Chapter 88 - The Work They Did Apart
Daniel helped by refusing to turn the problem into a lecture.
He came on Saturday to collect Nico for the workshop session they had already arranged.
Noah stayed home.
At the door, he said, “Have a good time.”
Nico nodded.
It was not warm.
It was a beginning.
While they were gone, Noah helped Lena sort the camp information.
Activities.
Sleeping arrangements.
Who to speak to if he needed help.
How families would receive updates.
He asked sensible questions, then asked three of them again.
Lena answered without reminding him he had already asked.
At the center, Nico worked beside Finn on a small structure that had to support a weight without using more materials than they were given.
Daniel told me about it afterward.
Nico had begun by taking over.
Finn objected.
They argued.
Then they tested two versions and discovered that neither worked particularly well.
“So they built a third,” Daniel said.
“How did Nico take that?”
“Like someone who wanted the bridge to stand more than he wanted to be right.”
I smiled.
Daniel looked at me.
“Eventually.”
When Nico came home, he carried the structure carefully.
Noah met him in the hallway.
“What’s that?”
“A bridge.”
“Does it work?”
“Yes.”
Noah leaned closer.
Nico moved it away.
For a moment, I thought the conversation would collapse.
Then Nico said, “You can look. Just don’t touch that part.”
Noah put his hands behind his back.
They stood together examining it.
Later, I found them sitting at opposite ends of the living room.
“I shouldn’t have said that about reading,” Noah said.
Nico kept looking at the bridge.
“No.”
“I knew it would hurt.”
Nico’s fingers stopped moving.
Then he said, “I shouldn’t have said you’d want Mama.”
Noah nodded.
Neither looked at the other.
After a while, Nico asked, “Are you scared?”
“Yes.”
“Then why do you want to go?”
“Because I want to go even though I’m scared.”
Nico considered that.
I remained in the kitchen, out of sight.
There were conversations parents could help make possible.
There were others we could ruin by stepping into them too soon.
That night, Noah brought Nico the camp leaflet.
He pointed to a photograph of a wooden platform beside a lake.
“Do you think that’s hard to build?”
Nico studied it.
“Yes.”
“How hard?”
“Depends what’s underneath.”
They bent over the photograph together.
May you like
The line through Nico’s name remained on the form.
For the first time, it no longer seemed to be the only thing either boy could see.
