Wish-Makers

Chapter 2 | Henry

Henry Winsor took a deep breath before unlocking the door to his one-bedroom apartment. He spent a moment working a smile onto his face, then turned the worn knob, calling out in a weary voice, "Hey guys, I'm home!"

Three sets of brown eyes snapped to meet his green ones from the kitchen table. All at once, before he could even shake off his coat or set down his briefcase, he was bombarded. 

"Uncle Henry! Look at what I drew at school today!" In a flash, Keenan had jumped up from the table (toppling a few Monopoly hotels in the process) and jumped in front of Henry, notebook paper in hand. "I tried some of the shading, like you showed me, and look how this dragon turned out!"

Henry couldn't help but smile at the ten-year-old standing before him. He crouched down, plucking up the drawings and inspecting them in the dim light. "Hmm, yes. I see, little bit of cross-hatching over here, little bit of regular hatching over there..." Henry caught Keenan's eye. "Now tell me, did you draw this while your teacher was talking?"

Keenan's eyes widened. "Oh, no, I would never. I drew this during recess."

Henry fake-gasped and handed the papers back. "What is even the point of drawing if you don't do it while the teacher's talking?"

Tess gave Henry a little shove as she joined them by the door before scooping up Keenan in an embrace. "Don't listen to him, he's a bad influence."

Keenan wiggled out of her arms and dashed back to the table. As soon as he was out of earshot, Tess leaned over and whispered, "Did you have a chance to look at my lit paper? It's due tomorrow."

"You know," Henry said, "it's not actually my top priority to help an eleventh-grader cheat her way through Honors English."

"Uncle Henry, it's not cheating--"

"I know, I know," he slipped some stapled printer paper from his briefcase, "it's just using your resources."

"Thanks Uncle Henry!" Tess gave him a quick hug before grabbing her paper and disappearing through the dining area and into the bedroom she shared with her brothers, her red hair streaming behind her. 

Finally Henry could spare a glance for Myron, his roommate, who sat at the table, Monopoly money in hand and an amused glint in his eyes. His red hair was slicked back, and Henry noticed a few paint flecks dotting his cheekbones beside the freckles. He must have gotten a commission today, which was good. 

They needed it.

"Once Tess gets back out here, do you want me to deal you in?" Myron held up a few property cards, "We saved you the railroads."

Henry nodded, "I'll be there in a sec!"

Stepping over Keenan's toys and Tess's sweaters, Henry made it to his room. Well, it wasn't really a room, just the half of the living room where he kept his bed and his clothes. They'd tacked up a sheet for some privacy, but he could still hear Keenan gushing to Myron about fractions and Tess singing faintly in the other room. 

Henry kicked off his shoes, slipped off his tie, and sank onto his thin mattress. He took another moment just to breathe. Everything is going to be okay. His stomach growled, but he ignored it. Him and Myron were down to two meals a day until the kids got into the free and reduced lunch program, and he'd already had breakfast and some food on his way home.

"Uncle Henry! You better get out here--Tess is stealing your railroads!"

The weight on his chest lifted a little bit when he peeked his head out from behind the sheet to find Keenan reclaiming cards from his sister and Myron leaning against the kitchen counter, two mugs of tea in hand.

While the kids settled their property dispute, Henry joined Myron in the kitchen. As he pressed a mug into Henry's hand, the warmth from the steam wiped away the edge of his hunger, clearing his mind, clearing his heart.

Myron leaned in. "Everything okay? You're acting happier than normal."

Henry let the smile he'd been forcing fall. "I got laid off today. They gave all of us some severance pay, but with the rent coming up, it'll only buy us a few more days, and we haven't gotten groceries for the week and Keenan still needs new cleats and--"

"Hey." Myron lightly touched his hand to Henry's. "It will be okay, and," his eyes got distant, "me and Keenan and Tess can always find somewhere else to stay for a bit if we need to."

"No." Henry shook his head. "No. When Tom and Martha died, I promised that Keenan and Tess could stay here until you got back on your feet. I meant that."

Myron opened his mouth like he was going to say more, but closed it again and sighed. It was hard seeing Myron so serious. In the six months after his parents' death, Myron's face had aged ten years. Gone was the happy-go-lucky starving artist Henry'd grown up and gone to college with. In his place was a thin, red-headed man wearing the weight of the world on his shoulders, all wrapped up in a brown leather jacket.

"Uncle Henry!!" Keenan was adamant now, "Come quick before Tess starts stealing hotels!"

Both men shared a quick smile before settling down at the dinner table. With all three sitting next to each other, the resemblance was undeniable. Myron, Tess, and Keenan all sported the same red hair, light freckles, and brown eyes.

Growing up with the Kesslers next door, Henry had always been a little self-conscious of his own hair, a dull brown supposedly inherited from his father. That didn't stop him and Myron from becoming fast friends in their younger years, and it didn't stop all the Kesslers from becoming like his second family.

When Henry agreed to let Myron crash with him for a few weeks the summer after college, he'd never have guessed the remaining Kesslers would join within the month.

Now he'd gone from Henry-next-door to Uncle Henry, lone wolf to breadwinner, single to...still single but with two kids and a roommate under his roof.

"...5, 6, 7--" Keenan gasped, "Luxury tax again?"

"That's right," Tess rubbed her fingers together, "pay up little bro."

"Tess, you realize the luxury tax goes in the middle, not your pocket right?" Myron chuckled.

"Not my pocket, yet, you mean." She rubbed the dice around in her hands. "I'm landing on free parking this time, I can feel it."

Henry tried to lose himself in the game, but his railroad empire only reminded him of what he'd lost, and the $500 he'd stashed under the seat cushion only brought to mind the bills they still hadn't paid, and the smiles on Tess and Keenan's faces only stiffened his resolve to do whatever it took to keep those smiles there. 

And it scared him a little, how he would do anything for those kids. 

But it scared him more that everything he did might not be enough.

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