➹BEEPER

[intheblanks]

"It had better be an emergency."
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Comments

[eggsac]

It's not British or Afrikaans, and it's not American.

[Wait.]

Unless it's one of those strange American accents from a state that papa doesn't like.

[But...no....]

Australia?

[intheblanks]

Good guess. Puts you one up on half the Americans I've met, too.

[eggsac]

Because I go to a good school.

[Said with all the disdain of someone who does not want to go to America]

Papa says we have to go back to America soon, but I don't want to. They're not smart.

[intheblanks]

There are lots of them. [And defending America is not his natural role.] Some of them are smart, some of them aren't. It's just that, in the States, the non-smart ones tend to be louder.

They have good schools in America, too.

[eggsac]

Well I don't want to go. I want to stay in Namibia with Nanny.

[She sighs. It's long suffering.]

[intheblanks]

Would Nanny be coming with?

[She's fortunate to have found Chase, to whom the idea of being raised by the help isn't a foreign concept. Meanwhile he's realising that children need more for breakfast than a bottomless cup of coffee, and wondering what they have in the kitchen.]

[eggsac]

No, Nanny doesn't speak English well, she's afraid of flying, she doesn't like to even leave Windhoek.

[She looks at the door]

May I treat you to breakfast, Mr. Robert?

[Manners, manners, manners]

[intheblanks]

I went to school on the other side of the world, too. But, I didn't have too many people to leave behind. It still sucked sometimes.

[He stands up, smoothing the folds out of his jeans.]

I thought we could see if there was something for toast, downstairs.

[eggsac]

Papa says I'll like America, but I know they'll make fun of me.

[She's eight, but she's not stupid]

And tea?

[intheblanks]

Accents fade. They'll get bored of picking on you if you act like it's a boring thing to do.

[Come on, out into the huge scary warehouse.]

I know there's tea.

[eggsac]

[She reaches up for his hand]

I like how I speak.

[intheblanks]

[He takes it, tiny against his (how weird is this) but stops, for a second, to look down.]

Then who cares what anyone else thinks?

[eggsac]

Don't you have feelings?

[intheblanks]

Of course.

[He's only human, Saya.]

Listen, you don't have to let anyone else tell you what's the right and wrong way to be. You can choose whether you're going to be different-weird, or different-interesting. People will go along with what you believe about yourself. Personally I think the second option suits you more.

[eggsac]

[She holds tight to his hand, like a lifeline]

Is that what you do?

[intheblanks]

[Busted, ever so slightly.]

I'm better at it now than I used to be. But I didn't have a smart, handsome doctor to talk to about it all I wanted.

[eggsac]

[She sounds a little skeptical]

Are you talking about yourself?

[intheblanks]

[Wide eyes.]

Do I fit that description?

[eggsac]

I think you're very handsome, but I don't know about smart.

[Well. She is honest.]

[intheblanks]

That's why I told you I was a doctor. Unlike handsome princes, for example, doctors have to be smart.

[He cannot. Hide. The smugness.]

Even the ones who look like handsome princes.

[And on cue, a bow and a gesture to the left.]

The kitchen.

[eggsac]

[She goes into the kitchen and finds a stool, climbs it, and sits]

Can you be both?

[intheblanks]

[He goes to rummage through the cupboard.]

Yes. You can also be smart and beautiful.

[eggsac]

No, I mean a doctor and a handsome prince?

[She tries not to fidget but it's haaaaard]

[intheblanks]

Hmm. [There is indeed bread here, and butter. Now, condiments.] Maybe, but I think Princeing might be harder work than it looks. What do you like on your toast?

[eggsac]

Jam, please.

No Marmite.

[Spare her.]

I think it would be very difficult to be a princess.