Lighthouse Tales- Cleanup Crew

Lighthouse Tales: Cleanup Crew

The sun is never more eager to show off than after the rain. It summons the wind to itself to blow away the clouds, and it makes its triumphant entrance in its most radiant finery. That afternoon, as it rose into the sky, it toasted the grass to a sweet-smelling green. The puddles luxuriated, trying to tan their mud. The wind danced joyfully to its own howling. All across Hillys, the people who had been driven inside by the overnight storm and morning drizzle peeped tentatively outside.

The children of the southern lighthouse shelter inched out in small waves. Fehn and Oumi—the brave—tiptoed out first. Yoa and Pablo—the cool—sauntered out behind them. Then Kip and Zaza, the quiet and her steadfast guardian, worried themselves into the daylight. It smelled new.

Jade's arms arched skyward, and she wiggled her fingers to try and grab a passing puff of cloud. The rabbit-tail scuds in the sky looked as if they were just barely drifting past her fingertips. She peeped over to the horizon, and her lips creased. A thick armada of stormheads was lurking in the air just beyond Canal City, and it was preparing itself to strike.

"Well, kids, whatever it is you were planning to do, you'd better do it quick. This ain't gonna last long."

Kip gave a nod to Zaza, and released her hand from his own. She first walked, then stumbled, then ran out into the light, and she plummeted into Oumi's shadow. The older girl looked around with a laugh and toppled herself beside her, the mud squishing between their fingers and their giggles. The satisfied little boy turned to Jade.

"Think we should do some laundry? The radio says it's gonna rain tomorrow, too, and it's starting to pile up."

"Sounds like a splendid idea, Kip," Jade said, twirling the word splendid around her tongue. She chuckled like Oumi and Zaza. "Want my help? Like you said, there's an awful lot…"

"It's OK, Jade. I'm fine," Kip dismissed. "I like getting all wet and soapy. You smell nice afterward, especially when you dry out in the sun."

"If you insist," Jade shrugged. "Sure you don't want any help? You don't have to do all the chores all by yourself, you know…"

"No, Jade, it's OK. You've got other things to do. I really don't mind," he shook his head.

Jade grinned. "Other things like what? No missions right now. And with you around, I run out of chores faster than I can make them." She shoved her hand into his hair and mussed it ten different directions. Kip's shoulders turned into a ticklish crinkle.

"You should do something you want to do," he said. "Read a book, or watch a movie, or call one of your friends and have a nice long talk. I'll take care of things, Jade."

She bent over, pushing her nose toward his. "Things I wanna do? What about you, kiddo? You're pretty busy yourself!"

"Don't worry," he said soothingly. "This is what I like to do."






"May I be of some assistance there, Kip?"

The wide metal tub was leaving dark, grubby furrows on the floor behind it. Kip dropped the end he was dragging. It rattled much like Double H's armor.

"Thanks, Uncle H," Kip said. He shook the pulls out of his shoulders. "That thing is heavy. Could you carry outside for me? I'm going down by the door to the hangar."

Wordlessly compliant, Double H's arms straddled the broad tub and slung it high over his head. His head held the concave inside up. Silky old soap residue slid along his gauntlets, and the smells of a thousand washings past drifted over him in a veil. He tipped it back to see, and gingerly navigated the doorway as he followed Kip out into the yard.

"What are you doing?" Double H asked, swerving around the hill in the center. "Going to give Woof a bath?"

Kip shook his hand. "Doing laundry," he corrected.

With a heavy oomph, Double H slung the tub back over his head. It landed like a coin coming down from a flip, wobbling on its bottom before coming to rest flat in the grass. "I thought it was customary to use a hamper or bag for this sort of thing," he observed. "What's the tub for?"

"Doing the laundry," Kip repeated.

"By hand?" Double H stood up straight, eyes wide and concerned.

"We don't have a washing machine, you might've noticed."

"I had," he agreed. "But wouldn't you go to a laundromat instead? There must be an awful lot of clothes here to do them all in just one big tub—isn't anyone going to help you?"

