Castle High

29. Annus Novus

“Do you always get up this early?”

That familiar, soothing voice emanated from behind causing her to crane her neck around to confirm if her instincts were right, and they were. His arms were folded, and his grey eyes held a hint of amusement as he gazed upon her admirably. She understood his enquiry, it was just 6:50 A.M. in the day and she was awake already, sitting by the front porch and breathing in the fresh air that came with the dawn of the New Year. The year – 2017 indeed was a prospective one to look up to.

She patted the space beside her on the porch gently, signaling for him to join her on the threshold and he did as he was ordered. As he took his seat, she couldn’t help but admire how handsome he was, despite the fact that he was in his early forties.

“You know you should sleep more than you do.” Quentin continued, fixating his gaze on the gates of the house ahead and she followed suit also. “When school resumes you won’t have as much time as you have to sleep now. And you know how sleep is important.”

Shelby exhaled deeply, smiling involuntarily. “That’s just the problem, dad. That school spirit doesn’t know when to put itself off when the holiday comes around. But I do sleep more than I did today. No one sleeps too much into the New Year. I just came out to take in fresh air before taking my bath and proceeding to having breakfast.”

She could see the edges of his eyes narrow in comprehension. “I understand your plight, fully. Work spirit also doesn’t turn off itself when the holiday comes. My breaks last for just a month so you can just imagine how difficult it must be for me to transition from work mode to rest mode, when students like you who get up to three months holiday every year and still find it difficult to put off their school state.”

Shelby nodded knowingly. “You know, sometimes I wonder if ‘true’ rest actually exists. You just find out that most of your life you’re working and working. As a student you work, as an adult – you work even more, and when you retire – well I don’t think there is anything as retiring fully. You’d still be doing a little stuff here and there to make ends meet; anyway, enough of that sort of talk for now. Did you come out here to speak with me on something in particular?”

Within her she wished there was no bad or significant news looming ahead, because her dad wasn’t really the type to talk for talking sake. Not because he was some sort of overbearing dad or overtly demanding, but the time wasn’t just on his hands. He was always on the move, from one state to the other, from one case to the other. His job demanded that much for me.

“Nothing in particular,” Quentin replied much to her relief; although the tone of his voice wasn’t all that assuring. “It’s just that the last time I visited on Christmas you – were at your friend’s place having lunch and I’ve not exactly been available after that time. And now that it’s the New Year I just wanted to see you and catch up a little.”

A little?

Shelby’s lips quirked in amusement. “What exactly do you want to catch up on?”

“Your life, basically,” Quentin shrugged, tilting his head to stare at her finally with that same affectionate glare. “Your school life, your friends, your boy-friend – if you do have one. Everything about you, Shel.”

“Well, let me pick them in the order in which you’ve listed them.” She replied, returning an equally affectionate glare. “School is great. Castle is one of the most challenging and yet fun schools in the country. I’m in a handful of clubs –Debate club, Jet Club, the cheer-leaders if you could call that a club and I also decided to join the drama club fully this term. My friends are all great people. I have a bunch of them, both boys and girls. It would be pointless to list their names since you don’t know them so let’s leave that at that. And a boy-friend? No I’m not in possession of such goods.”