25 Days of Kingbury

Day 11: Ornaments

Charlotte King woke up in her new room, forgetting for a moment that she was in a home. She rubbed her eyes and trudged out of bed. She brought the stuffed cat her Papa bought her on the way home from the orphanage. She named it Bagel.

Charlotte was rather unfamiliar with her new home, so she decided to go out and have a look around.

She saw her father at the counter, trying to make something. She looked around, but couldn't see her other parent.

"Dov'é Papa?" She asked quietly.

Her father, George, twitched a little. "Hm? Oh, Papa's still asleep, darling. You should be, too."

Charlotte nodded. "Cosa stai facendo?"

"I can't understand you, Char. Non parla Italiano."

"Oh. Mi dispia--sorry. I forgot. What are you doing?"

"I'm making something for your Papa."

"What is it?"

"An ornament."

Charlotte didn't know this word. "Hm?"

"It's something for decoration. See the tree over there?" George pointed to the new tree in place of the old one.

Charlotte nodded.

"It's got lots of ornaments. One of them broke the other day, so I'm making a new one."

"I see?"

George picked her up and put her on the counter so she could see. It was a remake of the pomegranate that had broken. It wasn't a great remake, the old one had been antique, crystal and gold. George's was styrofoam. "It's a fruit. See?"

Charlotte nodded. "A melograno."

"Mhm. Wanna help?"

Charlotte held her cat and said yes.

"We have to finish before Papa gets up. It has to be a surprise." George got a bottle of fine glitter. "You can shake that all over it."

Charlotte did as she was told, careful not to spill too much. George painted the insides and got it ready for Samuel to see.

"Done." Charlotte said, putting the glitter down.

"Good. I think I hear Papa getting out of bed." George strung the finished ornament and let Charlotte hang it on the tree.

The door to George's and Samuel's room opened as if on que and a groggy Samuel emerged. "What are you two doing up?" He asked.

"Papa, ti abbiamo fatto qualcosa!" (We made you something!) Charlotte said excitedly.

"Cos'hai fatto, piccolo cerbiatto?" (What did you make, little fawn?)

"A melograno!"

Samuel looked up at George, a little smile playing on his lips. "You did?"

George nodded. Charlotte pulled Samuel to the tree and showed him the ornament. Samuel gasped a little. "It's beautiful. You made this, cerbiatto?"

"Father made it, but I helped."

"George, you made this?"

George smiled. "Do you like it?"

"I love it!" Samuel wrapped his arms around his husband. "Thank you."

((i'm just gonna pretend that this is long enough to count as an update--))