Myshuno '14 #6 - Day at the races
Prompt: Seth/Rodney kid fic
Rating: U
Word count: 2,980
Other: So, I'm not certain of what will happen with Sethney in the longer run, but I have toyed with the idea of them raising miniature versions of themselves as their children, and this idea happened to me the first time I went to a horse race with the future in-laws.
Seth had only been to horse racing once in his life (and post-life) before, and that had been tagging along with Rodney in his mayoral days. Rodney had spent most of it drinking posh drinks and having conversations with government types, while Seth had been caught between drinks of his own and gambling - of which each did not help the other. And Rodney had tried to ban him from both, like most things Seth found fun.
Not that Seth would be doing much of that today anyway, with the kids on hand. Horse racing was no more unwholesome than you let it be really, and it was good to get out and about as a family, give the kids the opportunity to experience different things. Hopefully the horses and excitement would be sufficient for a couple of seven-year-olds. It probably would be for Little Rodney, but Seth Jr very much took after Seth Sr when he was a kid, so he might need a little more distracting.
“Do they sell sweets here?” Junior asked eagerly.
That was the last thing he needed right now. “’fraid not, kiddo, but there is meant to be a barbecue somewhere near the lounge, so we can get you a hotdog, okay?”
Junior seemed happy enough with that, though Little Rodney was looking anxious about the number of people around. Seth squeezed his hand gently, “You okay, sweetheart?”
“We don’t have to stand in the crowds, do we?”
“No, we have special tickets so we get to sit inside if we want.”
Rodney was handing them to one of the employees as they spoke, who gave him some badges in return. “Alright, everyone put their badges on and don’t lose them,” Rodney frowned. “We’d better hurry up, we’re running later than we were meant to.”
Seth quickly clipped his on and proceeded to help the kids so they didn’t jab themselves by accident.
“We haven’t missed the racing, have we Dad?” Junior asked.
“No, there’s a bunch of different races in any case. We just haven’t seen all of the run-up to the first one. When is the first race?” Seth asked Rodney, in case the employee had mentioned it.
Rodney looked around and pointed to a board. “We still have about 10 minutes.”
“Shall we go straight inside, or look around a bit first?”
“Look! There’s a horse!” Junior exclaimed, grabbing and pulling Seth and Rodney’s hands towards a fence. “Is he going to be racing?”
“Yes, but not in this first race, that one will be in a later race. They’re just warming it up,” Seth could hear the knowledgeable pride in Rodney’s voice at being the most experienced one of them there, even if he’d only been like three times. He was so cute sometimes.
“Where is the race then? Are we by the finish line? I wanna go look.”
“Alright, alright,” Seth smiled down at him. “We can go inside and get some drinks and find somewhere to sit or stand.”
“And hotdogs?”
“And hotdogs,” Seth freed his hands to check his pockets for change, and then followed Junior and Rodney towards the lounge. Might have to use his card for the drinks if Rodney didn’t have change. He habitually checked behind him that Little Rodney was following as usual - but he wasn’t.
“Rodney?” he called out, looking between people walking by.
“What’s wrong?” Rodney asked, heading back towards him. It wasn’t the first time it had been mused that keeping the same name for their child-clones was not very practical.
“Little Rodney’s not following us.”
“You don’t think he’s been snatched?” Trust gorgeous to jump to the worst conclusion.
“Don’t worry, I’ll look for him.” Seth had the height advantage after all. “Just get inside and keep an eye on Junior, we don’t want to be dealing with tantrums too.”
It didn’t take even a minute to find Little Rodney though - he was pretty much where they’d left him, looking at the horses, his fingers entwining with the links in the fence.
“Hey, we thought we’d lost you, honey! Don’t you want to come inside?”
“I wanna look at the horses.”
“You’ll be able to see horses there too - you can see them race! And we’re going to get drinks, and hotdogs…”
Little Rodney looked reluctant to leave the horses being led around the mini-circuit, but he took Seth’s hand and let himself be led away anyway. “You like the horses, huh?”
“I wish I had a horse.”
Seth struggled between laughing and choking, and covered both by coughing. “Horses are very expensive and a lot of hard work. And they need lots of space.”
“They’re so pretty…”
“Yeah.” But Little Rodney probably would have forgotten about them by the same time tomorrow. Kids could be like that.
