“Doesn’t he sleep in on the weekends?”
“That boy doesn’t know the meaning of the word. I’m surprised he isn’t down here already. The sun comes up, and he’s out of bed.” About that time, they heard a door open upstairs and then the bathroom door in the hall close. “And there he is,” Aunt Maggie said with a little chuckle.
“I’m like that as well. Up at six thirty, whether I want to be or not. It’s annoying sometimes.”
Garon came into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes, as Simon finished speaking. His hair was sticking up all over the place, and his shirt was half-tucked into his pajama pants. He walked over to Simon and leaned against him, blinking sleepily. “Morning,” Simon said, wrapping an arm over Garon’s shoulders for a brief hug.
Aunt Maggie grinned over her shoulder at them. “He might get up early, but he doesn’t talk for a few. He’s like his daddy that way. And speaking of, I’d better get the coffee on. Pre-coffee Gray is not pleasant.”
Garon giggled into Simon’s side. “Dad says coffee is his go-juice.”
Simon laughed, thinking of how talkative Gray liked to be at other times. It was good to know he was grumbly sometimes too. “Well, my go-juice is a morning meditation, which I’d better get to if I want to eat breakfast while it’s still hot. Do I have time?”
“Oh, sure. The sauce needs to thicken up a bit more. Will ten minutes or so do you?”
“Yep, that’ll work. Just holler out the back door if I’m not in when it’s ready.”
“Will do.”
“Hey, Simon, can I come with you?”
Simon stared over at him in surprise. “Well, sure, if you want to. You’ll have to be quiet though, okay?”
Garon grinned. “I can be quiet. Sometimes.”
Aunt Maggie snorted, and they all laughed as Simon and Garon went out the back door. Once they reached the grass, Simon sat down and crossed his legs. Garon mirrored his movements, and they sat facing each other in the early morning light.
“Now, what I do is just sit quietly for a minute and concentrate on settling my magic for the day. Just a little pick-me-up to make sure everything is how I want it. You want to try?”
“Sure!” Garon closed his eyes and put his hands on his knees. Simon smiled and did the same. He focused his energy and was amazed at how quickly he became centered. It was effortless—which it hadn’t been for a very long time.
After a few minutes of meditation, Simon peeked through one eye to see what Garon was doing. He had to bite his lip to keep from laughing. Garon was sitting in the same position, but his head was bobbing as he kept falling asleep and jerking awake, only to fall asleep again.
Simon took pity on him, still chuckling to himself, and gently shook Garon’s shoulder. His eyes darted open, and he yawned widely. “Sorry, Simon.”
Simon stood up and pulled Garon up as well. “No problem. Sometimes that happens.” They went back into the kitchen to find Aunt Maggie plating up breakfast and Gray blinking and scowling over a cup of coffee at the table. Garon went over and leaned against him, and they rubbed their heads together for a moment before Garon sat down beside him.
“Where were you guys?” Gray’s voice was still low and scratchy from sleep, and he seemed especially grumpy.
“We meditated, Dad! Well, Simon meditated. I kinda fell asleep.” Garon’s little nap in the yard seemed to have energized him. Gray looked back and forth at them, then glared back down at his coffee. He took a small sip and leaned back in his chair with a quiet sigh.
Aunt Maggie placed plates in front of Garon and Simon. Garon took the little ball of yolk from the side and crumbled it over his food with glee. Simon attempted to copy him, but he ended up with a mess of yolk all over his fingers. After cleaning himself off on his napkin, Simon gave the mysterious-looking egg concoction a taste. “Wow. This is really good.”
Garon grinned around his mouthful. “I know,” he said, and dug back in.
Gray arched a brow at him. “Manners,” he said.
Garon chewed and swallowed before answering. “Sorry. But it is really good.”
“Thanks, sweetie,” Aunt Maggie said.
“What are we going to do today, Dad?”
Gray shrugged and took another drink of his coffee.
“I think we should show Simon around. Wouldn’t that be cool? He hasn’t seen anything here yet. We could show him the meeting hall, and maybe go see the other kids, oh, and we could go swimming at the pond!”
Gray looked at Simon, who was busily eating his breakfast. “That sounds like fun to me. Simon?”
