"Oliver" (Out of the Dark, 1956)
Jan. 9th, 2010 07:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
riptide_asylumTitle: Oliver
Rating: PG
Summary: When Cody went to live aboard the Eventide, he took only what he could carry.
One morning, Cody wakes up and hurts and then Granddad comes. Cody loves Granddad more than anything, and he is tired of lying in bed and hurting while it is sunny outside.
"Take only the most important things," Granddad tells Cody. "Boats are small, and it's important to only have on hand the things you absolutely need."
Cody nods, and then he fills his Batman suitcase with four things: the Padres jersey Vanessa gave him last Christmas; his corduroy shorts; his baseball cards; his comic book collection.
The suitcase is heavy, especially after Granddad adds a couple sweatshirts and the jeans Cody doesn't like very much, but Granddad lifts it like it weighs nothing and carries Cody with his other arm.
Cody carries Oliver, and leans his bad arm against Granddad's shoulder. He is ready.
Granddad nods his approval, then carries Cody out to the waiting taxi and away.
When they reach the boat, Cody keeps Oliver close to him. He has had the soft blue bear as long as he can remember, and even when Daddy started yelling about him, Cody hid Oliver between his bed and the wall, so that each time after Daddy leaves, Oliver is still be there. He is always there for Cody, even though he has lost an eye somewhere, and one hem of his yellow sailor-pants are fraying, Oliver stays strong, and keeps Cody going. Cody will not let go.
On board, Grandma's eyes are very bright when she sees them, and she sits Cody on her lap in the salon (which is a fancy boatword for dining room) and there is one of Grandma's pies. Oliver is too shy to eat pie in front of other people, so Cody eats his portion. It is okay. They have talked about this.
After pie, the four of them sit out on deck and watch the sun set. Cody does not understand what the fuss is about; the sun does that every single day. It is like Cody brushing his teeth. He does it every day, but no one stops and watches him do it. Cody is getting tired from all the sitting up, but he likes sitting with Granddad and Grandma and he is so sleepy and full of pie that he has almost forgotten what hurts. Oliver tells him to be quiet about that so he does, and they watch the silly old sun do its thing.
"Cody," Granddad says, "I think you should stay here for awhile. Would you like that, buddy?"
"Yes please," Cody says automatically. "Oliver and I would like to stay as long as we can, please." He knows he is supposed to be polite, even when his heart is beating very fast and he is suddenly all wiggly.
"Oliver likes the boat?"
"Oliver likes the boat very much, Granddad," Cody answers. "He says it's nice to sleep here, and no one is angry and he loves you almost as much as I do." He looks up into Granddad's eyes at this, and they are shiny like Grandma's, and Cody wonders if the pie made everyone's eyes shiny. Are his eyes shiny? Oliver's eye is shiny, but it is always shiny. This is very confusing.
Granddad holds them close, Cody and Oliver both, and the sun is very orange and Cody is very tired and Oliver says he answered very well. He has done so well, Oliver says, that if he needs to suck on Oliver's ear, that would be okay. So Cody does, and the next thing he remembers is waking up in his small triangle room in the prow, with Oliver curled up on the pillow next to him, blue fur slightly damp and matted.
"Man, what is it with you and that dinosaur, Cody?"
Nick's lying in his bunk across the aisle, and between the two of them, sitting on their nightstand is a small blue and yellow stuffed dinosaur with a goofy grin. Cody can't take his eyes off it. It's just an arcade toy, but as soon as Nick gave it to him to hold, something in Cody sort of...broke.
"If I'd known you liked stuffed animals, this would've made shopping for your birthday a helluva lot easier, you know?"
Cody doesn't answer. It has been twenty years, maybe, since he thought of Oliver, and just for a moment it hurts like hell that he doesn't remember what happened to the small bedraggled bear he used to love more than anything in the world. Swallowing, Cody pushes that hurt into the locked box and stares at the dinosaur Nick won for him. It has both its eyes.
"Cody?" Nick's voice is softer now.
He can't believe he lost Oliver. After all the things that bear got him through, all the terrified hiding, all the beatings, all the tears...
Nick comes to his bunk and slips under the covers and twines himself around Cody the way he's always done, the way they're meant to be. His skin is warm and damp with sweat, and when Cody lays his head on Nick's chest, he can still see the new dinosaur.
Nick kisses the top of Cody's head and starts rubbing his shoulder, gently. "So," he murmurs, "what you gonna name him?"
