Claire stood in the kitchen, scraping the knife across the surface of the toasted bagel, spreading butter all over it. She grinned as she heard her son singing along loudly to the Star Wars theme tune which marked the end credits. It was only nine in the morning and the little boy had watched the whole film already. She thought it funny that once upon a time, back when Nathaniel was only a few days old, she and Owen had agreed that they'd try to keep their son's screen consumption to a minimum, especially as back in 2017 when he had been born everything seemed to be done digitally. Nowadays, not only was it done digitally, but most devices were high-res touch-screen. This often frustrated technophobe Owen who could never see the point in the need for so much technology, much to Claire's amusement. The parent's agreement to limit their son's screen consumption slowly began to disappear the older Nathaniel got. The more stubborn he got. The more fidgety he got. Now it was easier to stick the TV on so that Nathaniel ate his breakfast quietly while his parents had the chance to get ready for the day ahead. Now the three year old was a pro with the technology. He could work an iPad and his parent's iPhones almost as well as they could.
Claire made her way from the kitchen through to the lounge, carrying a small plate with the bagel on it and placed it on the coffee table in front of her son. Nathaniel Grady was stood on the couch, waving a toy lightsabre about to the beat of the music playing around the room from the TV, "Mommy can I watch it again?" the little boy said eagerly, his big green eyes pleading with his mother.
"Only if you eat your breakfast up please" Claire said, as she began to make her way over to the TV. Her son jumped down from the couch, picking up half the bagel which looked huge in his little hand, before jumping back up onto the couch, "Not on the couch please sweetheart" the red head calmly asked her son and the three year old obeyed his mother, jumping down off the couch yelling a loud "aaaaahhhh!" and landed on his feet, "crash!" before falling backwards onto his bum quite accidentally. There would have once been a time when Claire would've dashed to her son's aid, but since cutting down her working hours a couple of weeks ago and spending more time taking care of her son she knew that it wouldn't be the last time he would fall over from jumping off something. He had a huge desire for adventure and excitement. So Claire, having not heard any tears but rather a "whoops" from the three year old, restarted the film without looking over at her son who had begun leaning over the plate to eat his bagel. Suddenly the doorbell rang and Claire furrowed her brow. They didn't normally get visitors at this time on a Friday morning. The mail-woman came round about 8am but never rang the bell. If there were any parcels she would just leave them on the front porch with a nice note posted through the mail box to say that they were there.
Claire made her way over to the front door curiously, sucking a small blob of butter from her thumb, her bare feet pattering on the floorboards of the room. She peered through the tiny window of the front door and let out a small groan. It was Betty Wilson - the woman who lived in the house opposite them. She and her husband, Mike, moved into their small neighbourhood at the beginning of the year. Mike was the head of Jurassic World's merchandising, and Betty ran one of the small pubs along the docks. Both were in their late forties.
Claire opened the front door, pursing her lips into a tight smile as she reluctantly greeted her neighbour. Betty was a terrible reader of body language which both played to the Grady's advantage as well as disadvantage. "Good morning Betty. What can I do for you?" Betty was 5ft5 (around the same height as Claire), was rather plump, and wore thick rimmed red glasses that made her piercing blue eyes seem far larger than they actually were. She had dyed purple hair that she wore in tight curls every day, a thick layer of plum lipstick, and had a habit of wearing a horrid leopard-print shawl around her shoulders no matter how hot and humid the weather got. She stood on the front porch looking rather cautious and trying to peer over Claire's shoulder into the house. She had always been nosy, and a key spreader of gossip. Claire didn't really like her.
"Claaaaaaaire," the older woman drawled her greeting with a high sickly-sweet voice that rang right through the red-head's body. Claire watched the woman smile at her, "I was just wondering if everything was alright…you know…at home?" Claire furrowed her brow slightly, her tight smile beginning to drop. She had no idea why her neighbour was asking a personal question like this. It was none of the woman's business what was happening in her home. Had Nathaniel's noisy voice mixed with his crash on the floor really been so loud and sounded that bad that it warranted a neighbour to come over to see what was going on? The older woman continued, "It's just…well I saw you in a couple of magazines and…I was concerned."
