"Dad, what 'cha doin'?"Mooney looked up from the photo album he had found in a box at the bottom of the Christmas ornaments box. He'd stashed it there years ago to keep it safe. From what, he wasn't exactly sure, but he had done it as a very young pup. It had seemed like a safe place to keep his happy memories safe since he had been the only one interested in putting up Christmas decorations after Mom died.
"Come here, buddy," he said to Loki with a fond smile. He saw Thor poke his head up through the crawl space door and motioned that son to come sit on his other side. The three of them said nothing for a while; just looked at the pictures.
"What are all these, Dad?" Thor asked after a while.
"My happy memories," he replied simply.
"Oh," Thor said, sounding a bit confused.
"You mean these are pictures from times in your life that were very happy, right?" Loki asked.
"Yep, that's what I mean," Mooney agreed. "Life in our house was always very... loud. Not always very happy and never peaceful," he continued. "So I took to collecting happy memories and storing them in this album. To keep them safe."
"So you could come up here and remember the happy times when you were not happy?" Thor asked. Mooney nodded.
"Dad?" Loki asked.
"Yeah, buddy?" Mooney prompted after a very long pause.
"Why are there so many pictures of Uncle Nick and Aunt Reetha but not so many of you?"
"Oh, I was there, buddy," Mooney replied.
"And look at all these pictures of me an Loki," he continued.
"But there's no pictures of you in here at all, Dad," Loki said, picking up the theme.
"I was there, don't you worry," Mooney said again.
"But if this is your happy memory book, why are there no pictures of you in it?"
"Looking at my own mug isn't a happy memory, bud. Taking pictures of the things that make happy memories is a better picture of me than anything a mirror could ever show," he said, smiling wistfully.
"So I guess you are in there," Loki said. "Not your face but your heart is in every one of them."
"Yeah, buddy, it is," Mooney agreed quietly.
4 comments:
Aaaahhh... tickles the heart strings, loving it. And Mooney's pics are priceless. Wonderful, Rebecca.
Mooney's sweet heart is definitely there! I can totally see Nick and Reetha hogging the camera. :D
Awwww ... something for him to share with his boys. Has Marissa seen these yet?
I have no idea if Marissa's seen them yet. He does hide them in the Christmas tree orniment box and she's a witch, so maybe not.
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