Care for me (L. S.)

25

Friday the 2nd of October | Harry

For a regular day in October, it was almost warm: the sun was dominating the sky, shining away happily. There wasn't one cloud. Not one.

The forgiving temperatures allowed the habitants of Lanfordshire to sit outside on their terasses with a drink and enjoy the unstoppable sunshine. And so that was what everyone did: hanging around on plastic chairs in yards. Some were chasing after their hyperactive children, some were children themselves and climbing in trees aiming not to fall out afterwards, some were trying to take pictures of themselves, making use of the flattering natural light and a few were even barbecuing!

Harry was outside too; the sun was heating him up a bit, although it wasn't quite warm enough to walk around in just a shirt, that was exactly what he was doing because these days were the last few when you could get away with it. Winter was around the corner and sooner or later, everyone would be wearing three sweaters and knee high stockings underneath their trousers.

That probably explained why everyone was holding on to the idea that it was still summer for one more day, wearing slippers in their gardens while it was barely fifteen degrees.

His hands grabbed the string of chord and attached it to the garden fence. The cord – used to hang the freshly washed laundry on to dry – was traveling through the entirety of their yard and Harry felt the sudden need to throw a blanket over it to make it a tent.

The child-like urge to move a couple of pillows to the grass and create a fortress grew the more he thought about it and Harry had to remind himself that he was nearly seventeen, which meant that it was highly unacceptable to do those kinds of things. In the back of his mind, he knew that if Liam were there right now, they would have gone through with it. Smiling, he remembered the times they played hide and seek and got lost in Zayn's huge house (some of the memories were more recent).

Using his hand to block the sun, stopping it from shining in his eyes, he heard the sound of plates and cutlery and a couple of neighbours chatting to each other. Some kids were even having water fights from the sounds of it.

It was funny to him that people were still that desperately pretending that it was summer in October. It seemed like a very British thing to do.

He was actually looking forward to fall: he liked the cinnamon drinks his mum would always make for him, the cold that had a certain freshness to it and the colourful falling leaves. Practically just everything about fall was pretty great to him, although the cinnamon goodness was superior. (one cinnamooon)

"Heyhey." He hadn't heard his mum come over to him. She was carrying a basket of laundry and a cup of clothespins.

"The weather is nice isn't it?" She squished her eyes shut to protect them from the sun.

"It is," he agreed.

She was wearing a long orange summer dress and her hair was pulled up in a knot, exposing the pearl earrings Harry got her for her birthday last year.

It was no mystery why she dressed up like this: later that evening, Robin would have dinner at their house. Therefore everything had to be clean and tidy. There were enough chores to choose from.

"Have I asked how school was yet?"

"Yes"

"Really?"

Harry was in the middle of pinning a pair of colourful trousers to the line, and looked up to his mum, unbelieving of the fact that she already forgot.

Anne's one (and only) flaw was that she would sometimes forget to pay attention to the conversation. She either did it automatically or she'd just be nodding at the right times.