Page 7 of I Can't Bear It

Karl

“Can we play this board game?” Georgi handed me a box and sat. “I want to be green.”

“Sure, buddy.” I set up the game and read the rules. “Have you played this before?”

“Nope.” Georgi sipped his fruit punch and set the cup down on the table. “Have you?”

“Nope.” I moved his glass farther from the table’s edge and handed him game pieces. “But it sounds easy enough. Should we ask your papa if he wants to play too?”

“He seems tired. Let’s tell him to take a nap.”

“Hey,” Peter said, coming over to the table with his fists on his waist. “I’m too old to be told to take naps.”

“No. He’s right.” I grinned at my adorable but exhausted-looking mate. “Go take a nap. You have been working hard to make this place seem like a home for the last few weeks, plus helping at the daycare center. Go on, get some rest, and we’ll be fine here playing.”

“I’m fine.” Peter tried to convince us but was foiled by the huge yawn that followed those words.

“Papa, go to bed.” Georgi stared up at Peter with his big brown eyes. “You need the rest.”

“Fine.” Peter leaned down and kissed us both on the forehead. “You guys are in charge of dinner, then.”

“Deal.” I clasped his hand and pulled him down for a real kiss on the lips. “I’ll order some pizzas.”

“And wings.” Peter got up from my lap and walked out of the room, leaving Georgi and me alone in the living room.

“So, are you ready to beat me at this game?” I smiled at Georgi, who was studying the rules once more.

“Let’s go.”

And beat me, he did. I swore that kid was born a genius and knew all the tricks to winning games. There hadn’t been a game yet that I had pretty much won against him when we had been hiding out at the training center.

“Do you win against all the kids at the center, too?” I started putting all the game pieces away while Georgi looked for a new game to play.

“No, they are pretty good. Sometimes we tie.” From what I knew about the newer generation of kids being born, it didn’t surprise me. “I hope we can always stay here.”

“Oh.” I wasn’t sure what to say. My position at GSC was not near the training center, so eventually, we would have to move. “Well, I’m unsure where we will be in the future, but I’m sure wherever we go, you will be happy and make many friends.”

Georgi stayed quiet for a few minutes while I placed an order for dinner with the front gate officer who would send a few trainees out to grab our grub. The perks of staying here while in hiding was that the training center would allow us to borrow the trainees to run errands we couldn’t do ourselves.

“I’m going to color in my room for a bit, okay?”

“You, sure? You can color out here, buddy.”

“I know.” Georgi shrugged.

“Okay. I’ll call you when the pizza gets here.”

Georgi left the room, and I sat on the couch. Should I have told him we would stay here? Should I have just not saidanything? I’d have to talk to Peter and make sure I didn’t screw up.

Pulling out my phone, I called my brother Kenton.

“How do I know if I’m doing this parenting thing right?”

“Are you doubting yourself every ten minutes?” Kenton typed back.

“Yeah.”

“Are you always thinking about little dude’s health and happiness? Even if it means you might need to sacrifice something to make it happen?”

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