Rating: PG
Summary: When Cody went to live aboard the Eventide, he took only what he could carry.
One morning, Cody wakes up and hurts and then Granddad comes. Cody loves Granddad more than anything, and he is tired of lying in bed and hurting while it is sunny outside.
"Take only the most important things," Granddad tells Cody. "Boats are small, and it's important to only have on hand the things you absolutely need."
Cody nods, and then he fills his Batman suitcase with four things: the Padres jersey Vanessa gave him last Christmas; his corduroy shorts; his baseball cards; his comic book collection.
The suitcase is heavy, especially after Granddad adds a couple sweatshirts and the jeans Cody doesn't like very much, but Granddad lifts it like it weighs nothing and carries Cody with his other arm.
Cody carries Oliver, and leans his bad arm against Granddad's shoulder. He is ready.
Granddad nods his approval, then carries Cody out to the waiting taxi and away.
When they reach the boat, Cody keeps Oliver close to him. He has had the soft blue bear as long as he can remember, and even when Daddy started yelling about him, Cody hid Oliver between his bed and the wall, so that each time after Daddy leaves, Oliver is still be there. He is always there for Cody, even though he has lost an eye somewhere, and one hem of his yellow sailor-pants are fraying, Oliver stays strong, and keeps Cody going. Cody will not let go.
On board, Grandma's eyes are very bright when she sees them, and she sits Cody on her lap in the salon (which is a fancy boatword for dining room) and there is one of Grandma's pies. Oliver is too shy to eat pie in front of other people, so Cody eats his portion. It is okay. They have talked about this.
After pie, the four of them sit out on deck and watch the sun set. Cody does not understand what the fuss is about; the sun does that every single day. It is like Cody brushing his teeth. He does it every day, but no one stops and watches him do it. Cody is getting tired from all the sitting up, but he likes sitting with Granddad and Grandma and he is so sleepy and full of pie that he has almost forgotten what hurts. Oliver tells him to be quiet about that so he does, and they watch the silly old sun do its thing.
"Cody," Granddad says, "I think you should stay here for awhile. Would you like that, buddy?"
"Yes please," Cody says automatically. "Oliver and I would like to stay as long as we can, please." He knows he is supposed to be polite, even when his heart is beating very fast and he is suddenly all wiggly.
"Oliver likes the boat?"
"Oliver likes the boat very much, Granddad," Cody answers. "He says it's nice to sleep here, and no one is angry and he loves you almost as much as I do." He looks up into Granddad's eyes at this, and they are shiny like Grandma's, and Cody wonders if the pie made everyone's eyes shiny. Are his eyes shiny? Oliver's eye is shiny, but it is always shiny. This is very confusing.
Granddad holds them close, Cody and Oliver both, and the sun is very orange and Cody is very tired and Oliver says he answered very well. He has done so well, Oliver says, that if he needs to suck on Oliver's ear, that would be okay. So Cody does, and the next thing he remembers is waking up in his small triangle room in the prow, with Oliver curled up on the pillow next to him, blue fur slightly damp and matted.
"Man, what is it with you and that dinosaur, Cody?"
Nick's lying in his bunk across the aisle, and between the two of them, sitting on their nightstand is a small blue and yellow stuffed dinosaur with a goofy grin. Cody can't take his eyes off it. It's just an arcade toy, but as soon as Nick gave it to him to hold, something in Cody sort of...broke.
"If I'd known you liked stuffed animals, this would've made shopping for your birthday a helluva lot easier, you know?"
Cody doesn't answer. It has been twenty years, maybe, since he thought of Oliver, and just for a moment it hurts like hell that he doesn't remember what happened to the small bedraggled bear he used to love more than anything in the world. Swallowing, Cody pushes that hurt into the locked box and stares at the dinosaur Nick won for him. It has both its eyes.
"Cody?" Nick's voice is softer now.
He can't believe he lost Oliver. After all the things that bear got him through, all the terrified hiding, all the beatings, all the tears...
Nick comes to his bunk and slips under the covers and twines himself around Cody the way he's always done, the way they're meant to be. His skin is warm and damp with sweat, and when Cody lays his head on Nick's chest, he can still see the new dinosaur.
Nick kisses the top of Cody's head and starts rubbing his shoulder, gently. "So," he murmurs, "what you gonna name him?"
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-09-03 03:10 am (UTC)Beautiful and I will be thinking of it for a long time.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-04 12:33 am (UTC)So thank you, very much. Thank you for reading and being kind to it.