go with him, Gram had a rehearsal for her play, which meant that no one would be able to take Rome to school. He was on his own walking to school for the first time in months.
Quickly he threw his blankets off and scrambled down the ladder, the faster he got ready for school and was out the door, the less chances his dad had to change his mind and walk him to school, or worse, call up a car service to take him. Rome grabbed a clean pair of khakis and a white shirt out of his closet, before pulling on his Marlowe Prep sweater vest. He was just putting his hearing aids in when he saw his door knob turn a couple of times. The door opened slowly and Grams stuck her head in, surprised to see her grandson not only up, but dressed.
"Roman?" She asked
"I'm up Gram!" He exclaimed
"I can see that, my question is why, usually we are prying you out of bed with a crowbar."
"Not today!" Rome replied
"Oh yes today is the day you walk to school alone is it?"
Rome nodded and tied his sneakers, he always felt thankful that the uniform for Marlowe didn't include pinchy shoes.
"Do you think Lex will be at the precinct all day?"
"I would expect so," Gram said. "Why do you ask?"
"Do you think dad would let me take the subway and join them at the precinct after school?" Rome asked "I've done it before, I know the way,"
"I have no doubt that you know the way," Gram explained, "however your father is going to be nervous as it is, you walking to school by yourself, going up to the precinct by yourself might just push him over the edge."
"So, I shouldn't even bother asking?"
"Darling, there's never harm in asking, you just might not like the answer."
"But is it worth a shot?"
Gram smiled knowingly,
"you are almost 11 years old, and I think after all you've been through in that short 10 1/2 years of life should be enough to tell you that it's OK to take chances."
Rome nodded and hugged his grandmother. She hugged him back and headed downstairs herself, leaving Rome to gather his backpack and jacket. As Rome grabbed his jacket out of the closet, he noticed a piece of paper in the pocket. He pulled it out and looked it over, it was a letter from the teachers, it had been handed out on Friday and expected to be turned back in on Monday, signed, Rome was glad it had fallen out of his jacket, he had almost forgotten about it, and that would've been bad. As he pulled on his jacket, he reread the note.
'To the parents and guardians of sixth grade students, we are currently preparing the students for a new book discussion book starting Tuesday before break. However, we wanted to give parents and guardians a heads up regarding the choice. It is the Giver. For those of you unfamiliar with this superb novel by Lois Lowery it does deal with some very sensitive subjects such as human euthanasia. Previously this book has been part of the seventh grade reading curriculum. A number of years ago it was part of the sixth grade curriculum, but was changed to seventh grade, however after meeting with the entire team and with previous teachers, we have come to the conclusion that this sixth grade class has the maturity and rationality to deal with the themes presented in this wonderful book. However, we are reaching out to the parents and guardians to sign a permission slip of sorts, acknowledging that you feel your child is ready for this book and you will be available to discuss the book if the day's lesson should come home. The Giver, while an outstanding piece of literature is one of the more difficult books schools can address and many questions will arise throughout the school day that may carry over to home. Thank you in advance, sincerely Mrs. Daley, Mrs. Porter, and the rest of the Sixth Grade team.'
Rome had read a little bit about the Giver and had heard a lot of great information about the book, but wasn't really sure why it was so controversial, and he wasn't really sure what euthanasia was. Knowing he had to get the note to his dad as quick as possible, and not wanting to give his dad a reason to change his mind about the walk to school, Rome hurried down the hall towards the stairs, he stopped short to avoid running into his sister who was running up the stairs.
"Morning!" she exclaimed
"Morning," Rome grinned "good luck today,"
"Thanks Rome, good luck to you too."
Rome started to run off again, but turned to really look at his sister, she looked at lot different.
"You look really grown up Lex," he complimented and she smiled, obviously a little embarrassed "promise to tell me all about it?" he added
"Pinky promise," Alexis assured her little brother holding out her pinky to him which he took with his. She leaned over and hugged him tight "anyways "I forgot my phone in my room, I'll see you later okay?"
