MollyWobbles

Spoons (xx)

Hello, William.

Playlist:
1. "Anchor" by Novo Amor (Aug. 30)
2. " Clocks" by Vitamin String Quartet (Nov. 29)
3. "Welcome Home, Son" by Radical Face (Nov. 29, after scene break)

[CW: Substance abuse, pregnancy, childbirth]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Part IV: Spoons (xx)

Arthur

August 30, 1970

He was lining little stones up, for the garden when Molly darted outside like she wasn't nearly seven months along.

"Molly," he said, low and warning as he shifted a bit of soil into place for where the tomatoes would go, eventually.

"It's Bilius," she said. "Bilius is here." She had a kitchen towel in her hands, and she was wringing it back and forth.

Arthur frowned at the landscaping, then rose. "You mean properly here?"

She nodded.

Wonderful!

Molly looked terrified.

Was it not wonderful?

"Arthur, he's—"

Bilius rounded the corner then, walking slightly off kilter. "Where's the dad-to-be—" he slurred.

Bilius stood nearly as tall as Gideon and Fabian, now, but his face had a haggard, drawn look to it that Arthur had seen enough times in some of the fellows spilling out of Knockturn.

Oh, no.

He wore a kilt, and a waistcoat and jacket. "My dad's dead," Bilius announced. Then he frowned. "Well, Marvin's dead." He pulled a gulp from the dark bottle in his hand. "D'you know Marvin's dead?"

He was plastered.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Arthur said slowly.

"Don't be," Bilius said. "He's been dead for a while." He turned to Molly and lifted a brow, then said in a low, lilting voice. "Muriel didn't want you to crow over it, so she kept it all quiet."

Molly gasped. "I would not have—"

Bilius waved her off.

Arthur's mind flew in leaps and bounds. "Then why are you, um—" he nodded at the bottle.

Bilius grinned. "Because my birthday," he said, splaying his arms and swooping into a low bow. "And a fellow's got to get all dressed up on his birthday, now hasn't he?"

Bilius draped an arm over Molly's shoulders. "Thought I'd come see the happy family for myself," he said.

"Happy birthday, Bilius," Molly said softly.

Bilius's eyes began to redden. "It's my birthday," he said. "My seventeenth—" His throat bobbed.

Molly looked at Arthur.

Arthur looked at Molly.

Then, he looked down. Slowly, he withdrew the scuffed, gold-inlaid pocket watch from his trousers. A simple gift from his father, during Arty's seventh year. He never had gotten around to tinkering with it.

Arthur bobbed his head and strode over. "Bilius," he said. Then he held it out.

There was a slight pinch in his ribs as he let it go, but Arthur brushed it aside.