Chapter 13
Once again Daniel was up first, he checked on the kids, noticing that Zona had spent the night in a bed, just not hers, today she was curled up with Timmy. Her older brother holding her tightly. Progress he thought. Timmy's bed was better than the wardrobe floor, smiling he allowed them to sleep in, he needed his coffee before he went for a run. Zona joined him in the kitchen soon after. This time she bounced into the kitchen already dressed, in a white t-shirt that had horses on, and pink trousers matched with a yellow jacket. Colour co-ordination was currently not one of Zona's strong points.
"Can we see the horses now?" she asked,
"Breakfast first" Daniel instructed; Zona pouted slightly but sat on the chair. Daniel placed the bowl of cereal on the table saying goodbye to his morning run again. He stood drinking his coffee his eyes on the garden, he noticed the pink bike, an idea forming in his mind, he could jog while Zona rode next to him. He turned to suggest it remember her broken arm, bike riding was out of the question now. Going to get his trainers and Zona's ready for their walk, he saw some pink sparkling roller boots sitting in the shoes closest, that could work, they'd have to be careful but that would take him to a light jog even holding her non broken arm. He put his own shoes on, as Zona finished,
"Can we see the horses now?" she asked, Daniel nodded,
"Zona have you ever tried roller skating, it's really fun" he asked, Zona shook her head no, "Would you like to try, it will get us to the horses faster and I'll hold your hand the whole time if you want me to" he offered. Zona nodded, anything to get to the horses quicker. Daniel helped her get her shoes on and did the laces up, helping with her helmet and knee pads she wobbled as she stood,
"Okay turn your feet out pushing forwards to move and tip your foot forwards to stop." He instructed, "Let's go outside,"
It took longer to get to the horses than normal but by the time they got there, Zona was skating on her own, a bit wobbly still but on her way to being great.
"Hello Titan, hello Zeus," Zona greeted waving at the horses that were standing in the middle of the field, on seeing Zona Titan trotted over, "I'm on skates," she told them, wobbling, "Are you still eating grass. I don't think grass tastes nice, I had cereal this morning,"
Daniel left Zona chatting to the horses as he began sprints up and down the road next to the field. He could see Zona gesturing wildly, and then stopping to stroke Titan's nose, even picking up grass to feed him from her side of the fence, giggling when he bent down and ate it. It lightened Daniel's heart to hear her giggle.
He finished his run returning to the fence, he could see Zona still talking to both horse, Zeus having joined Titan having deemed the small human not a threat. Zeus backed off as Daniel came close.
"And my daddy beat me with a belt too, I bet your daddy hitted you too, we have matching scars. Did you cry too? My daddy hit me cus I killed mammy, I was sleeping, and he got mad," Zona told the horses. "Did your daddy get mad too?" She stroked Zeus's nose, "Captain says it's wrong to hit, he is nice, I live with them now. Nurse B cooks good and we gets warm food, and I sleep in a bed"
Daniel took a deep breath; he wouldn't cry at Zona's frank admission to the horses. He hadn't seen Zeus up close but could see the old welt marks that had caught Zona's interest.
"Zona we should head home, say goodbye to Titan and Zeus" he ordered gently.
"Bye Titan, bye Zeus, can I see them tomorrow?" she asked Daniel,
"Not tomorrow we are going to the zoo but maybe the day after" he offered. Zona pouted and he could feel himself almost give in at the sadness in her blue eyes, "just think when we come back you can tell them all about their cousins the donkeys and zebra" he suggested, "I bet Titan and Zeus would love a picture" Zona sighed but allowed herself to be led away.
Returning home Daniel went to work, leaving Zona drawing more pictures one for Zeus and one for Titan. Barbara and Timmy had just got up, today was a busy day visiting the potential new school and going to the library.
They arrived at the school in time for recess.
"Timmy" Nick called jogging over, "Zona, are you coming to this school?" he asked excitedly.
"Not yet Nick, we are just visiting, but if they like it maybe" Barbara explained,
"Cool its great here, my teacher is really nice" Nick explained as the headteacher came out.