Seth took him inside and quickly located Rodney and Junior at the bar. Seth hoped that was a low-sugar cola Junior was drinking right now; Rodney was good at knowing what should and should not be allowed, but not great at sticking to it when the kids caused a fuss.
“Oh good, you found him. What do you both want to drink?”
“I’ll just have a light beer, thank you.”
“Lemonade, please. Where do I sit to see the horses?” Little Rodney asked desperately.
“There’s tables upstairs!” Junior said quickly, “I’ll show you.” And they ran off rather quicker than Seth or Rodney would have liked.
“Do you want to get the food, or shall I?”
“I better had,” Rodney sighed. “You take the drinks and follow the kids before they hurt themselves.”
Seth did so carefully, and it wasn’t hard to find them. “Seth Jayapowitz, no standing on the chairs.” Junior sat down with a cheeky smile.
Little Rodney was looking through the glass railings at the grassy race track. “Is it time for the horses yet?”
“Nearly. Your father’s just getting some food for us all.” Hopefully there wouldn’t be a queue that would make Rodney miss the race, but he’d probably prefer that to dealing with the kids getting stroppy on his own while Seth got the food. And Little Rodney was getting agitated, while Junior was blowing bubbles into his drink - not quite annoying enough to be worth making him stop. Seth had great sympathy for his own mother since he’d started effectively raising himself.
Fortunately Rodney didn’t take long at all, and he’d remembered to get packets of ketchup - almost half of which Junior immediately took for his own, smothering the sausage, and only smiling brightly in response to Seth’s raised eyebrows. Meanwhile Little Rodney had to be persuaded away from the railings in order to get his hotdog at all, and he returned to it quickly, plate in hand.
Kids occupied, Seth had to quietly ask: “Did you ever have a horse phase when you were a kid?”
Rodney looked up, blinked at him blankly, and then looked thoughtful. “No. I mean… I think sometimes there were cowboy-themed things that I might have liked a bit, but not especially. I was always more into spies. And I wanted a puppy for a while. But I never had much to do with horses, only really saw them in fields we drove past on long journeys. I think a couple of Rachel’s friends at high school might have had them, but no-one I ever knew.”
“Interesting. Little Rodney seems to be besotted.”
“Well, he’s never seen them before; it might just be a passing thing.”
“Maybe, but I’ve never seen him like this before.” Normally Little Rodney, like adult Rodney, was very moderate in showing his interests and affections.
Rodney gazed at their son for a few moments, who was nibbling at his hot dog and looking anxiously down the race track, and shrugged.
Then an announcement started over the tannoy system.
“It’s about to start!” Junior declared and jumped up to join Little Rodney, not even noticing as he spilt ketchup on his t-shirt. Seth heard Rodney share his exact same sigh next to him, and he took his hand happily, sharing a smile instead.
Meanwhile the noise of the race started, but there wasn’t much to see from there, much to the kids’ confusion and frustration.
“It’s one of the longer races; they’ll be along in a few moments,” Seth called to them, not that they liked that answer. Seth himself couldn’t be fussed to get up and leave sitting peacefully with Rodney instead.
“Here they come!” Junior shouted as they came into view, and a few seconds later followed up with “YES!”
Rodney looked as confused as he was.
“Daddy, daddy, I guessed right!”
“You guessed which horse would win?”
“Yeah!”
“How did you choose?” Rodney asked, bordering on suspicion.
“The rider had the coolest jumper! He had to win!”
Seth struggled not to laugh, but it wasn’t like he would have had much better reasoning himself. Fortunately Junior ran back to the railings to watch the big screen, allowing Seth to mutter “Whatever else we do today, we’d better make sure he doesn’t learn about gambling or we could have a big problem on our hands.”
Rodney gave him a serious nod.
But then Little Rodney came up, bordering on tears. “Oh honey, what’s wrong? Did you guess wrong?”
He shook his head. “I didn’t guess, but you can hardly see the horses at all! They’re only there like a second!”
“Well, that’s racing. They have to move fast.”
Little Rodney’s lip wobbled, which was always like an earthquake doing serious structural damage to Seth’s heart.
“Do you want to go back to the paddock and look at the ones not racing right now?”
Little Rodney sniffed and nodded.
“Alright, that’s okay, we can do that.” Seth turned to Rodney, “Are you okay to stay up here and look after Junior?”
“Would you be better for that?”