"I do this by myself a lot," Kip shrugged. "It's expensive to go to town to do it… We can't really afford it most of the time. Besides, I'll do it, no problem. The laundry always comes out nice and clean."

"Always by yourself?" Double H knelt over, as if being closer to Kip would help him understand better. "Isn't it a lot?"

"It's really OK, Uncle H," Kip said. He drew a thick green hose from by the wall, draping the end inside the tub. He meandered back to the hook that held it and dug a valve up from the mass of rubbery coils. Fresh rainwater, new in the cistern, gushed from the head and pooled in the bottom of the tub.

Double H straightened, his mouth digging deep into his frown lines. "It just… seems like a lot of work for one boy. Would you accept an offer of my help?"

Kip gave a small grin. "Jade already offered," he said. "I don't want to be any trouble. You should enjoy the sun while you can."

Double H growled pensively, deep in his throat. He pouted in time with his thoughts. "You know what… Kip, turn off the water. You deserve to have a nice day as much as anyone. I'm going to town and taking the laundry to a mat."

"But we can't affor—"

"I'm paying for it from my own pocket," he interrupted. "And you know what? I'm going to ask Jade if there's anything else she needs done. I'm going to take care of the errands, and I'm paying for everything." He strode purposefully back toward the lighthouse, watching the construction worker's tarps fluttering in the wind.

Something snapped his shoulder back. He skidded in the mud, head spinning. Kip closed in around his wrist.

"Why do you kids keep grabbing my arms?" he asked. "Calling for me works just as well if you want my attention."

Kip blew a wayward strand of hair out of his face and smiled. "If you're doing errands, I'm coming with you. I told Jade I'd help, and I will."

Double H sighed. "Can I convince you to take the afternoon off in any way at all?"

"No," Kip replied resolutely.

"Very well," he chuckled. "If you insist."



    

The inside of the laundromat was bright, warm, and clunky. The walls were the color of an old cake of soap, and smelled to match. Cloth spun in the dryer windows in hypnotic cyclones of color. Kip took Double H's credits-card and swung it in front of the counter's reader. The man at the front pressed several buttons on his keypad. He passed over a small bottle of washing fluid, and a box of dryer sheets. His eyes gave Kip his best "Look-what-a-helpful-young-man-you-are" sparkle.

He dove over the benches and around a stumbling college student, holding out his prize to Double H. "I got the stuff," he said. Double H looked up with a handful of Oumi's brightly-colored sweaters in hand.

"Oh. Just put them on top," he said, pointing to the machine next to him. Kip carefully deposited the supplies while Double H's hand unloaded. He picked up an outsized white T-shirt of Pey'j's, and chucked it into the machine next to him. "And if you want to continue being helpful, you could help me sort these. I put bright colors in this machine next to me, whites in this one, and the other colors in that one right there."

"Can do," Kip affirmed. His brown mop top flashed against the clean machines, sorting clothes with ease. The pile vanished beneath Double H's fingers before he had time to look down and notice it was gone. Privately, he admitted that it might have been because he balked—he'd seen something pink and lacy at the top of the stack, and turned away on instinct. By the time he looked back, Kip had made it vanish.

"You're certainly good at this, Kip," he complemented. "How long have you been helping Jade with the laundry?"

"Oh—not just Jade," Kip said. "I used to help my mom like this all the time, before… Well."

Double H poured out the small bottle of washing liquid into each machine, trying to give each one an even amount. "Ah. You've always been this helpful." He looked at Kip teasingly.

"Mom was really busy," he said. "She always had stuff to do. Someone had to help her."

Double H passed his card in front of the sensor on each machine, and punched a different button on each one. The aging machines chugged to life, water sloshing into them. "What about your father?"

Kip quietly sat down on one of the benches. It creaked, even above the gushing and whipping of the laundromat.

"…Oh. I'm sorry," Double H said. "Forgive me."

He joined Kip on the bench. The entire structure curved towards him, bulky muscles and bulkier armor bending the beams. "What happened to him? …If I may ask."

"Nothing, s'far as I know," Kip said. He rocked on the edge of the bench. "He just… didn't want a kid. My mom… She was really young when she had me. I think about… Fifteen. She had a boyfriend, but when she told him she was going to have me… He didn't think he was ready, you know?"

