Forgotten childhood memories

Eugene had always been a weak child. His collapsed lung a product of an accident he had had when he was younger. He didn't really get to play with the other kids as exercise exhausted him and would send him in to a coughing fit or worse, hyperventilation. His father had been great about it, even after losing his mother during birth, Eugene had been loved and cared for. And yet he always felt alone and left out.
He really shouldn't have been out in the rain. If he got sick he would have to go to multiple doctors and his father would have to take time out of his busy schedule. But here he was. Just a scrawny kid, clinging to his cane as he needed it today. He wanted to see how the drainage worked this part of town, even having brought some equipment that he had made himself. Or well his father had helped a bit, but it was still his very own prototype.
He was standing on the other side of the street as he saw a small boat disappear down in to the sewer drain, frowning before he noticed a kid on the other side as well. It wasn't unusual to see unaccompanied kids out here, but he had never had the guts to go up and introduce himself. He wasn't someone people wanted to be friends with, not when he was so ... weird. Moving closer a little carefully he ended up over by the crying girl, looking at her a bit, "was that your boat?" he asked carefully. He was already prepared to get shooed off, or made fun of.

Eugene was a bit skittish as she threw the pebble, for a second thinking that perhaps she would throw it after him. And yet she didn't. It surprised him, he had seen other kids hurt each other over way less. She sat down and he crutched over, leaning on his child size walking stick, having a support under his armpit so he didn't have to exhaust himself too much. He was wheezing a little, coughing as he looked from the girl to the sewer drain. Then he got an idea. Being the son of a scientist came in handy from time to time, "I know where this drain ends," he said, looking ahead and pointing. "We could go there, see if it has reached the end?" he suggested. It wouldn't be too bad of a walk, even if he was already soaked. Oh what a scolding he would get from his father when he got home.
His free hand he reached down to the girl, holding it for her to take. He was shivering a bit, his stance not that steady, and yet he seemed so willing to help her. Eugene was such a lonesome kid, and his worst fear was rejection. However with this sweet girl, he wanted to try again, even if he would end up getting hurt. "Let's go get your boat," he said, trying smiling, a few teeth missing from his grin, but they would slowly start growing in as he would age.

Stealing his nose? But he was using it! He sighed, giving in, nodding as if it was a deal they had made, but he guess his wager would be his nose. To be honest he was surprised she hadn't just run ahead already, he was limping quite badly today. Some days were better than others, but right now the medication he had made his muscles more prone to tiring. Her question made him shrug a little, he was here because he went where his father went, but that wasn't really a mysterious or rather cool answer. But then again he didn't care about coming off as cool, and most of the times he was branded as a weakling regardless. "My father brought me here for his studies ... He's a scientist, so he's teaching me a lot," Eugene had always spoken like he was elder than he was. Perhaps because of his heightened intelligence he had inherited from his father. "I do my own experiments as well," he added, though it wasn't really as cool as what his father could do.
He was silent for a while, feeling the rain make his clothes heavy and he struggled a bit as he moved. Straining himself wasn't good, but he was so sick and tired of always having to stop to rest that he pressed himself further every time he got the chance. "He's looking for a cure for me," he smiled, looking down as they reached some pretty muddy terrain. He coughed again, having to stop just to breathe a little more easily, hanging on to his walking stick just to have something stable near him. Okay, maybe he wanted to impress her as well. "There!" he said, pointing towards big drain pipes that ended up here. The waste smelling rather bad, but the rest of the Blocks weren't really smelling of roses either. He covered his mouth and nose with a part of his sleeve, though it only meant it was harder for him to breathe.