Seth did know how to deal with his mini-me pretty well generally, but “You can teach him the kind of ways you’re supposed to know whether a horse will win.” Rodney liked to use his knowledge, where he was aware that he had it.
“Okay, we’ll meet you down there after the races.”
Once they set off, Little Rodney quickly took the lead back to the paddock and adjoining stables, and brightened considerably as soon as they got in viewing distance.
“I want a horse,” he sighed again dreamily, leaning on the fence as he watched one being groomed.
“What do you like about them so much?” Seth asked, genuinely curious.
“They’re so big and beautiful and…”
“Majestic?”
Little Rodney probably didn’t know what that meant, but he seemed to decide that it sounded right. “Yeah.”
“But look at how much feeding and grooming they need. And lots of exercise.”
“I would brush it all the time.” The way he said it, Seth could believe it.
“You have school work to do too, you know.”
Seth’s comment didn’t even seem to register, not that Little Rodney was at all a bad student generally. “Could I ride a horse?”
“You’d have to be taught how to do it properly.”
“I’d try really hard.”
“Hmm.” The thing was, expenditure and space aside, Little Rodney had only been interested for… less than two hours now. But, if this was a thing… it might not be a bad idea. If Little Rodney grew up to look much the same as adult Rodney, he would naturally be a little short, and slim. If Little Rodney loved horses that much, he could possibly be a near-perfect jockey. And better that than an art thief, if they could help it.
Seth wandered down the side of the paddock, closer to the stables where the horses who had already run were being led and brushed down. There were a few people stood together talking by one of the horses, and a couple looked to be the owners. Seth checked and saw that Little Rodney had followed him.
“Excuse me,” he called as the group broke up a bit and the owners passed by. “I’m sorry to bother you, but it’s my son’s first time at the races and he really loves horses, and I just wondered if it would be possible for him to try brushing your horse for a bit? Supervised, of course.”
Rodney’s eyes lit up and he looked from Seth to the couple, “Can I? Please?”
The cuteness of Little Rodney’s face could melt glaciers; if adult Rodney had been willing to turn his natural cuteness to crime as well he’d probably have ruled half the world. As such, the couple wavered a little, but smiled. “What’s your name, son?”
Little Rodney went all shy. “Rodney Jayapowitz,” he mumbled, biting his lip and blushing.
“Sarah!” The woman called to the girl who was currently grooming the horse in question. “You wouldn’t mind showing this young man a little bit about grooming horses, would you? He can brush her a little, with the right technique.”
They let Seth and Little Rodney into the paddock. “So she’s a lady horse?” Little Rodney asked. “She’s beautiful.”
“’Lady horses’ are called mares,” the girl explained kindly.
“Her mother won three races, her father six,” the woman owner explained with some pride.
“Do you own her parents too?”
“That’s not usually how it works,” Seth said quietly. If the stud was that good, it had probably cost the owners quite a lot of money to get this horse. “Anyway, pay attention to the grooming.”
Little Rodney didn’t need much encouragement.
“It’s good to see polite young boys so interested in horses,” The woman said to Seth.
He smiled wryly. “Except that now he wants one at home that he can groom all the time. And at his age…”
“Interests change,” the woman’s apparent husband agreed. “Especially when they reach puberty.”
“What would be good is if there were local stables or owners where he could help out and get practise for as long as he’s interested, and then if the interest were to continue…” This couple was posh and Seth already felt like he was pushing his luck, but it was worth a go.
“Actually there are some stables not very far away from here that do riding lessons. Groveley House, I believe it’s called. I believe they mostly get girls, or boys from families already involved with horses, but, if someone were so committed…”
“We’ll see,” Seth said, and looked over to where Little Rodney was now very gently brushing the mare’s flank where he could reach, looking completely awed. “But I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen him so happy and enthusiastic.”
Then Seth became aware of the sound of running feet, “How come Rodney gets to brush a horse? I want to brush a horse!”
Seth sighed and turned around to see Junior and Rodney stood on the other side of the paddock fence. “Because your brother asked very politely and is doing what he is told.”
“I can do what I’m told!”
“Can you?”
“Sometimes…”
“Junior, you only want to do it because Rodney is doing it, and that’s not a very good reason. If I gave you the choice between doing what he’s doing and having ice cream, which would you pick?”
“Chocolate ice cream? With chocolate chips?”
