Fairest

Date/Timing: 10 November 2006
Setting: Bastien's school; Berlin, Germany
.
Hermann hovers behind the backdrop of Bastien and Anaïs' science fair project, switching his cane from hand to hand and hoping there's enough cover to hide him.
„/There you are!“ huffs Bastien, peering around the end of the table, then he grabs Hermann's arm and drags him around the front of the display. „What were you doing back there?“
„I didn't want to distract from you,“ murmurs Hermann.
Bastien scoffs, „You were /hiding.“
Hermann shrugs.
„From the crowd or from Father?“
„Yes.“
Bastien rolls his eyes.
««Bunny!»»
«Over here!» Bastien waves his hand in the air.
Anaïs races up, glomps Bastien, rumpling them both.
He squirms for appearances' sake.
A handsome older couple, hand-in-hand, stroll up; Anaïs spins to them and beams.
They glow back at her.
Hermann's heart twitches.
The man releases his hold, crouches to primary schooler-level. „Hello there, Mr Gottlieb,“ he greets Bastien, offering his hand. „I'm Stefan, Anaïs' dad.“
Bastien wipes his palm on his trousers, grips the hand, gives a solid shake. „Hi, Doctor Engelhorn.“
„None of that, son. As much as Anaïs talks about you, you're nearly one of the family. 'Stefan', please.“
Bastien melts a touch, nods.
Doctor Engelhorn stands and Mrs Engelhorn turns her smile on Hermann. „You must be the Hermann of whom Anaïs has spoken so warmly.“
„I am and I'm flattered. It's a pleasure to meet you,“ he replies, bowing to them both.
„Did you two do this all on your own?“ asks Doctor Engelhorn, who's stepped back to admire the display of intricate moving bits and circuits.
„Yes!“
„Well, Hermann helped with some of the maths,“ amends Anaïs.
„Impressive. I don't believe I've ever seen the like. All of the basic physics principles in one machine.“ Doctor Engelhorn shakes his head. 
Bastien and Anaïs exchange a sneaky glance and beam.
„Oh my goodness. Bastien, did you draw all of this?“
„Anaïs helped me with some of the designs, but, yes, I did.“
„You have a real gift for art, young man.“
Bastien preens.
„May we see how it works?“
„Of course!“ chorus Anaïs and Bastien.
The Engelhorns laugh.
„Please press that button, Mummy.“
Mrs Engelhorn does and the carefully balanced network of levers, circuits, ramps, pulleys, magnets, and LEDs /whirs and blinks to life.
It works flawlessly, the hopper at the finish dropping a single hard candy into Bastien's hand.
He offers it to Anaïs; she accepts with a shy smile.
The Engelhorns—and the small crowd of families and teachers drawn by the lights and /bleeps—applaud enthusiastically.
„Rube Goldberg would be proud,“ grins Doctor Engelhorn.
Mrs Engelhorn scans the audience. „I think I know who will win the People's Choice Award, if nothing else~!“
Bastien and Anaïs go incandescent with pride.
Father—
Hermann startles.
—clears his throat as he materializes at Hermann's side.
Bastien controls a cringe, pivots, greets, „Hello, Father.“
Doctor Engelhorn lights up, steps over, offers his hand. „Mr—“
„/Doctor.“ Father shakes.
„—Doctor Gottlieb. Stefan Engelhorn.“
„A pleasure, Doctor.“ He bobs his chin. „Mrs Engelhorn.“
„Haven't our little ones done a wonderful job?“ she coos.
„It's certainly a fine bit of work.“
„It's especially fine considering they had so little time to work together on it,“ points out Doctor Engelhorn.
Father is impassive.
„An engineer such as yourself must be so /proud!“
„I appreciate the effort—“
The line of Bastien's shoulders goes taut.
„—that went into the design and execution.“
Mrs Engelhorn controls a frown.
Doctor Engelhorn doesn't.
Father bends, pokes at a join between two cardboard pieces.
„Please don't touch that,“ says Bastien. „It's really fragile.“
Father /hmphs, but straightens and leaves it alone.
Mrs Engelhorn tries again. „Bastien is your youngest?“
„Yes.“
„And you have four children?“
„Yes.“ Father puts his shoulders back. „Dietrich is a physician here in the city, Karla is abroad earning her doctorate, Hermann is a student at TU Berlin, and you know Bastien already, it seems.“
„We've only just met him tonight, but Anaïs has told us a bit about him.“
Father grunts.
Anaïs and Bastien ignore him to chat with the school director about their machine.
„You are so blessed with such wonderful children,“ says Mrs Engelhorn. „We tried for so /long for one of our own, but ....“
„It wasn't meant to be,“ finishes Doctor Engelhorn.
„Then a colleague of Stefan's introduced us to Anaïs and we fell in love. She's the daughter we hoped for.“ She strokes Anaïs' hair.
Anaïs smiles, leans into the gentle touch.
Hermann tightens his grip on his cane as his heart impales itself on a rib.
Bastien slinks over, nudges his foot—
Hermann drags his attention to him.
—whispers, 「Wish we were theirs, right?」
「They certainly have a different attitude toward their child.」
「A /better one.」
Hermann shrugs.
「Have you ... do you ever wonder what it'd be like to be wanted?」
「Not for a long time.」 Hermann takes a deep breath to brace himself, asks, 「You?」
「Every time I see kids with their families.」 
Father gives them a Look.
Hermann cringes.
Bastien sniffs, turns his back, and resets the machine for another run.
Category:Ficlet
Category:Berlin (setting)
Category:Hermann
Category:Hermann's POV
Category:Hermann (ficlet)
Category:Bastien
Category:Bastien (ficlet)
Category:Anais
Category:Anais (ficlet)
Category:Lars
Category:Lars (ficlet)
Category:Ficlets with images
Category:Celestial Mechanics
2006 11 10