Story ideas: Starting over
A/N: Ted and Susan have a torrid past. Tim is hurt, Susan’s moved on. Grief re: dead sister/friend. Perhaps guilt. Did Susan steal away then lose the father? Ted cares for Susan but it’s been a long time and she has changed, though they are still civil. He may never forgive her. Susan will one day go to the cottage, though by then Cottontail is dead. Sad, slow relationships which never really takes off.
Extract:
Once upon a time there was a little girl who lived in a cottage. The cottage had a red rook and a small vegetable garden with carrots and tomatoes, and belonged to her uncle, with whom she lived most of the year. When she had to go to school (which, unfortunately, truly was most of the year, though Robin never considered it so), she lived in a small apartment in the city with her godmother, Susan.
Very early in her short life (Robin was barely six, with ten months to go till it was summer and she was seven, and with her uncle Ted), Robin realized that Susan did not like Thomas, as she called Robin’s uncle. Susan did not like Ted’s dirty overalls, or the rabbit he gave Robin for her birthday the year before, or even the wildflowers that encroached the vegetable patch.
In fact, Susan was allergic to pollen, which Robin understood as being due only to extreme dislike. Robin had tried convincing Susan that she was allergic to boiled cabbage, like Susan was to flowers, but even this appeal didn’t save her from Thursday nights’ cabbage soup. When Robin complained to Ted about Susan’s cooking or the lack of parks in the city, Ted would shake his head slowly.
Robin would demand explanations for the differences she perceived between Susan and Ted, but Ted would say he didn’t know her enough to say. What he really meant was, he couldn’t understand Susan at all, because he knew her too well. Or had, once.
Despite the cabbage soup, and the babysitter who took Robin to the local playground yet never once pushed her on the swing, Robin truly loved her godmother. What she really wished for was to take Susan to Ted’s cottage (where Susan refused to enter, leaving Robin at the porch and saying “Hello, Goodbye” to Ted before turning back to the city) and show her the shed.
The shed used to have cows and chickens, and though Robin swore she could still smell them (when in fact she had never seen a cow, much less smelt one) it smelled strongly of wood and rabbit. This was because Peter Cottontail had free roam of the shed. Over the Christmas holidays, Ted had sent Susan a photo of Cottontail sitting on a pile of potatoes, along with a card from Ruth and a short note from him, wishing her “all the season’s best”. The agricultural connotation was, sadly, lost on Susan.
Extract:
Once upon a time there was a little girl who lived in a cottage. The cottage had a red rook and a small vegetable garden with carrots and tomatoes, and belonged to her uncle, with whom she lived most of the year. When she had to go to school (which, unfortunately, truly was most of the year, though Robin never considered it so), she lived in a small apartment in the city with her godmother, Susan.
Very early in her short life (Robin was barely six, with ten months to go till it was summer and she was seven, and with her uncle Ted), Robin realized that Susan did not like Thomas, as she called Robin’s uncle. Susan did not like Ted’s dirty overalls, or the rabbit he gave Robin for her birthday the year before, or even the wildflowers that encroached the vegetable patch.
In fact, Susan was allergic to pollen, which Robin understood as being due only to extreme dislike. Robin had tried convincing Susan that she was allergic to boiled cabbage, like Susan was to flowers, but even this appeal didn’t save her from Thursday nights’ cabbage soup. When Robin complained to Ted about Susan’s cooking or the lack of parks in the city, Ted would shake his head slowly.
Robin would demand explanations for the differences she perceived between Susan and Ted, but Ted would say he didn’t know her enough to say. What he really meant was, he couldn’t understand Susan at all, because he knew her too well. Or had, once.
Despite the cabbage soup, and the babysitter who took Robin to the local playground yet never once pushed her on the swing, Robin truly loved her godmother. What she really wished for was to take Susan to Ted’s cottage (where Susan refused to enter, leaving Robin at the porch and saying “Hello, Goodbye” to Ted before turning back to the city) and show her the shed.
The shed used to have cows and chickens, and though Robin swore she could still smell them (when in fact she had never seen a cow, much less smelt one) it smelled strongly of wood and rabbit. This was because Peter Cottontail had free roam of the shed. Over the Christmas holidays, Ted had sent Susan a photo of Cottontail sitting on a pile of potatoes, along with a card from Ruth and a short note from him, wishing her “all the season’s best”. The agricultural connotation was, sadly, lost on Susan.