"Mrs Robbins, who is this?" the teacher asked
"I'm Timmy and this is Arizona" Timmy introduced,
"Arizona?" Barbara asked, she had only ever heard the little girl referred to as Zona,
"She goes by Arizona at school" Timmy said shrugging.
"Well welcome, Timmy and Arizona" the teacher greeted. "I'm Mrs Thomas, shall I show you around?" She was glad she had been given the heads up, seeing 2 children with such horrific bruises was disturbing, and that was just what was on display. Nick followed them to the classroom too given them the unofficial tour while Nurse B and Mrs Thomas spoke.
"Now Arizona this would be your classroom, it has 2 class pets, Bugs and Flopsy," she pointed to the rabbits. Zona was transfixed walking over to the bunnies, "Stroke them gently" Mrs Thomas instructed, the rabbits were used to young children and the rule was they could only play with them with an adult in the room. Zona stroked one while Timmy had the other.
"We have 20 children in the class, 21 if Arizona joins, the parents opt in to take the rabbits home at the weekends and holidays, it works out to be 2-3 times a year" Mrs Thomas explained. "Arizona would you like to join the next lesson, I believe it's art" She asked, Zona nodded, she liked art, her hand slipped into Barbara's, her blue eyes questioning.
"I'll stay too" Barbara promised.
"And Timothy, I believe you know Nicholas, his class is about to do English," Mrs Thomas invited, Timothy nodded,
"Yeah, were reading Roald Dahl, James and the giant peach" Nick said enthusiastically "It's really good." He walked out the room Timmy following.
Zona sat painting on Nurse B's lap, she was drawing the horse, Zeus in purple, Titan in pink. Today Mrs Bowen had allowed them to add glitter too. Zona had never played with glitter before, but she loved the sparkle. Barbara winced as she saw how much glitter was sticking to the cast and going down the gap. She dreaded the state her arm would be in once they took it off. She could imagine the sparkly peas and sweetcorn that would be revealed. Once art was over Nurse B started talking to the teacher,
"Arizona, do you want to play with us? We are playing tag" a girl invited. Mrs Bowen had always told them to be kind to each other and if any kid was alone to invite them to play. Zona nodded she did want to play. With Nurse B distracted Zona didn't think twice before running outside with her new friend.
By the time Barbara finished chatting and collected the wet paint project covered in glitter Zona was gone. On the playground she found Timmy playing soccer with Nick and some boys from his class and Zona playing tag with 5 kids from her class.
"I suspect we will be starting here Monday" Barbara guessed looking at both happy children playing, Mrs Thomas and Mrs Bowen smiled. The Williams children had already become part of their school. Once playtime was over Barbara collected her children, driving them to the library, Zona picked 3 books on horses, Timmy picked a book on the US Arizona, and 2 Roald Dahl books, James and the giant peach from school and Charlie and the chocolate factory.
Once home Timmy sat on the sofa reading James and the giant peach, while Zona sat looking at the pictures while Barbara made lunch. After lunch she settled on Barbara's lap holding a book, this one was large print,
"That word is horse," Barbara pointed, there was no time like the present to start reading. "The horse was in the barn"
By the time Daniel returned home Timmy had read 4 chapters and was caught up to where his class was, while Zona could read several lines of her book, either that or she had memorized the lines.
"The horse was in the barn" Zona recited, "he leaps over the ga-gate and out of the barn door" she read, struggling with gate.
"Wow Zona that's good reading" Daniel praised, "And Timmy have you read that much already"
"Uh huh" Timmy said still engulfed in his book.
"We have 2 clever kids" he said proudly. He sat next to Timmy, "Can you read it to me?" he asked, Timmy nodded surprised but happy that someone cared enough to listen to him. Meanwhile Barbara had started dinner and Zona had swapped books. Again, she started looking at the picture
"horse" she recognised, "the horse…..ate the…..Captain" she asked pointing,
"Carrot" he said
"The horse ate the carrot" Zona repeated.
"Well done" Daniel praised, happy, he was having these moments with the kids, teaching Zona how to skate, helping them both with their reading, taking Timmy to karate, teaching them how to ride a bike. Zona smiled proudly, trying to read the next sentence, if her reading made Captain and Nurse B happy then reading is what she would do, anything to stop them getting mad and make them happy.
