Page 32 of Surviving in Everton

“What makes them so powerful? What can they do? How old do they get? Are there different colors like the panthers? Or are they all white like that one?” Violet starts spitting out question after question, not even pausing to take a breath, let alone to let me answer.

“Whoa, slow down.” I chuckle. “Man, you’re full of questions today!”

“Well, it’s not every day you see real live magical creatures for the first time, Mommy!” She huffs at me with her hands on her hips. “I wanna knoweverythingabouteverything,” she demands.

“Well, I’m sorry, I don’t knoweverythingabouteverything.” I chuckle. “Maybe we can look it up at home on the computer. See what you can find out,” I suggest.

“Yeah! You wanna research magical creatures with me, Logan?” she asks him, eyebrows to her hairline, smile covering her face, as she claps her hands.

“Ummm, duh! That sounds like so much fun! Let’s make a list of all the animals we see today that we wanna learn more about,” he suggests.

“You know, most kids would ask a million questions, but then drop it if they didn’t get the answers right away,” Quinn tells me quietly as the kids run off ahead of us to the next exhibit. “They wouldn’t be making lists and prepping to do serious research as soon as they get home. Your kid’s a nut,” she teases with a smile. Violet might be a nut, but we sure do love that nut.

The day goes on like that, Violet and Logan asking questions about every animal we see, me telling them as much as I know and reading the plaque to them, them adding the animal to the list they conjured. They finally agree to stop for lunch, then they run off and play at the playground, leaving Quinn and me alone.

“So… What’s the deal with this West character? I saw the way you reacted when Ayden told you that’s who gave him the information. What was up with that?” Quinn finally asks me. I know she’s been dying to ask that since it happened.

“You don’t remember West from school? He grew up with us ya know,” I tell her.

“Not really, why should I?” She tilts her head and furrows her brow.

“I mean, I guess he was easy to overlook back then. He was always quiet and shy and didn't have a lot of friends. It was like no one reallysawhim. One day when we were in high school, I came upon a group of guys messing with him. And I don’t just mean the normal picking on the nerdy kid.

“They were all ganging up on him. He was on the ground, surrounded by them. I couldn’t tell who it was at first, but I could tell they were beating some poor kid up. As I ran over to them to see what was going on, I heard one of them yelling at him for looking at you.”

Her eyes widen when I tell her that. She knows a little bit about this story because I told her the guy she was dating was a piece of shit and she should dump his ass. So she did.

“That was him?” she asks in horror.

“Yeah. As soon as I heard Chad say that, I lost it. I sent him flying into the wall. Hard. Then I took out his little buddies. Once all the assclowns were out of the way, I was able to get a good look at the poor guy on the ground. He didn’t look good. I helped him up and was going to walk him to the clinic, but he refused. Said he was just gonna go home. But he was in bad shape, Q. I couldn’t let him walk home like that. So I healed him as best I could, then forced him into my car and drove him home.”.

“Oh my god! Why didn’t you tell me all of this when you told me to dump Chad?!? I would have kicked his ass! He seriously jumped him just for looking at me?!? Like he had any say in who the fuck could look at me?! Ugh I’m so pissed!” she growls.

“See, and that’s why I didn’t tell you. You remember everything that was going on at that time?” I ask her gently. “Your parents were fighting and constantly gone, you basically lived at my house, not that I’m complaining. Plus, you were being scouted for volleyball. You couldn’t afford to get suspended,” I remind her.

“Yeah, yeah. Tell me you at least went back and kicked his ass,” she demands.

“You know they were gone by the time I got back, but I didn’t forget about it. From that day forward every time I saw him, I did something to him. Whether it was something small, like turning all of his shirts pink or making him break out in hives anytime he tried to talk to a girl. I made his life hell for the rest of high school. It was one of my secret joys in life. No one knew what was happening, or that I was the one doing it. Though I’m pretty sure West did, or at least suspected it. You know, even after he got jumped, he still looked at you. I never could understand how you didn’t notice.”

“I don’t know either.” She shrugs. “Wonder what he’s like now. You think he’s still the nerdy, shy guy that everyone overlooks?” she ponders out loud.

“I don’t know, but I have a feeling we’re gonna be seeing him again soon,” I predict. “Alright, let’s go wrangle up some kids and get back to exploring. We need to show Violet the you know whats before it gets too late.”

“Oh my god, yes! I can’t wait to see her face!”

I chuckle at that and we go look for the kids. We finally find them playing with a group of other kids. Should have known to follow the excited squealing to Violet.

“Alright, guys, time to go. We’ve got a lot of zoo left to explore before we head home, ya know,” I tell them.

“But, Mommy, I’m playing with my friends,” Violet whines.

“I know that sweetie, but you’re not gonna wanna miss the rest of the animals. Come on,” I insist.

“Okay.” She sighs. “Bye!” she shouts and waves to her new friends that she’ll likely never see again.

“What animals are left, Mommy?” she asks me excitedly as we carry on down the path.

“Uh uh, you know I’m not about to tell you that, silly girl.” I shake my head at her.

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