Teddy's Pears

If there was anything he hated more than sunny days it was the heat.

The long, annoying, unceasing summer heat, with a side of Paulo.

When they were young he had a lisp and big lips, he had gotten over his lisp now, and his big lips finally matched the size of his head. Now, he makes the heads of girls turn wherever he goes, but his personality hasn't changed.

You can take the quacking away from the duck, but that doesn’t stop them from being one.

“Aren’t you hot in that?” Teddimus’ cousin, Paulo, asked him, he was wearing a grey drawstring hoodie.

Teddimus' eyes widened. “No.”

They stared at him for a bit longer, at the beads of sweat dripping from his brow, and said, “Oh, okay.” Before turning to talk to his other cousin, Sophia, she was tall, skinny, and likable like a crane, and easy to talk to even though she was death walking.

Teddimus gaze nearly burned a hole in the back of Paulo’s head.

It was sarcasm you ducking idiot. Do you seriously think I would wear a hoodie out in the heat by choice? Give me some credit for not wearing black at least!

He held in a sigh and rolled his eyes to the sky.

He hated family reunions.

He much preferred school where it was optional to hide in the library, or in the back of the classroom, but here participation was mandatory. The only place where you would feel crappy for being crappy.

“There’s not a lick of love in you.” His Aunt once told him once, when he was sitting in a room alone while everyone was clustered in a room together, sitting so close their shoulders were touching.

The trail leading up to their Grandmother’s house was longer and more winding than he remembered.

When he was a kid, he would get there in seconds. Every time he visited her time seemed to pass by so quickly. But now, time was so slow.

Granny was dead. So now that there was nothing to look forward to time passed normally.

Her mysterious death was too jarring to process. Death from drowning, her?

“Calicoooooo, little cutie!”

He had spaced out for a second, tuned out from Paulo’s report of his conquests as he prattled off about the types of girls he dated that seemed nice but ended up becoming crazy and psychos later.

Gee, wonder why.

He looked up.

“Huh?”

His cousins who were talking paused to stare at him.

“What?”

“Did you say something just now?”

Paulo blinked. “Yes, we’ve been talking this whole time I just said that my ex-

Teddimus sighed and shook his head, muttered under his breath.

“I thought you said something else, forget it.”

But of course. Paulo didn’t hear him, nor did he like being cut off, his face wrinkled.

“What? I can’t hear you, speak louder.”

Teddimus ignored him.

“He said he thought you said something else, forget it.” Sophia explained.

Paulo huffed at her, ire in his eyes rising. “He can speak for himself, he’s not a baby.”

He remembered it then, Paulo’s dad used to complain all the time that the women in the family babied him even though it was only Grandma. He was a shy and withdrawn kid, but his Uncle Nigel was always antagonizing, telling him to speak up. Did Paulo think he could get away with intimidating him like that too?

Teddimus' back straightened and a smile stretched across his lips.

“I just did, also why don’t you clean out your ears?”

“You’re the one who didn’t hear what I said first and had to ask-

“Because I thought you said something interesting.”

Paulo’s mouth opened but Teddimus had already bulldozed his way through in between the two.

“Out of my way, you damn duck!”

Sophia narrowly avoiding him but Paulo got rammed in the shoulder.

They heard him muttering.

“You guys walk as slow as turtles, by the time we get there we’ll be old or dead.”

Calico. Calico. My cutie Calico.

It was a pet name only his Grandmother called him. Why did he think Paulo would say something like that. The tips of his ears reddened. What a dumb thought that was.

Now that he was taking the lead, he reached there quickly but he couldn’t help sighing.

Sophia had the key.

He walked around the back, took in the view of the lake, from between the curtain of trees. He looked around some more until he spotted something new.

A pear tree.

“What’s your favorite fruit, Calico?” his grandmother asked him once. He was leaving, and he was upset because of it. It didn’t help that his Mother had tried dragging him away from her when he ran over to give her a hug.

He stopped crying to think. “*sniffle*...Peeears.”

His Grandmother smiled.

“Alright, then, I’ll plant a tree of pears so the next time you visit, we can eat toooons of them.”

“Tons?”

“Tooooons.”

His eyes sparkled.

But of course the two could not make due on their promise. To begin with trees took years to grow, and within that time, his parents had grown apart from each other. They divorced and his Father who could have ended up with custody decided to hand him over to his Mother because he had a new family on the way.

His seven digit income could only feed so many apparently.

Teddimus pulled out his phone to take a picture of it, a gust of wind stirred up a mess.

Leaves extended towards him like a hand extending to a person, and for a second Teddimus’ mind went blank.

The leaves crashed into him and he fell onto his butt, the warmth that tickled his chest for just a second, passed on by. And as it did, tears began to flow from his eyes.

“What’re you doing there?” When Paulo and Sophie arrived, they called out to him.

His tears had long dried since then, his mind a blank.

Sophie gasped and covered her mouth.

“Teddy what happened to your face?!”

Teddimus touched his face and sure enough his hood had fallen. His anxiety and agitation bubbled as Sophie made a big deal out of it.

“Why is it brown here?” She brushed a bang from his eyes but Teddimus felt like a bear was pawing and seizing his face. Do you have cancer?!”

Oh, shut UP!

Everyone always thought the patch of white he was born with was just a birthmark, a hint of some white ancestry from the caucasian slave master. He only learned until much later when it spread then of the truth.

He didn’t say it but the look he gave her then stopped her in her tracks.

“Could you just open the door? It’s hot out here.”

“Oh…” Sophie retraced her steps and headed to go open the door.

Paulo sighed at him, a flicker of disgust, pity and frustration cycling through his eyes.

“If you were wearing a hoodie because of your skin condition, why not say something?”

“...”

Sophie opened the door but before Teddimus could walk in Paulo hauled him back by the shoulder.

“That’s not fair. Don’t get mad at us when you didn’t tell us anything!”

“I’m not mad.”

“Then earlier, why did you lie?”

“I didn’t lie, I was being sarcastic!”

Paulo’s mouth opened, a lightbulb in his head going off.

“Oh, well... how was I supposed to know?”

“I was sweating. Anyone could see that.”

Paulo sighed out of agitation as he released him. But he didn’t seem as upset as before now.

“I’m not a mind reader.”

“I don’t expect you to be one.”

“Yes, you do.”

Teddimus opened his mouth only to pause. He wanted to refute but it felt like if he did he would be lying both to him and himself.

“It’s okay to be on a different wavelength,” Sophie called out from within the house. “But let's be transparent, yeah?”

His cousins were staring at him again, but for the first time, it felt like he wasn’t a stranger. The three chatted as they entered, once Teddimus cooled down Paulo finally asked,

“So yeah, what’s with you always calling me a duck?”