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Everything was so different.
He knew it would be, of course. You don’t move from Kansas to London and have everything stay the same. He read articles about London from the time he knew they were going to move. He started changing the way he talked, called it a ‘pavement’ instead of a ‘sidewalk’, said he’d be going to the ‘loo’ instead of the ‘bathroom.’ He started practicing looking the ‘wrong’ way when crossing the street so he’d get it right when he was there.
But there were things Henry Lasso was not prepared for.
He wasn’t prepared for how everything tasted different. From the bread to the candy. He spit out his first English candy because he’d picked grape but it wasn’t grape at all it turned out to be blackberry and what kind of flavour is that anyway? They had cereals he’d never heard of and didn’t sell Frosted Flakes at all. There was no Mountain Dew or Jolly Ranchers or Marshmallow Fluff and he knew Dad had to go to a special store (which wasn’t a store but a ‘shop’) to get his peanut butter.
What at first had been an exciting adventure was beginning to wear on him a little. He still looked the wrong way when crossing the street and will never tell Dad or Rebecca or Mom how many times a stranger had to pull him back to keep from getting hit. He got lost on the way to Nelson Road last week despite swearing up and down he could get there himself from Uncle Beard’s, and it took an old man with a dog to help him back onto the right route.
His room felt weird and still smelled of paint, his sheets were too soft and the noises outside his window were all wrong. He wanted to like living here, he really did. And he thought maybe he could get used to it. Dad said he would, and so did Uncle Beard. It would just take time, they said.
He wished time would pass more quickly.
Then Nora arrived.
He’d known she was coming. Dad and Rebecca had sat him down and asked if he’d mind if Rebecca’s goddaughter came to spend the weekend. He’d shrugged. Why not?
But when she blew in on Friday afternoon before supper with a ‘Oh, Aunt Stinky! You’re huge!’ He felt his hackles go up. He’d overheard Rebecca just a few days ago say to Dad that the baby was making her fat and he knew she was feeling bad about it.
He didn’t like the way she called Rebecca ‘stinky’, he didn’t like the way she was so loud in what was otherwise a quiet house, and he *really* didn’t like the way she found her way around the kitchen in a way he was only just starting to feel comfortable doing himself. And he lived here.
Henry was quiet over dinner as Nora chatted about her week and her girlfriend and her class at school. He pushed his veg around the plate without eating much as she talked about the things they (she and Rebecca) were going to do and it looked like Rebecca had forgotten all about the movie night they were supposed to have when she promised Nora they could go out to dinner on Saturday night.
He thought Dad might have noticed something wasn’t quite right from the worried looks he occasionally got, but he shoved a mouthful of buttered carrots in his mouth and smiled to try and throw him off.
Dad didn’t look convinced.
When Dad had cleared the plates and offered desert, Henry decided he’d had enough. Nora and Rebecca were looking at baby things on her iPad and he felt invisible enough that he pushed back his chair and tried for a quiet exit.
“You okay there, bud?” Dad asked, and Rebecca barely lifted her head in his direction.
“‘M fine, Dad, just tired.” He scooted out of the room without noticing Dad and Rebecca exchange glances.
He spent the night stewing, listening to the cackling laughter from downstairs. It’s not fair. Not fair that she just comes in knowing everything and being comfortable in a home he’s not really feeling is home yet. It’s not fair that she just takes over his house and his family. He was wondering how he was going to get through a whole weekend, when there was a knock on his door.
“It’s okay Dad, I’m fine, really-“
“It’s not Dad, sweetheart.”
Oh.
Rebecca stuck her head in. “May I enter your humble abode?”
He shrugged and tossed his book to the side. “Sure.”
She waddled over to his bed- he’ll never tell her that she waddles now, but she does kinda- and sat down on the edge.
“I noticed you were awfully quiet at dinner.”
Henry shrugged.
“And since Nora got here, really.”
“I guess,” he muttered, looking at his hands in his lap.
Rebecca dipped her head to catch his gaze. “Nora can be a lot.”
And just like that, he felt the dam burst. “She called you stinky and fat the first thing in the door!” He exploded.
It all came pouring out, everything he disliked about Nora, the way she laughed and the way she was too familiar and how he felt out of place when she was around and the way she spoke to Rebecca and even things he didn’t intend to say, like how he missed his mom and his friends and how out of place he felt in London and in Dad and Rebecca’s life and how it felt like everything was changing too fast for him to be able to catch up.
When he finally wound down, his chest was heaving and there were tears in his eyes. Rebecca was closer than she had been before.
“Oh, my darling,” she said, pulling him sideways toward her. He put his head on her shoulder and let her arms come around him. “My little lion cub. You’ve been so brave, sweetheart, and put up with so much. I’m sorry I didn’t see more of this before.”
“S’okay,” he muttered into her shoulder.
“It’s not. You’ve been struggling, and we haven’t been seeing it. Some things we can fix, like missing your mum and helping you study maps. Some things will just get better with time.” She brushed hair away from his face in a move that was comforting and so very Rebecca.
“And Nora, well… she’s a little much, I can understand that. Part of it’s being fifteen, and part of it’s being her mother’s daughter. Sassy is my oldest friend, but her sense of humour can take some adjustment.”
“Still don’t like her calling you stinky,” Henry said into her shoulder.
“Mm,” she hummed, rubbing his back. “Neither does your father. You’re my best protectors, you two. My favourite boys.”
When he finally pulled away, he searched her face. “Do you mean that?”
“Of course I do, little love. Of course I do. I wouldn’t let just any boys move in with me now would I?” She gave his shoulder a playful little shove, and he grinned.
“I guess it’s okay if you go to dinner with Nora instead of watch movies with me,” he said magnanimously. “She’s only here for the weekend.”
Rebecca smirked. “Oh-ho, don’t think you’re getting out of it that easily. You and I have a date with The Two Towers and if Nora wants to join us she can but likely she’ll go see a friend after dinner and not be back until late. We have a Fellowship to follow through on, don’t we, you and I?”
Henry felt his bad mood clear right up. She hadn’t forgotten. Hadn’t forgotten him.
“Yes ma’am,” he said, putting on his best midwest accent and trying to sound like Dad. “We surely do.”
Rebecca’s laughter pealed through the house, and Henry smiled.