Archibald Babbage (English)

Chapter Two - The Perkins

I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity
-Edgar Allan Poe-

Two years later

Sometimes Archibald wished he was back at the orphanage. His new adoptive family was actually quite nice. Almost too nice in Archie's opinion. He couldn't help but looked at the whole thing with suspicion. Nobody had ever been so nice to him before. Only if they wanted something from him. And since he never possessed much himself that was of interest to others, he could count on just one of his little hands how often someone was  kind to him.

But the Perkin family did not seem to expect anything in return. He was always smiled at, even when he just sat blankly at the dining table. Or he was taken on excursions, even if there was no special reason for it. Such things only confused and unnerved little Archie, who was trying more and more desperately to find out what this family was up to.

Why did they even adopted him? They already had two children of their own. Well, at least he got to eat three meals a day and sometimes even something sweet like chocolate cakes or lemon puddings. He hadn't been hungry once since the first day he came here, and that was the only thing he was really grateful for.

Archie's new super perfect family consisted of the head of the household Dorset and his wife Rosie.  As Dorset was being a successful architect, Rosie could afford to stay home and take care of the house and the children.

To Archibald's annoyance, she had apparently made it her life goal to befriend her new adoptive son and get him to spend some quality time with his new sisters.

Everyone, who had ever met Ivy and Blossom, called them the loveliest and most well-mannered girls. Archie thought they were the most annoying brats he'd ever had the misfortune to make acquaintance with. They too were suspiciously nice to him, but they talked so much that Archie soon wondered if it would be unethical to sew their lips shut.

Despite all of his frustration, Archie tried really hard not to show anything on the outside. He played the shy little boy who always ate his vegetables and played in silence with his sisters outside in the garden.

"Archie, you know that if someone throws you the ball, you should throw it back, right?" Ivy chuckled.

Archie just managed to not roll his eyes. It had started as a pleasant spring day. Until they finished their homework Then Mrs. Perkin had sent them out into the garden while she tended to household and dinner.

That was 3 hours ago. For a painful 3 hours he had been standing in the dirt with these monsters and was taught how "normal" children played. If being normal meant being like Ivy and Blossom, then he could thankfully do without it. He only nodded briefly to her before he took the red ball in his hands and tossed it gently at her. At least he intended to toss it gently. Instead, it came flying towards Ivy with such force that she stumbled awkwardly backwards and landed on her bum.

As she straightened herself embarasssed up, followed by Blossom's laughter, she glared at Archibald.

"I said throw it over and don't, throw it in my face with full force".

"With full force?", He thought while his brows darted up a little.

"It doesn't matter, I don't like playing with the ball anyway. How about we create our own flower garden?" She said with a smile in her eyes.

"Children, come in, dinner is ready!" Mrs. Perkin called through the open kitchen window.

"Perfect, then we can ask mom where we can put our flower bed!" Said Blossom excitedly, while she followed her big sister into the house. Archibald stayed behind and wrestled with himself whether it might not be a better idea to leave and try his luck as an outcast in the forests. Just when he got the pros. and cons. went through in his head, Ivy came back, grabbed his wrist with a laugh and said:"Yes, I can't wait to start the garden either, but we still have to eat something first, okay?"

-"Please God, help me"-

At the same Evening

"Well Archie, did you have a nice day with your sisters in the garden?"

Why couldn't they just leave him alone? The whole day had been an ordeal. Mrs. Perkin thought it was a wonderful idea that the children wanted to grow their own flowers and gave them one of her own flower beds in a corner of the garden. They had to dig and loosen up the earth until they had to shake all the dirt out of their underpants. Tomorrow, after school, they would go buy the flower seeds. The way Archie got to know this family, even something so mundane would degenerate into an extended family outing followed by ice cream or a petting zoo. It was madness.

"Good," he replied quietly, never feeling so much a liar in his life as he did at this very moment.

Mrs. Perkin didn't seem to mind his rather cool answer. After all, Archie had lived with them for over two months and she knew that he was a very shy little boy.

"And as soon as you get back from school tomorrow, we'll go shopping for everything you need for your pretty garden and who knows, maybe there'll be enough time to go to the petting zoo and eat there an ice cream?", She said with a wink and covered Archie with the cozy duvet.

-Oh yes, that was exactly what I needed right now. Why not combine both?-

"Good night Archie," said Mrs. Perkin, leaning down to him. But before she could kiss him on the forehead, he turned and closed his eyes.

She didn't blame him. That's how he was, her little Archie Babbage.