Rome nodded and waved bye to his sister, before running down to the main floor. Castle was in the kitchen clearly making lunches for both Rome and Alexis. Rome could see his lunch sitting off to the side, finished and just waiting to be put in his lunch bag, a beautiful roast beef wrap while Alexis' wrap had lots of stuff that Rome wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole let alone eat, in fact he couldn't help the face he made.
"Morning," Rome said hitting the landing
"Hey Doc," Castle called "good morning,"
"Speaking of growing up, ready to walk to school all by yourself kiddo?" Martha said from her seat at the table.
"'Course Gram," Rome replied, hoping his voice wasn't shaking as much as he thought it was, he was trying desperately to hide his nerves, he was nervous and getting more so as the time came closer, but he didn't want to clue his dad in on that, though he was sure his dad was using his spidey senses and could already tell. "um, dad I forgot about this permission slip, it's due back today." He added wincing a little, holding out the paper.
Castle took it and read it over, his own nerves shifting for a moment as a grin washed over his face.
"Hey, alright Doc you guys are finally reading the Giver?" Castle reached into his pocket and pulled out a pen to sign the slip, before handing it back to Rome. "it's a great book, I think you'll enjoy it kiddo."
"Thanks, well um." Rome stumbled "I better get going,"
Castle took a deep breath, wiped his hands on a towel, carefully put Rome's lunch in his lunch bag and brought it around the corner. It was easy to see that he was just as nervous as Rome, but like his son was trying to keep it from him. Martha saw the pair of them and chuckled, sipping her coffee.
"Right," Castle started "here's your lunch, and there's enough money on your lunch card to get a snack, drink, and an ice cream." He paused trying to sort out and find the right words "uh, remember Doc, no detours, straight to school, text me when you get there."
"No problem dad," Rome replied, slipping his lunch into his backpack "um dad if I text you after school and you and Lex are still at the precinct," he paused and looked over at Gram who gave him an encouraging nod "would it be okay if I…I took the subway and met you guys there?" he paused again "I know the way and I'll be super careful. I'll text you the entire way I promise."
Castle looked back at Martha who gave him an expectant look, he really looked torn.
"This is another one of those cross road moments isnt it?" he said aloud, mainly to himself, but Martha took it to be directed at her
"Richard, I think Roman has earned some brownie points, he does know the way and if he is in constant contact with you via texting."
Castle took a deep breath and rubbed his chin thoughtfully
"How about a compromise Doc," he offered, Rome looked at his grandmother who nodded, kind of playing Devil's advocate between her son and grandson
"Okay," Rome replied
"I give you money and you take a cab from school to the precinct." That wasn't exactly the kind of compromise that he had been hoping for, but Rome was willing to take what he could get, after all taking the subway alone was a daunting task and he knew his dad wasn't ready to let him do that, even if he had done it before, he had to see it from his dad's perspective, it was one thing to let his youngest son walk to school alone like this, it was another to let him take the subway solo.
"Deal," Rome agreed and Castle seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, he had really been expecting a fight on that one and was relieved that Rome was willing to give in.
"I still want you to text me when you're on your way. And I don't want you going too far from school to get a cab, there should be plenty around the block, just hang tight and be patient"
"Okay," Rome replied grinning, taking the subway would've been a lot of fun, but the perspective of taking a taxi by himself was pretty daunting too, just added to the potential adventure.
Castle hugged Rome tight and even though he expected Rome to squirm away, he didn't, he even returned the hug.
"Be safe Doc," he signed handing Rome twenty dollars, just in case.
"I will, thanks dad," Rome put the twenty dollar bill in his wallet next to his school ID. "Bye dad, bye Gram!" he called,
"Bye kiddo," Martha replied waving her grandson on, Rome gave his dad one last grin, before turning to the stairs
"Bye Lex! Good Luck!" he yelled up the stairs
"Thank you Rome!" Alexis called down, Rome heard her muffled answer, but couldn't make out the words, so he turned to his grandmother who signed it for him, translating. Giving his grandmother and father one last wave, Rome bolted out the door, shutting it behind him.
