15 for 15 Contest --- Closed

“Come on, Chase. I know when I’m not welcome.”

“Caitlyn, wait.” Devin reached the door just as it slammed. He wondered just when the casual conversation took a wrong turn. 

“Might as well let her go – no reasoning with Caitlyn when she’s riled up.” Graham leaned forward and gestured to the chair. “Might as well sit back down.”

“Maybe I should leave.” Devin remained standing.

“Nonsense. She’ll throw the ball around with Chase for a bit, and she’ll be fine.”

“It’s just – we always seem to fight. Everything is fine and out of the blue.  . .”

“Yup, just like her mother and grandmother before her. Summer storms they are. Flash and bother for a bit, right out of the blue, and then sunshine and roses after. Never you mind, you’ll get used to it. Or at least learn how to take shelter.” Graham laughed.

“Don’t see how we’ll make it to getting used to it stage.” Devin paced the room, glancing out the window, he saw Caitlyn throw a tennis ball for Chase. “I don’t know why she puts up with me.”

“Sees something she likes, I reckon.”

I guess there’s a first for everything. “It’s just with her I always feel like I am under a microscope, being studied, analysed.”

“How does that make you feel?”

“Bloody uncomfortable. So, yeah, I snap at her when she asks so many questions.”

“Let me tell you about lil’ Cat. You want a refill there?”

“No, I’m fine.” Devin stood by the window. Even from this distance, he could see Caitlyn beginning to relax. Her shoulder’s rounded, less tense, and the ball thrown with grace not whipped in anger. He sighed. 

“Well, sit down, you make me nervous.”

“Sorry, Sir.” Devin perched on the edge of the chair.

“Caitlyn’s always been curious. Needs to know everything.”

Something in the older man’s demeanour helped Devin relax and he sank back into the chair with a bit of a chuckle. “You don’t have to tell me.”

“Why I remember a time, she came across a whole slew of millipedes. She must have been eight or nine.” Graham walked over to the bar to refill his bourbon. “You sure I can’t get you something?”

“Sure a beer would be fine. Bottle is okay.”

Graham opened the beer, handed it to Devin and settled back in his chair. “Now, you can imagine the average girl would have run screaming, but not Cat. She watched them. Caught a few and put them in a container. Studied those things like they knew the secret of life.”

Devin took a sip of beer, waiting for the point of the story. 

“Anyway, she had to know everything there was about those things. She read, researched, and eventually won the science fair”

“I’m sorry, Sir. I don’t see the point.”

“Getting there. She has been like that all her life. Has to know the why and wherefore. She is just trying to understand.”

“ She told you?” Devin fought the shame he felt whenever someone first learned about the schizophrenia. "There is no understanding this."

“Yup, and it don’t matter to me. If she sees something good in you, guaranteed there is.  You see, Devin, those millipedes are beneficial arthropods. Don't ever call them an insect, she'll bite your head off. Eat the bad bugs, work as decomposers, they do.”

“But –”

“She knows these things, and trust me, once she takes a liking to something, she is mighty fierce about protecting them. Can’t kill one of those things. Nope, she would have my hide.”

The screen door opened, and Chase bounded in. “Trust her, Devin. Give her a chance to give you a chance.”

“Hey, what are my two favorite guys talking about?” Caitlyn grabbed a beer out of the fridge and popped the lid.

 Devin basked in the warmth she exuded. “Summer storms.” Devin grinned.

“And millipedes.” Graham winked at Devin. 

“Millipedes? Did you know that they curl up when threatened, unlike the centipede that hides?”

Devin and Graham exchanged a smile.