บท 65: Key Lime Season (January) Part 2
"Autumn? Why do you keep coming to help Lisa?" he asked, interested.
"I like to help," she said. "Sometimes in my family ... everyone helps, so everybody expects it. Lisa says thank you. And I like to come up here because it's so quiet. Mom tries to have a quiet hour where we all do homework, but that doesn't always work out so good. So I do homework at Lisa's sometimes."
"Do you have any tonight?"
"I did it earlier while I was waiting," she said.
"Would you like for me to check it for you?"
"Okay." Autumn went over and grabbed her backpack. She pulled out her worksheets and handed them to him. He looked at the papers and realized that she didn't seem to understand the math and definitely needed help with her spelling.
"Autumn, let me show you something. Pull up a chair."
"Grownups aren't supposed to do my homework," Autumn said, suspiciously.
"I'm not going to do it," Fabian told her. "I'm doing to show you how to do it." An idea occurred to him. "Where do you sit in the classroom?"
"I'm in the back. I get to sit near the guinea pig," she said proudly.
"Can you see the board from where you are?" Autumn frowned.
"Not really. But I like being with the guinea pig."
"Okay. Let's go over this so you understand it. I'll talk to your parents and your teacher about your blackboard problem. I think it can be solved so you don't have to give up your friend the guinea pig." Fabian smiled.
When her homework was done and the kitchen was clean, they let Buster out one more time and then Fabian walked Autumn home. The old schoolhouse was full of kids and pets and smelled of beef stew.
"I brought back one of your chicks," Fabian smiled to Maggie. Autumn hugged her mother, then raced up a spiral staircase that was in the corner of the living room. "She was up at Lisa's."
"I know. Ransome told me she was going to go there. Is her homework finished?"
"Yes, and I checked it. Maggie are you aware that she can't see the chalkboard?" Maggie covered her mouth with her hand.
"I'd noticed she wasn't doing as well in school this year, Fabian, but ... I never thought to ask about whether she could see."
"When I checked her homework, it was clear that she didn't understand. And the spelling errors were things that it would be easy to mistake from a distance away. I know her teacher, and the math was demonstrated. If Autumn still didn't understand, there was something on the board that she didn't get. And she probably didn't tell anyone because from what I understand she has a seat in a place of honor -- next to the guinea pig." Fabian grinned and Maggie rolled her eyes.
"She loves that thing, but we have enough pets around here. I told her she should enjoy the one at school. Apparently she does -- at the expense of being able to see the board. How is Lisa?"
"I checked on her, and she was sound asleep. I'm going to talk to her about giving Autumn keys, if that's okay with you. I was impressed -- she pitched right in and got a lot done."
"You're right -- she should have a set. Dennis and I have them -- if it's all right with Lisa, we'll just let Autumn carry ours. Would you like to stay for dinner? There's plenty."
"I would love to, Maggie. It smells great. I don't know how to ask this, so I'll just ask and hope you'll forgive me if this is out of line. Glasses for Autumn won't be a problem for you and Dennis, will they?"
"No," Maggie smiled. "We live very simply, but not because we're poor. We also belong to the group policy that the town has, so we have insurance. We've needed it. I'm sure you've noticed that Justice seems to catch every cold that comes within a mile of him. If we could just get him to blow his nose! Come in and have a seat, Fabian."
"Before I forget," Fabian said, "how is Summer doing?"
"She's fine," Maggie told him. "Just a few bruises. What exactly happened?" She led Fabian further into the comfortable-looking living room. It was an interesting remodeling job. The living room looked almost like any other, except that the blackboard was still on one wall. It was very popular with the children -- covered with their drawings. It also had notes to other family members and some telephone numbers written on it.
"I'm teaching the fourth grade a unit on square dancing," Fabian explained, having a seat on a very comfortable couch. "Her partner apparently thought it was okay to swing her into a wall. It isn't, and I let him know that. I'm glad she wasn't hurt too badly."
"Summer was looking forward to square dancing," Maggie smiled, taking a seat in an armchair. "There was a rumor going around that you would bring in your violin on the last day and play for them."
Fabian laughed.
"I don't play that kind of violin," he said. "I'm strictly classical. Thanks -- I'll set them straight on that."
"Do you give lessons?"
"Yes, actually, I do," Fabian told her. "I've let them know at the school that if they need a private strings teacher I'm available. Well, not cello, but I can teach violin and viola, although I don't play viola as well."
"Justice is interested," Maggie told him. "He's five."
"That's a good age," Fabian nodded. "I was actually a little younger. I still have my child-sized violin, if you'd like to borrow it for him. And I'd be happy to teach him."
"I asked Lisa, but she's not really comfortable teaching. Annie Wright has been at college, and if Justice is interested, I'd rather catch him now. Why don't we rent the violin from you? I promise I'll take care of his ... sinus issues." Fabian laughed.
"I'm getting used to that sort of thing," he said. "This place is amazing, Maggie." He looked around. "I remember attending a few days of school here when I was in Twin Mills as a boy."
"You would have gone with Craig," she said. "That was the last year this school was open. They bought the school bus and had the new building finished the following year. Dennis and I took over the lease on this place and remodeled it not long after that."
"You did all of this yourselves?" Fabian was impressed. Maggie smiled.
"I think it's tidy enough to show you around," she told him, and they both stood up. Just then, little Tuesday noticed who their guest was , squealed, and ran over, embracing one of his legs. Fabian laughed.
"Hi there, Tuesday," he said. "Let's do this so I can walk, okay?" He lifted her up into his arms and she hugged him hard. He felt a pang -- Tuesday was close in age and temperament to the Lisa he remembered from long ago. He could easily imagine this one having the same problems in a canoe. Tuesday smelled of Play-Doh.
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