Baby Bennett

Chapter 11

Persephone wasn't paying attention to all the drama in New Orleans. It didn't really affect her. And everyone was pretty much ignoring her. She supposed it was a good thing. People treated her more like an adult. Well, some people. Vincent still very much tried to parent her. He would sit as Josephine did her lesson then offer to take her to lunch. They would go to different places.

That day they went to Smith's grocers for po'boys. Then they sat on a bench as they ate their sandwiches. Persephone had a love hate relationship with those days. She'd never really had a father but she imagined it might look something like that. "You're getting a lot better. not that you weren't really good before," he told her.

"Thanks, I do miss doing concerts at school. But I think it's easier to improve with the one on one training."

"You're going back to Whitmore next year?" he asked her and she looked down.

"I don't know. I really don't. I guess I should think about transferring if I want to stay here."

"Do you want to stay?"

"I mean I have more people here than I do at Whitmore."

"And we will all be here when you graduate. You've got to know how important school is."

"I know. I know. But I graduated three years early. I have time."

"But you graduated early because you were ready for college. You had the smarts to get through it."

"I'll always be smart." He chuckled.

"That's true. But you can get a degree younger. Maybe go for a Masters degree in Violin too. You could do it."

"I know I could. But I don't want to. When I was younger, I used to want to perform for huge crowds in some orchestra."

"And now?" She shrugged.

"I don't know. But I don't want to do that. And I don't want to teach."

"How long have you been playing violin?"

"For over twelve years. Since I was almost four. It was the year my mom left. The last thing she gave me was a violin."

"Have you ever explored anything else?"

"I've never been good at anything else."

"Persephone you're one of the smartest people I've ever met. I'm sure you're good at plenty of things. You just have to find them. You're good at magic. Maybe you could teach that."

"To who?"

"Well there was a time here where we would teach our young people magic. But things are different now."

"Yeah, I know about all that. I try not to think about that. You guys are nice people. But I don't understand that whole thing."

"It's complicated."

"Magic always is."

"So on this interests thing, you know you need to go back to Whitmore and take different classes. Try some new things. Didn't you tell me your grams was an anthropology professor. Did you like when she talked about it?"

"I loved when Grams talked about magic and history."

"So there's another interest right there!" he said and she smiled softly then looked down at her food.

"I feel like you just want me to leave."

"No, Persephone, if one day, after you graduate, you want to come back and live here, there are tons of French Quarter witches ho would happily accept you." She looked him in his eyes. She wanted to see the lie. But she kept looking and he just seemed so sincere, "You want a ride home?"