The second the door clicked to into place, Castle took a deep breath, staring at the door nervously. He couldn't help it, he glanced at his phone, waiting to see a message, part of him hoping he wouldn't.
"The boy's got it Richard, he'll be fine." Martha assured him "you'll make yourself a wreck watching your phone."
Castle sighed and put the phone face down on the counter top
"I know, I just can't help worrying about him" he paused "do you think I'm being over protective?" there was another pause "or worse, not protective enough. He's only ten, walking to school alone like this, it's not something everyone is ready for and after…" Castle's voice trailed off, he couldn't bring himself to continue. Martha walked over and put a reassuring hand on his arm.
"It's perfectly normal to worry. But remember, you can't keep him in a bubble." She reminded her son "Rome is resilient, resourceful, and very smart." Martha paused and smiled "traits he certainly inherited from his father."
"Wise words, from a wise woman." Castle replied, he took a deep breath and glanced at his watch "let's go sweetie!" he called upstairs, hoping to distract himself as well as reminding himself that he had Alexis' first internship to deal with.
x-x-x-x-x
The minute Rome turned the corner and was out of sight of the loft, the fear really began to sink in. His fingers brushed against his new cell phone in his jacket pocket, desperately resisting the urge to text or even call his dad, resisting his own panic. He had been so excited, so thrilled about this endeavor, but now…
What the heck am I doing? He thought, he knew texting his dad would not only panic him, but assure that Rome would never walk to or from school alone ever again…well at least until probably high school. Taking a deep breath, Rome counted to ten and slowly started walking. He stayed in the middle of the sidewalk, not too close to the alley and not too close to the edge of the sidewalk, this of course annoyed his fellow pedestrians, but Rome ignored the bustle of the crowds.
As he turned onto the next block, Rome felt a wave of relief wash over him as he spotted the green of a Marlowe Prep uniform on a third grader, walking just ahead of him with his mom. The kid was clearly refusing to put on a jacket even though it was cold and felt like snow, and was also refusing to hold his mother's hand.
Trying to be as gentle as possible, Rome made his way through the crowd, catching up with the pair and staying a few paces behind them, a perfect symbiotic communal relationship, something Rome's class had just started studying, ecosystems and symbiosis in science. Once Marlowe Prep was in sight, Rome dissolved the relationship and hurried ahead of the pair, spotting Joey as he got off the van. He waved to Rome when he spotted him and moved aside as the other kids shuffled off. Rome took out his cell phone and texted his dad, letting him know he had gotten to school safe and sound.
"Did you get the science homework?" Joey asked as they headed into the building, towards the middle school wing.
"Not at first," Rome replied "one of my teachers at Lexington looked it over on Friday and explained it. I can help you at lunch before. I was having trouble remembering which relationship is which, especially communal, 'cause I originally figured communal could mean shared experience, like common, so I kept putting the wrong organisms in the wrong spot."
"See I didn't even get that far." Joey grumbled
"I'll help, Mrs. Kurson taught me a trick."
"Did your dad sign the permission slip?" Joey asked as they began unpacking their books and jackets and getting what they needed for homeroom and class.
"Of course," Rome replied "Dad's excited about it, Alexis read it in seventh grade and loved it."
"Seventh grade?" Joey repeated "how come not in sixth like us?"
"I think it's based on how much the teachers and parents think the students can handle it. Alexis' class was notorious for being immature and goof offs in fifth and sixth grade." Rome explained "The teachers didn't think they were ready for a book like the Giver,"
Kevin's laughs caught their attention
"Oh yeah I remember that, even my parents were talking about it, there was at least a dozen kids in the class that still cried when they didn't get their way."
Joey was staring at Rome and Kevin, absolutely flabbergasted, just as Gage came up behind him, he looked from Joey, to Rome and Kevin, before back to Joey.
"What did you guys do to it?" he asked
"Told him about Alexis' class when they were in sixth grade and why they weren't allowed to read the Giver till seventh."
Kevin grinned,
"When Todd gets here, ask him, he's related to one of the biggest reasons they couldn't read it."
