Autumn in Philadelphia Trilogy

The Return: Gauging the Depth

"If you aren't in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?"

― T.S. Eliot

oo00oo00oo0oo

Wednesday morning was a chaotic blur for Shawn. Because he was still waiting to hear how his piece on Jon was doing since it had been made public, the writer was throwing himself into his current piece just in case the previous one didn't do well. He was also trying to distract himself from the events of the day before. Shawn did such a good job of constantly pushing for new and unique angles on a very well known NYC neighborhood that by noon he was worn out. He needed to eat and to rest before trying to do any writing, so Shawn head to the one place that he knew would be peaceful no matter how chaotic it might be- he headed home.

Audrey was in the kitchen as usual. She had just fed Bella and was in the middle of trying to feed herself. Bella greeted him with a shriek and a solid five minutes of toddler talk. Shawn didn't understand half of what she said, but he was thrilled that she was talking so much to him. Strangers assumed that she was non-verbal or, at the very least, behind in her speech. They were, however, very wrong. Bella was simply very selective to whom she spoke and if she did not know a person well she would not speak to them. Or even if she did know them she might not speak to them if she wasn't in the mood. However, with her parents and siblings, it was difficult to get her to stop talking. There were even times when she talked herself to sleep. But it was to Shawn that she babbled the most, having fully accepted him as her brother. She felt he was the only one who really listened to her, even if his languages skills were a bit lacking and she had to repeat herself several times before he understood.

After the chat with his sister, Shawn engaged in a two minute argument with Audrey over who was going to fix him lunch. Shawn eventually wore her down and as the victor he gleefully gloated about it. He got several dramatic eye rolls from Audrey who finally relented and ate her own lunch as he fixed his. It was a pleasant change of pace to be able to sit with her. It brought back many beloved memories from his childhood. If only Jon had been there, too.

"Sooo," Shawn drew out the word, trying to find the right ones to go with it. He very much wanted to discuss the events of the past evening with her. He was extremely curious about her take on Katherine now, but at the same time was hesitant to bring it up.

Audrey arched an eyebrow and gave him a knowing smile. "Soooo... about last night?"

Shawn let go of the breath he'd been holding and laughed. "Yeah, about last night. Something felt really off about the way things went down." He had to walk a fine line with what he said about Katherine. He didn't want to tip her off that anything was amiss, but Audrey was very sharp and it was a hard feat to pull off. It always had been.

"I'll say," she harrumph, stabbing a knife into the sandwich she was cutting up for Bella.

Shawn decided to approach the conversation as just a brother concerned about his sister and the injustice done to her. "Julia was really upset by the whole thing," he said, watching for any non-verbal cues from the woman across the table from him. "She came in the playroom and just sat with me. Hardly said a word. I've never seen her like that before."

Audrey shook her head as anger flashed in her eyes. "I cannot stand that woman!"

Neither could he and everyone knew it. To hear Audrey say the same thing out loud validated his feelings and he was delighted hear this proclamation. But he did not let on that this was so.

"Mom?"

Audrey glanced at him and frowned. "She purposely lied about texting Julia. What I don't understand is why. And it's driving me crazy."