Claire heard her son talking in the room behind her but she had become so used to him talking along with the movie or talking to his imaginary little sister that she didn't turn to see what he was up to. She raised her eyebrows with surprise and glanced down as Betty brought two magazines out from behind her back. The younger woman swallowed loudly, taking the magazines from the older woman's hands and could feel her heart-rate begin to increase dramatically as she saw on the front of both magazines photos of herself and Nathaniel from Wednesday of last week. The photo was of her makeup-less, looking particularly haggard under a large sun-hat, trying to hold her three year old up by the arm as he sat, in a strop, in a heap on the pavement. Accompanying the large photo on the front of one magazine was a large headline "Clawen No More? Claire struggles as her relationship breaks down" and in the bottom-right corner of the front cover was a smaller photo of a serious-looking Owen carrying Nathaniel down one of the streets in the park with a smaller headline in the style of a quote "Claire just works too much". The other magazine, which had a photo of the same situation Claire had been in with Nathaniel but from a different angle with her looking up at the camera with a stressed expression, had the headline "It's Over! Claire & Owen call it quits" and beside the headline was a small photo of her and Owen down at the docks clearly in a heated argument as the sun set over the ocean behind them. Claire stared at that particular photo in shock. When was that taken?! They hadn't been down to the docks in the early evening since before Nathaniel had been born. In fact, they hadn't been there since before they returned to prepare for the park to reopen. Claire's stomach twisted. She knew when that photo was taken. It had been at the end of her and Owen's fateful first date down at the docks, which had been…six years ago!
It was early afternoon and the hot Costa Rican sun was beating down on the streets below. Claire walked slowly down the pavement, her son walking by her side holding her hand. They had just been for lunch at Caracolas , one of few restaurants in Marpais where Nathaniel ate anything from the menu, and were now making their way back to the docks to get the ferry home to Isla Nublar . Claire had been given the day off as Owen needed an extra day to try a new trick with Blue, and while that had been no problem at all for Claire, nor her colleagues who had all seemed overly sympathetic and pleased when she had called them first thing that morning, it seemed to have confused Nathaniel. Thursdays had become his day off with his father and Owen had told Claire all about the restaurant over in Rica that their son seemed to love.
So she had decided to give it a go and to her delight he had eaten everything on his plate, a rarity for the fussy three year old. She had loved the way the waiters had greeted Nathaniel at the door like an old friend, taking them straight to the table that was apparently their regular spot. Claire wondered how often Owen took their son there and made a mental note to ask him when he got home this evening. Now, however, Nathaniel was beginning to get a little whiny. Claire sighed as she pulled his baseball cap further onto his head so it actually shaded most of his face. He didn't sleep much at the best of times, the last thing she needed was for him to get heat-stroke and not sleep at all. The three year old huffed and pushed his cap back up. "Nate, sweetheart, you need to keep your cap down. The sun is too hot." Claire said with a sigh, reaching out and returning the cap to the position she had had it at before. She herself had a large sun hat on to try to keep the rays from sizzling her porcelain skin. She knew it wouldn't completely work as there was rarely a day that went by when she didn't get slightly burnt. Claire looked up and thought she saw a glint of something across the road that reflected the sunshine but it disappeared almost as quickly as it had appeared so she ignored it and looked down again. Her son was misbehaving and had pushed the cap back up with such force that it fell off his head. It landed on the floor with a light smack as the peak of the cap hit the pavement and Nathaniel immediately stopped to look back at it.
Claire was getting to the end of her tether. Her son seemed to be going through a naughty streak in recent days. It was too much for the red-head and she dropped her calm voice for a far sterner one, "Nathaniel I told you to keep your cap down ! Pick it up please!" Unsurprisingly the three year old looked up at her with a face like thunder and yelled an angry "No!" to which Claire threatened him with no ice-cream - something she had originally promised he could have once they got back to Isla Nublar . This had been enough to crack the little boy, who collapsed in a heap on the floor and began fake-crying loudly. Claire could feel her cheeks flush red in embarrassment, noticing out of the corner of her eye other pedestrians looking over at them as they walked by. So much for an incognito day out away from the public eye.
"Nathaniel stand up!" Claire hissed at her son, but the little boy continued to wail as he curled into a ball over his cap. The mother bent down and took her son by the arm, "Stop the crocodile tears, I know you're not really crying. Come on!" Claire was trying to stand her son up when she thought she heard the sound of a camera shutter coming from in front of them. She looked up briefly but there were so many people ahead of them that her desperation to stop her son from making a scene overtook her intuition, and she shook away the initial concern she had that they were being photographed by the paparazzi.
