Fairy Shores-Chapter 1 - part1

Gene Edwin Brown Jr.
F A I R Y S H O R E S
A novel

C H A P T E R   O N E

Sunday, February 19, 2017
Zina, Lenza
North End Park
2:41pm

The day started typically enough, a bright and sunny afternoon with temperatures ranging from 65 to 71 degrees. Though this part of the country experiences winters generally warmer than most other areas, this day was unseasonably cool. It perhaps heralded the official arrival of spring which was only a little over a month away. The sky was filled with enormous white clouds towering thousands of feet in the air along with several crisscrossing contrail strips produced by the many aircraft flying high above the area. Also provided was a nice soothing breeze that encouraged anyone to go outdoors and enjoy this marvel of a day.

All throughout the greater Zina area, there were families and individuals out and about enjoying themselves and each other. Most of their activities were not planned as they were compelled to not waist this perfect day inside their homes. However, with a little over four million people living in the area, there were many who missed out because of work, laziness, or any other reason that kept them indoors and occupied with other things.

Now there is one family in particular who planned to spend this Sunday together from the start. It had nothing to do with the great weather or anything superficial like that. They would have still spent intentional time together had the day be cold, gray, and dreary, like it was everyday since last Tuesday. No, this family for many years made a point to spend one day a week of intentional family time together. They chose Sunday to be the official day reserved for exclusive family activities because the parents didn’t work and the kids were not in school. It was an ideal day for such an occurrence so it fit well. Now if something happened that prevented this, they usually made up for it on another day. In the end, it was never about the day itself, of course, but the family. In this great metropolis it would not be hard to imagine a lot of other families doing the same sort of thing, so they are not special for doing this, but for other reasons.

The Whites are a small family with two parents and two children, in this case a son and a daughter, who are now teenagers. Sadly, the family was broken when the mother died in Autumn 2010 bringing the number from four to three living members. However, that number went back to four when a close friend of the family stepped in and became a more active part of the White family immediately after their loss. It would turn out that she, the friend, would join them on family days, and pretty much every other thing they did as a family. It has been nearly seven years since the death of Mrs. White.

Now, North End Park is the principle park in the city of Zina. As its name indicates, it is located on the north side of the city just above downtown. The downtown area of Zina is located mostly on a peninsula with the several suburbs being mostly above it and around the mountains, bays and harbors. North End Park acts as a buffer between the big city and the smaller urban areas above. It is nearly a century old and is one of the several features the city is well known for. It is also a spot favored by the White family as they visit the park at least once a month. On a day like today they could not resist a stop at North End.

Near the edge of one of the small artificial lakes in the park, a group of ducks began to disperse and move on. They quickly realized that the bread had stopped falling from above and there was no more reason to stick around near the ‘no swimming’ sign. A few feet from the edge of the lake sat a young teenage girl on the grass. She had jet black hair falling just past her shoulders, brown eyes, and brown skin. She sat propped up on her arms with her hands in the grass behind her. As she looked up, she squinted a little from the brightness of the sun to look at the young teenage boy standing next to her on her left. This was her older brother. He looked into the distance as he brushed his hands off to get rid of the crumbs.
“There they go,” he said, “When you run out of bread, they move on. Where’s the gratitude?”
“They’re not dogs, you know,” said his little sister.
“I know, but that bread wasn’t cheap. I gave them the good stuff.”
“Aw,” Miriam said condescendingly, “is Silas feeling rejected by the little duckies? Do you need a hug?”
Silas turned his head toward her and smiled, “I think I do.”
“Ah, I don’t feel like getting up. I’ll just give you my word that I won't walk out on you if you ever stop feeding me.”
“Wouldn’t that mean I’d have to start feeding you in the first place?”
“Details, details.”
“Well, I appreciate the though anyway. Besides, you cook a lot of the food dad and I eat anyway, so I should be saying that to you.”
“When you’re right, you’re right.”
With that he smiled and shook his head because he liked how his sister always walked the line between self-confidence and outright cockiness. The girl is always sure of herself and her abilities, so she likes to jokingly point out to her brother that she is aware of how awesome she is.

After she said what she said, Silas moved and sat in the grass next to her as they enjoyed a brief silence. Miriam looked around and then behind her to see her father and Bernadette sitting on a bench several yards behind them. They seemed to be talking about something as they always are, but Miriam couldn’t hear anything because they were apparently out of sound range.

“Rocky.” Silas said. Rocky, or Roc, was Miriam’s nickname, though Silas was the only person who called her that. Her friends and family knew she had that nickname, but they never called her Rocky because to them she was always Miriam. She even looked like a Miriam. When they were very young, Silas discovered that Miriam’s full name was Miriam Raquel White. For some reason he like her middle name and started calling her by it, to which she would respond. Before long, Raquel became Roc for short, and then Rocky for flare. Over the years, Miriam became accustomed to Silas being the only one calling her Rocky and considered it to be something only they would share, excluding even their parents. The only time he referred to her as Miriam was when he would mention her to other people, but when he would talking directly to her, it would be Roc, or Rocky. However, whenever he is upset with her, which doesn’t happen too often, he calls her Miriam. She hates it when he calls her by her first name when talking to her; it aggravates her to no end, which is part of the reason why he does it. It acts as a barometer for how he feels toward her at any given moment because if he is not happy with her, he feels less inclined to use nicknames because his overall attitude would be serious. Whether she is mad at him or not, she never likes it when he is mad at her. This isn’t too much of a problem because they enjoy an overall positive relationship anyway.
“Rocky.” Silas said again.
“What?”
“For when we go to the movies later on, have you decided on a movie, or should I?”
“No, you picked a movie last time.”
“Well, do you have at least a top three?”
“No, and stop rushing me. There really aren’t any new movies that came out recently that I wanted to see in particular.”
“What about ‘The Beacon’.”
“I don’t know…it didn’t really interest me.”
“Well, you have to pick something Roc; otherwise I’ll have to suggest something to dad.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll have something by then, and if I don’t, I’ll just go with the new Kerry Shaw flick.”
“Kerry Shaw?”
“Do you have a problem with that Silas?”
“I guess not, I mean I did make us watch ‘Jon’s Fancy Pants’ last time.”
“Yes…you did.”
“Hey, I thought it would be a funny movie.”
“Well…it wasn’t.”
“Okay, okay, let’s just forget about the Fancy Pants incident for right now…and all time. I’m sure that anything you pick today can’t be any worse than that.”
“Agreed.”

Silas and Miriam continued to talk about other things as they sat on the grass together while their father and his best friend were enjoying a conversation of their own behind them.