🏁 Tetrology Of The Sea - Book 1: From The Sea 🪼🔨💻 💞 🔮

Seven

Travis opened his eyes and looked around at the room he was in. He found Ruth sleeping in a chair beside him and looked around at the strange room some more. He was in strange bed and there were little tubes on his arms. He didn't know what those were for but his stomach hurt a little. He moved his arm to move the sheet and look at why his stomach was hurting him but found he was in a weird gown. He made a face at that but looked up on the wall to see that there was a TV. Maybe he could find Clifford...
He looked around for the remote but instead found a strange looking thing that had a small picture of a TV on it. He pressed the button and found that the channels changed. He smiled and started to go through all the channels but couldn't find Clifford the Dog anywhere. He pouted but continued to go through the channels to find something to watch while Ruth was asleep when something caught his eye and he stopped the channels.

"So bright. So beautiful..."
"What did you say?"
"Hobbits shouldn't ask questions. Hobbit should be getting his rest. GOLLUM! GOLLUM!"

Travis turned his head at the strange bedraggled and pale looking creature. He was kind of cute in a weird way and he watched the show with more interest in the creature.
Ruth stirred with the sound of adventurous music going on with lots of horns. The music sounded really familiar...
"Haha, Mr. Beard is dumb..." she heard from the bed.
She sat up and saw Travis with his legs crossed looking at the TV with the utmost interest just as Gandalf reappeared in Fangorn Forest. Travis laughed when he saw him come out of the light and turned.
"Mommy!" he said with a huge smile.
"How long have you been up?"
"A little bit. This movie is funny, Mommy."
Ruth made a face at it but it was better than other things he could have landed on.
"How you feeling?"
"Okay. My tummy hurts though."
"They had to cut your tummy open to get the sludge out." Ruth said softly, walking to Travis' bed and sitting on the edge. "You were very brave."
Travis beamed when a knock on the door startled them both. A head peeked in and Ruth made a face.
"Ms. Bagery?"
"What is it Fred?"
"The children wanted to come and see how Travis was feeling." the man said, opening the door more as Aylin and Shana walked in.
Shana looked at Travis and walked up to the bed, handing him her stuffed animal.
"Here. It's my bunny... Do you wan it?" she said, holding it out to him.
"Thanks! I like bunnies!"
"You're weird. Boys don't like bunnies." Aylin said as he watched Travis.
Travis looked at the bunny in his hand at Aylin and then at Ruth. He really did like bunnies and this one was really cute...
"You're weird. Bunnies are nice." He said, hugging it tightly.
Shana stuck her tongue at her brother and he stuck one back.
Ruth looked over at the children and saw that Travis was holding a bunny and turned to Fred.
"Isn't that Shana's rabbit?"
"She wanted to give it to Travis to make him feel better. She's always been like that; generous, even with her favorite things. I'm sure she'll find a new animal to love."
"She is very sweet. How have things been going?"
"I'm on a new medication which seems to be helping out a lot. I don't forget I have children at least and I've been trying to do some things with them. My job said that they were going to give me some paid time off so that I could pull my life back together a little bit."
"That was nice of them."
"They've always been really good and they've been very supportive of the whole situation. Thank you, by the way, Ruth, for taking care of them when I forgot that I had children."
Ruth smiled. "Anytime. The three seem to get along quite well, yeah?"
Fred nodded. "Are you going to enroll Travis into school?"
"Well, school is almost out so I planned on doing it this next year for kindergarten."
"He and Shana might be in the same class. I'm surprised you haven't adopted a child until now. You've always been great with children."
Ruth shrugged. "Guess it didn't hit me until I found him how much I really needed someone."
They talked discursively for a while and then they all left.

********************

The new year came and Ruth waited with Travis at the bus stop so that he could catch the bus to school just as Shana and Aylin walked up.
"You're going to the same school as us?" Shana asked with a happy smile.
Travis nodded and the bus could be heard down the road. He looked up at Ruth with a worried expression.
"I'm scared, Mommy."
"Don't worry, sweetie. I'll be right here when you get back. Just remember to be nice to the other kids and try not to get yourself wet." She said with a wink.
He nodded and the bus stopped. Shana and Aylin got on before him and he got on afterword. Ruth smiled and waved at him and the bus left.
Travis watched out the window for as long as he could until Ruth could be seen no longer. He sighed and sniffled, scared of going to a new place with new people. He hoped he didn't make a mistake...
"Don't be sad, Travis." He looked up and Shana smiled. "You want me to sit with you?"
Travis nodded and she scooted quickly into the seat beside him.
"What kind of stuff did your mommy get you? My daddy got me Lisa Frank stuff! See, there's kitties and a dolphin." She said, showing Travis her backpack.
"I don't know that stuff. It's pretty... My mommy got my favorite color."
"Is it blue?"
"Uh huh." He showed her the dark blue backpack. "And all my stuff is different color blues."
"Cool! Like the sky!"
"Yeah!"
They talked all the way to school, making fast friends and Travis didn't even miss his mommy for a little while.