For Rhiannnon.
"Have you seen Jez?" Morgead asked, flopping his body down on the sofa beside Hugh.
"She was getting restless," Hugh said. "I think they were letting her stretch her legs or something." Hugh turned the page of his book, neglecting to look at Morgead.
"She's always restless, this waiting thing is killing her, she wants to do something," Morgead replied. "I want to do something."
"Read a book."
"You're funny Hugh. Real funny," Morgead rose from the sofa and paced the makeshift library of their home. This compound, if you could call it that, was smaller than before and more secluded. What would have been a family room in a normal house doubled as a library and research area. The walls were lined with cheap bookcases and mismatched chairs were placed randomly around the room. Morgead walked around the room, his hands in his pockets and started to whistle.
"Morgead, could you perhaps, not whistle? It makes reading rather difficult," Hugh said still not looking up from his book.
"Do you know when she will be back?" Morgead asked.
"No, I do not."
"What good are you then? Why are you even here?" Morgead asked, his voice beginning to show his stress.
"Same reason you are, to keep her company," Hugh replied.
"But she's not here right now," Morgead countered.
"Which is why I am reading," Hugh replied.
"Don't you have a girl or something that would rather receive your attention?" Morgead asked.
"Instead of the book? I'm sorry, Morgead. I'm not following you," Hugh answered, his eyes still on the book.
Morgead walked behind the sofa and leaned over Hugh's shoulder. The other boy smelled strongly of soap. Morgead reached over the edge of the sofa and plucked the book out from Hugh's hands.
"Hey," Hugh said and turned around to face Morgead. "I was reading that."
"Well, now maybe you will pay attention to me," Morgead replied, slipping the book into the back of his jeans without looking at it.
"What can I do for you?" Hugh said, his voice flat.
"Talk to me," Morgead replied.
"About what?" Hugh asked.
Morgead placed his hands on the back of the sofa and swung his legs over. "About anything, I told you I was bored."
"And I told you to read a book," Hugh smirked.
"Yeah, but that isn't happening," Morgead said.
"You would be surprised at how interesting a book could be," Hugh answered. "The things you might learn, for example."
"You might not think it, but I am pretty smart. I think stuff all the time. According to Thoreau, I think therefore I am." Morgead crossed his legs and look smugly at Hugh.
Hugh burst out laughing.
"What is so funny?" Morgead asked.
"Nothing," Hugh said in between hiccups of laughter. "But you really do need to read a book."
"Stop laughing!" Morgead shouted, but the laughter continued. He lunged at Hugh, knocking him off the sofa and on to the floor. Still laughing, Hugh struggled against Morgead. The boys rolled across the floor, wrestling with each other, each failing to pin the other. Chairs were knocked over as the boys rolled around the room, their grunts increasing with volume as they struggled.
Hugh, despite his weak leg was eventually able to push Morgead off him and into one of the bookcases. Paperback novels tumbled down over Morgead's head.
"There, even the books want you to read," Hugh laughed from his seat on the floor across from Morgead. Morgead looked at Hugh for a brief moment before lunging again. Hugh scrambled away out of Morgead's reach. The books that had fallen slowed Morgead down. Hugh stood up at the opposite end of the sofa, Morgead at the other.
"Truce?" Hugh offered.
"What was so funny?" Morgead asked.
"I'm not telling," Hugh smiled.
"Then no," Morgead shifted his weight to his left, then his right in an attempt to fake out the other boy. On the fifth shift, Hugh fell for it and ran to the front of the sofa only to be pinned by Morgead.
"Gotcha" Morgead laughed.
"Good for you," Hugh said shifting under Morgead's weight.
"Oh my!" A shrill woman's voice and a door slam caught their attention. One of the day breakers had wandered in to the library and promptly scurried out. This time both boys laughed and Morgead rolled off Hugh. Both boys leaned against the couch to catch their breath.
"She's going to go tell Jez again," Hugh said, rubbing his kneecap.
"And then we'll get the lecture about making messes and noise and how we need to be respectful of the compound as it is keeping us all alive and how it makes her look bad that her boys can't seem to go a day without fighting blah blah" Morgead said.
"When really, she's just upset that she missed all the fun," Hugh smiled.
"So, will you tell me now what was so funny?" Morgead asked, running a hand through his hair.
"Will you promise to read a book?" Hugh asked.
"Fine, whatever just tell me."
"The person that said 'I think therefore I am' was Descartes. He lived centuries before Thoreau." Hugh answered.
"So why was that funny?" Morgead asked.
"Because you were so smug and yet so wrong" Hugh smiled.
"You are weird. Very weird," Morgead said, standing up.
"If you say so, you still have to read a book though, so I see myself as the winner of this little excursion," Hugh said.
"Fine, what book do I have to read?" Morgead asked, placing his hands in his pockets.
"The one I was reading is fine," Hugh said, getting up from the floor and heading towards the door.
Morgead walked over to the pile of books on the floor. "How will I know which one it was?" He asked.
"Well," Hugh started. From the front of the house, a door closed and the boys could hear Jez's voice as she entered the building.
"Just tell me," Morgead said, getting impatient.
"It's called 'the Man from O.R.G.Y,'" Hugh smiled as he left the room to go greet Jez.
"He's got to be kidding," Morgead muttered to himself as he sorted through the pile of books. Morgead laughed as he pulled the paperback novel out of the pile. "He wasn't kidding."
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