Work Text:
June 7th, 1962.
Charlotte Hanlon was walking down the bright Derry sidewalk, her skin was sun-kissed as a light breeze swept through her short hair. She was out running errands while her husband was at work and her son played out somewhere in town with his friends. She stopped in front of Derry’s local grocery store, stepping inside and grabbing a cart from the right of her. She smiled gently at a worker, who was scanning someone else’s items, before walking away, pulling her list from her purse.
While scanning the shelves for items, she thought about last night's dinner with her family. Will seemed rather excited about one of his classmates.
‘What has you so excited, young man?’ past Charlotte asked with a hint of amusement ‘There was this one guy in my science class who keeps talking about space, he says a lot of funny things! I think his name is Phil Malkin?’ ‘Woah now’ past Leroy interrupted with a light hearted laugh ‘What does he know about space that you don't?’ He said as he pointed his fork at the boy ‘Well honestly quite a lot but at the same time not much? It's hard to explain but Ma! He actually asked about my science project-’ from then on the boy continued to ramble about the other boy. She quietly chuckled at the memory of her son’s happiness, grabbing a can of soup from right in front of her. Charlotte looped around the corner aisle, heading straight for the Fruit and Produce section. She leaned over the wet rack, skimming and looking for the perfect lettuce to make her salad with.
When from behind her, she happened to overhear a conversation in its beginning. “Paul, Dorothy! Long time no see! You’ve met my daughter right?” The loud woman greeted a couple, a small kid hugging her leg. Charlotte was about to tune out the conversation and go on with her day until she heard the little girl speak. “Hello Mr. and Mrs. Malkin…” She whispered, quite shy. ‘Malkin? Isn’t that the same name Will had mentioned? Maybe when they're done catching up I can go speak to them to schedule a playdate between the boys!’ She thought excited for her son. The adults continued to speak about their day and home life as the child stayed shy and silent, Charlotte grabbed some peppers and various other vegetables, waiting for them to finish.
By the time the woman had said her goodbyes and left, Charlotte was done picking out her produce for this week's meals. She headed over to the couple, a warm, welcoming smile etched on her face. “Hello there. How are you two doing today?” The couple looked confused, Paul subtly side eyeing her up and down while Dorothy reciprocated the smile with a raised brow. “Hello? I'm sorry, do we know you from somewhere?” Dorothy asked politely, placing her purse in the little basket on the shopping cart. “I apologize, we don’t know each other but I think our sons do. You see, my boy has been talking about how your boy seems to share a similar interest in space, science and all that, so I was thinking we can plan out a meeting between the two and we can chat and get to know each other over tea.” She beamed, placing her list down on top of a case of tomatoes.
“Oh that sounds lovely, I'm sure our little boys would get along quite well. You know, Phil never stops talking about how aliens are gonna ‘come invade us’ and the universe. He has such a wild and wonderful imagination” Dorothy let out a little chuckle, Charlotte joining in. “Well Paul, what do you think?” She turned to look at her husband who looked quite.. Opposed? “I don’t think I want my boy hanging around you or your family.” Charlotte tilted her head slightly in masked confusion. “Why not? If it’s a problem with my husband and his job, I'm sure we can find a work around.” She clasps her hand in front of her, her smile still bright as ever. “It’s not your husband’s job that's the problem. It’s folks like you that make me uneasy.” “Folk’s like me? Now what do you mean by that?” Dorothy turned to look at him with distaste. “Yes Paul. What do you mean by that.”
Paul suddenly got nervous under the gaze of the two growing angry women, looking back and forth between them. “Dorothy.. You know what their kind does, I don’t want Phil growing up with someone like that.” He whispered to his wife who looked like she was 2 seconds away from pulling out divorce papers. “Paul. Are you saying you don’t want our son to meet new people and gain more friends just because they are different from us?” Dorothy said normally, letting Charlotte know what he was whispering about.
Just as Charlotte was about to chime in, a loud ruckus could be heard at the shop entrance, making all three of them turn their heads. “Come on guys, hurry up!! Lilly said they got new candy and I want some before it’s all gone!!” A young boy yells behind him, presumably at his other friends. To Charlotte and Dorothy’s delighted shock (and Paul’s dismay), Phil ran in, with Will on his back, giggling before Teddy, Matty, Ronnie, Rich, Marge and Lilly walked in behind them. Rich was the first one to go past the two in front, also running with Phil and letting out a winded giggle. “I’m right here Phil, you’re acting like I stayed home.” Lilly chastised as she shook her head, crossing her arms. “You guys are way too hyped for some candy.” Ronnie adds, ironically with a lollipop in her mouth.