“My point exactly.”
Junior pouted for a moment, but started beaming quickly, “I guessed right again!”
“Really? You got two out of two?” Gambling might not be so bad if he was always right...
“Two out of six,” Rodney corrected him.
Seth hadn’t realised how much time had passed. It was starting to get a little dark now actually. “Come on Rodney,” he called, “it’s time to go.”
Little Rodney pouted, but handed the brush back to the girl and stroked the mare a couple of times before trudging over. “Thank you very much,” he said to the couple, who looked charmed again, despite having now met Junior.
They left the paddock and headed as a group back to the car. “Daddies, please can we get a horse? I’ll take really good care of it, I promise!”
“We can’t afford it right now, honey, and we don’t have the space.”
The tears welled again.
“But, I was talking to the nice couple there and they said that there is a local riding school, so maybe, if you are really interested, we could get you enrolled there.”
That seemed to be better than nothing and sufficient to stop the upset for now, though adult Rodney was side-eyeing him; riding lessons probably wouldn’t be cheap either.
“We should play the lottery,” Junior cut in. “We’d have lots of money.”
Seth looked at him, confused. “But people rarely ever win the lottery. You can put in a lot more money than you get out again.”
“Nuh-uh. Not the local lotteries. Loads of people win those.”
What the hell was a local lottery? Seth hadn’t heard of that. “Really?”
“Yeah! Lots of people in the lounge were talking about how much they won today.”
Seth then noticed how embarrassed Rodney was looking. “But lotteries are like gambling…”
“But lotteries are random, so you can’t rely on winning or increase your chances, so you shouldn’t play,” Rodney insisted.
“But so many people won-” Junior frowned.
“Only because today was a special and very rare occasion,” Rodney said firmly. “Normally it’s far less likely.”
“Then we should have played today.”
Seth was struggling not to laugh, poor Rodney and his growing ball of lies.
“Well maybe we would have had time if we had left when we were supposed to and not wasted time refusing to turn your games off!”
Junior went quiet.
“It’s alright kids,” Seth said gently and took Rodney’s hand comfortingly as well. “We might not have won the lottery anyway, and we’ve had a nice day. We’ll figure something out later, okay?”
Seth loved his family.
Rating: U
Word count: 2,980
Other: So, I'm not certain of what will happen with Sethney in the longer run, but I have toyed with the idea of them raising miniature versions of themselves as their children, and this idea happened to me the first time I went to a horse race with the future in-laws.
Seth had only been to horse racing once in his life (and post-life) before, and that had been tagging along with Rodney in his mayoral days. Rodney had spent most of it drinking posh drinks and having conversations with government types, while Seth had been caught between drinks of his own and gambling - of which each did not help the other. And Rodney had tried to ban him from both, like most things Seth found fun.
Not that Seth would be doing much of that today anyway, with the kids on hand. Horse racing was no more unwholesome than you let it be really, and it was good to get out and about as a family, give the kids the opportunity to experience different things. Hopefully the horses and excitement would be sufficient for a couple of seven-year-olds. It probably would be for Little Rodney, but Seth Jr very much took after Seth Sr when he was a kid, so he might need a little more distracting.
“Do they sell sweets here?” Junior asked eagerly.
That was the last thing he needed right now. “’fraid not, kiddo, but there is meant to be a barbecue somewhere near the lounge, so we can get you a hotdog, okay?”
Junior seemed happy enough with that, though Little Rodney was looking anxious about the number of people around. Seth squeezed his hand gently, “You okay, sweetheart?”
“We don’t have to stand in the crowds, do we?”
“No, we have special tickets so we get to sit inside if we want.”
Rodney was handing them to one of the employees as they spoke, who gave him some badges in return. “Alright, everyone put their badges on and don’t lose them,” Rodney frowned. “We’d better hurry up, we’re running later than we were meant to.”
Seth quickly clipped his on and proceeded to help the kids so they didn’t jab themselves by accident.
“We haven’t missed the racing, have we Dad?” Junior asked.
“No, there’s a bunch of different races in any case. We just haven’t seen all of the run-up to the first one. When is the first race?” Seth asked Rodney, in case the employee had mentioned it.
Rodney looked around and pointed to a board. “We still have about 10 minutes.”
“Shall we go straight inside, or look around a bit first?”
