Miscellaneous Short Stories and Story-Like-Things

Red

PATRICK

This is Ruby-

RED

Red. My name's Red. If you call me Ruby, I'll run away.

CASSANDRA

Okay. We'll call you Red.

PATRICK

Sorry, Red, I forgot.

RED

Whatever.

PATRICK

This is Red. Red, these are potentially your next guardians.

CASSANDRA

My name is Cassandra. You can call me Cass if you want.

MELANIE

I'm Melanie- Mel's okay. We're married.

RED

Yeah. I could tell. Wedding rings.

PATRICK

My name is Patrick. This is an introductory meeting so that Red can get used to you.

MELANIE

Makes sense.

RED

Why do I have to get used to them if you're just gonna give me to them whatever I say?

PATRICK

To ease the transition.

RED

Yeah. I'm Red. I'm 14. Can I go?

PATRICK

Red, this is your meeting. You can participate if you want to, or you could wait near the car. I have to talk to these two.

RED

Finally.

Exit RED

PATRICK

She's a little... temperamental. She is a sweet kid, though. She just has a... a shield to protect herself with.

MELANIE

We can tell.

CASSANDRA

That's alright. We don't mind. We just want to do our part, even if we're not her forever family.

PATRICK

This would be her second foster home, though it is her first that's not with family.

MELANIE

Why would they take her away from family?

PATRICK

Her aunt accused her of raping her cousin. She didn't, but her aunt refused to take her back in, and Red refused to go back.

CASSANDRA

That's horrible. We don't have any other kids, and we- we wouldn't accuse her of something like that.

MELANIE

Her own aunt? That's terrible. Her own flesh and blood turning on her.

CASSANDRA

We'd absolutely love to take her in if she's interested. We'd be willing to have any number of meetings with her to make her comfortable with us before throwing her into a new situation with no prep time.

PATRICK

Since we've already done a home study and all the background checks, we'll have a meeting at your house tomorrow, and if all goes well, by tomorrow night she should be settled in.