Page 10 of All Too Well
“Daddy, I don’t want to go to school today,” Rose complains as I’m tying her shoes.
“Why not? You love school.”
She purses her lips. “Because Briggs is mean.”
“How is he mean?”
“He always takes my crayons and then breaks them. And this time he said you weren’t a hero, but you are.”
I fight back a smile because I was so that kid growing up. I’m not proud of it, but ... I was a punk ass. My dad was always deploying, and my mother didn’t know what the hell to do with me. I was wild and she was also—checked out.
I got away with too much, and since Caspian was as much of a troublemaker as I was, the two of us were absolute terrors to our classmates, and mostly it was his sister who got the brunt of it.
“Well, I’m not a hero. I just did my job.”
Her shoulders rise and fall dramatically. “I hate him.”
“Did you tell him to knock it off or you’d punch his lights out?” I ask.
Rose shakes her head. “I can’t punch him. He’s a boy and I’ll get in trouble.”
I don’t encourage violence, but Briggs has been picking on hersince school started, and sometimes it’s just the way to get a bully to stop.
“Want me to do it?” I ask, partially joking.
Rose sighs dramatically. At six years old, she already has more attitude than I know what to do with. “No, Daddy, I just want to stay home with you.”
I finish her shoes and stay in my squat, both hands on the side of her chair. “What would happen when there was a fire? Who would watch you?”
“I’m a big girl. I can stay home all by myself.”
“You are a big girl, but not that big. Plus, I’m not a very good teacher.”
Rose leans forward, taking my face in her hands. “Please?”
God, this kid has me wrapped around her finger. Still, homeschooling is a bit out of my realm of possibilities. “Sorry, kid, that’s not happening. School for you.”
Her lower lip juts out, and a part of me, a very small part, debates giving in. She looks so damn cute like that.
Then I remember that I can’t do math at all, and don’t ask me what a dangling participle or any of that shit is. I can tell you the internal temperature of a house fire and what back draft actually looks like.
However, none of that is applicable to Rose as a six-year-old.
I let out a heavy sigh and wait for her to look at me. “Rose, you are a smart, beautiful, and strong girl. Don’t let anyone ever make you feel like you don’t belong. If Briggs takes your crayon, take it back and tell the teacher.”
“He said I’m a tattletale if I do that.”
“And tell him he’s a bully.”
“What’s a bully, Daddy?”
I smile at her and tap her nose. “Someone who is mean because they can be. I’d rather be a tattletale than a bully.”
She nods once, and I get up and extend my hand. Rose takes it and hops off the chair, and then we head out to my truck. Once she’s all buckled up, we head into town.
“Look at the big horse!” She points to the stables that areabout halfway to her school. They just got two Clydesdale horses after a barn fire a few towns over. We went to assist and asked Bill and Sandy, who operate the stables, whether they could take them until the owners come up with another plan.
The people in Ember Falls never hesitate to help someone in need.
