David sat on the floor of his parent's walk-in closet, resting his action figures on his knees. They were having a drawn-out conversation on the whereabouts of an old man's fortune.
"Where is it, Garth?" Asked Flame.
"You'll never find it. That money's been mine all along. I've tasted its power upon my tongue from the moment I met the man," Garth responded.
David had read enough action books to know how one of these confrontations worked. He knew what names to give the characters and what weapons to give them, and even what jobs they should have. Flame was a spy, and Garth was a body builder who lived near this wealthy old man.
"Maybe so, but justice shall rule your evil desires. Now tell me, where is the money?" Flame drew his sword.
In the books they always had guns, but David liked swords better.
"You'll have to kill me before I tell you." Garth's sword also made an appearance.
David stood up and began to run around the room with Garth and Flame in his hands, having them bounce of shelves and clothes in a remarkable duel. The two of them swung across David's father's ties, all the while shouting at each other and swinging their swords.
Finally, Garth and Flame flew to the floor. Flame pinned Garth on the ground and shouted, "Tell me where the money is! This is your last chance!"
"All right, all right! You've won, Flame! The money is…beneath the floorboards of the old man's bedroom!"
It was at that moment that Niles walked into his closet and David stopped. "Hi Dad," he said. "Hello David," Niles replied, "are Garth and Flame having another battle?"
David chuckled and nodded, then stood up and walked out of the closet. He stopped by his bedroom and put his two action figures on his bed next to his sock monkey.
He then walked towards the living room and saw his mom sitting on the fainting couch, reading a magazine. "Hello, Davey. Were you in the closet again?" said Daphne.
"Yeah." He smiled.
Daphne laughed. "We're going out to dinner with Roz and Alice soon. What you're wearing is fine, but I've got to go change me clothes." She stood up and went upstairs.
Knowing that he might have to wait awhile before leaving, David sat down on the couch and sighed. He loved to dress up nice no matter what time or what day it was, so it was rare he ever needed to change for dinner. Usually he wore lightweight, button-down shirts and nice jeans, or sometimes a colorful Polo and khakis. He supposed it was just his style, but it was quite unusual and he didn't know anyone else his age who wore things like he did, at least not to school. He also knew that it made his dad very proud, thought he wasn't quite sure why.
Even at his young age of eight, David knew that he and his family were different from everyone else, but he also knew that different wasn't a bad thing either. He had quite a lot of friends and had made them easily, and most people outside of his third grade class knew him as "the shy boy that wears fancy clothes."
On the coffee table lay Daphne's small, sea green mirror. David picked it up and looked into it out of boredom. He had brown hair, not to short yet not too long, and a lighter shade of brown eyes. Though he could not see this in the mirror, he had inherited Niles' swimmer's build and general dislike of sports, much to his grandfather's chagrin.
He then put the mirror down and blew air through his lips. He wondered what restaurant they would go to. "Probably a swanky French place," he thought. Not that he minded those, in fact he had developed quite a flair for French food, but it seemed to be all that they ate in his family.
In wasn't long before everyone was at the restaurant (which indeed served French food), and soon David was sitting directly across from Alice.
Alice was fourteen and looked exactly like her mother, with the same reddish-brownish hair, the same eyes, and the same outspoken personality.
While the adults talked, Alice and David had a conversation of their own.
"So David," Alice began, "how's third grade?"
"It's going well," David responded.
"Yeah? High school is crap. Don't go." She paused and smiled. "Just kidding. You'll do fine, you and your a-pluses."
He smiled and blushed a little bit.
"Oh, wait a second," she said, pulling out her iPhone. "I wanna take a picture for Instagram. Come here."
He did, even though he didn't like being in pictures much.
When she had posted the picture, she showed it to him. The caption read, Hangin' with my homeboy David. He didn't really know what a "homeboy" was, and he didn't ask.
"I'll betcha it'll get tons of likes," she told him.
They were silent for a moment, and they heard Roz as she talked to Niles and Daphne.
"…it's the little things. I remember one of the best birthdays I've ever had was when I turned eleven. All I did that day was go ride my bike through the rain and eat cake with my family. It was great."
"Remember when we threw you that birthday party at Frasier's place?" Asked Daphne.
"That was another good birthday and I barely got any presents," Roz said.
David tried to wrap his mind around a good birthday without any presents. It was hard to do.
"It is the simple things, isn't it?" Daphne began. "I mean, when I was a girl, I would just go walking in the forest outside me house and suddenly I'd feel about ten times better than before. It even worked about fifteen years ago when I went back for a visit. Goodness knows why."
This intrigued David, and he wondered why he had never heard about this. She had told him many a story about her life in England, but he had never been aware of a forest.
"As children, Frasier and I would find support through, well, just talking to one another," said Niles. "We would get teased quite a bit because of the things we did and the way we dressed, but somehow if we talked to each other, it just seemed so much better. You know, to this day, I can't exactly describe it."
"I always feel better after I've talked to Dad," thought David. "I guess Uncle Frasier felt the same thing."
"As long as we're telling childhood anecdotes, I've got one," Niles told everyone. "I've never actually told anyone this story, but here it goes."
He started to tell the story of how he stumbled upon an old, abandoned house, and how, to spite Frasier, he had almost entered it only to discover a large spider in the doorway.
"I ran all the way back to the house and collapsed on the porch of course, never told Frasier." He paused for a moment. "You know, I went back to that house on one occasion. It was right after I discovered that Maris had been cheating on me, and I had repressed the memory. I went back and I actually almost went in…and then I remembered that terrifying spider and never looked back."
David marveled at his father's bravery to even think of entering an old house like that! He himself never would have done anything close to that.
He loved hearing these stories. To him they were like windows to the past, a portal to a person he only knew halfway.
When he arrived at home, he ran straight for the big closet and shut the door. He sat down in the corner and closed his eyes.
He imagined a young Roz, riding her pink bicycle in the rain and laughing.
He pictured his mother as a little girl, running thorough a forest, feeling her latest stress slip away.
He envisioned his Uncle Frasier as a boy, coming to Niles for advice and having a weight lifted off of his shoulders.
He fantasized about his father as a child, creeping up the stairs of an empty and dangerous house.
Smiling, he opened his eyes.
This was much better than any action book.
The End