"Bryce?" Joey exclaimed, Rome nodded
"Point is they decided that Alexis' class had to wait till seventh grade, they read the Westing Game like we did and a few other books gearing them up for the Giver, like Among the Hidden the first book in the Shadow Children series, Alexis' group read that and the class as a whole read the Girl Who Owned a City. But for the Giver they had to wait." Rome explained "Alexis was not a happy camper with that, she had bought the Giver during one of dad's book signings and was already halfway through it when the teachers announced what the next book club book was going to be and it wasn't the Giver." Rome shuddered "she mopped for weeks and finished the book out of spite" He looked down the hall at Todd's locker, expecting to see him, then looked at Gage who typically walked with Todd and Bryce.
"He's out," Gage explained shifting his overstuffed binder, Mrs. Daley AND Mr. Tucker both called him a packrat at least twice a day each. Rome was convinced that the binder was the muggle equivalent of the Monster Book of Monsters and ate every paper, notebook, pencil, and book in sight, especially in Gage's locker. Rome and the others were amazed that he could always find his homework, important papers, and notes in the jumble. Organized Gage Chaos, Gram called it the last time Gage was over the loft for dinner.
"Sick?" Joey asked
"I think he's faking it," Collin Pederson spoke up as he passed by on his way to his homeroom, he lived in the same building as Todd and Bryce, but did not get along with Todd, nor his group of friends, though the boys could never figure it out, they'd known Collin since fourth grade and he had only recently adapted the attitude towards them.
"Why would he be faking it?" Kevin asked "we've got literally two full days of classes and a half day on Wednesday."
Rome cleared his throat
"He's probably hoping to get out of going to Connecticut with his family." He reminded everyone "probably figures if he starts playing sick now, his mom will think he relapsed by the time they're getting ready to head up, she'll believe he's really sick and not faking it and they'll have to cancel."
"Why is Todd so against his family's Thanksgiving?" Joey asked
"You've never met his cousins, grandmother and aunts." Gage explained, shuddering. "His grandmother is a sweet lady when she's alone and just Todd's immediate family, but get her with his extended family and she's scary. She's constantly yelling at everyone in Yiddish." He chuckled a little "remember when we were over Todd's for the First Night of Hanukkah in fourth grade?"
Rome and Kevin both joined in, then gave Joey an apologetic shrug,
"We learned a lot of Yiddish that night thanks to Todd's grandmother," Kevin explained
"Unfortunately it took Alexis looking it up on the internet to figure out what we were repeating was a lot of obscenities." Gage added.
"And his aunts are just as bad," Rome replied "and he doesn't get along with his older cousins, one of them in particular,"
"Oh," Joey said,
"come on guys, we're going to be late for homeroom." Gage spoke up darting down the hall. He turned and grinned at his friends "the faster we get through the first two periods, the faster we get to third period."
"Hungry?" Rome asked returning the grin, Kevin and Joey chuckled "anticipating lunch?" he paused "I checked the lunch calendar today, you're not going to be impressed, it's turkey burgers."
Gage rolled his eyes at the trio and made a disgusted face, he was the only person Rome knew who hated turkey anything.
"No, third period for some of us means ELA…which means," he held up the letter about the Giver "Giver time!"
x-x-x-x
Meanwhile at the precinct, Beckett was in the process of getting Alexis settled, she had been expecting a lot of disappointment on Alexis' part when she saw what her task was for the day, but she was actually pleasantly surprised how the teenager took it.
"Okay, so this is the property room." Beckett explained "It's where we keep all the items that we find at a crime scene that aren't classified as evidence."
"Sort of like a lost and found?" Alexis asked and Beckett thought that over, realizing Alexis was right for the most part.
"sort of."
"It's a place I know well, Rome is constantly losing stuff, he's down at the lost and found a few times a day." Alexis explained then paused looking around the clutter "why don't the victims' families claim this stuff?"
Beckett smiled gently
"Well, loved ones are aware of the big ticket items, like rings and watches. But things like sunglasses and lighters, those usually go unclaimed."
