Arthur and Ariadne's blind son, Daniel, is kidnapped and held for ransom. Apart of my Little Family series.
The Good Son
~ Daniel was a light sleeper. His mother had long ago put a white noise machine by his bed to drown out the world so he wouldn't wake so easily, but it seldom worked.
His blindness meant that his other senses were heightened and he woke up when he heard his mother's voice.
They were fighting again. Mommy and Papa. They had been doing that a lot lately. Something about his work and how he couldn't do it anymore. How mommy would't let him because it was dangerous.
Daniel left his warm bed, counted the ten steps to his door, twenty steps down the hall way till he felt his feet hit the living room rug. He didn't bother with the lights. His world was always in darkness anyhow and he could maneuver silently through the house with no need for light.
He could tell by how the room felt that no one was in it. That his parents were in their room and talking with the door open because they thought the children were asleep.
"Arthur, we're talking about Darcy being an apprentice in a world class ballet company." mommy was saying.
"We're talking about sending a twelve year old to St. Petersburg for a year." Papa said. "The answer is no."
"She has talent!"
"I'm not saying she doesn't! But we're in Paris, why can't she train here? Isn't she already in the best ballet troupe?" he argued.
Daniel could hear his father's light and graceful footsteps on the bedroom carpet. He was pacing which meant he was annoyed and frustrated.
The little boy ducked lower so he wouldn't be seen.
"Arthur, she has been passed over three times for an apprenticeship. The two years she had to take off for her cancer treatments hurt her career."
"Her career?" Papa said in a mocking voice. "Darcy is still a child. Her career is school, school and more school. This ballet thing is what she does as an elective, a hobby. A summer time thing to get her out of the house. It's not a job."
"Arthur, she has been in professional productions! Your own mother was a premier ballerina!"
"Yes, she was." papa sighed. "But she had to beat a lot of girls out to be on top and worked very hard to stay there. Dancing is not a job; it's an opportunity. Darcy needs to finish school and get a solid degree behind her. She can be a dancer all she wants in her free time."
"She has the opportunity now to be on stage and train with the best!" mommy almost shouted.
"Ariadne, she already trains with the best. I pay a good deal of money for her to go to dance camps and she attends the best school of dance in Paris. None of that is cheap by the way, and now you want to send our daughter to Russia?"
Daniel could feel his father's anger and sensed his mother and upset.
"The answer is no." Papa said at last.
"The answer is not no." Mommy snapped. "She will never be a professional dancer now!"
"Fine." Papa said. "Then we're done with this whole ballerina thing anyway."
"What?"
"It's too expensive to have her in the classes. Daniel's school, not to mention Dominic's private school, saving for their colleges and the vacations we plan to take this summer. Ariadne, I'm not an extractor anymore. The money isn't exactly coming in like it did before. We own this apartment, but do you know how expensive it is to live in Paris? I pay myself a salary to manage the company, but I gave up the bulk of the fortune to a trust for the children." Papa was saying.
Daniel felt his heart pick up a beat.
His school. He always knew his school was very expensive. The kids there were always saying so. How the tuition was very high and that they had to have scholarships and grant money just to pay. How spaces were limited at his school for the blind. Part of this was his fault. They were fighting because of him.
"Arthur, don't be dramatic." mommy was saying. "I have my job and we're hardly destitute."
"Darcy is not going to Russia and that's final, if she isn't good enough at the best school money can buy, then maybe she isn't good enough to be a professional dancer." Papa said coldly.
"Arthur, how can you say such a thing? She's a wonderful dancer!"
"I know she is. But there must be better ones out there. If she had what it took she would be there by now."
They were talking more and Daniel decided he didn't want to listen. He felt wrong for invading their privacy.
His mind was still spinning on what he had heard about how expensive his school was, he didn't pay attention to his feet hitting the rug and he knocked over a table lamp. It smashed to the floor before he could find it in his dark world.
