*****WARNING****** Excerpt from Canes of Divergence ahead. :) Enjoy. At almost the exact second he set his binder on the coffee table, though, he heard one of the back bedroom doors opening, and then small footsteps coming down the long hallway. “Hey, Annie,” he said, when the little girl appeared at the entrance to the living room. “Zander!” She ran across the room; he barely had time to brace himself before she threw herself into his lap. “You’re home!” “Yep.” He ruffled her brown curls. “Did you have a nice nap?” “I didn’t sleep. I wasn’t tired.” He chuckled, rubbing the sleep from the corner of one of her brown eyes with his thumb. “All right. What did you do, then?” “Played with my horse.” She reached into her pocket, struggling to extract something from it; when she finally succeeded, she set it in Zander’s hand. He held it up – it was a beautifully carved little wooden horse, very detailed. “That’s a nice horse, Annie. Where did you get it?” “William made it for me.” Oh. William Rose was still the one piece of this he really didn’t understand at all. “Your cousin William?” Annie frowned. “No, he’s not my cousin. William is my brother now.” “What do you…” he stopped himself. Annie was four. If he thought all of this was confusing for him, he couldn’t imagine what it must be like for this little girl who must be missing her sister. “Did you know I’m a princess now?” He smiled. “I didn’t know that. How exciting. What kind of princess are you?” “Look!” She leapt off his lap and ran across the room to retrieve her little backpack, all purple and white stars. She unzipped the front pocket as she carried it over to him. Reaching inside, she pulled out a delicate silver chain with a round pendant hanging from it; half of it was silver, and the other half was gold. “Annie, is that something you’re supposed to have in your backpack? That looks real.” It looked very real – heavy and expensive. “I can have it if I want it. It’s mine! See?” She held it up, setting the pendant in his hand. “It has my name on it.” He held the pendant between his fingers, using the light from the window to study it. There was some kind of design on it – a circular design he’d never seen before. “The other side, silly,” Annie told him. “You’re silly.” He flipped it over. There was an inscription on the back of it. Love you forever Princess Annie. “See? I’m a princess.” “I guess you are. Did your Daddy bring that back from Afghanistan?” “No. Quinn got it for me in ‘Renthos. That’s where she lives now. In a castle. And William gave it to me, too.” “A castle, huh?” Annie had always had a great imagination. Or maybe they’d been reading Owen’s books about Europe and medieval times – who knew – maybe there really was a castle wherever Quinn was living now, and she’d told Annie about it. “Have you been talking to Quinn on the phone?” “No. They don’t have phones in ‘Renthos. We have to wait until we can go visit. Mommy said maybe this summer when we can go for a long time, and then I can wear my princess dress again.” They didn’t have phones? Maybe they weren’t jet-setting around Europe. Maybe Doctor Rose was doing one of those service things in a third world country. He was relieved when, a second later, his little sister Sophia poked her head out of the hallway. “Sophie!” Annie shouted. “Do you want to play dogs?” She jumped off his lap and ran off, the two little girls instantly crazy, pretending to growl at each other and roll all over the carpet.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Jul 2013 17:24:40 +0000
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