"Establish"
To make stable or firm; to confirm.
French Translations
Comment ça va : How are you
Mieux, maintenant que je suis ici : Better, now that I'm here
Her fingers ran over the edge of the page, running down the sharp corners of the pages. Books were one of her true loves - the feel of them, the smell of them, the sight of them, all were enough to make her happy when she was alone. It is a shame, she thought every day, not everyone thinks the same. But what could she do? She could hardly force people to love reading as she did. (A hopeless cause, anyway; no one could love reading as much as she did.) All she could do was continue to sell her books and hope each book made a difference to someone; each book would be the one to change someone's life.
She knew for a fact one book she had sold had changed two people's lives, for the better.
The bell on the front door jingled as the door opened, followed closely a cheerful voice calling, "Hey, Mrs. O!"
A grin formed on her beautiful face, and she looked up to see her favourite customer turning a corner around the bookshelf at the front of the store. "Good morning, Sean," she greeted him. "Comment ça va?"
"Mieux, maintenant que je suis ici." The redhead grinned cheekily at her as he finally reached the front desk. He leaned against it, managing to find somewhere on her crowded desk (stacks of books; papers; a basket of green apples; a bell to ring for assistance if she couldn't be found) he could place his elbow.
"Flatterer," she scolded, though her deep blue eyes twinkled in amusement.
"Only stating the truth," Sean said, shrugging his shoulders.
"That does bring up an interesting question, though," she said. She made sure to place the ribbon she used as a bookmark in the book before she closed it and placed it beside her on a stack of more books. She looked back to Sean, eyes narrowed. "Why are you here today? You have classes, don't you?"
Sean suddenly found it hard to make eye contact with her. He took an apple from the basket on her counter, making a big show of shining it on his shirt. Marianne frowned at him.
"Sean," she said, "you are so lucky to be able to have an education. Other people do not have the same luck as you. Surely you realize that."
Sean nodded, taking a bite of his apple. He still wouldn't look at her.
"I don't care if the class is boring - you have a class and you should take it. Take advantage of being able to learn."
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Sean mumbled, a chunk of green apple in his mouth. He was looking down at his shirt now, playing with the hem.
He looked abashed, and she sighed. "Why are you gracing me with your presence today, then?" Marianne asked, her voice gentler now than it had been before.
It seemed he couldn't stay guilty forever, because he looked up at her with a grin. "It's my sister's birthday today."
Marianne gasped and clapped her hands together excitedly, smiling hugely. Marianne had never met Sean's little sister. Sean usually got books to read to her, and all of them were suggestions from Marianne. But Sean talked about Theresa enough that Marianne felt as though she already knew her. She could remember how excited Sean had been when his mother was pregnant - when his parents told him, he had burst into her store in the middle of the day, yelling "I'm gonna be a brother!" (She nearly stabbed herself with her letter opener, she had been so startled.) When Theresa had been born, he once again burst in on her, yelling "I HAVE A LITTLE SISTER!" (Though luckily this time she had been holding no sharp objects.) The significant age difference between him and Theresa (almost twelve years) made no negative impact on their relationship, as far as Marianne could tell, and he spent a lot of his time helping his parents or coming to Marianne for advice on small children and little siblings. Marianne gave him advice, soothed his worries, and suggested book after book for him to read to his sister. He took all of her advice with few objections.
"Wonderful!" She exclaimed. "How old is she turning?"
"She can tell you herself! She's right-" Sean looked down at the floor, frowned, and then looked around. "She's gone."
"Oh?" Marianne stood from her chair.
"Not a problem. Theresa!" Sean yelled. The response was a small thudding noise that came from one of the rows between Marianne's many bookshelves. "I found her," Sean said to her, and she smiled fondly at him.
A moment later, a young girl, maybe five or six, appeared out from between two bookshelves. (Marianne knew the section over there to be History: Europe. There were many fine books in that section. There were many fine books in every section.) The girl looked like a younger, female version of Sean, with the same wavy red hair, the same oval-shaped face, and the same spindly limbs Sean had possessed at her age.
"Theresa," Sean said again, gesturing her over to him, "come meet Mrs. O."
After a moment's hesitation, Theresa walked over to her brother. She joined him, and at once she had hidden behind him.
"This is my little sister, Theresa," Sean said as he crouched down beside the smaller version of himself. "Hey, Tree, can you tell Mrs. O how old you are today?"