“Look! There’s a horse!” Junior exclaimed, grabbing and pulling Seth and Rodney’s hands towards a fence. “Is he going to be racing?”
“Yes, but not in this first race, that one will be in a later race. They’re just warming it up,” Seth could hear the knowledgeable pride in Rodney’s voice at being the most experienced one of them there, even if he’d only been like three times. He was so cute sometimes.
“Where is the race then? Are we by the finish line? I wanna go look.”
“Alright, alright,” Seth smiled down at him. “We can go inside and get some drinks and find somewhere to sit or stand.”
“And hotdogs?”
“And hotdogs,” Seth freed his hands to check his pockets for change, and then followed Junior and Rodney towards the lounge. Might have to use his card for the drinks if Rodney didn’t have change. He habitually checked behind him that Little Rodney was following as usual - but he wasn’t.
“Rodney?” he called out, looking between people walking by.
“What’s wrong?” Rodney asked, heading back towards him. It wasn’t the first time it had been mused that keeping the same name for their child-clones was not very practical.
“Little Rodney’s not following us.”
“You don’t think he’s been snatched?” Trust gorgeous to jump to the worst conclusion.
“Don’t worry, I’ll look for him.” Seth had the height advantage after all. “Just get inside and keep an eye on Junior, we don’t want to be dealing with tantrums too.”
It didn’t take even a minute to find Little Rodney though - he was pretty much where they’d left him, looking at the horses, his fingers entwining with the links in the fence.
“Hey, we thought we’d lost you, honey! Don’t you want to come inside?”
“I wanna look at the horses.”
“You’ll be able to see horses there too - you can see them race! And we’re going to get drinks, and hotdogs…”
Little Rodney looked reluctant to leave the horses being led around the mini-circuit, but he took Seth’s hand and let himself be led away anyway. “You like the horses, huh?”
“I wish I had a horse.”
Seth struggled between laughing and choking, and covered both by coughing. “Horses are very expensive and a lot of hard work. And they need lots of space.”
“They’re so pretty…”
“Yeah.” But Little Rodney probably would have forgotten about them by the same time tomorrow. Kids could be like that.
Seth took him inside and quickly located Rodney and Junior at the bar. Seth hoped that was a low-sugar cola Junior was drinking right now; Rodney was good at knowing what should and should not be allowed, but not great at sticking to it when the kids caused a fuss.
“Oh good, you found him. What do you both want to drink?”
“I’ll just have a light beer, thank you.”
“Lemonade, please. Where do I sit to see the horses?” Little Rodney asked desperately.
“There’s tables upstairs!” Junior said quickly, “I’ll show you.” And they ran off rather quicker than Seth or Rodney would have liked.
“Do you want to get the food, or shall I?”
“I better had,” Rodney sighed. “You take the drinks and follow the kids before they hurt themselves.”
Seth did so carefully, and it wasn’t hard to find them. “Seth Jayapowitz, no standing on the chairs.” Junior sat down with a cheeky smile.
Little Rodney was looking through the glass railings at the grassy race track. “Is it time for the horses yet?”
“Nearly. Your father’s just getting some food for us all.” Hopefully there wouldn’t be a queue that would make Rodney miss the race, but he’d probably prefer that to dealing with the kids getting stroppy on his own while Seth got the food. And Little Rodney was getting agitated, while Junior was blowing bubbles into his drink - not quite annoying enough to be worth making him stop. Seth had great sympathy for his own mother since he’d started effectively raising himself.
Fortunately Rodney didn’t take long at all, and he’d remembered to get packets of ketchup - almost half of which Junior immediately took for his own, smothering the sausage, and only smiling brightly in response to Seth’s raised eyebrows. Meanwhile Little Rodney had to be persuaded away from the railings in order to get his hotdog at all, and he returned to it quickly, plate in hand.
Kids occupied, Seth had to quietly ask: “Did you ever have a horse phase when you were a kid?”
Rodney looked up, blinked at him blankly, and then looked thoughtful. “No. I mean… I think sometimes there were cowboy-themed things that I might have liked a bit, but not especially. I was always more into spies. And I wanted a puppy for a while. But I never had much to do with horses, only really saw them in fields we drove past on long journeys. I think a couple of Rachel’s friends at high school might have had them, but no-one I ever knew.”
“Interesting. Little Rodney seems to be besotted.”
