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“That’s not how you do it. Here, let me show you.”
“I know how to do it,” Aemon huffs over his shoulder. She’s kind of bossy. He hopes she’ll run along.
She doesn’t. Instead, she folds her arms across her chest and watches him attempting to peck out the tune on the playground’s enormous xylophone.
This doesn’t sound anything like ‘Twinkle, Twinkle.’ Dissatisfied (and very conscious of his audience), he drops the mallets. She immediately picks them up as he’s walking away. She plays the tune perfectly.
She’s obviously annoying.
He doesn’t say anything though. He just waves at his uncle and then climbs the peg wall all the way to the top. Bet she can’t do that.
Tuesday mornings during summer break are the best. Uncle Jon comes and gets him from Great-Grandma Rhaella’s early and spends the whole day with him. Sometimes, they go see a movie and sometimes they go swimming.
At the end of the day, they go to Jon’s house where Aemon plays with Ghost while his uncle grills hot dogs because that’s what Aemon likes and his uncle always says, ‘It’s your day, kiddo. Whatever you like is fine by me.’
Then, he spends the night and his uncle takes him back to his great-grandma’s on his way to work the next day.
And, as long as it’s not raining, they always start their Tuesday morning at the park’s playground before it gets too hot to go down the slide.
It’s typically pretty quiet here even in summer. There’s moms with babies in strollers walking but Aemon’s not a baby.
Used to, Uncle Jon would get on the playground equipment and play with him. He loves for his uncle to do goofy stuff like that. Plus, he’s strong. He can climb the peg wall faster than Aemon even and he can hang upside down on the monkey bars and hold Aemon in his arms at the same time and swing him!
But lately, she’s here on Tuesday mornings. Her name is Serena and Aemon thinks the lady with her must be her aunt. He swears she’s called her Aunt Sansa a time or two.
Part of Aemon wonders if Serena lives with her great-grandmother like he does and if her days with her aunt on Tuesday are special to her, too. But mostly, he wishes she wouldn’t be here because Uncle Jon won’t act silly when Serena and her aunt are here.
“My aunt likes your dad.”
Aemon whips his head around at the sound of her voice. How’d she climb up here so quietly on him?! She must be part ninja!
“He’s…he’s not my dad. He’s my uncle.”
He does look more like his uncle than his dad. His great-grandma has said Aemon favors his mother. Then she crosses herself and says, ‘God, rest her soul.’ Aemon gets sad when he thinks about that though he was very small. His dad’s name is Aegon. When Aemon was five, his dad said he’d need to live with his grandma because he couldn’t be a dad right now. That was four years ago.
But she doesn’t need to hear all that.
“Why do you say your aunt likes my uncle?”
“I catch her watching him as much as she’s watching me when you’re here.”
“Wait…do you come here other days?”
“Uh huh. Every Tuesday and Thursday.” Tuesday and Thursday? That was hardly fair. “I stay with my aunt when my mom’s at work.”
“Do you live with just your mom?”
“Uh huh,” she answers in a quieter voice and Aemon’s sorry if he’s made her sad.
“I live with my great-grandma. Uncle Jon gets me on Tuesdays though and those are the best.”
She smiles real big at that. “That’s nice. Want to go on the swings?”
“Okay.”
Turns out, Serena’s not so bad, not at all really. She’s funny. She’s not afraid of anything either except spiders. Aemon can’t blame her for that. She likes stories about knights and fair ladies though which sounds pretty girly. But she also loves climbing and sword fighting with sticks…until her aunt says they should put them down to be safe.
While they’re playing, Aemon keeps looking at his uncle and her aunt, here and there. He thinks Serena might be right about her aunt liking his uncle. But more than that, Uncle Jon sure looks like a dork when he’s looking at Serena’s aunt.
As they keep playing, he sees Uncle Jon getting up. He starts pacing a bit and then he’s moving a little closer to Serena’s aunt. Soon they’re sitting together and talking. Serena's aunt has pretty red hair and a nice smile.
“I think they should fall in love, don’t you?” Serena asks him.
Aemon doesn’t know what to say to that so he just shrugs before tapping her shoulder and shouting, ‘Tag!’
“Serena? It’s about time to go,” her aunt says later when it's really getting hot out.
“Yeah, we need to get headed, too, kiddo.”
The two friends come over as the adults are saying goodbye. They start to shake hands but Serena stops them.
“Wait. That’s not how you do it. Here, let me show you.”
She walks over and places her aunt’s hand back into his uncle’s. They’re both smiling at her but looking puzzled. Her aunt’s face starts to grow pink though.
“Now, you kiss the lady's hand and bow to her, sir,” Serena says. Kiss her hand?! Has this girl flipped?! “That’s how gentlemen greet ladies in the stories, right, Aunt Sansa?”
“Serena…”
But his uncle is a goof sometimes and he does it. He kisses Serena’s Aunt Sansa’s hand and then gives her a stupid bow of all things. Poor Uncle Jon must need some water and to sit in the shade a bit.
Serena’s aunt laughs though even as her face turns bright red. Maybe she needs to cool down, too.
A nice frozen treat would be good for hot and thirsty kids and silly adults, too.
“Uncle Jon, could Serena and I get some popsicles at the ice cream cart?”
“Yeah, okay. If you wouldn’t mind…”
He glances at Sansa who nods and says they’d love to join them. They all sit down in the shade to enjoy a cold treat and the two adults talk some more. Him and Serena are too busy making sure their popsicles don’t melt.
Aemon figures it’s okay if Uncle Jon and Serena’s Aunt Sansa fall in love…as long as they don’t interrupt his time with Ghost or hot dogs tonight.