Chapter 30 Sir Wellington for Dad

The car drove off. Now she could see Luke. He was about five or six years old, had wavy straw-blond hair that was extremely dark blond at the temples, blue-green pied eyes and looked a bit like Sue and was smaller than the peers Liz had seen. He looked at Liz and hastily snuggled up to Sue.

Liz sighed and pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. 

Sue turned to face her.

"He says ..." 

Liz looked up.

"Luke, tell your aunt yourself," came from April.

Luke shook his head vigorously. 

"If he doesn't want it, he doesn't need it," Liz said.

"Yes, Sue, you're mollycoddling Luke."

" He's at a sensitive age!" 

The whole ride went like this and Liz felt like she was back in her childhood. April and Sue just arguing. Mei just playing and herself somewhere in between. They arrived at a new amusement park that had been built on the coast.

They all got out and discussed where they were going and before Liz could say anything they were gone, leaving her alone, and to her chagrin Luke was standing next to her, shaking and on the verge of crying. 

Liz sighed, she never had and never had a knack for children. She crouched down next to him. 

"Luke, was that good?"

He nodded. 

"What did your mom tell you about being scared of me?"

" Mom and Aunt April say you're living among savages because you ran away from home."

Liz sighed. 

"Those two ..."

She looked at Luke. 

" Look, I wanted to spend some time with you when you go to your room and don't want to see your mom and want to play."

He looked at her for a long moment.

"I was playing adult games and my playground was what they call savages."

He continued to look at her. 

"You want a drink?"

Luke nodded and followed her as Liz walked to the nearest snack stand. 

"So, what do you want to drink? Coke? Fanta? Pepsi?"

" Mom won't let me have that."

" Fine, then a Pepsi."

She fetched a Pepsi and a beer, sat down on a bench with Luke and he first tasted it carefully, then downed the contents of the can. She drained her beer pretty quickly. 

"So, what do you want to do now?"

" Um..." He looked around and pointed to a bouncy castle.

"Well, that way."

Liz rattled off all the children's attractions with Luke, where he squealed with delight. What she found worse was that the staff treated her like a mother because of her clothes and looked at her askance. As Luke tended to look extremely tidy, so a pure contrast. 

Liz noticed that there were also tourists in this part of the island. There was an area that was meant for culture. They didn't realize that the armed forces were here and it didn't look like it. 

At least on this part of the island. They were just passing a bouncy castle when Luke was turned around by a mother with children.

"Ey watch where you're going, brat!" The children around him laughed. Luke held the scraped arm he had gotten. 

Liz grabbed the woman by the hair and threw her to the ground. The woman cried out and looked at her.

"Oh oops!"

"Eyy you bitch! Her husband, an overweight man, came running up.

"She was in the way." Liz shrugged her shoulders. 

"Hit her, Harry!" the woman yelled. 

He lashed out, Liz reacted reflexively, grabbed him by the neck and kicked him in the back of the knee, bringing him to his knees. 

"You and your wife apologize to the boy."

" Fi ..." 

She squeezed.

"It's all right, it's all right," the man whimpered.

" We're sorry..." 

" That's better and now get lost."

They doubled over in a huff. Liz took Luke and went to the nearest first aid kit and stuck plasters on his arm and cheek. 

Luke looked at the plaster with watery eyes.

"Hey, that'll heal, believe me. " She pointed to her nose, where traces of the plaster could still be seen. 

Luke nodded.

"Good, now where do you want to go?"

And she rattled off more attractions with him, feeding him hot dogs and sodas and shooting a gorilla, with a pink plush horn thrown in for good measure. At some point Luke got tired and fell asleep standing up. So she had to carry him in her arms. 

She found a bench by the entrance where he slept with his head on her lap and enjoyed a large can of beer and a smoke. Well, she also smoked with him while he slept, and he said his mom said it was unhealthy. Half an hour later the rest of her family arrived. Sue was hysterical and confused. They saw Liz, on the bench. 

"There, you see. There he is."

Sue came running up, inspecting Luke and staring at Liz. 

" What? He was having fun." 

"Where did the injuries come from?" Sue snapped at her.

"He was knocked over by a horse and her boar felt he had to let the macho out." Liz grinned and took a drag on her cigarette. Sue looked at her angrily, then stroked Luke's head anxiously. He woke up and moved to her arm.

"Luke smells like fast food," came from Sue. 

"Hmm?" Liz looked at her. "He was hungry, Sue..."

"There are vegan stalls here, Liz! We're vegan!" 

Liz looked uncomprehendingly at April, who could hardly contain her laughter. 

Babsi intervened. 

"Honey, look. Luke went up to her." 

"Liz pulled out her cell phone and searched for the word.

Sue looked at her in amazement, then at Liz.