“Well, he’s never seen them before; it might just be a passing thing.”
“Maybe, but I’ve never seen him like this before.” Normally Little Rodney, like adult Rodney, was very moderate in showing his interests and affections.
Rodney gazed at their son for a few moments, who was nibbling at his hot dog and looking anxiously down the race track, and shrugged.
Then an announcement started over the tannoy system.
“It’s about to start!” Junior declared and jumped up to join Little Rodney, not even noticing as he spilt ketchup on his t-shirt. Seth heard Rodney share his exact same sigh next to him, and he took his hand happily, sharing a smile instead.
Meanwhile the noise of the race started, but there wasn’t much to see from there, much to the kids’ confusion and frustration.
“It’s one of the longer races; they’ll be along in a few moments,” Seth called to them, not that they liked that answer. Seth himself couldn’t be fussed to get up and leave sitting peacefully with Rodney instead.
“Here they come!” Junior shouted as they came into view, and a few seconds later followed up with “YES!”
Rodney looked as confused as he was.
“Daddy, daddy, I guessed right!”
“You guessed which horse would win?”
“Yeah!”
“How did you choose?” Rodney asked, bordering on suspicion.
“The rider had the coolest jumper! He had to win!”
Seth struggled not to laugh, but it wasn’t like he would have had much better reasoning himself. Fortunately Junior ran back to the railings to watch the big screen, allowing Seth to mutter “Whatever else we do today, we’d better make sure he doesn’t learn about gambling or we could have a big problem on our hands.”
Rodney gave him a serious nod.
But then Little Rodney came up, bordering on tears. “Oh honey, what’s wrong? Did you guess wrong?”
He shook his head. “I didn’t guess, but you can hardly see the horses at all! They’re only there like a second!”
“Well, that’s racing. They have to move fast.”
Little Rodney’s lip wobbled, which was always like an earthquake doing serious structural damage to Seth’s heart.
“Do you want to go back to the paddock and look at the ones not racing right now?”
Little Rodney sniffed and nodded.
“Alright, that’s okay, we can do that.” Seth turned to Rodney, “Are you okay to stay up here and look after Junior?”
“Would you be better for that?”
Seth did know how to deal with his mini-me pretty well generally, but “You can teach him the kind of ways you’re supposed to know whether a horse will win.” Rodney liked to use his knowledge, where he was aware that he had it.
“Okay, we’ll meet you down there after the races.”
Once they set off, Little Rodney quickly took the lead back to the paddock and adjoining stables, and brightened considerably as soon as they got in viewing distance.
“I want a horse,” he sighed again dreamily, leaning on the fence as he watched one being groomed.
“What do you like about them so much?” Seth asked, genuinely curious.
“They’re so big and beautiful and…”
“Majestic?”
Little Rodney probably didn’t know what that meant, but he seemed to decide that it sounded right. “Yeah.”
“But look at how much feeding and grooming they need. And lots of exercise.”
“I would brush it all the time.” The way he said it, Seth could believe it.
“You have school work to do too, you know.”
Seth’s comment didn’t even seem to register, not that Little Rodney was at all a bad student generally. “Could I ride a horse?”
“You’d have to be taught how to do it properly.”
“I’d try really hard.”
“Hmm.” The thing was, expenditure and space aside, Little Rodney had only been interested for… less than two hours now. But, if this was a thing… it might not be a bad idea. If Little Rodney grew up to look much the same as adult Rodney, he would naturally be a little short, and slim. If Little Rodney loved horses that much, he could possibly be a near-perfect jockey. And better that than an art thief, if they could help it.
Seth wandered down the side of the paddock, closer to the stables where the horses who had already run were being led and brushed down. There were a few people stood together talking by one of the horses, and a couple looked to be the owners. Seth checked and saw that Little Rodney had followed him.
“Excuse me,” he called as the group broke up a bit and the owners passed by. “I’m sorry to bother you, but it’s my son’s first time at the races and he really loves horses, and I just wondered if it would be possible for him to try brushing your horse for a bit? Supervised, of course.”
Rodney’s eyes lit up and he looked from Seth to the couple, “Can I? Please?”
The cuteness of Little Rodney’s face could melt glaciers; if adult Rodney had been willing to turn his natural cuteness to crime as well he’d probably have ruled half the world. As such, the couple wavered a little, but smiled. “What’s your name, son?”
