20 Nov 2023, 13:55
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
"What - what are you doing? What do you want?" (Joyce Carol Oates, Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?)
Dinner was over and uneventful, as how it would always be if one dined alone. Maverick was disappointed, and at the same time, angry. It was his last day at home, the following morning the school train would snatch him and take him back to Hogwarts. The quarter-Veela believed that his parents were supposed to spend this day with him, or at least the evening. They ought to have dinner together before playing bridge or another game of cards, but they were not. Instead, his father was rehearsing, his mother out with Miss Freitas. The two women were just as inseparable as they had been two months ago when they first reunited after years, but it did not slip Maverick's attention that the guest seemed to avoid his father, had been for two weeks.
The preteen slipped into his navy pyjamas, locking himself inside his room despite the fact that he did not turn the key. Outside were the sounds of his nanny and the servants working quietly; and it kept on for almost an hour until his mother and Miss Freitas' giggles broke the silence. "I think I'll shower and go straight to bed," the Portuguese excused herself, and Maverick could hear the two bid each other goodnight before his door was opened, his mother there. "I'm home, Mav," she said, a strained smile on her powdered face. "Dad's still out?" He nodded, and she proceeded to take a shower, the sound of water echoing.
Not long after she finished, his father was home. His mother welcomed him, but not with her usual, short 'hello'. It was, instead, in a form of question: "Where have you been, Darrin?"
Maverick imagined a frown decorating his father's features before his reply came, "You know I was rehearsing, Jeannie. At the theatre. I haven't even had my dinner because I don't want to keep you up for too long. And I want to say goodnight to Mav before he leaves again tomorrow."
His answer seemed to satisfy her before she asked another, unrelated one, "What do you have in your bag?"
"Jeannie, please stop. I'm tired, I just want to rest and be with you and Mav before bedtime. Why do you have to ask me a thousand such follies every day? You've changed, Jeannie. Why are you so suspicious of me now?"
"Now who's asking a thousand such follies!" she shouted, and her hot accusation irritated the exhausted wizard.
Their row drove Maverick to tears, the mask of a brave, indifferent teen boy was washed away. He did not even let out a sniff, for fear that his parents would hear and start accusing each other even more of making him cry. He was scared, and at the same time confused. His mother, even though she was not the most perfect mum, had at least been trusting; but now it had been a week, take or give, since she first became queer and suspicious - even weirder, only to his father. Maverick had no proof to support even his suspicion, but he was sure Miss Freitas held the key. His mum had been spending more time with her and less with his dad lately. But why?
All these tired him out, and when his father came in to say goodnight, Maverick had fallen asleep, his lights still on.
The preteen slipped into his navy pyjamas, locking himself inside his room despite the fact that he did not turn the key. Outside were the sounds of his nanny and the servants working quietly; and it kept on for almost an hour until his mother and Miss Freitas' giggles broke the silence. "I think I'll shower and go straight to bed," the Portuguese excused herself, and Maverick could hear the two bid each other goodnight before his door was opened, his mother there. "I'm home, Mav," she said, a strained smile on her powdered face. "Dad's still out?" He nodded, and she proceeded to take a shower, the sound of water echoing.
Not long after she finished, his father was home. His mother welcomed him, but not with her usual, short 'hello'. It was, instead, in a form of question: "Where have you been, Darrin?"
Maverick imagined a frown decorating his father's features before his reply came, "You know I was rehearsing, Jeannie. At the theatre. I haven't even had my dinner because I don't want to keep you up for too long. And I want to say goodnight to Mav before he leaves again tomorrow."
His answer seemed to satisfy her before she asked another, unrelated one, "What do you have in your bag?"
"Jeannie, please stop. I'm tired, I just want to rest and be with you and Mav before bedtime. Why do you have to ask me a thousand such follies every day? You've changed, Jeannie. Why are you so suspicious of me now?"
"Now who's asking a thousand such follies!" she shouted, and her hot accusation irritated the exhausted wizard.
Their row drove Maverick to tears, the mask of a brave, indifferent teen boy was washed away. He did not even let out a sniff, for fear that his parents would hear and start accusing each other even more of making him cry. He was scared, and at the same time confused. His mother, even though she was not the most perfect mum, had at least been trusting; but now it had been a week, take or give, since she first became queer and suspicious - even weirder, only to his father. Maverick had no proof to support even his suspicion, but he was sure Miss Freitas held the key. His mum had been spending more time with her and less with his dad lately. But why?
All these tired him out, and when his father came in to say goodnight, Maverick had fallen asleep, his lights still on.
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The world is in despair not because there are many bad people, but because there are many good people who do nothing.