"Are these case numbers?" Alexis asked
"Exactly, so the idea is to get rid of all of this stuff and stick it into storage. But before we do that, we have to catalog it, just in case someone comes in with a claim."
"Okay, so you need a description of every item along with its corresponding case number downloaded into the database."
"Mm-hmm. And I know that this isn't exactly what you were thinking of when you asked to volunteer, but we're low on manpower, and this would be very helpful." Beckett added
"Don't worry about it. This place is gonna be so organized when I'm done, you won't even recognize it."
"I bet I won't."
"Detective Beckett?" Alexis added catching the detective's attention
"Huh?"
"I know my dad can sometimes be a handful. And by sometimes, I mean all the time. But I wanna let you know you don't have to worry about me. I'm all about getting the job done."
Beckett smiled at that, knowing very well it was true. She smiled at Alexis and headed out into the hallway. Castle was lying in wait and she could only imagine he had been there the entire time. He was looking at his phone, somewhat nervously, Beckett ignored him for a moment, heading toward Montgomery,
"Beckett." Montgomery greeted
"Sir."
"Well?" Castle interrupted
"Alexis? She's fine." Beckett assured him, she glanced at his phone "everything okay?" she asked
"Rome walked to school by himself today," Castle explained "first time." He paused "he texted me when he got there, he made really good time, I'm pretty sure he ran the entire way."
"Ran?" Beckett repeated
"He was nervous, but didn't want me to know it, I think he was afraid I would change my mind and take him to school myself."
"Well, it's good you let him go, but I can understand the nerves," Beckett replied, she paused for a second giving her partner a reassuring smile "on both sides. I'm sure you were just as nervous as he was."
Castle took a deep breath,
"You know Alexis' first day at preschool, I hid outside in the bushes all day just to make sure she was all right. Then Rome's first day, I went the next step, I stayed outside of his classroom door and watched him through the window. Just to make sure he was okay, he was only three, started him at preschool a little too early.
Montgomery nodded his understanding,
"First time my son went to summer camp, I followed the bus all the way to the Adirondacks." He added, both him and Castle burst out laughing at one another, while Beckett looked at them very confused
"You two are both either very sweet or very creepy." She offered, which just made the two fathers laugh even more.
x-x-x-x
Back at Marlowe it was finally third period as the sixth graders who had Mrs. Daley at that time lined up outside her room, waiting to file in. Gage was practically hopping up and down, so much so Rome was trying not to laugh at his friend. They shuffled into the room and went to their tables, Rome deposited his binder on the desk as Gage did the same, however while Rome was checking the board for the homework assignment to write it down, Gage had spotted the pile of books on Mrs. Daley's desk, he began whapping Rome's arm,
"Rome…Rome…Rome," he hissed "Rome look!"
"Ow, ow, what?" Rome replied looking at his friend "what?"
"There they are!" Gage exclaimed "Look, look, look,"
"I see," Rome replied dodging his friends continued smacking, "chill,"
"How can I chill? I've been dying to read this book since third grade!" Gage called louder than he meant to, in the hallway, Mrs. Daley poked her head into the room and gave him a look, which he winced back from
"Really Gage, third grade?" she asked, her look turning into a knowing smile
"Thereabouts," Gage replied sheepishly. Rome chuckled at his friend and began writing the homework assignment down, 'choose ten words from the first chapter of the Giver and define them. Then take five of the more challenging words you defined and craft well thought out sentences.'
Rome was just as excited about the book as Gage, but not showing it as much, he was trying to retain calmness but the more excited Gage got, the more excited Rome felt.
"Mrs. Daley" Gage called as soon as the teacher finished taking attendance, "I'd be happy to help hand out the books!" Rome knew his best friend was excited to read the book, but it was beyond excited at this point, it was downright comical.
