Cynophobia I Stanley Uris

chapter six

"What do we do today?" DJ asked curiously, making her braid tighter, while the duo walked through town.

"I want to show you my favorite hobby." exclaimed Stanley and the blonde could hear the excitement in his voice.

"That sounds like fun," She noted, as Stan lead her towards the park. "So, what is your hobby?"

"Well, uhm," He cleared his throat. "Birdwatching."

DJ's eyes widened in realization, nodding to herself, "Richie's bird puns."

"He's an idiot." Stanley muttered, and DJ couldn't stop the smile growing on her face when he looked away to hide the blush on his cheeks.

"How do you watch birds? Do you just look at them or do you do anything else?" She asked him, deciding to steer the conversation away from Richie's teasing.

She was actually quite interested in Stan's hobby, but she had no experience with birdwatching whatsoever and, to be honest, she hadn't even known that this was a thing earlier that day.

"I have a few books about birds and I take my favorite bird-book with me, so if I see a bird through my binoculars I can look it up." Stanley informed her.

"I can't wait!" She told him seriously, while he lead her further into the park, away from loud noises, away from the laughing children.

Once the duo had found a good place to stay at, he pulled out binoculars from his bag and put it around his neck, then he grabbed his book and simply looked around for a while. DJ tried her hardest not to fidget and distract Stan, but she had trouble sitting still at that moment, since she wasn't known for her big patience.

Just as she was about to start pulling out the grass, Stanley quietly opened his book and handed DJ the binoculars.

She turned her head to see the bird, failing to see it for a while, until she moved her head in the direction of a thick tree, where she finally saw a tiny, gray bird with a white belly.

"That's a dark-eyed junco," Stan whispered, not even looking into the book, so DJ assumed the bird was common. "A group of New World Sparrows, a species of junco. These birds are common in North America."

"What do they eat? And do they nest on high branches?" DJ wondered, looking for a nest within the bird's reach.

"You're asking me questions," Stan sighed with a smile, leaning over his book, his eyes flickering over a few paragraphs. He started to read a few passages aloud for DJ, "They mainly eat seeds supplemented by the occasional insect... A flock has been known to be called a blizzard... They usually nest in a cup-shaped depression on the ground, well hidden by vegetation or other material, although nests are sometimes found in the lower branches of a shrub or tree."

"I hope I can remember all of that." remarked DJ with some humor in her voice.

The next hour they watched a few other birds, including a pair of pine siskin, a blue jay, and a family of tufted titmouses, but as much as she adored Stan, DJ was getting bored.

She liked to see him at peace and so excited about the birds, but she herself didn't need to know anything about them. They were nice to look at, though not for this long. For a moment she considered just laying down in the grass and closing her eyes, but she had a question she'd wanted to ask the Uris boy for a while now, so why not use the moment?

"Are you looking forward to your Bar Mitzvah?"

Stan's face morphed into a frown and DJ immediately wanted to take back her question.

"Can I be honest with you?" asked Stanley slowly, causing DJ to nod.

"Of course, Stan, you can always speak your mind around me."

"I-I worry a lot." He said, as DJ moved closer to him.

It seemed as if this was going to be a longer, deeper conversation than DJ had expected, since Stan put the things he needed for birdwatching back into his bag and let out a sigh.

"There are different matters I'm worrying about. On one hand I don't want to be a man yet, one the other hand none of my friends are going to be there. Then there's the fact that I struggle with reading the Torrah. The rabbi's son can't read Hebrew... I'm going to be a laughingstock."

"You're putting too much pressure on yourself, Stan. Just because your father is a rabbi, you don't have to read the Torrah perfectly." She told him gently, worried about his wellbeing. She didn't like to see him that stressed out. "About the friends thing... I honestly can't do anything about that. I wish I could, but I don't think it'd be a good idea to get Richie and Bill into the same room right now, and Eddie... But Richie and I will be there. I swear, Stan."

DJ could see that Stanley was genuinely happy when he heard her promise.

"But I don't think I understand why you don't want to be a man. I don't know a lot about Judaism actually," DJ confessed, looking at him in curiosity. "What changes when you're a man? Is it just from one moment to the other you're an adult?"

"You've got to know that my Bar Mitzvah is a celebration of religious maturity, meaning that I have the same religious rights and obligations as adults. I'm obliged to observe the full Jewish law, which I don't mind at all. That is not the point that I worry about, it's that I don't want to be like the adults in this town. No one notices anything, no one genuinely cares, and I- I just don't know what will happen when we grow older. What will I do in my life? Will we still be friends? I'm asking myself a lot of questions about adulthood lately and, uh, for example do your parents still have friends from Middle School?"

DJ frowned at his question, thinking for a few seconds, "It's hard to imagine that my parents ever had any friends to begin with, but I don't think so..."

"See?" Stan exclaimed, as desperation resonated in his voice.

"We're not our parents," argued DJ in response. "We can do it better. We will do it better."

"I'm holding you to that." Stan promised, causing DJ to chuckle.

"I didn't expect anything less," DJ retorted half-jokingly, then she turned to serious again. "Stan, if there's anything I can do to make your Bar Mitzvah easier for you, let me know and I'll do it. No matter what."

Stanley sent her one of his big, rare smiles, even showing his teeth.

"Your compassion is admirable, Diana." Stan stated, laying down on the grass and putting his head in her lap.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, relaxing slightly. DJ put her fingers into his hair, simply going through it, and occasionally pushing that one strand of hair behind Stan's ear.

Casting a look at Stanley's wrist watch, DJ noticed that they were going to meet Richie at the arcade in half an hour, but for now she'd simply enjoy the moment.

Note: I admit it's a filler chapter, but hey, at least we got Songbird content! <33