He froze like a rabbit and hoped they wouldn't hear.
He heard the light click on and his father's footsteps in his dress shoes step onto the hardwood floor.
"Daniel?" papa was saying.
The little boy sighed and turned to face the music.
"Sorry, I was getting a glass of water and got lost." he said lamely.
"Daniel?" mommy's voice came out of the bedroom. "Honey, don't take another step, there's broken glass!"
"I know." Daniel said as he stooped down and started to lightly feel for the pieces.
"Daniel, no! You'll cut yourself. Arthur!" mommy was saying a the little boy easily found and picked up the broken lamp without hurting himself.
"It's okay, mommy." he said. She always worried about him. She never thought he could do things on his own.
"Daniel, step to you right. There's no glass there." papa was saying.
"Arthur, just pick him up and take him to our room." mommy said in a frustrated voice.
"Daniel, feel with your feet where the glass is, be careful." papa was saying.
"Arthur!"
"Don't fight." Daniel said. He didn't want them to fight because of him.
"We're not fighting." mommy said and he could feel her lift him up.
"Mommy, I can do it." Daniel said as she lifted him and carried him.
He felt she was so much smaller than papa was. That it was a real effort for her to carry him just now.
"You're getting big." she huffed as she sat him down and he wasn't sure now where he was now.
If she had left him find his own way out, he would have been fine. He may have cut his toe, but he would live.
"I'm here." papa said from right behind him. Helping the little boy to find his bearings again.
"I shouldn't have bought a glass lamp." mommy was saying as he heard her tip the broken thing and all it's dangerous pieces into the kitchen trash.
"I'm sorry I broke the lamp." Daniel whispered to his father.
"It's alright, son. It was ugly anyway. You did me a favor." papa said.
Daniel tried not to laugh. He felt a little better after he father said it was alright.
"Go get your water and go to bed." Papa said and pointed him in the direction of the kitchen.
"I've got it." mommy was saying and quickly put a glass in his hands for him.
Daniel tried to hide his annoyance at having her serve him like a waitress. She was always doing things like this. She would insist on him using special plates at dinnertime. They held a compartment for each side and had the face of a clock.
'Chicken at six o'clock. Mashed potatoes at 9 and 12. Peas at 12 and three.' he knew she even watched him eat so that she cold make sure he got it.
Papa, by contrast, never told him anything. More often than not, he told Daniel to help himself to hotdog from the stove and don't forget to bring the mustard to the table.
"Ariadne, he can get it." papa said sternly.
"Daniel, did you have a nightmare?" mommy asked and he felt her kneel down in front of him. He could smell her bath soap, but not her perfume. That worried him.
A few weeks ago, mommy had stopped wearing perfume. She had two distinct perfumes. One was for everyday. That was clean and sweet smelling. It popped in the air like fruit in your mouth. The other was the one she wore that made papa happy. He always wanted to hold her and kiss her when she wore that perfume. Then they would go to bed early and papa would be happy when it was time to take them to school.
But to not wear any perfume at all, worried the little boy.
"Daniel, finish you water, put the glass in the sink and go to bed." papa said.
"He can sleep with us." mama said.
"He has his own bed."
"He had a nightmare."
"He never said he had a nightmare, he said he wanted a drink of water."
"Look at him, he's upset!"
"I can go back to bed." Daniel offered.
"You can stay with us till you get sleepy." mommy said and took his water from him after he drank it. She put it in the sink for him and lead him into their bedroom like he didn't know how to find his way.
"Ariadne-" papa was saying.
"Enough." mommy said sharply as the little boy climbed into the comfortable bed the children normally weren't allowed in.
He felt mommy cuddle next time. Her lips on his neck and her fingers running though the curls on his head.
He felt papa come to bed as well and in the safety of his parent's love, he fell asleep.
Elizabeth Debicki who played Jordan in the remake of "The Great Gatsby" as Sadie! She's perfect!