"Really now? You know the hot dogs here are made of fake meat, Sue. There's zero meat in them. It's all artificial."

"That's exactly why!" 

" Don't be like that, he was having fun. He's been running around, jumping around, being thrown around."

The disappointment on Sue's face grew and she paled, looking at Luke.

"My ..."

Liz looked at the others.

" You guys just took off like that and Sue wasn't paying attention. "

" You could have called!"

Liz grinned and sipped her beer.

" He was enjoying himself. " 

" Mom!" Sue looked at Babsi. 

Gitte was lying with her face on Jannet's shoulder and laughing. Min filmed everything with Mei. 

April put her hand on Sue's shoulder. 

"Sue, look at Luke cuddling up to the gorilla. That's a one-to-one representation of Liz."

"I love you too, sis. Can we go back, I want to give Daddy his," she lifted the unicorn. Everyone stared at her. 

"You want to give this to dad? " asked Jannet.

Liz looked at the unicorn. 

"Yup, it fits perfectly." 

Gitte burst out laughing. It was only on the way back that she pulled herself together and had to stifle her laughter with difficulty. On the way back, they realized that the air was breathable again. The apartment was tidy and the washing was hanging out to dry.

 Alex was sitting on the sofa, busy with his tray, while an old ham was playing on the television. He looked at the assembled crew. Luke was still asleep on Sue's arm. 

"Ah, I see you had fun. There's something in the air."

Gitte had to laugh briefly. 

"Your daughter has won something for you," she said normally before burying herself in Jannet's shoulder again, laughing. 

Alex raised an eyebrow and put the tray to one side. 

"Did you win something for me?" he looked at Liz. She nodded and pulled the unicorn out from under her sweater and handed it to him. 

"She said it was for you," Min said with a grin. 

Alex stood up, took the unicorn and looked at it.

"Thanks darling," he gave her a kiss on the forehead, sat down again and placed the unicorn on his lap.

"There, now I have a bodyguard," he reached for the tray. 

Babsi looked at him skeptically.

"What are you trying to say?"

"I call him Sir Wellington. He now protects me from evil machinations."

" Evil machinations? From you?" Min repeated.

Alex nodded. "Unicorns protect helpless fairies from ... " 

Jannet looked at him, grabbed the unicorn and put it in Liz's hand. 

"Oh, look... Sir Wellington has escaped. Now the fairy is helpless hmm?"

Alex looked at her. Luke handed Alex the gorilla.

"Aunt April says he's like Aunt Liz and Aunt Liz chased the bad man and woman away."

"And the gorilla will protect me?"

Luke nodded.

"Don't you want him yourself? To protect you? "

Luke looked minimally at his mother, who was still staring angrily at Liz.

"Okay, I'll take him as a protector, he'll always be here. Thanks."

Alex took the gorilla, Luke's circulation slumped again and he fell back asleep.

Alex looked at the gorilla. 

"Well, well, well," he turned the gorilla towards those present.

Gitte did not fall asleep. Jannet glared at him. 

"No nickname? "

"Hhmm no, but the gorilla is a magician."

" I see..." Jannet began.

" Right " Alex stood up and tapped Jannet on the nose with his monkey's paw.

See, now you have a spell on you.

" aha and which one? "

" That you won't be able to walk later because you hurt Sir Wellington."

" I ... And not walk? "

Then Alex touched Min, Gitte and Babsi.

" And what spell was that for?"

"For sore muscles?" 

He turned the gorilla towards him and made him nod.

"With uncontrolled drooling?"

The gorilla nodded. 

"Or lifting spells?"

He turned the gorilla to face him, then back again and nodded. 

"Well, you heard the gorilla. So no spell. But Sir Wellington and the gorilla are sleeping together on the sofa tonight." He reached for the unicorn and placed the two cuddly toys on it. 

"I don't know what you mean..." mumbled Min. 

Gitte wiped away her tears of laughter when she finally regained her composure. 

"I'll lie down with you later anyway and cuddle with you."

Min looked at her. "I dare you ..."

Jannet was still looking at Alex. 

" You squeeze..." She looked at Babsi, who was taking a photo of the cuddly toys.

" Why don't you say something about it..."

" About what? " Liz went into the kitchen and all she heard was April " Bwahaha mom got a rejection... no sex tonight wahahahaha."

" We'll see about that."

"Mom, you have to get past Gorilla and Sir Wellington first!" Liz saw a pillow fly into the kitchen.

"I'll take Luke to the spare room and retire too," came from Sue. 

Liz mentally switched off, it was too much all at once, sat down at the kitchen table after grabbing a beer from the fridge, after a few sips she remembered why her father meant so much to her. She was 14 at the time and the memories came flooding back.