Eventually the words got too hard, so she sat listening to Timmy reading following his finger on the page. After dinner and bath both children went to bed exhausted.
Daniel was up first checking on Zona and Timmy, Zona was curled up in Timmy's bed, as they were both sleeping still Daniel quietly left taking the opportunity to sneak out for a run, arriving back he found Zona in the lounge sitting on the floor looking at the pictures in her horse book.
"Hey Zona, have you had breakfast yet?" he asked, "And why are you on the floor" he bent down lifting her onto the sofa.
"Not allowed on the furniture" Zona said, "I'm dirty" she told him factually, after all she had been told that nearly every day. Daniel knelt down hugging her tightly, his heart breaking. She had been on the furniture since arriving at their home but only when they patted the sofa inviting her to sit down. The rest of the time she had sat on the rug. At the time he figured she was just making herself comfortable, now he realised she wasn't.
"No, you're not dirty Zona, you are beautiful, special little girl, and here you are allowed on the furniture"
"I'm hungry" she said in reply, not believing him, Daniel sighed, it was going to take more than a few conversations to undo to the damages. He could only hope Rita would be able to give them tips, along the way.
"Okay today is a weekend so how about pancakes?" he suggested.
"What are pancakes?" Zona asked, Daniel grinned,
"You're going to love them, they're warm" he promised. He wasn't much of a cook, but pancakes were one of his specialities.
He made lots of batter, going for the dramatic flip. Zona clapping with delight when it landed in the pan.
"Banana's, or berries, or try both?" he asked placing it on a plate,
"Try both" Zona decided,
"Syrup or squirty cream or try both?" he asked again,
"Try both" Zona said again, having not had much choice in food now she was desperate to try as much new food as possible.
The smell of pancakes had woken Timmy up who appeared just as Zona's was ready.
"Would you like to try Pancakes Timmy?" Daniel asked,
"It's really good" Zona muttered. "Not a good as doughnuts" Doughnuts were the best food she had tried.
"Chocolate is better" Timmy argued,
"Doughnuts" Zona replied fiercely,
"Kids don't argue, both are good choices" Daniel interrupted. As he poured the second pancake, "Also angel cake is better than both"
"What's angel cake?" Timmy asked,
"It's the most amazing cake ever, its moist and fluffy and has cream in between the layers." Daniel described. "I'll get Barbara to buy some next time she goes shopping." He suggested, "Right flip time, Timmy do you want to help?" he asked, Timmy held the pan, Daniel's hands over the top as the pan went down and up the pancake flipping nearly perfectly. "Well done, Timmy" Daniel praised
"I did it" Timmy said amazed. From the door he heard the snap of a camera, Barbara had woken and come down managing to catch the touching moment on camera. She had changed the film last night ready for their trip to the zoo.
After pancakes the family got dressed, Barbara helping Zona with her choices, although Zona loved bright colours and choosing her own clothes Barbara was desperate to have her clothes matching for just one day, especially for their first family trip out. Zona chose a blue pair of jeans a purple t-shirt with a lion on and a pink jacket, Barbara tearing her away from the orange one.
"Can I wear the roller boots?" Zona asked, she loved being able to zoom fast.
"Roller boots, when did you try them on?" she asked,
"Yesterday with Captain" Zona explained "We saw Titan and Zeus"
"Daniel" Barbara called, her voice falsely pleasant so not to scare the children. Daniel wasn't fooled, "why has Zona been roller booting, with a fractured arm, fractured ribs and multiple contusions."
"Well, she couldn't ride a bike with her arm in plaster" he defended shrugging she hadn't fallen and they'd had fun.
"She shouldn't be doing much more than walking in the condition she is in, she still has stitches in, for Christ's sake Daniel"
"She was fine, we had fun" Daniel defended his voice raised.
"Fun, Daniel you're lucky you didn't open her abdominal wound, what would have happened if she fell, she could have damaged her arm." Barbara's voice went up. Neither of them noticed Zona slipping out Timmy following behind. They had learnt their lessons from daddy shouting meant pain. The only thing they could do to stop the pain was to hide. Both children slipped into the wardrobe hiding on the floor, Zona shaking, Timmy's arm around her trying to protect and reassure his sister.
