HL100 challenge #86 A New Life
Really wish I had the time to pull a fourth drabble out of this...the ideas were there but the words just wouldn't come. This feels a little bit incomplete as is, but it will have to do. I like what's here.
#86 A New Life: Horticulture
He’d let Methos avoid the conversation so far, welcoming his friend back after his long absence and contenting himself with the old man’s presence. But still he wondered...
After dinner, nearly one week later, Duncan finally asked the question so long on his mind.
“So what took you away for two month’s time?”
“Gardening.”
“Gardening? It’s February, Methos.”
“Not everywhere. But that’s beside the point.” A moment’s hesitation, then, “I planted a few seeds; did some pruning and reshaping; uprooted a few plantings and trimmed several dead limbs.”
“And what is it you shall reap as harvest?”
“A new life.”
*****
#86 A New Life: Also Known As...
“You’re leaving?”
“Of course...though not any time soon. Cultivating new identities - successful identities - takes more than names and fake IDs. There’s much I have to tend to.”
“Meticulous in every detail.”
“I try.” Methos grinned, shaking his head slowly. “Sometimes I forget things. What with all the ‘family’ estates in different countries, countless eccentric relatives, orphaned children, inheritances...and then there’s also short-term IDs for emergencies and spur-of-the-moment needs. It’s quite a lot to manage, actually.”
“See, I never have that problem.”
“Yet you wonder why you’re so easily found...”
“And if I were willing. Would you show me?”
*****
#86 A New Life: Adaptation
Methos looked up at Duncan sharply. This was something new...
“Show you,” he said slowly.
“Yes.”
“How to be someone new.”
“Yes.”
“Someone not Duncan MacLeod. Of the clan MacLeod.”
“Methos...”
“You’ve never wanted this before. You’ve never hidden from - ”
“Not hiding. Adapting. Will you teach me?”
Methos stared, struggled for words. “Yes. Of course, yes. But I don’t see...why now, Mac? It’s a 400 year-old habit.”
“Which makes it well past time. I just needed to learn that. And I thought...well. I thought perhaps you and I could adapt together, this time. New lives, but not alone.”
*****
#86 A New Life: Horticulture
He’d let Methos avoid the conversation so far, welcoming his friend back after his long absence and contenting himself with the old man’s presence. But still he wondered...
After dinner, nearly one week later, Duncan finally asked the question so long on his mind.
“So what took you away for two month’s time?”
“Gardening.”
“Gardening? It’s February, Methos.”
“Not everywhere. But that’s beside the point.” A moment’s hesitation, then, “I planted a few seeds; did some pruning and reshaping; uprooted a few plantings and trimmed several dead limbs.”
“And what is it you shall reap as harvest?”
“A new life.”
*****
#86 A New Life: Also Known As...
“You’re leaving?”
“Of course...though not any time soon. Cultivating new identities - successful identities - takes more than names and fake IDs. There’s much I have to tend to.”
“Meticulous in every detail.”
“I try.” Methos grinned, shaking his head slowly. “Sometimes I forget things. What with all the ‘family’ estates in different countries, countless eccentric relatives, orphaned children, inheritances...and then there’s also short-term IDs for emergencies and spur-of-the-moment needs. It’s quite a lot to manage, actually.”
“See, I never have that problem.”
“Yet you wonder why you’re so easily found...”
“And if I were willing. Would you show me?”
*****
#86 A New Life: Adaptation
Methos looked up at Duncan sharply. This was something new...
“Show you,” he said slowly.
“Yes.”
“How to be someone new.”
“Yes.”
“Someone not Duncan MacLeod. Of the clan MacLeod.”
“Methos...”
“You’ve never wanted this before. You’ve never hidden from - ”
“Not hiding. Adapting. Will you teach me?”
Methos stared, struggled for words. “Yes. Of course, yes. But I don’t see...why now, Mac? It’s a 400 year-old habit.”
“Which makes it well past time. I just needed to learn that. And I thought...well. I thought perhaps you and I could adapt together, this time. New lives, but not alone.”
*****