disclaimer: not mine!
a/n: Kevin's story is continuing. It goes on very, very slowly, though. There is a plot and it's coming along, but at the moment I just feel this story moves forward slowly. Is it too slow?
Anyhow, in this chapter we'll learn more about Kevin's Mum and an unusual and maybe unwise effort on communication is made.
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Unfamiliar Acquaintances
"Who is it?" Kevin's Mum came to the living room, looking warily at them.
"Only me and Kev, Rita."
"Oh." She smiled, and then started to look around. "Where did Mary go?"
"Maggie. She had to leave already. Didn't she say goodbye?"
"Oh. Yes, yes, of course she did - it's funny how I forget things. Where were you two?"
"Just in the park, Mum."
"Oh. Yes, yes....where did Mary go?"
"Maggie had to leave already, honey." Nothing in Brian Summer's voice indicated that he had answered the question already. And nothing in his voice indicated that there had happened anything out of ordinary in the park. Somehow it all made the situation eerily unrealistic for Kevin. He should have gotten used to it, by now, but still it felt weird.
"Oh. It's so hard to remember everything with people coming and going all the time. So much has happened today. I have loads to do, oh, how much I have to do! There's no way I'm going to get it all done..." She was getting agitated. It was time to step in. They were acting in a well-rehearsed manner, each knowing their cue. It was Kevin's line, now.
"Mum, there really isn't anything you should do. Please, just you sit and relax, you've deserved it."
"But I have to cook. I have to cook and do the whatsit...the...wash the shirts and..." Now she was stuttering and panicking.
"Laundry. Don't you worry about those, honey. I'll be cooking today, it's my turn. And Kev can do the laundry." Brian Summers smiled at his wife and Rita calmed down as quickly as she had started to panic.
"Oh, well. Yes. That's nice. It's like when Kevin was a baby. Then you cooked all the time. Remember? Once you even made that fancy foreign food...paella it was, with all those shrimps and hot spices. It was in September, fourth of September. I had that red dress with yellow flowers, and Kevin was only two months old. Remember?"
"Sure. I could make paella again, some time, if you'd like."
"Oh, yes. That would be nice. - - Where were you two?"
"In the park, Mum. I said it already." He couldn't help himself. He heard his own voice and it sounded snappish. His Mum's smile started to fall.
"Oh. I'm sorry. Your Mum is this crazy old woman, who doesn't remember a thing." Her voice trembled and Kevin cursed himself silently in his mind. If only she wasn't going to cry. Luckily, Brian Summers recognized his own cue and took action.
"No, honey. You're not old at all. We're all in our primes, here. And we all forgot stuff all the time. It's no big deal. Come with me to the kitchen. I could use some company." Gently, he led Rita to the kitchen, talking all the time. Kevin listened to his parents, his father's patient, soft voice telling jokes and making his mother laugh; his mother happily chatting about things that had happened before Kevin was born. Yes, it was a good day, today.
But he really didn't know how to tell his Mum he was going to a boarding school somewhere in a secret location. Well, maybe she wouldn't even notice him going.
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"I've been thinking, Kev. We can't use the school's real name. Laura will certainly want to check it up and I don't think they're on-line."
"I'd be surprised if they had an e-mail address." Kevin rolled his eyes.
"Yeah. I guess we'll have to ask them to send some more convincing material. Something normal.They got to have some cover-story they normally use." Brian Summers turned the bright-coloured leaflets with fairytale-like pictures in his hands. "And if they could telephone her."
"Do you think the Terminator with the pink hat will convince Laura any more than those brochures?"
"No. She is far too...bizarre. But there must be someone more suitable. Maybe they sent her just to get us believe in magic?" He didn't sound like he believed himself and Kevin certainly didn't. Brian Summers changed the subject swiftly: "We should contact them somehow. Isn't there any number or address in these leaflets?"
Kevin and his father leafed through the brochures, but they couldn't find any information on how to contact his new school. There was something about sending an owl or flooing should any questions arise, but even if those were some kind of methods of communication, Kevin sure didn't know how to use them. How stupid could those people be? Apparently they had students of...how was it...non-magical heritage all the time, but the way they were treated would rather have indicated he was the first one ever! Couldn't they simply adjust a bit? What was so wrong with a telephone? In middle of his mental rant, Kevin suddenly remembered something.