"I see." Double H's eyes creased, and his eyebrows fell. "Did… did her parents—your grandparents, I mean—did they…?"

"Grammy and Grampa were really nice!" Kip's back straightened defensively. "They told Mom they'd try and support her whatever she chose. She said she wanted to keep me, so they helped her. Grampa worked at home, so he looked after me when Mom was in school."

"What became of them?" Double H asked. "Wouldn't you want to go back to them?"

"Mom and I were visiting them when… Well…" Kip's eyes glazed.

"I—I understand," Double H said quickly. "No need to linger if you don't want to talk about it."

"They were only taken," Kip mumbled. "I thought they would've come back there, at the end, like we all did… But they must've… they must've already been…"

Double H gave Kip a reassuring pat on the back. "It's alright, Kip. You don't have to tell me if it bothers you. Why don't you tell me a bit more about your mother? I would like to hear a bit more about how you came to be so helpful."

"You would?" Kip said brightly.

"Of course," he said. "As I believe you were saying, your grandfather looked after you…"

"…Uh, I was too little to help anyone then," he said. "But after my mom got out of school, she still wanted to go to college, even with me. I was about three then. Old enough to understand that she wanted to do something big and scary. We moved, and suddenly I didn't have Grammy and Grandpa anymore, and I had to go to a day-care with a lot of other kids… I didn't like it a lot. Mom worked too, to help support me, so even though she didn't have classes all day, she still worked during the day. And when I finally got to see Mom again in the evening, she was really tired, and usually busy doing homework."

"I can imagine it must have been tough," Double H said. "Even when you were so little."

"So… I really wanted to help her, you know? I figured out pretty quickly how to make sandwiches on my own… So I'd make her sandwiches to eat. And I'd always make sure I kept my things picked up, and I helped put away other things, so our apartment was clean for her. When I got a bit bigger, I learned how to clean stuff, too. So I'd sweep and mop and dust. I even helped with the dishes. I did what I could…"

Kip lifted up from his storytelling posture to look straight at Double H. The soldier's hard face was a collection of grins—the one in his lips was the big one, but the edges of his cheekbones and his eyes were hives of dozens of smaller ones. "You're a very kind and thoughtful boy, aren't you?"

"Thanks, Uncle H," Kip said earnestly. "Even when Mom was done with college, and I started going to school myself… she still worked, all by herself, to support both of us. When I came home, I was usually all alone until she got off for the evening. I did all the chores I could so she wouldn't have anything to worry about when she got home."

"All of them?" Double H marveled.

"Everything I could," he said plainly. "Cleaning, laundry, taking out the trash, all that stuff. The only thing she wouldn't let me do was cook by myself, but I can understand that. She worked as an assistant to a biologist. She studied animals and stuff. She really liked it, but it was hard. She always called me her 'little animal.'" His nose twitched, and his eyes went misty with memory.

"She must have really appreciated everything you did for her," Double H said earnestly.

"She was a lot like Jade," Kip admitted. "Funny, but she would always say that I didn't have to do everything. But—she'd get home, and she was so tired! As long as she was there, she did let me make dinner once or twice. I could only make spaghetti, and pancakes from mix. So we had those a lot. But pancakes were her favorite food, anyway."

"Does Jade ever let you make pancakes for dinner?" Double H asked with a laugh.

"I've done it a couple times!" he said cheerfully. "When Jade and Pey'j were gone for a while during her mission, I would cook for all of us. It was fun! It was like having a big family with a lot of brothers and sisters. I always wanted brothers and sisters, but I knew I couldn't because Mom was all alone. She never had another boyfriend since that one…"

Double H hummed kindly. "But… I imagine brothers and sisters aren't much of a replacement for your mother."

Kip curled his arms around himself, rubbing his shoulders. "I miss her. But… That time she lost her job in college, or that time I sprained my ankle, or when she lost her wallet… She'd say things to me like, 'You can't lose yourself in bad things. Good things can come out of bad things. You have to wait and you have to try.' Things like that, usually different, but she'd always end on: 'I didn't think I'd have you, but here you are. And I'm always glad of that.'"

