✅ My Cousin's Keeper [NaNoWriMo 2021]

8. My Flexibility

"Hey!" Tess waved half-heartedly as she came through the door. "Good day at work?"

"So-so. Good day at school?"

She didn't need to say a word. After a few days, I'd come to expect a cheerful rundown of dumb things that her friends, enemies, and teachers had said during the day. That was one of the things we had in common: a willingness to laugh at any and all dumb mistakes, even our own. Today she mumbled a little, and I guessed that there must have been something wrong. I didn't want to put her on the spot, so I decided to try taking her mind off whatever was wrong for now.

"If there's anything I can do to help, just let me know. But for now, I've had a couple of calls since I got home, so maybe some news will cheer you up." She seemed almost angry at the thought that I could help with her problems; maybe her irrational goal of being an adult included dealing with everything alone. But she didn't push it after I changed the subject, and looked up waiting to hear who had called.

"First off, I spoke to Malcolm, you know my decorator friend? He's pretty busy for the next couple of months, so it might be a while before he can give your room a complete makeover. But he had a few ideas that might help to make it feel a little more like home. And your parents called, they said they've got their home phone connected now, but are still having some problems with mobiles. Sounds like there's more legislation over there. And they'd like you to call them back when it's convenient, so they can know I'm doing enough to look after you. But if I know you, you'll want to start by taking a look at some of the things I got for you."

She nodded, almost eager now, and I went upstairs ahead of her, pulling a shopping bag out of the spare room. It had actually been in the cupboard there for a couple of weeks, but it would probably seem more thoughtful if she thought I'd given it to her the same day I bought it. It wasn't anything particularly useful, but I hoped it would help her to feel a little more comfortable. In the bag were a bunch of cheap movie posters that might help to make her room feel less like a little kid's space, bundled together with a label that declared them to be "Assorted retro, 3 for 1.89". They were all for movies that would have been popular when I was her age, and I wondered if she would remember them well enough that even age-appropriate things might subconsciously remind her of the days when she was just a baby. There were two lamp shades to choose from as well; a new one, and the one that I'd removed when I gave her room the nursery treatment; as well as two different sets of blinds in pastel colours other than pink.

"I know they're only little things, but maybe choosing some of the decor yourself can make this place feel a little more like home. Until we can get it done properly, I mean. Just let me know if you need any help putting it up. Those things aren't the easiest to fit, but once you chosen which you like–"

"Thank you!" she beamed. "You thought of everything. Now I can..."

"Hmm?" I asked, as her voice trailed off.

"Well, I can't really invite my friends round when my room looks like that. But it's a big help. Thank you."

As predicted, she did need some help to change the blinds and the light shade. Both required a set of ladders to fit, which I had to go down to the garage and dig out. And she couldn't argue with needing help when it quickly became clear that even changing the shade on the light would need someone on the ladder and someone else to pass things up. I was probably just about tall enough that I could have reached up to change it myself, but that would only have been rubbing in how much height difference there was between us, so I opted to use the ladder. A little more reassurance for a little girl, who might be offended by the assertion that any job needed someone taller, but would be happy to accept that you needed multiple pairs of hands to make this particular light work.

We talked a little while we worked, about how our days had gone, and our plans for the future. I'd been meaning to mention that my girlfriend would come over at the weekend, but today it seemed that Tess had her own issues causing her stress. Problems with one of her friends, or someone a little less friendly, it was hard to tell. The situation she could have described could questionably have been mild bullying, or could have been a healthy rivalry between friends. It was so hard to understand the emotions of a little kid; they would make everything seem so much more intense. But apparently this rivalry was being brought to a head by an upcoming test, which covered the last few weeks of their history studies. And this was a problem for Tess because she was now far away from her best friends, and couldn't meet up to study over the weekend. Even at the same school, it seemed, she would have some problems after a house move. For a moment I felt bad about decorating the nursery so well that she was embarrassed to let teen friends stay over. But then I realised that there was another solution that could help her for a while.

"You know why studying with a friend improves your performance?" I asked, and then explained one of the smaller realisations I'd picked up in a long-ago psych class. I told her that you can learn something a dozen times and still not have the memory stick, but that teaching someone else the same material would make it a lot easier to recall in future. I suggested that she could try to teach me and Ffrances what she'd been learning at school, and perhaps that would help her to do better on her test. Well enough to beat Ashli's grade, in any case.

By the time we were done, I realised that I really needed to be working on dinner if we wanted to eat before the little one started getting cranky with hunger. So I apologised and went to cook, giving her a few minutes to get changed to more comfortable clothes, and to call her parents if she wanted to. I prepared a couple of my infamous six-pepper quesadillas, and queued up a few episodes of a comedy show in case she was in the mood for a little more passive entertainment this evening.

All in all, I thought that the day had gone pretty well.