Theresa clasped her hands together behind her back, turning her body from side to side. She shook her head 'no'.
"She turned six today," Sean said, looking up at Marianne, who had walked around her counter to get a better look at the child.
"Six?" Marianne repeated, eyes wide in surprise. She slowly lowered herself to the floor, careful not to startle the little girl before her. "Un bon âge! Such a good age. You must be about to start school, then?"
Theresa was looking at her with an expression Marianne had seen on the faces of children many times before. It was a look of both awe and curiosity, and it never failed to make Marianne smile.
Theresa nodded, putting her hands to her face. "I'm in kindergarten," she said, and her voice was so sweet Marianne wanted to cry. "I know my ABC's and can count to thirty."
"You're so smart!" Marianne praised. Sean grinned at her; Theresa smiled shyly, revealing a small gap in her bottom row of teeth.
"You're really pretty," Theresa told her, "like a princess. And your voice is nice. I like it."
Marianne loved children for exactly this reason. They said whatever they thought, the moment they thought it. Marianne knew she was beautiful, and she didn't need others to say it to know it herself, but she still enjoyed hearing it - especially from children, who were too young to have any ulterior motives for saying things like that. And she loved hearing Theresa liked her voice; her French accent was still very strong, despite her years spent in America, and it was something of an oddity in her city.
"Merci beaucoup, Theresa. That was very kind of you to say," she told her.
"What does that mean?"
"It means, thank you very much." Marianne looked at Sean, who's smile had been growing as he watched the interaction between his little sister and Marianne. "Now, why did you bring her to me?"
"Because it's her birthday-"
"Oh, I forgot!" Marianne turned back to Theresa. "Happy birthday, Theresa!"
"Thank you, Mrs. O!" Theresa chirped, and she sounded so much like her brother at that moment.
"I wanted to do something special for her," Sean finished, after the interruption. "She can read by herself now, can't you, Tree?"
"I can."
"Incroyable!"
"That means incredible, Tree," Sean told Theresa, who nodded in understanding. "I wanted to get her a book, so she could get better at reading by herself, and so I-"
"You thought I could find her a book," Marianne finished for him.
Sean shrugged. "You're the only bookstore owner I know."
"Is that the only reason?" She asked, pretending to sound offended.
Sean grinned. "You're the only person I would trust with this choice."
Well, then. Marianne smiled. She couldn't turn down a compliment like that.
"The comic books are where they always are," Marianne said as she stood up. She brushed off any dirt that might have gotten on her pastel blue skirt.
"Awesome!" Sean gave her a thumbs up. He stood up as well and ruffled Theresa's hair. "Tree, you behave for Mrs. O, alright?"
"I will," Theresa promised, and the siblings high-fived before Sean stalked off to his comics.
Marianne sighed. "I keep insisting he read real books and he never listens to me," she said to Theresa. "All he reads is comics like Captain America, or whatever else is popular now." Yet Marianne continued to buy them, only for her most loyal customer. Used, of course - it was a used bookstore, after all. There were some books that came to her brand new, and she accepted them, but in general, her store mainly revolved around used books.
"Comic books are dumb," Theresa said, frowning. "They're full of boys. And boys are dumb."
Marianne couldn't help but laugh. "Very true, Theresa, but you'll find that some boys are dumber than most. It's rare to find a man who isn't a little bit of a buffoon."
"What's 'buffoon' mean?"
A smile found its way onto her face. "Dumb."
Theresa smiled at her. Marianne put her hand to her chin and looked around her store, deep in thought. "What would be good?" She wondered aloud. She looked down. "What would you like?" When Theresa only shrugged, she went back to looking around. She was in the history section - but perhaps that was just a place to hide, if she wanted a history book she would have said that. Perhaps stick with the classics - yes, that's best. So, what then? Oh, not The Hobbit, she's a bit too young for that. Grimm's Fairy Tales are a bit too dark. She winced a bit, remembering when she had read Grimm's Fairy Tales at seven years old. Nightmares had followed for days. Definitely not. Still, fairy tales... Ah!
"I know just the book for you, darling," Marianne said to Theresa. She headed for the children's section, high heels clicking against the wooden floorboards. Theresa followed close behind, eyes glued to the loose bun pinned up at the crown of Marianne's head. Several strands of fair blonde hair were falling from the bun, but to Theresa, it only made the beautiful woman look even more like a princess.