He looked meaningfully up at Double H. "I think about Mom a lot. But now I have Jade, and all the other kids, and two uncles who are nicer than anybody." Double H's chest briefly swelled. "And if Mom and my grandparents met you… I think you wouldn't even have to introduce each other. It'd be like a big family reunion right from the start. Mom could take somebody she'd never seen before, and talk to them like she'd known them a thousand years."

Kip's lips were poised as if they wished to continue, but a loud buzz cut across him. The two whipped their faces toward the washing machines. The sloshing sounds inside one dropped off—two more sharp buzzers rang out, and the three machines churned to a stop.

Double H stood, stretching his arms high over his head. "Time to load the dryers," he yawned. "And I got to hear such a nice story while we waited!" At the end of his yawn, he tapped Kip on the shoulder. "The dryers take a bit longer, so we'll have time to run to the next stop on our errands."

"It's the hardware store, right?"

"Right you are! Pey'j needs a few things." The washer lid popped open with a metallic warping sound.

Double H bent over into the washer and scooped out handfuls of damp clothing. He hobbled over to the dryer columns. Kip wove under his feet and popped the dryer covers open. With a thankful nod, Double H piled his armful inside.

Behind him, someone yelped: "Aaah!" Double H quickly spilled the last few pants in his arms into the dryer and turned around. Kip was far ahead of him.

"Oh! Hold on, ma'am! I'll help you!"

The boy vaulted himself over the bench where he'd told his life story, leaping to the aid of the old woman near the door to the laundromat. Her wrinkled hands betrayed her age, but her face was obscured behind a towering hamper. The pile was leaning to one side, and pulling the woman with it.

Kip threw his hands under the basket, steadying it while the woman found her balance. "Oh!" she exclaimed, unsteady with surprise. Wrapping his hands around the hamper's sides, he took a step back. "I'll help you set it down, OK, ma'am? How about this way?"

"Oh! Of course." Her voice was like an old ribbon: tattered, but still soft. Walking backwards, Kip guided her over to one of the benches. He took the hamper down into a fine landing. The old woman peeped out from behind the mound of clothing. Her long gray hair was wrapped up in a rather youthful ponytail.

"Thank you very much, young man," she complimented. "That was very kind of you! I don't suppose you're a Scout of some kind, are you?" Her brown eyes were mischievous. "You're not looking to get a badge by helping an old lady, are you?"

"Nope," Kip shook his head. "You just looked like you needed help, after all."

"If I had a badge, I would give you one anyway! We so often forget the small acts of kindness." She fixed on Kip. She watched his own eyes go off into the back of the shop, and she followed them to Double H. His eyebrows were slightly disbelieving, but his mouth was wide as the sky. When his mind caught up with the details of what had happened, his body followed suit. He stood in his proudest Hillyan military salute.

The afternoon was slow, and aside from the employees, he was the only other person in the shop. The woman chuckled to herself. "Now would you look at that? Have you ever seen a prouder father? I think every man believes his son is something special, but he—he knows it."

A twisting confusion threatened Kip's face. With a twitch of his cheeks, he shooed it away. "Actually, he—uh, I only helped you catch your basket. It's nothing big."

"You helped me just because you could. To me, that counts." She thumped the top of her hamper solidly.

A cheerful guffaw rolled through the shop. "Oh Kip! Speaking of helping, why don't you come back here and help your old man load the rest of the dryers?"

Kip's voice winked. "Sure thing, dad! Just a moment." His cheeks rose mirthfully. To the old woman, he bid good-bye. "I gotta go. See you!" And he jogged to the back of the shop, soles bouncing along the tile.

Conspiratorially, he whispered to Double H. "This is silly."

"Yes, but it's fun! I'm actually quite flattered that she mistook me for your father. That was a good thing you did for her. Even if I'm not your father, I AM PROUD OF YOU!" Kip leapt back at the sudden shout. Double H looked over his shoulder, and was pleased to see the glee on the old woman's face.  

