The Finder [ABANDONED]

Laila

“Daddy, do I have a Mummy?” Zavier sighed; this was not how he wanted his morning to start.

“Of course you do, Sweetie!”

“Where is she?” Simon sighed.

“Working. Mummy works all over the world.”

“When is she coming to see us?”

“I don’t know, Sweetie. Are you ready for breakfast?”

“Yes! Yes! Yes!”

“What do you want for breakfast today? Green or blue?”

“Blue! Had green yesterday.”

“Ok, one blue pack coming up.” Zavier let his daughter try to pull the covers off him for a moment or two; before finally flipping them off himself and swinging her up into his arms. In the kitchen, Zavier pulled out a blue pack for Laila and made a bowl of cereal for himself while Laila’s packaged breakfast did its thing in its machine. Two and a half years and Zavier still didn’t know what it was actually called, never mind how it works.

As they ate Zavier mused that it must almost be time for Laila’s mother to make an appearance; sometime in the next six months at any rate. Laila would (according to her mother) need another treatment at around age three. Zavier wondered why it mattered, Laila was still too different to go to Kindergarten with the other three year olds; she would have to be home schooled – but her mother had promised an educare unit, so apparently all Zavier would have to do is make sure that she sat down with it every day. Zavier shook his head to clear it; otherwise he would be stuck on this tangent all day.

After finishing breakfast and getting dressed Zavier sent Laila outside to play with Koda; the dog – well mostly dog. Laila and Koda seem to have a sort of bond that Zavier has only ever read about or seen in movies. According to Laila’s mother, both Laila and Koda are the same kind of special.

While the toddler and the dog were playing outside, Zavier took that time to order his groceries. And write up a list for Laila’s mother too. Just as he was finishing up the online order, Zavier heard the sound of a car pulling up his gravel drive; he ran to the back door.

“Koda! Car!” He said commandingly; it had taken him months to master the Alpha voice, and only a few weeks to realise that he was only the boss when it came to protecting Laila. Koda bolted past Zavier having nosed Laila onto his back where she stayed quietly and held onto his collar. When Koda was satisfied that Laila was safe in her room, with the door mostly shut, he practically dove through the dog door at the front of the house to take up a defensive position between the car and the house where his Laila lives.

Zavier followed at a more decorous pace; stooping to pat Koda’s head on the way past.

“Can I help you?” He asked brusquely as the driver opened his window, just enough to talk through Zavier noticed, and not enough to allow the growling dog entry. The driver gulped.

“Um, hi. My name’s Steven, and this is my wife Mary. We’ve uh, just moved into the property next door.” Zavier snorted, ‘next door’ was around half a kilometre away.

“We saw that you have a swing set and thought that maybe our kids could play together. There aren’t many opportunities for pint size socialisation.” Mary put in.

“Well, thanks for the offer; but I don’t drink pints and I don’t raise goats.” Zavier turned as if to go inside. He heard the couple open their car doors, planning to get out until Koda growled menacingly at each of them in turn.

“There’s no call to be rude.” Steven shouted.

“I’m not the one who decided to just ‘drop by the neighbour’s’ without considering if they wanted company.”

“Well, why wouldn’t you? It’s the middle of nowhere after all.”

“Yes it is, and that’s the way I like it. You may have noticed that all of the surrounding properties were vacant until you moved in.” Steven gulped as Zavier turned around, more so as he patted Koda who continued growling, and even added snarling to his repertoire towards the interlopers.

“Now, I believe that you will want to leave before I let Koda here chew on your tires until you have to walk.” Steven nodded shakily, and spun up a wave of small stones as he sped out of the driveway.

“Shit, and just after I order a load of groceries too.” Zavier grumbled as he walked inside. He opened the laptop and quickly cancelled the order for his supplies. Then straight to his desk where he took out what he called the Laila Phone – only to be used to order supplies for Laila or in the event of a Laila related emergency. He dialled the only number in the contacts.

“Hello?”

“We’ve had a visit. Is the next house ready?”

“I can have it ready in a little over half an hour. I’ll stay on and do Laila’s treatment early, and I just ordered the next batch of her supplies; it’s due to arrive in twenty-five minutes.”

“It’s going to take us thirty minutes to get ready; we have to pack and clean down.”

“I’ll call before I move you; just in case you’re not quite ready.”

“Thanks.”

“Thank you.” They both hung up; there was nothing more to say, and a lot to do. It was time to go; again.