Acceptance | ✓

Chapter 8

[ANDREW]

I kissed my mother goodbye as the call for her and Ethel's train blasted through the station's speakers.

"We'll talk more through the mail," Ethel said, giving me a hug. I grimaced but didn't refuse. My decision to attend the convention was still settling badly in my gut, but Ethan seemed to think it was a good idea, and a part of me did as well.

"Take care." Ethel grinned, pulling away.

My mother was already loading her luggage into a busboy's trolley. Ethel gave me a short wave before turning to go meet up with my mother.

I watched for the next half an hour as they got into the train before the train took off, leaving behind a littered empty track. I watched as young children along with the elderly waved the train off from behind the yellow line. Most of the town's working-class worked outside of town, making such scenes common.

I took a deep breath before calling for Roxanne. She emerged from under a park bench, walking towards me before halting in front of me to perform a dog yawn.

I laughed, bending down to attach her to her leash. She might be my companion and helper, but she did have a fond habit of wandering off. She mostly sniffed at kids' hands and whined at elderly folk she felt needed the same attention she directed to me.

"Come," I said, pulling at her leash as I got up. Roxanne whined, but she followed me anyway. She didn't like leashes, but I usually wasn't given any other choice to put her in one when I considered her habit of wandering about.

There was a small department store within the train station. It was highly inefficient at times but was attractive to look into out of necessity when I visited the train station for one reason or the other.

Remembering the rant concerning the no dog policy, I decided to tie Roxanne's leash to a pole and calmed her down afterward with a rub before I entered the store.

I looked around for things that seemed to be running out three times faster since Ethan got here. I stared awkwardly at the loaves of bread on the counter, before deciding for the first time in a long time to go with regular bread. Ethan wasn't fond of the wheat bread I stocked up on, and it wouldn't hurt me to make a small change for his sake.

I wrinkled my nose in disgust at the barely cooled sausages in the out of service freezers that were still in use. For once I was glad my mother had taken her time to stock up my fridge with meat. She'd complained about the fridge being too tiny, and how I was probably starving Ethan.

I smiled, dwelling on the fact that my mother had taken a liking to Ethan. He had been there to unlock the door when I had been intentionally ignoring her. She commented that she was happy that Ethan got me to eat and that I was considerably better tempered around him.

"At least there'll be someone to send you to the hospital if you faint..." My mother had trailed as she looked up from chopping carrots. "Again," she'd finished before looking back down.

I felt my face heat up at the memory. During my first few months here I'd fainted about three times in odd places like the department store or library. My mother had panicked almost to death when I decided to stop writing in the library and create a study for myself at the cabin. We came to a compromise where I had to visit a dietitian of her recommendation to help with the collapses caused by my undernourishment.

"Kadiane?" I heard someone call from behind me, making me turn to meet my professor from college face to face.

"Mr—"

"It's just Collins now, you've graduated, remember?" he said with a small chuckle. I smiled, noticing he was holding a basket filled with household oddities. I gave him a weak smile before turning back to the half-empty shelves. I didn't really know what to say and decided to avoid a conversation altogether.