flowers from 1970 (republish)

Chapter 9: the sketch

Dream called George to check up on him, and it took a few rings before he picked up. "Hello, Dream."

"George." He smiled, "Sorry I couldn't call yesterday, the kids I coach were having a game and it was quite busy."

George was confused until he remembered Dream coached baseball, "How was that? Did you win?"

Dream gave a hearty laugh, "In all honesty it was a really bad loss." He admitted, "They're quite young and didn't take it well. One of them threw soda at a player from the other team and it caused some trouble between me and the parents."

George imagined Dream trying to explain himself to a parent and guiltily, it amused him, "How did that go?"

Dream groaned, "They threatened to get me fired. Accused me of being the one to tell the kid to throw the soda. I was getting riled up when one of the players came up to me and told me that the kid was provoked to throw the soda because the rival team called him duck-footed and threw peanuts at him."

George laughed, opening the microwave in his room and throwing a bag of instant popcorn inside, "What did they do to the rival team?"

Dream sighed, "Nothing. They didn't get in trouble at all but my kid got a suspension from games." "That's quite unfair." George frowned, leaning against the desk and playing with his fingernails.

Dream was silent for a while, "Yeah, but I'm gonna work with him privately anyways so he gets practice in and isn't just thrown into the next game when he's back."

George smiled, he seemed to really care for the kids on the team, which reminded him of his run in with Wilbur and his family the day before. "That's sweet of you, Dream. I actually had a hilarious encounter with children as well."

"Oh really?" Dream sounded intrigued, "What happened?"

The microwave beeped and George put the phone between his cheek and shoulder as he opened it and made to grab the popcorn bag inside, "Well I was having trouble planting your flowers and ow." He burned his fingers, and decided it was easier to grab it by pinching the corners of the bag instead, "-and a man named Wilbur came over to help me, then I met his family."

"Wilbur." Dream thought, "That's quite a nice name." He wrote it down on a sticky note before turning his lips to the phone again, "What happened with his family?"

George chuckled at the memory, "His kid was hilarious. He was fighting his friend over a video game disc, and so Wilbur's wife called in his uncle to scare him into apologizing."

"What an interesting way to parent," Dream grinned, "did it work?"

"The boy sobbed and practically begged for forgiveness." George laughed before eating some popcorn and collapsing on the chair.

"You chew quite loud." Dream told George, and George immediately stopped, amusing Dream even more.

George swallowed, "I'm sorry, I forgot how loud it would sound over a phone." Dream shook his head, "No, it's adorable." He said, sort of impulsively but truthfully nonetheless.

George was taken aback by that, "I imagine it being a bit annoying, but thank you anyway." Was all he could say.

"I never asked you about this, George," Dream began, "but you're obviously British. How did you end up in Florida?"

George's first thought was the iconic "If you're from Africa, why are you white?" line from Mean Girls, but he knew Dream wouldn't get the reference so he kept it to himself.

"I got a scholarship from a school here," George explained, "I took it, then I got carried away with how much I liked it here. My mom and sister didn't want me to leave but I did so anyway. I finished school and didn't come back home. I stayed with my school friend Alex but he ended up moving to Mexico. Luckily I had a job by then and could pay for this house, and now I'm here." He took in what he just said, realizing at once that his loneliness had one person to blame: himself.