Cal curls up a little on his part of the bed, staring across the room at the wall and trying to sort out everything that happened. It's easier, a little, now that he's put words to some of it.
He listens to Esfir turn pages, and a sudden old memory rises, from when he was little. He'd been in disgrace with his parents - or with Mother, which back then amounted to the same thing - and was old enough to have learned to keep out of their way, and young enough to still want protection. Grahame had allowed Cal to sit with him in his study, as long as he was quiet. He was (far quieter than a boy of eight should be capable of), and he sat and listened as his uncle turned pages and wrote things down.
(Was that after Cal had started a fight in school, over some of the other boys picking on a kid for using crutches? It must have been. Cal can't think of any other time, any other reason, Grahame would have let him into his study at that age.)
(He might, just might, be wrong about that.)
Cal had forgotten all about that. It's been so long, and his relationship with his uncle became so warped, that it's difficult and always surprising to remember that there was a time when he was small, and Uncle Grahame was just his uncle and nothing more.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2008-12-11 06:27 am (UTC)He listens to Esfir turn pages, and a sudden old memory rises, from when he was little. He'd been in disgrace with his parents - or with Mother, which back then amounted to the same thing - and was old enough to have learned to keep out of their way, and young enough to still want protection. Grahame had allowed Cal to sit with him in his study, as long as he was quiet. He was (far quieter than a boy of eight should be capable of), and he sat and listened as his uncle turned pages and wrote things down.
(Was that after Cal had started a fight in school, over some of the other boys picking on a kid for using crutches? It must have been. Cal can't think of any other time, any other reason, Grahame would have let him into his study at that age.)
(He might, just might, be wrong about that.)
Cal had forgotten all about that. It's been so long, and his relationship with his uncle became so warped, that it's difficult and always surprising to remember that there was a time when he was small, and Uncle Grahame was just his uncle and nothing more.