A Compendium For The Broken Hearted
Page 5
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Three years later, Seth had made enough friends to almost forget that he had lived anywhere else. School was going well, the lines on his mother’s became more pronounced due to constant and deep happiness. In turn, she brightened up Martin’s life, and despite her teasing about how young he looked because of his permanent passive expression, he too began to display time’s wear on him. It seemed that his thinner frame gave way to a slight paunch, yet it was not enough to detract from his handsome looks.
As time wore on, Seth began to discover his passion, one that had been all but neglected for the longest of times: He was fascinated with sports. He tried multiple ones, including swimming and football, but in the end settled into a combination of track and field sports added onto muscle workouts. His parents were sceptical at first, but as they saw their son’s determination and commitment, the young one received his share of dumbbells and other similar gifts. Martin and Vanessa were not parents who tried to make their children grow up with a job in mind, but during their conversations Seth displayed his interest in mixing sports with nutrition. They approved, of course, providing that he remained a relatively hardworking student. He needed to maintain his mixture of A’s and B’s.
Then that day came when he was fifteen. He came back home after saying goodbye to Daniel, a friend of his. There they sat, in the middle of the living room, obviously waiting for him. “Hi” He remarked after observing their faces for a few seconds. As usual whenever this happened, Seth ran a list of reasons they could be wanting to have a chat with him.
Seth didn’t think it was something too grim, for both his parents looked serious yet calm. The now fifteen year old sat down without being told. “I hope I didn’t do anything wrong,” he started, hoping to break off the tension. To Seth’s relief, both of his parents smiled.
“No,” Vanessa said. “It’s really nothing much this time, just a whole lot of extra work.” She looked visibly exhausted. Seth hadn’t noticed the black bags under her eyes before, but now they came to sharp relief against the creamy glow coming from multiple lamps around the room.
“What’s going on?”
“We need to move again.” The answer was short and swift, uttered in his father’s deep practical voice.
Seth was not usually prone to anger, but he felt his fuse almost burst instantly. Heat came unbidden to his face and he almost stood up from the sofa he was upon. He wanted to explain to this pair, who in his memories he often thought of as “sun and moon”, that it was unfair of them to make him switch schools again. They were already reasonably successful, and it was really just too much to keep chasing jobs around from town to town. In fact, it was downright greedy.
Patience was a virtue and they should stay in town now, if not for them than for him. There was a limit to how often a growing boy could be forced to uproot himself. This was what Seth wanted to say, but he knew from the way his muscles tensed that he should stay still and quiet. It was possible that if he started what he thought was a calm and collected argument, he would end up shouting. So he stayed still.
“Still here,” added Vanessa, making Seth glad to have kept his mouth shut. “We’ll stay in the city, we’re just moving to a bigger place. We’re thinking about getting a house. Settling in here, that sort of thing.”
All of a sudden he felt much calmer, and Seth almost smiled. “Why do we need a bigger place?” he asked, entertaining the thought of living in a proper house again after two long years. Their place when he was younger was pretty small, but still bigger than this current apartment. Maybe they’ll even need a car.
Seth’s parents held each other’s hand peacefully, sharing a nod before turning their attention back to their son. “That’s the other thing we wanted to tell you,” started Martin, then his wife completed the explanation. She had a rosy glow on her cheeks then, despite the obvious signs of overwork.
“We’re going to have another baby.”
Seth was dumbfounded, but in a good way. Like a film, scenes flashed in his imagination, detailing all that could happen with a new sibling, boy or girl. A thousand films came to mind, all with glad families and happy endings. He couldn’t hold it in and the teenager smiled. He was happy for his parents, seeing the look on their faces at that moment, and they all grinned together like idiots. The irony of it all was almost sickening.