“Ronnie, you literally have a fuckin—” Phil turned his head and saw his mother and father, both staring at him. “—hey mom and dad… W-what are you guys doing here..?” Charlotte looked between the two boys, smirking a bit. Hopping off Phil’s back, Will scratched the back of his neck. “M-mom, hey.. What, what are you doing here? I thought you were gonna go shopping tomorrow?” “Well, it was such a nice day out, I figured I should run some errands while everyone was out n’ busy.” The rest of the group head into the store, freezing when they see their friends’ parents. “Looks like you were having fun! Who’s your little friend, I don’t think I've seen him before.” She walked over to the kids, quickly looking over to Paul with a pointed glance.
“Uh, I’m Will’s classmate, Phil, Ma’am.” He meekly said, putting a hand out for her to shake. She took his hand and said sweetly, “Nice to meet you young man! What manners! You know, I'm starting to like you already!” Phil got embarrassed by all the compliments, his cheeks rosy red. “Ah, thank you..” He replied quietly. “Mom, why are you even here..” Will whined, extremely embarrassed with blush reaching the tip of his ears. “I told you, I wanted to run errands and I just so happened to run into this boy’s parents. We were just talking about setting up a play date between the two of you!”
The small group of kids could be heard giggling behind the pair. “But that doesn’t seem to be in the cards anymore, Though the offer for chatting over tea is still available, if you’d like to, that is.” Charlotte says as she turns to speak to Dorothy. “Oh that’d be delightful, wouldn’t it be Paul.” Dorothy shot Paul a heated glance. “Dorothy, you know my answer already—” She stepped on her husband’s foot, making him yelp. “I mean, yes dear, that would be great.” He said through a forced smile. “Lovely! I’ll give you my home number so we can arrange it!” Charlotte pulled out a small notepad and pencil, writing down a number before ripping it off and handing it to Dorothy who stashed it in her purse.
Dorothy looked back at her son and realized something. “Philip. I thought I told you to stay with the babysitter and your sister while we were out, why aren’t you home?” Phil hunched his shoulders, a look of guilt on his face. “To be fair, the babysitter said I could go and hang out with my friends..” She sighed. “God, we need to fire that babysitter but there's literally no one else we could hire.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “You know, I don’t do much when everyone’s working so I could babysit them, free of charge.” Charlotte offered, before she heard her son complain. “Mommm,” He turned to his friends, mainly Phil. “Sorry.. She’s really embarrassing." He whispered.
Charlotte heard his statement and turned to face the group, clasping her hands together. “You know, maybe I should invite Louella and Hank over so you, Ronnie and Phil can all hang out!” “Oh!” Dorothy steps in, “I can invite Mrs. Uris, Mary, Liliana, Doris and Teresa over, we can have a little get together!” She said excitedly as all the kid’s faces went pale, the ones who were laughing their asses off paused in terror. Charlotte turned back to Dorothy, “Then all the kids can have a playdate! Oh, I'm getting excited already! What do you kids think—” When she went to look back at the group, they had all ran off, not wanting to be embarrassed anymore. She chuckled, “Guess they have places to go, and so do I, we’ll talk later?” She spoke to Dorothy who nodded in delight before they each went their own separate ways.
As the kids ran down the sidewalk, Rich yelled, blush reaching his cheek. “Will, why is your mom so embarrassing?!" They all slowed down at a corner, slightly out of breath. “I don’t knoww, she’s just like that.” Marge stood next to Rich, comforting him a bit, blush also invading her skin. “I’m sure it’ll be fine, it’ll just be like our hang outs, just with our parents all talking..” She rubbed his back. Teddy slightly freaked out at the fact that his mom is gonna meet his friend’s parents and could tell his father. Phil was next to him, still pink but putting a hand on Teddy’s shoulder, trying to get him to calm down. Lily had her hands covering her face, Matty giggling a bit at their shared embarrassment. Ronnie nudged Will’s side, both of them starting to laugh a bit at the whole situation. When they calmed down, Phil propped over Teddy’s shoulder to talk to Will. “We have to make sure our parents never meet again.” Will nodded, both of them smiling.