Going back and forth between the machines, they finished loading the last of the washing. All the while, they chuckled, giving each other back-and-forth glances holding barely-contained rolling laughter. Kip waved one last time to the old woman as they left the shop, ready to run to their next destination while the clothes dried.

The hardware store was just down the street, so they leisurely strolled among the other pedestrians shopping in Canal City. Their eyes scanned halfway along the shop fronts. A question cued itself up on Kip's tongue.

"…Hey, Uncle H. Did you have a dad?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes. I had a father. …Still do, as a matter of fact."

"What's he like?"

"My father…? Hmmm, let's see. I think… the first thing that comes to mind is how high-spirited he is. He could be sick with a horrible cold, badly injured, he could've had the worst day of his life—but he'd still smile and laugh about it. He still likes to barrel into my mother and make a scene about 'accidentally' crashing into the most beautiful woman he's ever seen…" He added, after a few seconds, "When I was your age, I thought it was the most disgusting thing I could imagine."

"Did you ever… do things with him? Like, just the two of you—father-son things?"

"Yes, all the time!" Double H walked with his hands behind his back, nostalgia roiling through his mind. "He was crippled during an accident when he was younger—lost a portion of his left leg—but he never let it slow him down. We did a lot of things together. Movies… going to the park… Even just doing errands together. A lot like this, in fact!"

"Good," Kip said certainly. "That's what I was hoping for."

"How so?"

"Because I was wondering if this really was what it was like. Just… hanging out with your dad."

Double H's heavy, clanking footsteps suddenly slowed. Kip moved on ahead of him breathlessly before Double H remembered himself. Two jogging strides brought him back in step. "I—ah, thank you, Kip."

"You make a good dad," Kip said.

He stumbled again. His hands folded into a fidget. This time, it was Kip who slowed down to match him.

"I'm sorry. Did I embarrass you?"

"Only somewhat," Double H confessed. "It's quite a large compliment."

"But it's true. I meant it when I said I think my mom would be happy to know you're one of the people looking after me. You listen to us and play with us, and Zaza really likes you."

"Oumi actually said something very similar this morning," he distantly observed. "You make me worry that Pey'j hasn't been very nice to you."

"Nah, he's cool," Kip said. "But he's already kinda Jade's dad. You know what I mean? Even if she calls him 'Uncle.' He really is more like our uncle, or maybe our grampa. You're more… dad-like. Does that make sense?"

Truthfully, he was not sure what the difference was. But he had not been around the "real," domestic Pey'j long enough to know everything about the way he and the children got on. "I… I think it might. Either way, you kids sure seem intent on keeping me here."

The heavy stucco storefront of the hardware store loomed. Posters of sales hugged the large front windows. Kip's gaze flitted between one large, laminated banner and another.

"…Can I pretend for the rest of the day?"

"Hmmm?"

"Can I pretend you are our dad? I won't call you 'pop' or anything, unless we see that old lady again. But would it bother you if I thought it for myself? And maybe told somebody else you were?"

"Oh… Well, if you want to, Kip, that's fine. I don't see what it can hurt, unless you go around telling everyone…"

"Only if someone asks."

They quietly lingered in front of the door. Together, they silently edged aside when a woman came out toting an armful of plastic tubing.

"…Oumi wanted you to stay too, right?"

"Yes. Yes she did."

"Will you?"

"…I'm thinking."

Kip chewed on his words. His shoulders slid. Suddenly, he popped toward the doorway, and the automatic door hissed open.

"Come on!" he said urgently. "We don't have time to waste before the laundry's done, do we? We'd better hurry, or she's going to be mad at us!"

Double H trotted in after him. "Hey—calm down now, Kip! We still have a little time, and we only need a few things. I don't think she'll be too upset."

"But we promised her we'd do the errands for her. It's her day off! I mean, she works so hard at her job and looking after us kids…"

He paused on the threshold, the air curtain whipping around him. He squinted into Kip's eyes, wondering into Kip's mind. The glint there caught with him.

A warm glow spread across his face as he understood what Kip was getting at. "Of course! And you know I'd do anything for her… kiddo." As he promised, Kip did not call him "Pop." But maybe, he didn't need to.

Jubilantly, Double H followed.