"It's okay Zona, I'll protect you" he promised, not for the first time as she leant into him, taking the warmth and protection he offered.
Downstairs Daniel had agreed no more roller boots until Dr Mabel gave it her okay. They had kissed to make up, before returning to getting ready.
"Where is Timmy and Zona?" he noticed,
"They were just here putting their shoes on" Barbara also searching the room her heart sinking, "They heard us arguing," she guessed, she knew where they would be. Sighing deeply, she left the kitchen, Daniel followed her out of the room and upstairs, they entered Timmy's room. The wardrobe door was closed,
"Timmy, Zona, can you come out please" Barbara asked, she fought the urge to open the door and jump in herself. She wanted them to trust her enough to come out by themselves.
"No, you're angry" Zona called her voice trembling.
"Please don't hurt us, we're sorry" Timmy added, "We'll be good, Zona won't skate anymore, she didn't know it was against the rules"
"We won't hurt you, we promised, we even pinkie promised, so you know we can't" Barbara told them, "I was telling Daniel that I was worried about Zona skating because she could hurt herself and when you love someone you worry about them being hurt"
The door opened, Timmy's tear-stained face appeared, "You love us?" he asked sceptically,
"I do, so much, more than I thought possible. You're my Timmy and my Zona. You make my heart feel full" Barbara explained,
"And you won't hurt us?" Timmy checked again,
"Never" Barbara said, Timmy bit his lip and came out of the closest hugging Barbara, Zona still in the wardrobe. After letting go of Barbara, Daniel hugged him,
"I'm sorry I scared you" he said, "I didn't mean to raise my voice, but we can still go roller skating Zona, we just have to wait until your tummy is better"
Blue eyes appeared in the wardrobe, focusing on Daniel, in her experience pain came from men.
"You're not mad?" she checked,
"No" Daniel answered, her blue eyes went to Barbara, accusing her of being mad,
"I'm not mad either sweetie, I promise" she stuck out her pinkie.
"And we can still see the horses?" she checked
"We can still see the horses, after all we have to tell them about our trip" Daniel reminded her. Solemnly Zona took it coming out of the wardrobe hugging Barbara and then Daniel, both adults wondering how many more wardrobe conversations they would have.
"Right, we need to get going, we are late, if we don't catch up on time, we will miss the lion feeding" Daniel muttered, he had planned the day out with schedule rest stops having found a flyer for the zoo.
"Get your shoes on, but not the skating ones Zona" Barbara instructed, she knew how her husband was an if they dropped behind schedule, he'd be stressed all day. Zona chose her pink sparkly trainers; Timmy went with his green trainers that had turtles on. They got in the car Daniel driving, traffic was good and by the time they'd brought the tickets they'd caught up with the schedule, Daniel allowed them to have a look at the owls by the entrance as he compared the schedule, he had in the drawer at home with the schedule the zoo had just given him.
"Relax, we will have fun" Barbara urged,
"I just want to make sure they don't miss anything" he said wanting them to have everything and see everything the zoo had to offer.
"They won't care even if they did" Barbara reassured, she knew excessively planning was Daniel's way of showing he cared.
"What are those Timmy? They don't look like pigeons" Zona said, as they stood at the fence. Timmy read the sign,
"Owl"
"Do you know what noise an owl makes?" Barbara asked, confused both children looked at her, and the owls,
"They're not making any noise Nurse B, they're sleeping" Zona told her. Daniel snorted, not expecting that answer. Barbara elbowed him shutting him up.
"What noise do they make when they're awake?" She tried,
"I don't know, they're sleeping, and we haven't seen them before" Timmy answered this time, Daniel worried about his ribs and being elbowed again decided to help his wife out.
"They go hoot hoot," he said. Both Timmy and Zona seemed unconvinced, the owls weren't making any noise at all.
"Let's go have a look at the monkeys" Daniel suggested, the monkeys were next to the lions which were due for feeding in 20 minutes.
"Do monkey's make noise?" Zona asked, this seemed important to her and while she didn't know why she didn't want Nurse B to be upset, in her experience upset adults led to pain.
"Yes, ooh ooh ooh" Barbara mimicked, doing a monkey impression, Timmy raised an eyebrow, not believing her at all. "Oh, shush you, you'll see" she promised. They arrived at the monkeys to find them sleeping.
