Patty Liu - Silent Reflections

Someone was pounding up the stairs and then down again repeatedly. Virginia was in her room trying to study for an exam she had the next week in her adult human behavior class at night school. The pounding was driving her up the wall.

"Wolf! Wolf! Is that you making all that racket? You know Peter is trying to take a nap right now, and I'm trying to study, for God's sakes!" she yelled out her bedroom door.

The pounding immediately stopped and Virginia sighed with relief and went back to her desk. Something suddenly flashed next to her and snapped her book shut while she was in the middle of reading.

"Wolf! What ARE you doing?! I have a test next week!" Virginia said.

"Huff puff, Virginia, you've been studying far too much these days. We need a vacation!" Wolf leaned down and gave her a sloppy kiss on the cheek. He held up baby Peter in his arms and tickled him in the stomach. The baby giggled and squirmed in his arms.

"Why is Peter awake? I thought I put him down for a nap? And what do you mean WE need a vacation? All you have to do is read books and provide the voices for those damn narrative books they are selling these days. I'm the one doing the studying here," Virginia argued, but her heart wasn't in it. She knew the job that Wolf had actually paid quite well. And he sure as hell was good at it. It was paying for her night classes, the rent in the new apartment, and for the baby's needs. Her own job at the local health center paid well, too, but it was only part time.

"I'm sorry, Virginia. Little Peter was not falling asleep so I decided to play with him for a little bit. You know, get him tired so he'd fall asleep right away. He loves it when I run up and down the stairs with him in my arms. He gets all hypered up... don't you Peter? My little Wolfie." Wolf tickled the squirming six-month-old, who was drooling all over his fist in his mouth. "Is that yummy, Wolfie? Yeah, I'll bet it's yummy. Come here, let Daddy have a bite." Wolf played with his son.

"Can we afford a vacation, Wolf?" Virginia asked, suddenly quite tired. The idea of a vacation was beginning to sound very appealing. She took the baby from Wolf and wiped the drool from his face. She laid him down in the crib next to their bed and turned on the floating mobile over the crib that had dancing sheep spinning around and around in different colors. Little Peter became mesmerized.

"Where I was thinking of going wouldn't cost much, Virginia. Huff, puff. I think Peter should go to the Nine Kingdoms and get a proper kingdom christening. That's what I had when I was just a wolf cub and I remembered it was quite fun, in fact," Wolf whispered with excitement. He had been planning on going back to the Nine Kingdoms for awhile now. He knew his place was wherever Virginia was and he would go to the ends of the earth for and with her. But he still missed his home back in the kingdoms now and then.

"How in the world would you remember your own christening? You would've been just a baby," Virginia stated and shook her head at Wolf. Sometimes, the things that came out of Wolf's mouth just didn't make any sense. She laughed to herself.

"No, no, of course I remember, my love. Wolves have great memories. I remember that they fed me lots of juicy steaks and there was a great big cake with candles. And there were presents and even dancing sheep who jumped out of the cake. Ahhh... those were the days." Wolf said, dreamily staring at the wall.

"Errr... Wolf, I don't think that was a christening."

"Huff, then what was it?"

"I don't know. I think you were dreaming again."

"Virginia, come on. Let's take Peter to the Nine Kingdoms. He's never been there. A child should always learn his heritage right? Plus, you can visit Tony. You haven't seen him before little Peter was even born yet. Tony would want to see his little grandson, don't you think?" Wolf panted left and right trying to get Virginia to agree.

It has been quite a while since she’d visited her dad. And she really didn't want to study anymore. The test next week could wait. They could be back before then and she could bring her books with her in case she wanted to study some more. But she knew she’d already got the basic facts down for that test on human aggressive behavior.

"All right, all right, we'll go. But you must remember to bring your monthly pills. The full moon will be in just a few days and I don't want you to go galloping around in the fields without any clothes on like you did two months ago," Virginia finally agreed.

Wolf gave a huge grin and hugged her.

"We'll leave tomorrow night," he growled playfully in her ear.