page twenty-one

[fantasies]

[All told, it's probably long past Henry's bedtime. Between friends leaving and bad memories, he hasn't had the best month, and it's making it difficult to sleep. Less a bad mood, necessarily (he's had worse months, and less reassuring conversations), but definitely a thoughtful one.

At the very least, he's being very quiet tonight, at first only drawing a line of tick marks across the top of the journal's page. At first it might seem like he's counting, but instead of drawing a diagonal slash when he gets to five, he continues on across the page.

He's humming, too, hushed enough to break slightly at the edges in classic prepubescent fashion, more rhythmic than musical.

There's the soft whining of a dog in the background.]

Bandit, come on, quit it. You're gonna mess me up.

[The tick marks stop, and Henry murmurs something even more hushed, which even the journal doesn't quite pick up.

There's a pause, and then he opts to write his question in scrawled, childish letters:]

Does anyone know how long it takes to make an apple pie?

Comments

[fantasies]

[A pause. He doodles a small spiral, considering. It must have taken a long time when he used to bake with Jane, he guesses, but it never really felt like it.]

I do too. [beat. August would probably understand.] But if I make a cherry pie then I'm definitely going to eat it.

[unvarnished]

[he laughs. No, he totally gets it] And I'd eat it with you. With vanilla ice cream and whipped cream.

[wait is he supposed to be discouraging this or encouraging?]

[fantasies]

Don't say that!! [He even writes in the multiple exclamation marks. This is important, okay.] Then I'll definitely eat it.

[unvarnished]

[well at least one of them is responsible] Okay, we'll save it for another time.

[fantasies]

[He taps his pen against the page for a while. It turns into a row of dots below his row of tick marks.]

Do you think I could still make one anyway? Even if I didn't eat any of it.

[unvarnished]

Sure you could. And I bet a lot of people would eat it instead.

[fantasies]

[That's the idea.]

Jane would always let me eat whatever we made.

[unvarnished]

Then we should continue that tradition. Even if it's only a bite, you should enjoy what've made.

[fantasies]

[A pause. He's smiling at the page.]

Okay.

But it has to be the least appley part.

[unvarnished]

I agree. Definitely the least appley part.

[fantasies]

[tapping]

Is it possible to make a part apple part cherry pie?

[unvarnished]

Sure. You can make any kind you want.

[fantasies]

Then let's do that! Two pieces cherry and the rest apple.

[unvarnished]

You want me to help, or would you rather do it on your own? [he wants to be supportive of Henry trying things alone]

[fantasies]

[A longer pause.]

I think it's betters if friends do it together.

[unvarnished]

I'll be right down. [he does consider Henry his friend, after all]

[fantasies]

[He writes hastily, to make sure August sees it.]

I need a couple minutes to get out without waking anybody up!

[unvarnished]

Stick with me, kid, and you'll learn how to do that any time you want.

[again, he really shouldn't be encouraging this. But he's doing it anyway]

[fantasies]

[He suppresses a laugh.]

You sure? I'm pretty sure Arya can hear anything.

[unvarnished]

I'll consider that a challenge to be tackled. For right now, how about we bake that pie?

[fantasies]

Sounds good to me.

[beat]

Ten minutes.

[unvarnished]

Should we be synchronizing our watches? [he's being totally serious here. Sneaky covert missions are srs biznizz]

[fantasies]

[A longer pause. He hadn't considered that.]

I'm in my pajamas, I don't have one. We'll wing it this time. But that's a good idea, I won't forget it.

[unvarnished]

[let him teach you things, Henry]

Pajamas were a good choice. They'll make less noise when you move.

[fantasies]

[They're also good for sleeping, but he's going to pretend he did that on purpose.]

Now I just have to make sure Bandit stays quiet long enough to keep from waking up Arya.