|
|
|
026. Determined
"Come on, Nico..." Alba gently tugged on her youngest brother's hand, not letting go for fear of him taking a fall as he had yesterday; the bruise was already fading, but mama had taken her aside and asked her to watch out for him, and Alba didn't really want to fail him again.
It seemed, though, that Nico'd had other ideas, whining in Catalan and pointing towards the ocean. Alba was about to explain that they couldn't go swimming, it was too cold and the high tide was too rough even for Papa, when she noticed what he had long before. Green flecks, emerging from the sand, slowly moving towards the water...
Turtles? Turtles that were being picked at by gulls and other pests. Ah. Understanding more or less immediately, Alba hoisted Nico up so he rested on her hip, and looked around briefly for the others. She shushed him gently when he started whining as she walked away, away from the poor plighted baby turtles.
Papa, Enzo, and Ezio were already ahead of them, and they carried the only umbrella they'd thought to bring on their outing. It had rained last night, so that the sand was still damp, the air moist and clean. It was so cool they needed jackets, but apparently only one umbrella for the drizzle that sporadically came and went.
When she called, though, and hurried towards them as best as she could, they waited with grins on their faces. On her shoulder Nico busied himself with his whining, this time with the bubble sounds he'd learned to make from Enzo. Who would be paying, if their little brother continued making them at every available opportunity.
"Ne, Alba, should we head home now?" Papa's head titled, eyeing Nico; rarely did Alba carry him unless he was tired and cranky, but she shook her head, explaining apologetically.
Immediately, the twins' eyes widened, and they tugged on Spain's sleeves excitedly, babbling on about saving the tortuga, and maybe bringing one home too because the ones there are a little lonely, right? He nodded to some requests, gently denied others. They set out and gently stepped over to where the soft baby turtles emerged from their sand nest.
Upon being smacked impatiently over the back of the head, Alba let Nico down and watched with soft eyes as he ran after a specific little crawler-- and promptly tripped and fell face first into the sand. She winced... it figured, but as she went to pick him up and kiss it better (Papa was busy trying to break up a fight that had broken out between Enzo and Ezio over control of the umbrella), she was amazed to see that he did not howl upon realizing what had just happened.
In direct contrast to the typical nature of a young child, in fact, he sat up, stood, brushed his face off awkwardly, and continued toddling after the turtle. He had his sights set on the thing, it seemed. Alba watched it advance on the ocean with mild interest, breaking only to shoo away gulls that were drawing too close to the nest for comfort.
"Germana!" Nico shouted, breaking into Alba's temporary spell. He stood a foot or so away from the furthest reach of the tide, watching the turtle disappear into the water, fat mournful tears in his eyes. She knelt next to him, smiling gently, and enfolded his chubby hand in hers.
"Say goodbye to Señor Tortuga," Alba waved his hand, hugged him close. "see? he's waving back, Nico, he's saying thank you. ~" He nodded wordlessly, thumb stuck in his mouth, tears still coming.
"Let's go ask Enzo and Ezio if they can help you draw a picture of him to remember him always, okay?" He nods, slowly, and turns to take one last look at the sea, before following his sister home.
---
The night before the first day of school, Alba is sitting on Nico's bed, thumbing through an old book of music, when she glances up- he is smiling fondly down at a yellowed old picture of a blob of green. She recognizes it instantly, and smiles at the memory of the cleanliness of the rain, the heavy sea salt. Before closing his binder and shoving it in his bag, he tucks it fondly into a pocket, right next to a shot of himself and his love.
 men getting pregnant · Tue Jan 12, 2010 @ 05:27am · 1 Comments |
|
|
|
|
|
