It's Definitely Not All Mary Poppins

Learn To Play The Game (4)

Yang shifted in his seat – the tableau of an uncomfortable child – and opened his booklet. His hands trembled as he flipped open the first page, frowning at the emptiness of it. Smears of eraser marks lined it with patches of gray lead. In parts, the page had torn. "No." The answer was soft, dripping in self-disappointment. "I...did not know what I was supposed to be looking for."

"Anything, Daddy," Lilly told him. "Anything that interests you."

The older man pursed his lips and frowned. Hunching forward, he covered his face with his hands and sighed. "I did not draw anything. I just – " Yang grunted. His voice was gravelly, soft and deep in his throat. "I kept looking around, wondering when the 'something made of a jewel' was going to come up, or when something really amazing for animal rearing would pop up. And...now we're here, and I do not remember half of the things I saw."

Matthew frowned. "Don't try to find the best thing, sir."

"How am I supposed to know that?"

"You don't. You pick something, or everything, that catches your eye." Matthew turned to Lilly. "The whale skeleton upstairs always was cool to me."

"Remember that big dress I drew at the other museum?"

"Yes. Big and swooshy." He smirked.

Lilly smiled. "I like that dress. I want more dresses like that."

"But...how are you able to know that?" Yang asked.

Matthew shrugged. "A guttural feeling, I guess? I mean, Lilly picked the fruit cart because she could imagine walking over to it." He turned to Eli. "What's something you've drawn before?"

"Nothing," he grumbled.

"I distinctly remember you drawing a gun when Danny came with us once."

Eli wiggled in his seat. "I don't."

Matthew hummed. "If I recall, it was from 16-something?"

"15-something," Eli corrected. "It was brought over by a colonist."

"And Danny drew an iguana."

"I wanted him to draw the rattlesnake."

Yang sat forward. "Why did you pick that one?"

"The rattlesnake?" Eli asked. "Oh. They're poisonous – "

"No, you drew a gun from...15-something. Why that one? Surely there must have been others more worthy?"

Eli stared, his expression trying to harden but unable to combat with the line of questioning from his uncle. He shrugged, glancing down. "I don't know. It was one of those cool snapback ones where you pull back the...thing – " Using both arms, Eli motioned pulling back the lock back. " – and then when you fire, it snaps forward." His arms slammed together. "It looked like there could've been a bayonet on it, too."

"And you just...picked it?"

"I thought it was cool."

Yang's face fell, and it was clear he was drowning in overanalysis.

"Guys," Matthew interjected, "this afternoon, lets do another walkthrough of the exhibits. A repeat, shall we say."

"Again?" Eli groaned.

"A quick one. Lilly, you're with me, and Eli, you're with your uncle."

"The hell I will."

"I'm fine with that," Lilly said.

"I'm not!"

"Tough love, Eli."

"What'd I do?"

Matthew shook his head. "I think your uncle needs someone to help him get out of his head."

"Like a spiritual thing?" Lilly asked. "He's wanted to try something – "

"I don't have my talisman for that, though," Eli told her.

"No, like – no. No separating people from their souls. Not today." He turned to Yang. "Sir, you're paired with Eli. Your job, for this walk-through, is just to look. No thinking. Look at everything." He glanced at Eli. "Young one, your job is to make sure he draws one thing. One."

Yang shifted in his chair. "That...that puts pressure on me."

"I am certain you can find one thing, regardless of what it is, to doodle. No prompts, nothing. Completely open-ended. Just something that catches your eye. No matter how big or small it is." He offered a soft, encouraging smile. "You can do this."

The older man's posture straightened out. Yang's shoulders rolled back as he stared forward, fear in his eyes.

"You can do this, Jun."

Yang's eyes darted to his nephew. After a long moment of hesitation, he nodded.

The afternoon was cloaked in the boy belittling his uncle with such ferocity onlookers must've worried about the abuse of power. Matthew was always close by, studying them, ready to pounce the moment Eli uttered another swear word.

He didn't. Eli knew his nanny was close by, and clipped many of his potentially more scathing remarks. Several times he tried abandoning his uncle, though the attempts were unsuccessful.

The sun was setting when they were leaving the museum, yellowed light streaked across the parking lot. Eli stormed off to the black Toyota Prius, complaining under his breath of how much of a zombie his uncle was. "And not even a good one."

"On a scale of one to catastrophic, how bad was pairing Eli with your dad?" Matthew asked Lilly, the museums shop bag hanging around his wrist.

"Bad," she whispered. "He's angry."

"Which one?"

"Both."

Matthew sighed. "I might've helped with that." He paused, still in sight of the car and the front doors for his employer.

She looked at him expectantly.

"Your..." he started, but stopped himself. Matthew kneeled down. "Lilly, I can't use your power right now. Not after your week with your grandparents."

Lilly's lips parted, obviously ready to retort, but the almost six-year-old stopped herself. Her posture slouched a little. "You don't need me for anything?"

"I need you for a lot of things," Matthew said, smirking, "but right now, not this."

She nodded slowly.

"Great power comes great responsibility, sweet child," he continued, standing at the sight of Mr. Yang finally leaving the museum, "and when you're recharged and ready, I'll need all the help I can get."

"Is it about Eli and his parents?"

Matthew turned to her. "Too smart for your own good, you are."

She smirked. "Didn't read him. Eli told me what you said."

"Oh."

"Yeah." Lilly ran her hand over her shoulders. "He's angry. Really angry about it."

"I know."

"He says you lied."

"I know."

Lilly stared at him. Studying him carefully, every muscle movement and eye twitch.