"Nathaniel please!" Claire's voice had become more pleading now. The sooner he stood up the sooner they could go back to Isla Nublar where she felt safe. At least there she was able to mostly control their surroundings. As she stared at her son, who was almost wailing louder with every minute that went by, she sighed. There was only one option left, "Fine, I'll call Daddy then. Tell him you're being naughty and that you're not being good enough to go to this afternoon's training." Claire said, letting go of the little boy's arm and reaching into her dress pocket to pull out her cell. To her relief her words were enough to get her son to stop his fake-crying, "Nooooo!" he whined as he grabbed his cap and stood up. Claire still wasn't satisfied she had his complete compliance and she held her cell to her ear. Her son whined again, trying to reach up to the phone to take it from her but he was far too short. "Well put your cap back on properly and start behaving" she threatened and her son immediately stuffed his cap on his head and looked up at her pleadingly. That was enough for Claire, and the woman bent down to her son's level, straightening his cap a little, "Sweetheart, you need to be good for Mommy, okay?" Nathaniel nodded slowly, his face looking so sad and Claire planted a big kiss on his cheek, "Come on, let's go home" and she stood up again, taking her son's hand before leading him down the street towards the docks.
"I can tell by the look on your face that these magazines speak some truth so…shall I come in for a coffee and you can talk about it with me?" Betty said somewhat enthusiastically though she was clearly trying to sound sympathetic. Claire looked up from the magazines in horror. There was no way she was letting this woman into her house. She clearly wanted to find out as much gossip as possible. It wouldn't surprise her if she called the magazine companies herself to dish the dirt. Claire forced a polite face, though her heart was hammering away. She was desperate to get inside and immediately look on Google to see what had happened. What on Earth did it say? "Well thank you Betty but that won't be necessary." It actually gave her satisfaction to see the woman's face drop in disappointment. "You see, there is nothing happening here. Owen and I are still happily together. Nathaniel is happy…" Claire heard her son bounce to join her at the front door with a big grin on his face as he held her iPhone out to her, "Mommy! It's Daddy on the phone!"
Claire rejoiced inwardly at the perfect timing that was Owen calling her, and her son bringing it not only to her attention but to their neighbour's too. Betty's expression had completely dropped now as the women listened to Nathaniel talking to his father on the phone, "Yes Daddy I'm dressed… No not in my Kylo costume, my raptor clothes… I have been good, honest, ask Mommy! Ok… see you soon… love you too." Claire smiled as her son handed her the phone and she held it up to her ear, facing Betty so she heard their conversation.
"Hey babe," she started, and she let out a small giggle as her boyfriend informed her he was only calling to check their son wasn't in his favourite Star Wars costume. Claire had had quite a difficult day at the end of last week. Their son had been so stubborn, having dressed himself in the costume whilst Claire had been preparing his breakfast, and refused to change into more appropriate clothing ready for the raptor training with his father. It had taken her an hour of arguing before she had succumbed to how exhausted she felt and had broken down in tears. She'd called Owen desperate for him to tell their son that he had to change into cargos and a t-shirt as the little boy stood with his arms crossed in a strop. Her boyfriend had been a hero, immediately driven over to the house and scolded their son for upsetting his mother. He'd managed to get the stubborn three year old to apologise and change into more appropriate training clothing whilst Claire had got herself ready to go over to the paddock. "Listen is it okay if I call you back in a minute babe, it's just I've just got Betty at the door." That seemed to be enough of a hint for Betty, and the older woman's face scrunched into an apologetic expression, she held her hands up then began walking backwards away from the house with a wave. Claire held the magazines up as a way of saying goodbye and she heard Owen groan down the phone to her "Oh god, not that woman!"
Claire closed the door behind her, "She's gone now," she said, her son having resumed his position in front of the TV, and she immediately dashed upstairs, "Just the mention of you was enough to scare her off." Claire said with a giggle as she reached the top of the stairs and made her way over to the bedroom. "What did she want?" Owen asked her down the phone, but Claire wasn't paying too much attention. She had found her iPad. "She was just wondering if we were okay…"
"Hmm…that's nice of her?" Owen didn't sound so sure. Claire rummaged down the back of the bed frame and found her glasses case that Nathaniel had knocked down there first thing that morning. She pulled her glasses out of the case and placed them on her face while she opened Google on her iPad. "Oh don't you worry, I'll tell you all about it when I see you in a bit." Today was Friday. She was due to take Nathaniel over to Raptor Ranch ready for the first full run-through of the Raptor performance. They had only next week to perfect it until the attraction opened to the general public the following Monday. And from the looks of the results that were coming up from a Google News search of 'Clawen' it was likely she would need to make an appearance on the bridge too, because as far as the general public were aware, she and Owen had recently endured a very messy breakup.