"I appreciate that Gage," Mrs. Daley replied with a knowing smile. "But I want to discuss the book first as a class before we dive right into it." Gage couldn't keep the disappointed look off his face, "you will walk out of this class today with the book I promise." She paused and Gage nodded, accepting that "no, show of hands how many have heard of our next book club book? It could be from your parents, older friends or siblings, or even just on your own." All but three in the class raised their hands and Gage's went up so fast it nearly knocked off his glasses. "I want honesty on this next one because I will have a rule in regards to it depending on the answer." There was a long pause and the room buzzed a little bit as the kids tried to figure out what she was talking about. "How many of you have read the Giver?" There was some hesitation, but slowly two hands went in the air. One was "Miranda-check:, the other was Maddie, the new student. "Girls," Mrs. Daley continued "when did you read it?"
Miranda didn't even give Maddie a chance to speak as she spoke up, her once tended to be very loud so Rome could usually hear it okay, but on the downside she tended to shriek, which made understanding her another story, not to mention, she tried to speak very sophisticated and adult so it was nearly impossible to follow all on whether it was reading her lips or following Mrs. Blackstone's signing. Mrs. Black stone had gotten to know all the kids pretty well since starting with Rome the previous spring, so she knew which students and teachers she had to translate for Rome and which ones could either sign themselves or whose lips he could read.
"I read it in fourth grade," Miranda said smugly "for a choice book," she added looking right at Gage when she added the last part. Rome exchanged a look with Gage who crossed his eyes at her. Both boys remembered her reading The Giver in 4th grade and rubbing it in Gage's face. She had known Gage was excited to read it, but he had held off reading it because he knew all the projects associated with the book when it was read in 6th grade so he had fought temptation. Miranda however had seen the older kids reading it and wanting to show off, had bought the book and read it every day for her choice book.
"Good to know," Mrs. Daley stepped in, not giving Miranda a chance to go any further with the book "Maddie, when did you read it?"
Maddie seemed to go red at being put on the spot, but she took a deep breath,
"Last year," she admitted "my class read it last year, for our book club books." She looked worried "I'm sorry," she added and Mrs. Daley smiled
"No apologies needed, I'm glad you both read such a wonderful book. But because you have read it before I need you both to be cautious with our discussions. When we're discussing the book I of course want everyone to participate, but if a question comes up during the discussion about a future event in the book you both need to plead the fifth," she added with a warming smile "you know nothing, you have nothing to offer about the future understood?" Maddie nodded, Miranda pouted a little bit, but eventually nodded herself. "Now that that's over with lets begin discussing what we can about the book." Mrs. Daley paused and picked up her copy of the book, a well worn, well read book that resembled some of Rome's favorite books at home. "Now the Giver was first published in 1994, it quickly became one of Lois Lowery's most popular and yet most controversial books. It is a Newbury Award Winner and has won a number of other rewards." Mrs. Daley paused "it has also been subjected to many attacks, it has been banned, censored, and even removed from libraries and bookshelves all over the world, including in the United States. It is considered to be one of the most challenged book alongside the Diary of Anne Frank, Adventures of Huck Finn, and Are you There God, It's me Margret."
"What's a challenged book?" Isiah asked Rome, leaning forward to ask him
"Isiah I think you better ask your question again, I'm sure the class would like to hear it," Mrs. Daley called, Isiah went red for a moment, but complied
"I was asking Rome what a challenged book was, his dad's an author so I thought he might know."
"I'm sure Rome is very familiar with Banned Book week, am I right Rome?" Mrs. Daley asked and Rome nodded, his family celebrated it every year at the main branch of the New York Public Library. "I hate to put you on the spot Mr. Castle, but would you like to tell your classmates what Banned Book Week is? It will become very important with this book as we move along."
Rome nodded again, Miranda who had raised her hand and began waving it the minute Isiah admitted his question, was scowling at Rome for taking what she deemed a question she should be answering in other words, her spotlight.
"Banned Book week is a celebration at the end of September to the beginning of October, that celebrates the right to read and brings focus on books that are either banned or being challenged by various groups to be banned. It promotes a no censorship idea on reading. There's a whole list of books that are either banned or challenged and many of been on that list, been removed from it and gone back on it several times. I think Huck Finn is the most banned book in the the country, but even the Diary of Anne Frank has been challenged and banned at some point in some places." Rome explained,
"Why would anybody want to ban a book? Especially the Diary of Anne Frank," Jessica called out, obviously upset by the discussion "my sister and I read it together last summer, it's sad knowing what happened to her and her family. How could anyone ban her book when it teaches so much?"
