Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 76943 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76943 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
He wasn’t giggling, so he wasn’t little or one of the pony subs or anything like that.
“My little helper, will you pop your bubble so we can help this gentleman? He seems…new.” Daddy didn’t want to say confused but the man was confused.
“Okay, Daddy, but you talk.” I’d talk to the men at the diner or the bakery or the post office or with the lady who sold books or the crystal people…oh, the man. Had to pop the bubble.
Poke.
“Did it, Daddy.” I was so helpful and bubbles were so much fun to pop. Gum bubbles. Soapy bubbles. Magic bubbles.
“Hello.” Daddy stuck out his hand and was pretending I hadn’t popped the magic bubble but everyone seemed to know about magic, so I wasn’t worried. “Pierce. We’re not from around here and it looks like neither are you.”
The man nodded and tried to look relaxed but he seemed glad we weren’t local.
That made Daddy like him better and he stopped being frustrated that the nosy man had come up to talk to us. “It is very nice to meet you.”
Looking at Daddy’s hand, the tall man stretched out his arm like he was one of my no-touching friends. Daddy seemed to know there were no-touching friends too because he went very still but the new man carefully shook his hand before stepping back.
He was a Daddy who was very proud of himself, but he stood straighter and tried not to show that. “I’m not local either but I am here to help facilitate fixing the…issues that have recently occurred.”
A helper Daddy.
That was nice.
“I’m from Texas and here about the issues as well.” Daddy shook his head and looked around the area, frowning again. “I’m concerned at the lack of supervision of it, but that’s something we can easily remedy.”
The new man went very still before nodding slowly. “I was surprised by the lack of attention as well.”
Bad surprised, right?
“We were talking about hiring someone to monitor it full time. Is that something you think your community would support?” Daddy gestured toward me but he didn’t make me talk. He just kept going. “We’ll have to divide out the finances that will be needed. It wouldn’t be fair to make them support that here, and I think it will give everyone more standing to question what’s going on.”
Daddy managed not to roll his eyes but it was hard. They liked going round and round. It made Daddy happy to show everyone how frustrated he was too.
The man was trying not to smile but it was hard. “They like questions but not about topics that would be pertinent to the situation. They’re more…curious.”
Daddy sighed.
The man liked that and actually chuckled.
“They’re insane and incredibly nosy. From what Merritt’s told me, they’ve been trained to respond to safewords.” Daddy waved his hand toward me and smiled before shaking his head. As I giggled, the man frowned and cocked his head.
Oh, he was a very new Daddy.
My Daddy paused for a moment and then sounded a tiny bit nicer. “Words that will stop a situation or conversation that aren’t the word no. Sometimes people need extra clarity that you really mean for them to stop. So in this case, just tell them red to stop the conversation and yellow to get them to change the topic or back off.”
“Fascinating.” The man nodded and got a thinky face. “I will remember that and it does explain a few curious instructions I was given.”
He needed another second to think, so I was good and let him be thinky. But Daddy didn’t need to think, so I reached out my legs and trapped his, wiggling it to get attention. I liked attention and I knew Daddy was going to be the best attentioner.
Daddy was so funny. He looked over at me and his mouth twitched but he kept his straight face and pretended to ignore me.
So I had to keep doing it.
That was just how it worked.
Wiggle. Wiggle. Wiggle.
As I tried to decide what he’d do if I took off my shoe and wiggled my toes on him, the man stopped thinking about safewords and got curious again.
He looked under the table.
Oops.
Daddy cocked his head and focused on the man, who didn’t look mad or like he was going to say naughty words but was very curious.
The man wasn’t local but he was diner curious.
I stopped being silly, and the man frowned as he straightened. “I apologize if this is an inappropriate topic of conversation. I am from a very small town and social norms are hard to understand here.”
He knew just how to make Daddy like him.
Daddy scoffed and almost smiled. “You’re not kidding. Not much internet access, huh? I know some areas are still much further behind than the average American on either coast seems to understand. Let me know if you need information on satellite internet. We had to install that out at the ranch.”