Page 22 of Like Fathers, Like Son
He hurriedly reached down and pushed it further under his bed, which was really weird, but then it was typical Blaze behaviour, wasn’t it?
“Nah. That’s just something I found.”
“You keep a diary?”
He shrugged, sitting back on the bed, and staring at me.
“So… now we’re friends, can I touch your hair?”Ugh.
Blaze
WHY WAS SHE SO weird about it? I asked, and she said no, but I remembered hearing my dads saying that no sometimes meant yes, so I got up from my bed and walked over to her, reaching up to touch it anyway.
She slapped my hand away, and said no again, but didn’t that still mean yes? I tried again and she shoved me away from her, and ran out of my room. Why was she running from me?
“Hey… what’s going on?” We nearly ran into daddy Dory, who was almost at the top of the stairs at that point.
“I’m going home,” Anneka snapped, shoving past him and running down the stairs. What just happened? I tried to follow and dad caught my arm.
“Hold up, son. Just a minute, don’t run after her right now. She’s upset.”
I pulled out of his grip and stomped back to my bedroom, catching the slightest hint of her perfume still lingering in there.
“Sit down and tell me what happened, Blaze.” I did as I was told, because dad wasn’t going away until I did.
“She said no, but I remembered you saying it sometimes means yes, so I ignored her.”
“Jesus fuck, Blaze, what did you do to her?” For the first time since daddy Gray got injured, I could see worry on dad’s face.
“I wanted to touch her hair, but she kept saying no.”
He rubbed at his beard for a moment, a deep frown on his face.
“Her hair… the hair on her head, right?”
What did that even mean? “Duh.”
He snorted, shaking his head as he stood up again.
“Okay, gotcha. Leave her alone for now, and let her calm down. She’ll get over it, son.”
About four hours later, we had a chance to prove that point, when mum made a loud noise, and then my dads were rushing around to pick up the bag they’d prepared for when the babies were coming. The babies were coming?
“Okay, Blaze, you know we have to take your mum in now. Don’t worry about the wet patch in the dining room, just ignore it for now. Your brother and sister are in bed already, and I’ve just spoken to next door, and Anneka’s going to come back and sit with you, because… well, we can’t leave you alone, but she’s a bit older. Jesus… I sound like a moron, but I’m freaking out. Anneka will be your sitter, so be nice to her and leave her hair alone, okay?”
Mum was making these pained noises, and then they were hurrying out of the house, hugging me and telling me to behave, and a minute later, Anneka was back.
She had a few books in her arms, and she looked at me like I was a stranger to her. Why was she being like that?
“I’m going to be here with you while your dads are with your mum. I can’t believe she’s having the babies now. Is it early?”
I shrugged, because it seemed like she’d been pregnant forever, but I never really thought about the fact that at some point this would happen, and things would change again.
“She’ll be fine. It’s not like she hasn’t done it before, right?”
Anneka nodded, pushing the door closed, and marching past me to the living room.
“I’m going to sit here and read for a bit. Don’t get up to anything you shouldn’t.”
