Week 4 - UDC 10 - Nick Bradshaw, Present and Future Mother Goose

16. Breeze

It was the next Monday, after sharing lunch with him, that he saw what must have been the youngest kid on campus again. He was seated in the grass after class, reading a book for English when a angry yell sounded. "Hey! You come back here, you little pipsqueak!"

"No!"

Nick frowned and looked up just in time to see another student chasing a now-familiar shorter kid across the grass. "What-"

"Don't," a student sitting nearby told him in a bored tone. "Bart will give up eventually, because that kid runs faster than him. He's just mad that Mitchell is a smarty-pants."

17. Idyll

Watching his mother make lunch from the kitchen table as he ate breakfast, he wondered if he should tell her about the younger student who never seemed to bring a lunch or have money to buy lunch at school. It seemed so odd, how no one else seemed to notice. Or maybe they did and shrugged it off. Their JROTC adviser never commented on the bruises, either, as if he expected those and they were par for the course where Mitchell was concerned. "Ma?"

"Yes, Nick?"

"Can you make another sandwich for me?" She glanced over at him in question. "There's this... kid. Never has a lunch."

"Never?"

"No. Four days now, always has an excuse for why he doesn't and never gives a straight answer other than 'I couldn't bring lunch today.'"

She paused, then nodded and set about making another sandwich. "I'd like to meet him."

18. Shade

He found him seated outside the cafeteria this time, again doing homework instead of eating. "This seat taken?"

"No," Mitchell said without glancing up.

Nick smiled and set the extra brown paper sack on top of the open textbook in front of him. "Eat now, study later." Mitchell frowned at it, then tried to hand it back to him. "No, that's yours. Ma made it for you."

"For me? Why?"

Nick shrugged and pulled another brown paper sack out of his backpack. "Because I asked her to."

19. Balm

He watched from a distance as an older woman stopped Mitchell, Bart Tomkins fuming at her side with his arms crossed. The kid didn't seem unhappy to see her, and she had a sort of solemn smile as she handed him a small wrapped box and then gave him a hug and prompted him to open it. Nick frowned at the subtle body language, wondering how they knew one another as the kid opened the box and then stared at the contents in what could only be described as shock.

Nick inched closer, and could hear her say... "To replace the one that Bart broke, Pete. I know how important it is to you." His gaze slid to Bart, who seemed even more upset. "Bart, you owe him an apology. More than one."

"Mom," Bart started to whine, only to freeze when he spotted Nick, who was frowning deeply at him. "I'msorryIbrokeyourarmandyourmom'sbracelet,Pete."

20. Linger

Afterwards, after the two of them had left, Nick joined him on the steps. Pete didn't look up and continued to stare into the box in his hands as if he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing.

Inside the box was a silver bracelet with adjustable links attached to a curved plate with two names: "Richard 'Duke' Mitchell, USN" and "Nora Mitchell" in black against the silver.

Pete shook his head slowly. "The old one only had Dad's name on it."

Nick paused, wondering why that detail was important. He had so many questions now.