Reflections of Light

Play Date

"... Do you like Power Rangers?"

"Uh... I've never watched it..."

"I got all da action figures, look! Oh, 'cept dis one, 'e's from Pirwates of da Ca-wi-bee-an."

Jace took the small figure the child was offering to him, looking it over. "Cool. Skeleton pirate."

"'E's cursed. It's from da movie. I have a Pirwate ship too, but et's brwoken.
An'... Dis is my Lego box, an' dis is da spaceship I built, look! Dose bits are da lasers, see, an' dey shoot like pew, pew pew! Like dat!
Uh... An' dis is my water pistol. Don't work anymore, I wanna new one. But look, et's green an' dat's my favourwite colour!"

"Wow, you've got a lot of toys." Jace commented, as he crouched across from Billy, sounding impressed.

"Yeth!" Billy nodded enthusiastically.

"What's your favourite?"

"Uh... Billy looked around, before scurrying over on his hands and knees and pulling his silver box out from under his bed. "Special box! But, you're not 'llowed to look, no one 'cept me." He said, putting it on his bed, then snatching up something from besides it. "Big Tiger! 'E's so cuddly 'n nice! I cuddle 'im when I sleep. 'S funny, 'cause Nibs sneaks up into my room 'n sleeps on my bed, but don't tell mummy, she doesn't know!" Billy laughed, gleeful with the naughtiness of it.

"An'... Dese are my swords..." Billy pulled the larger items clack-handedly out of the box, as he rummaged further.

Jace blinked, interest piqued as he saw the toy seraph blades. Now, this was something of particular interest. "Hey, where'd you get those?"

"Mummy got'em for me, when she went away. I fink dere cool, but dere's no one here to play dem wif!"

"Yeah, I can see that being a problem." Jace agreed, chuckling quietly at the kids attitude. "Say, you mentioned your Mum going away last time we met..."

"Yeth. She went away for free days! I stayed home in da mansion, wif Miss Evelyn. Was cool! I got to do whatever I wanted, playin' wif my fwiends an' not havin'ta help Mummy do da chores."

"So... Was it just you and your Mum at this mansion? Well, and Miss Evelyn. But other than that..."

"Oh, yes. Lotsa people! Dere was Wesley, an' her mum an' dad an' sister an' bruvver, an' Rigsy an' his mum, an' all my fwiends an' dere families! An' Mr Finch, an' Lisa Willows, who teaches me writin', an' Old Mags, who called me a 'Godless Heathen' once, but I dunno wot dat is. But I'd just stolen her cane, so was prob'ly not good."

"Oh, okay. Lots of people then."

"I like Wesley bestest of all my fwiends. She's so nice... and funny... and pwetty."

"Pretty, huh?" Jace chuckled, as Billy looked embarrassed.

"I, uh, like her hair. 's pwetty." He mumbled.

"Aw, well, that's great. Say, does your Mum have someone she finds pretty?"

Billy gave him a stare. "Wot? Do you like my Mummy?"

"Oh, no." Jace reassured. "Well, not like that."

"Good. 'cause Mummy likes Daddy, an' dat's dat." Billy said, picking up his toy gun and peering along the end of it with a squint, before putting it down and picking at the plastic as if to prise it open.

"Oh, okay. So your Dad's around then? You see him a lot? Does he live here too?"

"Nope."

There was a brief silence between the two, interrupted by Billy raising his gun and uselessly pumping the trigger at Jace, making small 'pew, pew' sounds.

"Hey, none of that now." Jace soothed. "It's okay. It's okay to not know who you're dad is. I mean, when I was your age... Oww!"

Billy had thrown the gun at him; the toy smacking into his shoulder with a loud thud!; and now sat, arms crossed, glaring icyly.

"Okay, okay, no throwing, I'm sorry." Jace was quick to back-peddle. "Damn, you've got a mean arm there, that hurt."

"My Daddy's a herwo, Mummy said so!" Billy insisted loudly. "'E's not 'ere 'cause 'E's got 'portant fings 'E as to do!" The boys speech became more slurry the angrier he was, his words sliding around and running into each other messily.

"No one's saying he's not, no one's saying ." Jace quickly jumped to sooth.

"Good." Billy, satisfied with the conclusion of the topic, immediately turned back to his toys and began rummaging. "You wanna play Star wars toys? I'm bein' Han Solo."

"Uh, sure, okay." He took the action figure Billy handed him, not really paying attention to it. "Say... What kind of important things is your dad doing?"

Billy groaned loudly, pretending to keel onto the floor and flipping onto his back to kick his legs irritably against the floor in a strop, making exaggerated noises of discontent.
"Uuuuurgh! Urgh! Urgh! You're borwing, I'm goin' downstairs."

Definitely glad I didn't put this on the end of the last chapter, way longer than I expected. Anyway, not sure it's the best, but I hope you like it