Little Rodney went all shy. “Rodney Jayapowitz,” he mumbled, biting his lip and blushing.
“Sarah!” The woman called to the girl who was currently grooming the horse in question. “You wouldn’t mind showing this young man a little bit about grooming horses, would you? He can brush her a little, with the right technique.”
They let Seth and Little Rodney into the paddock. “So she’s a lady horse?” Little Rodney asked. “She’s beautiful.”
“’Lady horses’ are called mares,” the girl explained kindly.
“Her mother won three races, her father six,” the woman owner explained with some pride.
“Do you own her parents too?”
“That’s not usually how it works,” Seth said quietly. If the stud was that good, it had probably cost the owners quite a lot of money to get this horse. “Anyway, pay attention to the grooming.”
Little Rodney didn’t need much encouragement.
“It’s good to see polite young boys so interested in horses,” The woman said to Seth.
He smiled wryly. “Except that now he wants one at home that he can groom all the time. And at his age…”
“Interests change,” the woman’s apparent husband agreed. “Especially when they reach puberty.”
“What would be good is if there were local stables or owners where he could help out and get practise for as long as he’s interested, and then if the interest were to continue…” This couple was posh and Seth already felt like he was pushing his luck, but it was worth a go.
“Actually there are some stables not very far away from here that do riding lessons. Groveley House, I believe it’s called. I believe they mostly get girls, or boys from families already involved with horses, but, if someone were so committed…”
“We’ll see,” Seth said, and looked over to where Little Rodney was now very gently brushing the mare’s flank where he could reach, looking completely awed. “But I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen him so happy and enthusiastic.”
Then Seth became aware of the sound of running feet, “How come Rodney gets to brush a horse? I want to brush a horse!”
Seth sighed and turned around to see Junior and Rodney stood on the other side of the paddock fence. “Because your brother asked very politely and is doing what he is told.”
“I can do what I’m told!”
“Can you?”
“Sometimes…”
“Junior, you only want to do it because Rodney is doing it, and that’s not a very good reason. If I gave you the choice between doing what he’s doing and having ice cream, which would you pick?”
“Chocolate ice cream? With chocolate chips?”
“My point exactly.”
Junior pouted for a moment, but started beaming quickly, “I guessed right again!”
“Really? You got two out of two?” Gambling might not be so bad if he was always right...
“Two out of six,” Rodney corrected him.
Seth hadn’t realised how much time had passed. It was starting to get a little dark now actually. “Come on Rodney,” he called, “it’s time to go.”
Little Rodney pouted, but handed the brush back to the girl and stroked the mare a couple of times before trudging over. “Thank you very much,” he said to the couple, who looked charmed again, despite having now met Junior.
They left the paddock and headed as a group back to the car. “Daddies, please can we get a horse? I’ll take really good care of it, I promise!”
“We can’t afford it right now, honey, and we don’t have the space.”
The tears welled again.
“But, I was talking to the nice couple there and they said that there is a local riding school, so maybe, if you are really interested, we could get you enrolled there.”
That seemed to be better than nothing and sufficient to stop the upset for now, though adult Rodney was side-eyeing him; riding lessons probably wouldn’t be cheap either.
“We should play the lottery,” Junior cut in. “We’d have lots of money.”
Seth looked at him, confused. “But people rarely ever win the lottery. You can put in a lot more money than you get out again.”
“Nuh-uh. Not the local lotteries. Loads of people win those.”
What the hell was a local lottery? Seth hadn’t heard of that. “Really?”
“Yeah! Lots of people in the lounge were talking about how much they won today.”
Seth then noticed how embarrassed Rodney was looking. “But lotteries are like gambling…”
“But lotteries are random, so you can’t rely on winning or increase your chances, so you shouldn’t play,” Rodney insisted.
“But so many people won-” Junior frowned.
“Only because today was a special and very rare occasion,” Rodney said firmly. “Normally it’s far less likely.”
“Then we should have played today.”
Seth was struggling not to laugh, poor Rodney and his growing ball of lies.
“Well maybe we would have had time if we had left when we were supposed to and not wasted time refusing to turn your games off!”
Junior went quiet.
“It’s alright kids,” Seth said gently and took Rodney’s hand comfortingly as well. “We might not have won the lottery anyway, and we’ve had a nice day. We’ll figure something out later, okay?”
Seth loved his family.