Individualized Attention
That day he gave himself a self tour of the beautiful city, marveling at the eclectic feel of the town. Athens surprised and entranced him with its beauty and Southern charm, evidenced at each stop he made, even at the grocery store. Driving down tree lined streets which shared the right of way with bicyclists, he felt a serenity flood him, an emotion he had not experienced in his last year on the police force.
Twenty four hours later he and Ethan drove to the downtown and caught a university bus in front of the college's famous black iron arches. Excited at their immersion into the world of college students and passing Sanford Stadium, Ethan bounced in his seat. They rode from the old campus to the new, marveling at the expanse and beauty of the university as they made their informal tour.
Then, before they returned home, they shopped for an outdoor swing set. Tony made arrangements to have it assembled and delivered, and even hired day help to install it along with two tire swings to hang from the strong braches of the backyard oaks.
With Levi the next day, Tony spent some time at the bookstore consulting over several books for each member of the family. Laden with an impressive library a couple of hours later with selections as diverse as fairy tales and biographies, they capped the trip at Krispy Kreme. There, indulging in a variety of sweet treats, they watched doughnuts made from scratch.
The following day, Tony and Ava ate first. They chose a restaurant across from the arches which served gyros and which came highly recommended by the locals and the students alike. Normally a picky eater, Tony watched in delight as Ava cleaned her plate of the delectable meat and fat, homemade fries. At no time did he allow himself to feel guilty that he had deceived her by assuring her that Santa's reindeer Rudolph loved that very dish. They crowned their lunch enjoyment with a University of Georgia bookstore shopping trip, buying several bulldog dishes, stuffed bulldogs, bulldog clothes, and outdoor statues of bulldogs to honor the team.
Elijah and he filled the family's van with five bicycles and a three wheeler the next day. For Vivienne they had opted for a small three wheeler for toddlers, and a tricycle for Elijah which had a wagon attached to the back. The little boy grinned excitedly as he gave it a test run down the store aisle, calling out to Tony to make sure he watched. Ava's purple bike had training wheels and a large white basket in the front, while Levi's sporty green one came equipped with a working horn and light. Ethan's was red with a black stripe, while the one Tony chose had a baby seat in the back for Viv, along with an additional one on the front should Elijah need it. Triumphant at their successful bicycle purchasing, they headed for the Varsity, an Athens icon famous for its hot dogs and onion rings. Joining in with the other children he saw at the restaurant, Elijah covered his coppery blond hair with a paper Varsity hat.
Vivienne and he spent their afternoon together choosing personal furnishings to make each bedroom and room of the house reflect some of the tastes and likes of the individual members of the family. They selected soft lace curtains to put in the bedroom the girls shared, enhanced with pink, yellow, and purple ribbons to use as tie backs. Acquiescing to Vivienne's delighted attraction to the photos, Tony included two framed pictures, one of a fairy scene with a light blue background, and the other with a background in light green. He discovered a comforter and bed skirt for Ava's bed which featured small embroidered flowers, then chose a couple of soft blankets for Viv's bed.
For the boys he decided to gravitate towards the primary colors, and selected bedding in red for one, green for the other, and blue for the last. The curtains, plaid and a combination of all three, passed the saleswoman's approval as well as his own. The final touch was a set of four pictures with likenesses to a cowboy, a musician, a pilot, and a mountain climber to add some depth to their room. For his own room he found several pictures of jazz musicians, and chose two framed ones for the walls.
Counting himself fortunate, he also located four Norman Rockwell prints he had loved from the first time he saw them, highlighting the freedoms from want, freedom to worship, freedom of speech, and freedom from fear the artist had painted in 1943. Rather than display them in a single grouping, he explained conspiratorially to his toddler audience, he would hang the speech and fear in the hallway, the want in the kitchen, and the worship in the family's den. After paying for their purchases he and Viv stopped at a landmark drugstore at Five Points and ate at the lunch counter, then finished their time in Memorial Park, feeding the ducks and then enjoying themselves in the petting zoo.
Saturday night as he supervised baths and bedtimes Tony reviewed his progress.
In six days he had increased his appreciation of his new city and strengthened his bond with all five children.
In addition, through his deliberate planning he had transformed their house to a home which reflected the personalities of the six of them, and provided tangible proof of ownership and belonging.
Secretly it made him proud to hear one of the kids exclaim indignantly to another, "That's mine!" The fact that they intrinsically experienced the security of recognizing they had possessions to call their own tied in importance with his numerous attempts at encouraging them to share.
He decided that he wanted to make their next outing a united one, with all of them together, and he planned for them to attend church. It bothered him that their exposure to their faith occurred only at bedtime prayers or when reciting the blessing at meals. The kids deserved the same spiritual immersion, as well as the fellowship that went with it, that he had enjoyed all of his life.
Outraged sobs from little Vivienne interrupted his religious musing. Leaning out of the laundry room where he folded towels he called to her and she came running, staggering on fat, toddler legs and voicing her displeasure through fingers dangling from her lips. Despite the scowl on her face and the shrieks of anger, she resembled a cherub with her blue eyes and blond hair. Her nightie, a red and white polka dotted shift, just covered her diaper.
Tony crouched down and she threw herself against his strong chest, babbling incoherently.
He tapped her little dimpled chin and pursed his lips. He had an appointment scheduled with the pediatrician for all five kids on Monday, and his number one priority lay in investigating Viv's lack of speech. Though he talked to her constantly, and the other children did, as well, she had thus far spoken no intelligible words.
