rachelleneveu | Real Fiction Post: Circus Folk

~~Thank God, LJ's Alive Again~~

Title: Circus Folk
Summary: It’s always an adventure when Petra’s family comes to town.
Word Count: 1,392
Warning(s): None!
Disclaimer: For once, all these people are mine.
A/N: Written for a prompt in my creative writing class, to take a picture and put words to it. I've added the one I used at the very end.

If there’s one thing James Lake has learned in his five years of being married, it’s that it’s always an adventure when Petra’s family comes to visit.

Petra lets him know about their visit the day before they arrive, sandwiching it in between reminding him to stop at the grocery store and asking after the state of one of his projects for the bank. He’ll be gone most of the day, so it’s not like he’ll have to be around them forever, Petra reminds him, but to James, it’s really more about the principle of the thing. He loves her family – he does – but they are a lot to handle all at once, and even though Petra knows him better than anyone else, she always seems to forget that he needs time to adjust to the impending emotional tornado her family often is. She’s brilliant, that woman; she can spot punctuation errors a mile off and calls plants by their Latin names, but she forgets that not everyone grew up the same way she did, and that not everyone can handle her family’s particular brand of eccentricity as easily as she does.

“Selective stupidity” would probably be a good term for it.

James wakes up early the next morning, planning on riding his bike to work instead of taking the car. He watches Petra in the mirror while he dresses, buttoning up his shirt while she sleeps. She stretches out across his empty side of the bed, dark hair fanning out on the pillow behind her, and he steps back once he’s dug around the floor of his closet for his shoes, smoothing back her hair and pressing a kiss to her temple. She sighs, and as he heads down the stairs, he thinks he might be able to forgive her for not telling him sooner. Family’s family, after all, and how often do they see each other? Twice, three times a year? And besides, they probably won’t even be in until –

They’re already here.

Without her gypsy scarves and eerie candlelight, Magda McKinnon looks like anyone else’s mother. She’s looking at the pictures on the wall next to the front door, and when he steps onto the landing she turns, surprise pinking up her cheeks when she realizes who it is.

“Hey there, Mom,” he says, pressing a kiss to her cheek. “When did you get to town?”

Magda kisses both of his and holds him out at arm’s length, dark eyes searching his. “Oh, hours earlier than we’d hoped, and Henry decided that you wouldn’t mind too much if we let ourselves in. I told him it’d be trouble, but, well, you know Henry.” She sighs, shaking her head. “I did put on some coffee, dear, if that helps. Where are you off to so early?”

“Work,” he says, and Magda smiles at him from around the rim of the mug – the purple one, Petra’s favorite. “I’ve got to head in a bit early today.”

The cup clicks against the tabletop when Magda sets it down, and not for the first time since he married her daughter, James feels a little rush of shame at his chosen occupation. Being an accountant isn’t exactly glamorous, but in a little tourist town like Nilbog, it pays the bills. And he likes it, even if it is a little boring; there’s something about the neatness of numbers, even columns adding up to zero, that he finds fascinating, even if his in-laws can’t understand it. Petra does, and that’s more than enough for him.

“Hold out your hand,” she orders, and he does as he’s told. Magda takes it in her own and stares at his palm, tracing the life line and heart line with the tip of her index finger, and after a few minutes of silence she folds his fingers back, holding his hand tight in hers.

“You’re going to have a good day, James. I can tell.”

“You think?”

“I don’t think,” Magda tells him loftily, “I know.”

She winks and he laughs, and walks on into the kitchen to grab some of that coffee, maybe make some toast or something before he leaves for work. He’s so focused on his task that he doesn’t notice he’s not alone in the kitchen until he turns around from the coffeepot.

Petra’s brother Nick is sitting at the kitchen table, holding a tiger cub to his chest like an infant. He scratches at the soft fur of its belly and the cub makes a happy rumbling sound low in its throat, batting at his hand with one large paw while Nick coos at it. James stands at the sink with his legs outstretched, the cool edge of it pressing into the small of his back as he watches his brother-in-law cuddle a wild animal. His fingers tighten around the handle of the mug and he sets it down on the counter, just in case he drops it.

“Hey, bro.”

“Hey. You…you brought a tiger, too?”

Nick looks up and shrugs one shoulder. “Sasha’s a little under the weather,” he says with the air of someone explaining the obvious, “And I didn’t want to leave her with Jack and them in case something happens. You don’t mind, do you?”

“No! No, it’s…it’s fine.” James nods, glancing quickly up at the ceiling. Petra’s still asleep, and he’s not sure how many more surprises like this he can handle on his own. “It’s fine…really. You caught me off-guard, is all.”

Nick leans back in his chair, shifting the tiger cub to a more comfortable position in his lap. “Sorry ‘bout that.”

“No worries. I just wasn’t expecting you to bring a pet.”

“Oh, Sasha’s not a pet.” Nick chuckles and the cub rubs her head against his chin, demanding attention. He complies and runs a hand down her back, smoothing down the stripes. “She’s a working girl, through and through. Aren’t you, little miss?”

The tiger makes a pleased, almost purring noise and lifts herself up on her front paws, pressing her face close to Nick’s, her tongue darting out to lick his face from chin to forehead. Nick laughs and gently pushes back, which only makes Sasha more insistent in her efforts. He gives James an apologetic smile and James smiles back, straightening out his tie as he finishes off his coffee.

The noise level rises when Magda comes back into the kitchen; he can hear Petra starting to move around in their bedroom upstairs, and when he glances at his watch James realizes that he needs to get going. He says his good-byes and grabs his briefcase from the chair he’d left it on the night before, hurrying out of the garage and readying his bicycle to leave.

He’s gone barely four feet outside before a familiar voice calls out, “Good morning!”

James turns his head reflexively, looking around for where Petra’s father might be hiding, and when he realizes that the voice is coming from above him, he takes a deep breath and rubs at his temples. “Henry,” he says slowly, “Why are you on my roof?”

“Oh, no reason.” The older man laughs, leaning back against the eaves of the roof. “Just wanted to get my morning exercises in before we all went to breakfast. Are you joining us, Jimmy?”

“Ah, sorry, can’t,” James says apologetically, scratching at the back of his neck. “I won’t be home until around five.”

“Are you going to the market at all?” Henry asks. “Because if you are, I think Magda’s made a list!”

“No! I’m, er, I’m heading to the office.” James grips the handlebars on his bicycle, tightening his fingers around the rubber handles and relaxing them just as quickly. “Big day today.”

Henry does something tricky with his feet and leans forward so far James is terrified he is going to topple right off the roof. His father-in-law grins down at him as he spreads his arms, moving forward a little further. James presses his lips together, holding his breath until Henry finally bounces back into an upright position. He walks his bike down to the end of the driveway, shaking his head as he climbs on.

“Have a good day, Jim! Try not to work too hard!”

James rounds his bicycle around the corner and tries not to look back.