1st floor lobby

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

All the packing was done, so she took a diet coke and went out to watch TV. The remote was on the table as she tried to pay attention to The March of the Penguins...but she fell asleep anyhow.


[open for one final assault on the speech teacher. Go wee!wild]

Comments

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"My name's Walter." He shifted the squirming hellpuppy to a chokehold with his left arm and stuck out a hand, reciting. "Nice-to-meet-you-CJ."

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

She took his hand, a smile charmed from her with his cute wee!manners. "It's nice to meet you too, Walter. I think your puppy wants down."

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

Walter was already distracted by the marching penguins on the television and didn't loosen his hold on the puppy, who other than dangling and wiggling, seemed surprisingly unbothered by the fact that he was being strangled.

"What do penguins eat? Why are you here? Do you live here? Do penguins bite? Can I sit on your lap?"

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

It took her a moment to process the frantic line of questioning, then she nodded. "You can sit on my lap and I'll tell you all about penguins, Walter. I live here becasue i'm a teacher. And penguins..." she patted her lap before continuing.

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

Walter smiled and dropped Pup on the floor before scrambling up into CJ's lap. "Yay! Can a penguin change clothes?"

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

"Nope. They always wear their feathers." she said as she wrapped her arms around him. "They eat fish, see? they jump into the water and catch them." she explained, pointing to the movie.

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

Walter snuggled up against CJ and settled in to watch the penguins. "Do sharks eat penguins? I nearly got eated by a shark the other day." He leaned in to whisper loudly in her ear, "It was scary."

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

"Sharks and penguins don't live in the same place. cuz evidently penguins live in Canada and snub maple syrup But orcas eat penguins. Those are killer whales, orcas. They're black and white too."

She settled back into the cushions, snuggling the little boy and shut off that part of her brain that was screaming at her about how surreal it was she was doing this.

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

Walter hadn't had mum snuggles in more than four years, so he was milking it for all he was worth. Or at least until he got bored, whichever came first. "Do you think penguins taste like chicken if you're a killer whale?"

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

"I pet they do. Cold, wet chicken." she agreed as she unconsciously ruffled her fingers in his hair. She lost herself in the thought of what if...what if she'd gotten Jack at this age instead of seventeen...but it faded quickly as the mommy penguin regurgitated for the baby, and CJ kind of went green.

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"Yuck!" Walter yelled at the top of his lungs. "Why'd he do that?"

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

"That's how penguin parents feed penguin babies. They catch the fish and then throw them up into the babies mouths." she looked down at him and waited a beat. "Becasue they don't have fingers or teeth."

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"That's... ewww!" Walter squirmed and made a face but didn't look away from the screen. Maybe more gross stuff would happen.

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

"That's just how they take care of their babies, Walter. I bet your mommy fed you mashed up food when you were little." she siad softly. She'd seen this a couple times, so knew just when to cover his eyes when the whale came to eat the penguins.

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"My mum made the best food," Walter agreed.

He pulled at her hands when she covered his eyes, protesting, "I wanna see!"

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

In gruesome and repetative detail, the orca lunged up the beach and snatched at the penguins. Some got eaten, some simply bled a lot. "It's not nice, Walter, but it's how anilmals just are. I bet that is an orca mommy taking penguin food back to her baby. What do you think?"

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"Chicken penguins," Walter said, nodding solemnly. "For the baby orcas to eat because the mum's a good mummy." That made complete sense.

"You're a good snuggler."

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

"So are you, Walter. So what are you doing here today? Visiting someone?" she asked, unable to keep her hands off his hair.

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

Walter huffed at the silly question, but tolerated the hair ruffling because she was so nice. "I live here. So's Pup. We're freshmen!"

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

She looked down at him cuddled on her lap, "Walter...Dornez? oh, my mistake. I met you during detention. I remember now." Of course he was Walter made wee. How else cuold her last day go but weird.

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"With the storytime. I remember." He leaned over conspiratorially and whispered very loudly. "I was a pink pony and Aeryn wore a pink dress."

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

"That's right, Walter. There was a lot of pink that day. Did you have fun?" she asked as she tried very hard not to laugh.

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

Walter nodded earnestly and smiled. "I did. The pink floaty thing was funny."

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

"She was funny, huh? Have you ever been a pony before, Walter? Of any color...not just pink." she asked, biting the inside of her lip.

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"Uh uh." Walter shook his head and bounced on her leg. "But I was a girl." He held up two fingers in her face. "Two times!"