Sol ☼ Thomas "Tan" Moore (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
secretofthefox) wrote2015-01-14 09:06 pm
secretofthefox) wrote2015-01-14 09:06 pm
Memory 18
Positive Significant: meeting Norbert and Rena
Won: Day 120
Game: the quiet year
Summary
Tom, age 5, sits on a swing set in the local park, idly kicking his feet but not actively swinging as he watches his dad head toward the car. He has to work today, again, but the neighborhood is safe enough that he can be out unsupervised, hence why he's allowed to be here by himself. There's still some sadfacing though, because his dad is never around, and it'd be nice if he was.
His dad waits a minute by the entrance to the park, though, and a mother and her son enter the park, and his dad and the mother talk for a bit. Tom frowns at this, because he knows what it means, he overheard a phone call the previous night about it, and he doesn't like it. His dad shakes the woman's hand before leaving, and the woman leans down to talk to her son for a minute, eventually making a hand motion that seems to point vaguely in Tom's direction.
The boy then comes over to the swingset and awkwardly asks if Tom wants to come play with him. Tom just gives him a glance and is blunt about it - the boy doesn't actually want him to come play with him, his dad just asked the boy's mom to get the boy to play with him so he wouldn't be lonely. (There's the unspoken knowledge that this has been a Thing that his dad keeps trying to do ever since his mom died.) And since they both know that the boy isn't really that interested, and Tom isn't really that interested either, why doesn't he just go do what he wants instead? When the boy shoots an awkward glance back at his mom and insists, Tom raises his voice and tells him to just go away.
And so he does, leaving Tom alone on the swings.
A few minutes pass. Eventually, a different boy and a girl come over to the swings and ask if the others on the set are taken. Tom says no, go ahead if you want, and so the two of them claim the other two swings and start swinging. Pretty high, too. The girl asks why he's not, and he just says he's kind of feeling tired, but the boy ignores that and says that he bets Tom can't swing higher than him, and eventually after some prodding Tom is convinced to start swinging too, so the three of them end up swinging together.
When they all decide they're done, the boy compliments Tom's swinging ability, before asking the girl what they want to do next. She suggests they go to the sandbox to build a castle, and asks Tom if he wants to come too. The boy agrees, saying it's way more fun with more people. And at first, Tom is skeptical, because what if he missed a phone call his dad made, but these two don't seem like they're lying about wanting to include him, so he decides why not and accepts their offer.
They all introduce themselves at this point. Tom Moore. Rena Murray. Berty Quinn.
And so they go to the sandbox for a while, and they have so much fun building sand stuff together that time seems to just fly by, and it hardly seems like any time at all before Tom's dad finally shows back up to pick him up. He seems surprised at first that his son is playing with someone else, instead of the playdate he arranged, but then he smiles.
Rena asks if Tom will be there tomorrow too, and when Tom asks his dad, he can't see why not. Tom goes home for dinner, but for once he's actually in a better mood than when he left, and looking forward to the next day.
Thus was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
What He Learns
☼ Norbert's family name is Quinn. (I don't think that's come up yet, but here it is.) He went by Berty when he was five, but presumably switched to Norbert some time in the couple years after that.
☼ His dad would try and arrange stealth playdates, which annoyed him.
☼ He may need people, but he has standards for friends, okay. They have to want to be there. :/
☼ But Norbert and Rena actually wanted to hang out with him despite not knowing him :)
☼ This is how they met and became friends :)
Notes
Tan's dad tries. He's not very good at it, but he tries.
Won: Day 120
Game: the quiet year
Summary
Tom, age 5, sits on a swing set in the local park, idly kicking his feet but not actively swinging as he watches his dad head toward the car. He has to work today, again, but the neighborhood is safe enough that he can be out unsupervised, hence why he's allowed to be here by himself. There's still some sadfacing though, because his dad is never around, and it'd be nice if he was.
His dad waits a minute by the entrance to the park, though, and a mother and her son enter the park, and his dad and the mother talk for a bit. Tom frowns at this, because he knows what it means, he overheard a phone call the previous night about it, and he doesn't like it. His dad shakes the woman's hand before leaving, and the woman leans down to talk to her son for a minute, eventually making a hand motion that seems to point vaguely in Tom's direction.
The boy then comes over to the swingset and awkwardly asks if Tom wants to come play with him. Tom just gives him a glance and is blunt about it - the boy doesn't actually want him to come play with him, his dad just asked the boy's mom to get the boy to play with him so he wouldn't be lonely. (There's the unspoken knowledge that this has been a Thing that his dad keeps trying to do ever since his mom died.) And since they both know that the boy isn't really that interested, and Tom isn't really that interested either, why doesn't he just go do what he wants instead? When the boy shoots an awkward glance back at his mom and insists, Tom raises his voice and tells him to just go away.
And so he does, leaving Tom alone on the swings.
A few minutes pass. Eventually, a different boy and a girl come over to the swings and ask if the others on the set are taken. Tom says no, go ahead if you want, and so the two of them claim the other two swings and start swinging. Pretty high, too. The girl asks why he's not, and he just says he's kind of feeling tired, but the boy ignores that and says that he bets Tom can't swing higher than him, and eventually after some prodding Tom is convinced to start swinging too, so the three of them end up swinging together.
When they all decide they're done, the boy compliments Tom's swinging ability, before asking the girl what they want to do next. She suggests they go to the sandbox to build a castle, and asks Tom if he wants to come too. The boy agrees, saying it's way more fun with more people. And at first, Tom is skeptical, because what if he missed a phone call his dad made, but these two don't seem like they're lying about wanting to include him, so he decides why not and accepts their offer.
They all introduce themselves at this point. Tom Moore. Rena Murray. Berty Quinn.
And so they go to the sandbox for a while, and they have so much fun building sand stuff together that time seems to just fly by, and it hardly seems like any time at all before Tom's dad finally shows back up to pick him up. He seems surprised at first that his son is playing with someone else, instead of the playdate he arranged, but then he smiles.
Rena asks if Tom will be there tomorrow too, and when Tom asks his dad, he can't see why not. Tom goes home for dinner, but for once he's actually in a better mood than when he left, and looking forward to the next day.
Thus was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
What He Learns
☼ Norbert's family name is Quinn. (I don't think that's come up yet, but here it is.) He went by Berty when he was five, but presumably switched to Norbert some time in the couple years after that.
☼ His dad would try and arrange stealth playdates, which annoyed him.
☼ He may need people, but he has standards for friends, okay. They have to want to be there. :/
☼ But Norbert and Rena actually wanted to hang out with him despite not knowing him :)
☼ This is how they met and became friends :)
Notes
Tan's dad tries. He's not very good at it, but he tries.