Hod tried
not to hurry as he left the student council room behind. But he could tell that
his steps were still quicker than normal. He felt and heard the door close
behind him and he let out a sigh that he didn’t even know he was holding in. Conversation
and greetings started up behind him only slightly muffled by the partly closed
door. Hod wasn’t meaning to run away but he knew that that was what he was
doing. It wasn’t only Clair that was uncomfortable to be with him. Hod wasn’t
sure if he could face her right now. It hadn’t even been a week since they both
found out.
He could
still remember that Saturday night as clearly as if it was now.
Sitting in the
café, alone, the smell of coffee and pastries thick in the air. So thick he
almost couldn’t smell the soft scent of the rose in front of him. He touched
the rose feeling its velvet petals. The prickle of the spiny leafs. He wondered
if it was beautiful. He wondered if she would like it. He had had to have help
by the casher. She had said it was a beautiful red rose, the prettiest one they
had. Sometimes it was hard to trust people. Especially when it was something so
important to him.
The chime of the
little bell over the door rang as someone walked in. Hod sat up straight
without meaning to, he wanted to laugh he wanted to throw up at the same time.
He couldn’t tell how his stomach had so much room for whale sized butterflies
and elephants to march through accompanied by a band of bears and giants. It
happened each time he heard that bell the announcer of doom the bringer of his
salvation. Hod took a deep breath, it wasn’t her. The footsteps proclaimed that
they were wearing a loafer type shoe. Definitely not her, she would never wear
something like that. Hod let out the breath he had been holding. It came out as
a long sigh. He sat there every once in a while touching the rose to make sure
it was there. Sitting there waiting…
waiting.
Hod tried to shake himself awake
from the memory. He didn’t want to remember the part that slowly killed him
every night in his dreams and every time he had to hear her voice. He couldn’t
help thinking that the café was the end. The end of his dream. The end of Clair
and Hod. The end of William and Elisabeth. Hod gripped his bag tightly feeling
his computer inside. If the café was the end, then his computer was the
beginning...
“Happy birthday to
you, happy birthday to you” The age old happy birthday song, Hod thought to
himself as his family and friends sang away at their loudest. Well really it
was his Father, who wasn’t singing, his step mother who was singing loud enough
for both of them. She still didn’t quit realize that being blind had no effect
on one’s hearing. David was there of course as well as some of David’s
followers. All except for Clair. Hod didn’t think he could ever count Clair as
one of David’s followers. For some reason it just never fit her.
Hod was actually a
little surprised that Clair was there at all. Clair and Hod did not have the
best of relationships. It wasn’t necessarily bad, they could talk and have some
great conversation sometime, sometimes it would surprise Hod how deep they
could get. Clair was not someone that Hod would have thought was deep. She was
the cheerleader captain, and had been since there freshman year. He could hear
her conversations with her friends about what actor was the hottest and the
latest gossip in school and Hollywood. In short she was your cookie cutter major
popular girl. The reason that Hod was surprised she was there was because of
their HvC. Hod verses Clair.
Hod didn’t like to
let other people control his actions by manipulating him. He liked to be calm
and collected no matter what. For some reason though Clair was able to get
under his skin without even trying. Sometimes this led to arguments, some of
them quit famous and legends around school. It would always start off as
something small. Just a conversation they were having. Then they would start arguing
and soon it would be a giant debate with one or both of them stomping off in
frustration.
“Here you go buddy
open it” David said putting a box in his hands. Hod didn’t know what people
still insisted on wrapping presents up for him when he was blind and couldn’t
see them anyway. He carefully unwrapped the paper setting it to one side then
started the process of trying to open the box. He could feel the tension in the
room rise every time he did something like this. But those closest to him had
figured out that it was just better to let him figure it out instead of doing
everything for him. Hod didn’t mind help but he wanted to do stuff on his own.
Awkwardly he got the box open and pulled out what was inside.
“Nice David. I
needed some new headphones.” Hod said running his hands over the device.
Feeling the soft foam of the ear cups and indentions running along the head
band.
“There not just
any headphones Hod. There Beats, the best ones. Just wait until you hear them.
There amazing.” Hod could hear the excitement in his friend’s voice. “Also they
have a built in mic so you can talk into them when you’re using your phone or
computer”
“Wow, thanks
David” Hod said putting the ear phones around his neck. The rested there
comfortably. “Really David. I like them already”
“Here Hod, I got
you something to.” Clair said putting a small heavy rectangular box in his
hand. Hod could never mistake Clair’s voice. It was strong and soft at the same
time, and underneath it all was the sound of crystal chimes. He didn’t romantically
like her at the time it was just how her voice was. He couldn’t tell everyone
by their voice, but there were a few that he could never mistake.
The box was long
and thin, opening at the top. Hod carefully slid out the contents into his
hand. It was hard and felt like mettle, forming the shape of a man. It felt
like he held a staff, and had a long flowing cloak. Not something that he was
expecting from Clair.
“Uhmm,
what is it?” Hod asked as quit laughter filled the room.
“It’s
a statue of you.” Clair replied this time there was nothing quit about the
laughter.
“Dude,
it’s a little statue of a Viking with a staff and armor.” David said a little
sarcasm in his voice. “It even has a beard and everything.”
“Well
I think that it’s adorable.” Hods step mother Amanda said.
“No,
that’s not it.” Clair said. “Hod do you remember how we talked about your name
and how it came from the Norse god of winter and poetry. Well I was at a store
and I saw that statue. It reminded me of our talk. When I asked the store owner
about it he said that it was Hod or Hodur or Hooder or something like that.
Anyway it’s the Norse god that you get your nickname from. I don’t know I just
thought you would like it.” She trailed off almost sheepishly.
Hod turned the
statue over in his hands feeling the details in the cold metal. A plate on the
base had a word in raised letters. He could make out the h o and d of his name.
“Thank you Clair it is very different. It’s very unique, I like it.”
“Okay Hod, it’s our
turn now and then it’s on to the cake.” Hods father said. Hods father was an English
professor and dean at the University of British Colombia. He treated everyone
more like students than anything else, even Hod. Everyone even called him
Professor Winters. Hod knew that his father loved him. They just didn’t have
what you might call a normal relationship. For the most part they just involuntary
ignored each other.
Another box was
set in front of him this time long flat and very square. The package was
wrapped, and had a large bow on the front, Amanda must have gotten to it. Carefully
Hod set about the task of arduously unwrapping the present. As he was unwrapping
the present an audible gasp came from those in the room as what was underneath was
reviled. Even David let out a wow. On the
top of the box thoughtfully in brail was the words MacBook Pro S modified.
“I had a couple of
professors and IT guys help me build that and put it together.” Professor
Winters said. “Its state of the art. It has a brail reader and can convert the
text on the screen to brail. It comes with all the features that aloud you to
use you other computer just upgraded. Well the computer was made for you”
Hod had never been
more flabbergasted in his life. He had finally gotten the computer out with
some insisted help from Amanda. It cover was smooth and yet had a tacky grip to
it. The laptop was so light, it couldn’t weigh more than one maybe two pounds.
Hod couldn’t wait to get it to his room and start figuring it out. He already knew
one of the first things that he would use it for.