The children's section was located in the left wing of the store, and as they walked through the maze of bookshelves, Theresa found herself in awe of everything around her. When they reached their destination, while Marianne searched the shelves for the book she was looking for, Theresa studied her surroundings.
"Why do you have so many books?" Theresa asked, looking up at the tall shelves.
"Because I love to read, and I love to encourage reading in others. But sometimes people are not satisfied with any regular book - they have particular tastes. And I try to get as many books as I can, to keep everyone who comes into my store happy," Marianne answered, brushing her fingertips over the differently coloured book spines. She had to find just the right one.
"Have you ever read all the books in here?"
Marianne sighed wistfully. "If only. No, I've never been able to read all of these precious books. There are too many, and not all of them interest me enough to finish them. 'Tis a shame, really." She took a step back, looking to the very top shelf, a few feet over her head. "Have you ever heard of Hans Christian Anderson, Theresa?"
Theresa shook her head, 'no'.
"Truly?" Marianne gave a small frown as she turned back to the small girl. "What does anyone teach you if not the most important things?"
When Theresa merely shrugged, she sighed, shaking her head. "Such a shame. Hans Christian Anderson was a wonderful author from Denmark. My mother read his stories to me when I was your age, I think you'd enjoy them." Marianne gave a small, sad smile at the memory. Non, no dwelling on that, she chided herself.
"What does he write about?" Theresa asked curiously, looking up at the tall woman.
A smile lit up Marianne's face at the question. Theresa smiled in return, happy to have made the pretty woman smile and make her look even prettier.
"He writes fairy tales. Wonderful, beautiful, tragic fairy tales. The Little Mermaid, for instance - beautiful, but very sad. But I won't spoil it for you. Where is it?" Marianne grumbled the last bit, dark blue eyes narrowed as she searched for the book she desired. Finally, her eyes landed on the spine of a thick red book, tucked between two much thinner books, and she smiled at the sight of her prize. "Found it."
She looked behind her, to make sure Theresa was watching. The little girl was staring up at her, eyes wide as she waited for Marianne to reach up and get the book. "Do you need a ladder?" She asked curiously. Marianne was, after all, a few feet shorter than the top shelf, where the book was. She couldn't reach it all by herself.
Marianne only smiled. She looked back to the top shelf, eyeing the red book.
It took only a small tug of her mind to pull it free from the shelf. It hovered in the air for a moment, before floating towards the ground. Marianne gently grasped the book and pulled it towards her chest, eyes tracing the cover fondly as she turned back to Theresa. The little redhead was openly gaping, eyes huge and shining with amazement as Marianne crouched down in front of her.
Marianne presented the scarlet red book to Theresa. Golden letters, written in loopy cursive, were stamped on the cover, spelling out 'The Works of Hans Christian Andersen'. "Beautiful, isn't it?" Marianne said softly. When Theresa didn't respond, the cover suddenly opened without Marianne touching it. The pages of the book followed, turning over and over and giving Theresa glimpses of beautiful illustrations of the stories within, before finally landing on a particular page in the middle of the book. The picture on the page opposite the story was of a woman with a shepherds staff, and a man in a suit and a tall hat.
"This story," Marianne said, her fingers tracing the edge of the page with great care, "is my favourite. It is called 'The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep'. When you've finished reading the book, tell me which is your favourite, oui?"
Theresa reached out her small, trembling hands and took the book from a softly smiling Marianne. "Alright," she squeaked.
"I hope my trick did not frighten you," Marianne said, frowning.
Theresa shook her head fiercely, her red curls flying wildly. "You're magic," she said in a hushed voice, eyes shining with amazement.
Marianne chuckled. "I suppose I am." She stood back up, once again brushing dirt off her skirt. "Let's go find that brother of yours, shall we?"
Theresa gave a nod, still wide-eyed. She wrapped her arms around the thick book and followed Marianne to the comic book section. When they found Sean, sitting cross-legged on the floor and between two stacks of comics, Theresa ran around Marianne and threw herself into her brother's shoulder. "Sean!"
Sean let out a grunt of pain as the heavy book slammed into his shoulder, but quickly recovered. "Hey, there, Tree!" He grinned at her. "What did Mrs. O get for you?"
"This one," Theresa said, lifting the book to show him. "Sean, Mrs. O is magic!"
Sean gave Marianne a wink, which she returned with a smile. "Oh, is she?" Sean asked, looking back down at Theresa. "What did she do?"