"Lots of reasons," Rome explained, he looked at Mrs. Daley for permission to continue, she of course let him go, she had hoped some sort of discussion would occur and was pleased that her plan was working out so well. "some people say that it's too depressing, that's considered one of the biggest reasons it's banned or at least challenged, though I've read about other reasons too."
Now his classmates looked at him in shock,
"Depressing?" Isiah asked, 'well duh, it's supposed to be. It's supposed to teach a lesson."
"Because it doesn't have a happy ending, some people don't like it and don't think that it should be taught in schools." was Rome's answer "a lot of authors' books are challenged or even banned all over the world. Even some of my dad's are. His entire Derick Storm series is banned in a few countries."
"What's the difference between challenged and banned?" Jamal asked "I mean aside from the obvious,"
"Challenged just means groups have fought to ban it, they've made the first attempt to remove it from acc…acc…" Rome frowned and finger spelled accessibility and Mrs. Blackstone translated it for the class "but it hasn't been flat out banned either from a particular library or school reading list. When a book is banned the group has been able to remove it. It's happened a few times with a few books. The last few years Harry Potter has been number one on the challenge list and the Giver has been in the top twenty for a long time too,"
The class exchanged a look, shifting in their seats uncomfortably, it wasn't the idea of reading a book people wanted to ban that was making everyone uncomfortable, it was the idea that there was a such thing as Banned Book Week and that people actually wanted to stop other people from reading books. Even the most anti-reader in the class was against banning books. Seeing that the point she wanted to get across had hit home, Mrs. Daley stepped in to retake control of the class.
"Thank you for your explanation Rome, I will rely on you to help explain more as time goes on. Banned Book Week will come up in a lot of are over the next few weeks as we read the Giver as well as what it means to ban or challenge a book and why this type of censorship still occurs." She paused "but I know several of you are anxious to receive your copy of the Giver," next to Rome, Gage was practically jumping up in his seat and it was all Rome could do to keep from laughing. "So without further ado, Gage, Gabe, Jessica, and let's see how about Maddie can you four come up front and help pass out the books please?"
Gage was up front to grab a stack before Mrs. Daley finished asking the group to hand the books out. The class laughed good naturedly at him and even Gage laughed as he deposited books at each of their classmates spot. The second Rome got his he flipped through it, being careful not to read any of the pages.
"Can we start reading?" Rome asked
"We're going to read the first chapter together tomorrow, I wanted you to have the books in hand, but we will not be taking them out of class today and they will not be going home with you." Mrs. Daley paused and put her hand to her ear to hear the groans that came from the entire class. "I have my reasons, because your first homework assignment for the book is a writing assignment. Since we have tomorrow and the half day on Wednesday before Thanksgiving I would like this writing assignment turned in Wednesday morning. We will have homeroom which if you do not have me and you have Mr. Tucker you may turn it into him. This assignment's length will depend on each of you, but will have a common theme, which we will begin talking about right now, before diving into the book tomorrow." Mrs. Daley paused and looked out across the class "if everyone could put their books down and off to the side." She waited a moment while Mrs. Blackstone translated that for Rome and the rest of the class followed her instructions. "Excellent. Now I want you to think about how we live in this country. How old were you when you first went to school." She paused again "not day care or preschool. Kindergarten." The kids all thought this over
"Five, maybe six." A few called out in unison
"Four if you were Rome." Collin added with a snicker, which quickly stopped when Mrs. Daley gave him a look