Stroking her hair he felt a little reassurance in the knowledge that she certainly had no problem with comprehension. She understood everything.
"Who bothered my beautiful baby?" he asked, automatically checking her diaper while he had her before him. She grabbed his hand, or rather her little hand clutched his thumb, and struggling to his feet, he followed her as she wound through the house and to the bathroom. Popping her fingers back in her mouth to suck, she used the other hand to point frantically at the sink.
"Aha!" Tony grinned as he peeped, then triumphantly plucked her cloth baby doll from the deep basin. "You must have pushed her in here to bathe her, then realized you needed help to reach her." Returning the doll to her he grinned as she snatched it to hold against herself greedily, not taking her fingers from her mouth as she did.
Craning his head, Tony checked the clock in the room the girls shared and raised his eyebrows dramatically towards Viv. "Young lady, your bedtime approaches. Toddle your cute self into the den and enjoy the last moments of wake time, because once I finish the laundry, you and Elijah will abandon yourselves to the sandman."
Regarding him shrewdly, she swiveled and hurried down the hall, the rag doll swinging from where she clutched its yarn hair.
In the den Tony discovered Ethan curled in one corner of the love seat, engrossed in a mystery purchased during the visit to the bookstore.
Ava and Levi worked hard at a crossword puzzle, one with a hundred pieces featuring a zoo scene starring a monkey, a flamingo, and a giraffe. Both leaned their bodies out of their chairs and propped partially on the card table Tony had stationed in the den for puzzles and games.
Watching them strategizing together as they consulted the pieces left and the gaps still evident in the picture Tony conceded that for the most part, the kids bonded and joined together well.
Little Elijah lay on his tummy as he pushed a toy dump truck from one side wall to the other, alternately revving and parking it in the corner between. Dressed in pajamas decorated with planes and trains, he narrated the route softly to himself as he moved the truck along its circuit.
"What does a-l-i-b-i mean?" Ethan leaned his head back against the arm rest, regarding Tony from an upside down vantage point.
"Alibi," Tony supplied, "which means someone to support or back up a story. How did the book use it?"
"It says, 'The neighbor demanded that the boys give an alibi for earlier in the afternoon 'cause the guy thought the kids tore up his birdbath," Ethan reported. He stabbed his forefinger at the word on the page, "alibi, alibi."
"Good for you for reading. Did you take out your clothes and shoes for church like I asked?'
Continuing with his good mood, Ethan nodded and added some clarification, "Levi got his, too, but it looked like you already had taken out Elijah's so I skipped his things."
"Good job," Tony bragged, then tousled the boy's hair as he moved past him. Back in the laundry room he finished folding the pile of laundry and quickly placed it on the linen closet shelves by the bath.
Scooping Vivienne from where she sat on the floor when he returned, he settled into the oak rocker and read two pages of Busy Timmy three times, because the baby kept turning the pages back to start at the beginning. A bit later, balancing his arms on the crib's rail, he stroked her back and hair as she fell asleep, fingers dangling from her rosebud mouth.
Elijah jumped up from the floor when Tony called him, but threw himself back down to grab the truck and place it in the den's communal toy box. He swung from Tony's hand on the way to the bathroom, and commanded seriously, "Watch that I'm a big boy tonight! Watch, the daddy will watch!"
Smiling indulgently, Tony bragged as the three year old used the bathroom, washed his hands, and brushed his teeth.
Sent to choose a book to read, he rejoined Tony in the den and crawled into his lap, his topaz eyes alight with excitement as Tony set the rocker in motion and began reading The Little Engine that Could to him. Elijah followed the plot's action excitedly, adding his own commentary every few lines and tracing the train's progress in the illustrations.
Kissing him goodnight after listening to his prayers Tony rested a little longer on the side of the bed, smoothing the coppery hair and rubbing his back.
Signaling Ava and Levi from the hall, he placed a finger to his lips to warn them to stay quiet as they brushed their teeth. Ignoring the instructions, Ava whined her unhappiness and made sure to adamantly express her desire to stay up longer. Beginning to lose patience, Tony snapped at her antics, and pouting, she crawled beneath the covers.
Directing Levi to start on the book with the assurance that he would join him shortly, Tony read all of Thumbelina to Ava before listening to her prayers and kissing her goodnight.
Levi waited excitedly, patting the place beside him the second he viewed Tony. "The Daddy needs to sit here," he ordered, whispering furiously to avoid waking Elijah, and laughing, Tony curled up beside him. Levi's book featured mini biographies of famous sports stars, and listening indulgently, he acted as audience as Levi enthusiastically read to him. Once he kissed him goodnight he left on the lamp for Ethan, but cut off the overhead to keep the beam out of Elijah's and Levi's eyes.
Peeping in on the girls, he discovered both sound asleep.
He checked the clock.
Ethan, surprisingly, accepted bedtime without too much of a fuss. Tony allowed him fifteen minutes of reading in bed before joining him.
Ethan passed on a chance to read out loud from the book, so Tony took it and read a chapter to his rapt audience instead. By the time he finished Ethan could barely keep his eyes open, and Tony kissed him quickly and whispering good night, powered off the lamp.
Stretching as he navigated the hall, he reminded himself that a mere two weeks before he had experienced Saturday night life from the perspective of a playboy bachelor, concerned only with the pleasure of being young and without real responsibility.
Psuedo daddy to five children he swore to protect, he could barely keep his eyes open now.
Taking a panoramic view of the den, he shook his head wryly. Those carefree days had flown right out of his grasp.