"She floated this book down from the very top shelf!" Theresa exclaimed, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "And I saw it! And the book opened by itself! She's magic!"
"Let me see." Sean gestured for Theresa to hand him the book, which she did somewhat reluctantly. He examined the cover, read the title out loud, and began flipping through the pages. "This looks like a good one," he said. "Knew I could count on you."
"You flatter me," Marianne sighed, putting a hand to her face in a show of mock bashfulness.
"Can I read it when we get home?" Theresa asked, leaning against Sean's arm and looking down at the pages.
"If you think you can handle it. Think you can handle it?"
"Yes!"
"Then, yes, you can read it when we get home!" Sean exclaimed. Theresa giggled in delight. Marianne's heart melted at the sound. "Just hold on, I gotta clean these up first, then we can go." Sean began putting his comic books back onto the shelf, making sure to follow Marianne's alphabetical system.
"Sean and Mommy and Daddy are taking me to the aquarium today," Theresa informed Marianne. "They said Sean could take me here to get my present and then we would go later."
"The aquarium?" Marianne repeated. "That sounds fun! You must come back and tell me how it goes."
"I will! Sean, we have to come back and tell Mrs. O how much fun the aquarium is!"
"Will do." Sean nodded seriously, but the corners of his mouth were twitching. He stood up when he had finished putting the comics back onto the shelf, holding two comics for himself. Marianne led the siblings back to the front desk, where she rang up their items. When Sean paid her, she insisted on the Andersen book being on the house.
"It's a present," she insisted. "From me to my favourite customer."
"But it's not even for me," Sean said, still trying to get her to take the money.
"For my future favourite customer, then." Try as he might, Sean couldn't get her to take the money, and so eventually he gave up. Marianne smiled when he did.
She also recommended a book for him. "The Hobbit is a wonderful read, I'm sure you'd like it. And Theresa will like it too, maybe once she's a little older." Sean promised to come back and get it some other time, and with a final wave goodbye and "Happy birthday!" for Theresa, the Cassidy siblings were gone.
When the final customer left, she locked the door behind them and switched the sign on the door to "Closed". She drew the curtains in the window closed and then turned back to her store.
Novels that had been left in the wrong spot on their shelves pulled out and switched places. Storybooks that had been abandoned after the customer decided not to buy them flew across the store to their rightful place. Covers opened and pages with bent corners smoothed out. Torn pages mended themselves. The papers at the front desk sorted themselves out as Marianne approached. With a tilt of her head, the books in her stack flew back to the shelves and fit snugly into their spot.
Marianne smiled as she watched the magic around her. This might have been the best part of her day, when she locked up the store and could use her abilities without worrying about anyone walking in on her.
She didn't know where her powers came from; all she knew was that they had started when she had been ten years old. Waking up with half of the objects in her room floating against the ceiling had certainly been an experience she wouldn't forget for the rest of her life. They certainly made her everyday life easier. Even when she couldn't use them in public the same way she used them at home, she could use them in other ways. Marianne was fairly certain half the people in the city thought she had superhuman strength, given the number of times she had walked through the streets carrying huge boxes of heavy books without breaking a sweat.
Marianne went to the back of the store, humming a song as she went. An old woman had come to the store the other day, with a huge cardboard box full of old books. The woman had told her that her husband had passed away recently and had left behind dozens of books the old woman couldn't keep. Marianne, feeling a painful sting in her heart as the old woman told her story, had accepted the donation. Who was she to question the widow's request? Personally, she thought the woman should have kept the books - even if she hadn't read them all, it surely would have been nice to have something to remember her husband by - but she knew perfectly well that everybody dealt with grief differently.
In any case, Marianne hadn't been able to put the books on the shelves yet. She had to go through them first, figure out what each one was about, find out where each of them would to, make sure none of them were too damaged to put on the shelves... But she had finished sorting through them the day before. The only reason she hadn't put them on the shelves already was that she had been too caught up in her latest read to do so.
That, and also because it was easier to put them on the shelves using her powers.
Charles and Erik will make their debut in the next chapter! This chapter was mainly to give you a sense of Marianne's character.
Theresa isn't a real character in the MCU. She's sort of an alternate version of a character from the comics, who's Sean's daughter. She's called Siryn.
I hope you enjoyed it. I'd appreciate it if you left a review. Please don't be shy!