"They don't make any noise" Zona pointed out confused. She didn't understand this game at all
"When they're awake they do" Barbara promised she checked her watch, "Maybe we are to early, they're all asleep." They walked between the monkey cages, looking at the gorilla's and chimpanzee's before heading to the lions in time for feeding. Barbara had given up asking the kids what noise animals made. The lions were prowling up and down by the fence, the keeper began talking, the lions roaring as the meat was thrown in. Barbara sighed, the one animal she hadn't asked what noise it made had made a noise. Zona saw her upset slipping her hand in Barbara's.
"Lions go roar" she said mimicking the lion. It worked as Barbara smiled,
"They do Zona, well done" she praised happily. Zona shrugged at Timmy not understanding this new rule, that every time you saw an animal you had to mimic it, but it made Barbara happy. It was a weird rule, but they were used to following the rules without question.
They left the lions, passing the picnic area,
"Nurse B, birds go tweet" Timmy mimicked pointed at the birds moping up crumbs. Daniel stopped snorting, then coughing to hide his laughter, he was enjoying this a lot. Barbara nodded, now she had started this she felt she had to continue, even if it was seagulls and pigeons.
"That's right Timmy," Barbara praised, Timmy smiled liking the praise. It was a weird game, but it made her happy. After the pigeons was the sea lions, neither child knew what noise they made, they'd never even seen picture of half of these animals.
After all day at the zoo, Zona ending up on Daniel's shoulder's her feet aching too much to continue walking. They arrived at the gift shop,
"What was your favourite animal from today?" Daniel asked Zona and Timmy.
"I liked the pigeons" Zona said, they'd sat at lunch throwing the left-over pizza crusts for the birds to eat. Then chased them around, Barbara covered her face to hide her laughter, Daniel was dumb founded. They'd seen over 50 animals today and she chose pigeons.
"Timmy?" Barbara asked quickly, smirking at Daniel,
"I think the lions were cool," he said, Daniel picked up a toy lion, handing it to Timmy,
"So, you remember our first family outing, you can pick something else if you want, Zona I'd like to get you one too, but I don't think they have pigeons" he said, ignoring Barbara's snort of laughter. "Can you pick a toy you would like, maybe your second favourite animal?" he suggested. She bit her lip as she used her advantage point on top of his shoulders. This was a big decision, the first time ever got to pick her own toy.
"Can I have that one please?" she asked pointing to the unicorn, it was pink and had a purple mane. They both smiled,
"Of course," Daniel handed it up to Zona. They went to the tills paying for the 2 soft toys before heading home,
"What are you going to name your lion Timmy?" Barbara asked, Timmy stared at his new toy,
"Simba" he said remembering the film they had watched just a week earlier,
"And you Zona?"
"Horny" Zona decided stroking the unicorn's horn, Daniel snorted, Barbara nudged him
"How about Hercules, that's the son of Zeus," she suggested, Zona shook her head no, she liked the name horny, after all her toy was a horse with a horn. "Okay, horny it is" Barbara smiled, nudging her husband to stop him laughing. They continued driving both kids falling asleep in the car hugging their soft toys tightly.
"Our kids" Barbara said taking Daniel's hand looking in the rear-view mirror, today was a success.
"You know their humouring you with the animal noises right, I thought I was going to die when Timmy did the bird noises, your face" he laughed, gently mocking his wife.
"Well, I thought the same when Zona said the pigeons were her favourite animals" Barbara retorted laughing, "And horny, I can't wait until she is grown up and has to explain horny to her boyfriend"
"We could have just taken them to the park" Daniel added, "Bird and pigeons,"
"We have tomorrow, we can go to the park then, introduce them to Ducks and Swans" Barbara suggested, "Since our kids seem to love birds so much"
"I love you" Daniel said,
"I love you too" Barbara replied, they arrived home neither child stirred. Daniel carried Timmy while Barbara carried Zona. They didn't bother to bath or dress the kids in their pyjama's instead removing their shoes, coats and trousers before tucking them into bed with their stuffed teddies tucked up next to them.
I hoped you liked it, this was a fun one to write