The man in the painting

2. The Kitchen

Soooo.... operation Freckles wasn't really going anywhere.

It had been about a week since Philip had seen the painting, but he hadn't gotten any new information about the mysterious man on the canvas.

He was obviously a soldier, since he was wearing the same uniform Philips father had worn in the war.

He looked pretty young, Pip guessed that the man was in his late twenties.

He also seemed to be pretty close with Pops.

Now that was weird.

Because Pops had never even mentioned a guy with freckles and curly hair in his war stories. He had told them of the battle of Yorktown, the incident by Schuylkill and how Lafayette had gone all the way to France to get guns and ships.

Philip knew something was of about this whole situation. If Freckles (Pip had once accidentally nicknamed the man and it stuck) and his father were so close in the painting, why had Philip never heard anything about it?

So, Pip decided to seek help.

Not from his father, because even if he wanted to talk about it, he was still locked in his office all day.

President Washington and senator Burr had also been in the painting, but sadly Philip couldn't just storm into their office and ask them about some random dude he saw in a painting.

Lafayette is in France, so he was out of the question, and God knows wherever the hell Hercules Mulligan is.

So who could Philip ask, then? It's not like his siblings or mother would know...

Unless?

Maybe Mom would know. I mean, Pops and Freckles seemed pretty close, so surely Mom would know more about it?

Well, there's only one way to find out.

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"Mom?"

Philip saw his mother turn around from where she had been cooking, a a curious expression on her face.

"Yes Pip, is there something wrong?"

"Well, I was just wondering if you could tell me about some of dad's old friends in the revolution." Philip pointedly looked at his shoes, not making eye contact.

Moms expression changed from curiosity to confusion, now walking towards Philip. "Why would you want to know about that? And couldn't you better ask your father? They were his friends, after all."

"I know that, but Dad is working and I didn't want to disturb him. You know how he gets when he gets stressed out." Philip said, looking up to meet his mothers eyes.

"Well I guess I could tell you some stories, though I didn't get to meet a lot of his friends. They were fighting a war, after all. I did meet his closest friends at our wedding, like Lafayette, Hercules Mulligan, Aaron Burr, George Washington, John Laurens-"

"Who?"

As soon as the words flew out of Philips  mouth, he already regretted saying them. Mom looked at him with a very weird expression, as if she wanted to take everything she had just said back.

"Mom?" Philip said, looking concerned.

Mom sighed quietly. "John Laurens was one of your fathers friends. He was his best man at our wedding, actually."

"Well then, why haven't I heard anything about him? What did he look like? Was he a good soldier?" Philip knew he was overloading his mother with questions, but he just couldn't help it. If he was best man, surely dad would've told me about him? What if this 'John laurens' was actually Freckles?

"John Laurens actually looked a lot like you, Pip. The same hair, same freckles... Your dad has commented multiple times on your similarity." His mom said.

So it is Freckles! Now that Philip had a name for the mysterious man, he couldn't help but ask more questions.

" How come Pops never talked about him? I asked him about John Laurens the other day and he just acted like I hadn't said anything at all."

His mom suddenly turned around to look at him. She looked worried, and it made Philip think that he had done something horribly wrong.

" Honey, look at me. You must promise to never, ever bring John Laurens up in your father's presence, okay? Promise me."

"But why? Why wouldn't dad want to talk about his friend?" Philip was so confused, why wouldn't anyone give him some straight answers?

(because there are no straight answers if ur picking up what in putting down)

Mom looked down, and for a second Philip thought he saw sadness flash through her eyes.

" John Laurens a very close friend of your father's. Alexander feels like Laurens abandoned him, and now he gets sad and angry everytime someone's mentioned his old friend."

"Where is Laurens now?"

Eliza started fidgeting with her dress, as if she was trying to find the right words. "He... is in a place far from here. Your dad and Laurens were so close to each other, so when Laurens left, he took a part of Alexander with him."

"But why can't he come back? If dad was so much happier with John Laurens, wouldn't it be better if they started talking again?"

"I'm afraid it's not that easy, Pip. Laurens can never return here. I'm sure he has it better were he is now. He is with his family."

As his mother started going back to her cooking, Philip thought about what he had just heard. Where could Laurens be? Why had his left Pops? Pip still had a lot of questions, but he decided to leave it for now.

He made his way back up the stairs, wondering what to do now. Should he continue operation Freckles?

Philip doesn't know why, but something inside him told him not to abandon his project. He decided to keep his papers with info about Laurens, though he wasn't sure if he would use them again.

As he went to bed that night, he kept thinking about John Laurens. How could someone affect him so much, even though Philip had never met the guy? It just didn't make any sense. It took longer than usual to fall asleep that night.

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Here is the second chapter! Sorry for the delay, writing is harder than I thought.

I just finished the third book of Harry Potter, and I totally ship wolfstar! Just wanted to say that, since social interaction is so much easier online.

Please comment!

-Alex