"Typically kindergarten begins at five or six depending on the readiness of the child and in some cases the parents. I'm sure most if not all of you attended preschool or even day care correct?" the students all nodded. Even though Mrs. Blackstone hadn't translated Collin's comment, he sat only two kids away from Rome and Gage, so Rome had heard him pretty clear and read his lips, it was all he could do not to glare in Collin's general direction. "But neither of those institutions are a required part of an American child's education. Kindergarten in some capacity whether it's a private school, home schooling, or public school is required and by age six all of you would be enrolled in some form of education." Mrs. Daley turned to the white board and drew a Venn diagram on the board. "I want everyone to open up to a blank page in their notebook and copy this, but leave space in your notebook for several, we will be doing this style of comparison for many aspects of the book. I'll make a more permanent copy for us to use later on." On the diagram on the left side Mrs. Daley wrote America: 2009, on the right side the Giver Community, and in the middle similarities, at the very top for a title she wrote 'School' "As we read through the Giver we're going to find some vast differences between our society and theirs as well as some similarities we might not expect. Our first venn diagram will consist of school. The writing assignment for tonight is going to utilize information that will eventually end up in your diagram. Think about how we live today, what kind of laws do we have to keep people safe, where does our food come from, how much of a choice do we have as an individual in deciding our own future and actions, what is school typically like for the average ten or eleven year old. This first part should be about a page to a page and a half long, if it's longer that is fine, but remember this assignment is divided into two parts so do not focus too much of your attention on our current society and neglect the other part, which is take all you have written about for our current society and design your own perfect society, your own utopia." Mrs. Daley looked out at the class "who can give me a sixth grade definition of utopia?"
No one was surprised when Miranda's hand shot into the air, but right behind her in speed was Emily, which did surprise everyone. Since Emily rarely offered up an answer voluntarily, Mrs. Daley called on her.
"Um, a utopia is the perfect society, it depends on each individual what makes a utopia but typically its where no one gets sick or hurt, there is no need for punishment because everyone follows the rules and lives in harmony." Emily paused and looked at Mrs. Daley for confirmation, clearly unsure if she had given the right answer.
"That is an excellent definition," Mrs. Daley replied "and I especially like what you said in the beginning, a utopia depends on each individual. So what my idea of a utopia will differ from my peers, from my students, excreta, just as your own utopia will be different from your parents, siblings, even your best friend, because we are all different and we all have different visions. This theme of utopia and individuality will play a role in our reading of the Giver." Rome knew the basis for the Giver and what roughly the society in the Giver and he remembered from Lexis' reading the book that individuality wasn't a big thing in the society, something Alexis had mentioned was sameness. Taking a deep breath Rome raised his hand "Yes Rome?"
"When my sister read the book, she said something about sameness, I know that's something we'll probably get to when we start reading, but how can individuality be part of the book when it's a utopian society?" he asked "doesn't that contra…contre…" Frowning Rome looked at Mrs. Blackstone and gave her the sign for contradict, he took his pointer finger on both hands and placed them over each other in a crossing motion. Mrs. Blackstone relayed the information to Mrs. Daley and the class. "how a utopian society functions?"
"Rome that is an excellent and well thought out question. And yes you're correct we will look at something called sameness, on that thought I will not be answering question at the moment, it is something I want all of you to think about as we dive into this book. How can individuality flourish in a society bent on sameness?"
"What is sameness?" Gabe asked "it sounds like a made up word,"
"It's not," Maddie spoke up "it's a real word, just means being the same."
"We will discuss it throughout the course of the book," Mrs. Daley explained "I promise Gabe, you will learn what sameness means and Rome you will learn the answer to your questions too." She paused "now onto the vocab."
x-x-x-x
A/N: Apologies so much for how long it took to update this fic as well as others, I have been slightly out of commission on writing with school and work, leaving very little writing time and what I was able to get done was done in between said work and short papers, plus a 20+research proposal for school, so I got very far behind on a lot of my fics especially this one because the plan was to keep this on pace with the seasons and I do not mean the show season, which you will see in the next chapter just how far off track I got. The next chapter will be updated shortly and is nearly finished so hopefully you can all forgive me. I have forgiveness begging to do on some of my other fics as well, but those have not been neglected as badly as this one at the moment. So I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and will continue to be as patient with me as you have been.