"Dad! Remember the letter? It said something about..." Kevin started to dig his pockets in order to find the letter. Finally, he managed to fish out the crumpled parchment. "Yes! Here, look at this! It says here that if the time today would have been inconvenient to us, we should have written so in the bottom of the letter! It must be some kind of a telefax-system, only working with magic instead of electricity!"
Brian Summers scrutinized the piece of parchment. "Well...I suppose it won't hurt trying. But we don't know how it will be activated. If we had just suggested another time for an appointment, we would have sent a very short note. Now we'll have to write more. Maybe the message will leave the minute you lift the pen off the paper, or maybe only after a noticeably pause occurs in the writing. It may be that there won't be enough time for all of our note to get through"
Kevin loved it when his Dad started to really think about things. He got this look of extreme concentration and exhilaration on his face. For a moment it was just like the times they had solved all kinds of quizzes and puzzles together, when he had been younger. Kevin jumped enthusiastically into the heat of problem-solving: "We have to compose the message first, and then write it down without any pauses. And it should be as short as possible, and straight to the point."
Father and son grinned at each other. Then Brian grabbed a piece of paper from his desk drawer and hold a pen expectantly in the air as if waiting for a dictating session to begin. Kevin couldn't resist but joined in the game. He coughed in a respectful manner and started:
"Dear Sirs, could we still discuss with someone from Hogwarts' staff, preferably by telephone or via e-mail. The acceptance letter Kevin Summers received is very odd by any normal standards - as you should know, were you not a bunch of crackpots yourselves - and we would need something we could show to all the people wondering if we have all of a suddenly gotten crazy. Sincerely, Kevin Summers, soon-to-be-a-magician-against-his-own-will."
Brian Summers guffawed loudly. "Not bad, Kev! I'd love to send that one!"
Kevin joined his father's laughter and for a moment they forgot all about his mother. Suddenly, her voice was heard: "Who is it?"
Immediately, Kevin and his father sobered. "Just us, Rita, just us," Brian Summers soothed his wife.
"There were some strange women here....I heard them, just now...you want them to get me, don't you?"
"There's no-one else here, Mum," Kevin assured. "We were only fooling around with Dad."
"Oh. Oh...I must have dreamed about those women, then. Silly me." She still looked at them suspiciously and Kevin couldn't help thinking he wouldn't have trusted a soul had he not been able to trust his own instincts and memories. It sure felt odd to feel sorry for one's own mother, but there was really nothing else he could do when he watched her sad and scared eyes.
"C'mon, Rita, let's turn in already." Brian Summers walked to his wife and grinned apologetically at Kevin over her head. "We can sort that thing tomorrow, Kev."
Kevin watched his parents going and sighed. He knew Mum was sick and didn't do it on purpose. He knew Dad had to take care of her. Knowing it didn't help it, though. At the very moment, Kevin felt that he would have really needed all the help he could have, and his parents really should have been there for him. Bugger it all!
Kevin looked at the papers on the desk. There were the cheery leaflets and the odd letter alongside of the note Kevin's father had written after his own dictation. He stared at the leaflets, disgusted with their joyful appearance. Did those people really imagine that everybody had it so easy? That each and everyone of the lucky people they would approach would just jump of joy when offered a chance to become a useless trickster or – Kevin remembered the scared look in his father's eyes when the odd lady had made the branch explode – some freak all the normal people would be afraid of ? That nobody would have anything for which they would need to stay home?
Once more, the note they had composed caught Kevin's eye. Determinedly, he grabbed the parchment and, without for once lifting the pen off the paper's surface, copied the note word to word on the bottom of the letter. Then he slowly raised the pen and waited. Half terrified, half elevated, he watched the writing disappearing from the parchment like it would have sunk into the tissue.
He could hardly breath. What would happen next? He had practically called them a bunch of freaks. How would they answer?
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a/n: In the next chapter we'll see how they will react and who will get Kevin's letter. We will probably also see, at last, who is Laura. I have a first-night coming in a fortnight, so the next chapter may take some time, but it will come – eventually. Thanks for reading and I'd really appreciate some comments. And wish me luck on with the play. I really need it!