A scientist? That seemed exciting. He did sound like one of them smart people that would make Jane pull out her hair, but it was somehow less annoying when it came from him. The addition made her gasp. “Like what?” She asked, rather excited and intrigued to hear everything. She worked a lot with her hands too but she didnt make experiments, she just made things.
They moved on and she had to admit that being drenched was wearing her down too. She could probably dry her clothes before the next day if she made sure to go home early. It otherwise wouldnt be the first time she had started a day in damp clothes. “A cure? Are you ill?” She asked with a small frown, still skipping around him and keeping up. They finally got there and her eyes widened as she looked to the big drain pipes ahead. They were definitely made with the plan to transport a lot of water, it was almost a shame it was never finished. The smell didnt touch her one bit as she went closer to the murky water. The rain seemingly stopped as well as the sun began peeping through thin clouds. She looked around before she gasped and pointed. “I see the arm!” She yelled, just jumping in without a further say. She completely disappeared under the surface along with the arm she had seen. She was gone for a while, when suddenly, her arm flew up covered in murk and what else disgusting content that floated around but in her hand she held the man in the homemade boat. Her head appeared as well not long after, spitting out the disgusting water before she swam to the side, throwing the boat and man up on land. “This is definitely not good soup.” She said as she grabbed the edge and pulled herself up, coughing a bit as she held her breath for long.

"Well a lot of things ... I mostly like trying out different things that might make life easier," he said, having experimented with numerous different types of bottle openers, figuring out the grip needed to use as little strength as possible. "I've even added a grabber to the end of my cane here," he said, clicking a button, showing small hooks come out that could grab on to things for him. He had to put them manually away though, and with the rain ti wasn't too easy.
It was fair for her not to have thought much about him. He liked to stay in the background as he wasn't really a bubbly person like she seemed to be. "I don't wanna talk about it," he smiled a little apologetically. He had been sick for as long as he could remember, but his lung had eventually collapsed in on itself. Most of the function of his left lung was gone, though air still got trapped in there once in a while, making him cough and wheeze.
The rain started to stop and he felt a little relieved. That was until she jumped in to the sewage water, making him limp over to the edge, looking down in worry. Oh no, what was he going to do if she didn't come back up? He couldn't swim and he didn't know how to hold his breath for long under water regardless. "C'mon ... C'mon," he muttered, looking around for her until her arm eventually shot up through the murky surface and then her head. Shivering with disgust as he saw what she spat out, he went to help her out, though the most he could do was hold her boat for her while she climbed up. "You did it," he smiled at her, getting a little excited.
That was when his coughing fit started, heaving for air as he collapsed on the floor. He was beginning to hyperventilate as well, his body scared that he wasn't getting enough air so he simply kept breathing in faster and faster. A man appeared, running over to the kid, kneeling down by him, "Eugene," he said, filled with worry as he pulled the boy closer. Dexter was a strange man, odd in every sense of the way, but he cared for his son despite the inner madness he had. He looked up, seeing the little girl there, soaked and dirty. "You better come with me," he said, clearly recognizing her. She had been around the Blocks a lot lately, and she didn't seem to have anyone looking for her. Standing up, he lifted Eugene up in his arms, the boy still coughing, "take his cane - he's awfully proud of it," he pleaded with the young girl, and if she did, he would place a hand on her back, guiding him with them.
They soon enough arrived at a small house nudged in between two large buildings. Getting Eugene in was priority, so he went ahead, going to turn on the faucet for warm water in the bathtub. Hopefully the steam and the heat could take the most of it. He also pulled him out of the wet clothes. "Fever," he muttered, touching the little boy's forehead. Once he had set up Eugene in the bathtub he went out to get himself out of his wet jacket before turning to look at the little girl. "What do you have there?" he asked, kneeling down to be on the same eye level as her.

It was nice to be greeted by the boy's face as she got up to the surface, though she didnt want to smile or open her mouth more than necessary. She got out and his words made her sigh in relief. "I really couldnt lose it." she said, looking at the boat before the boy suddenly began coughing. She frowned a little confused, before she sat down at his side, unsure how to even help, so she looked at him. A man's voice sounded and she crawled back a bit to give them space. She didnt really trust a lot of people, the boy had been easy to trust because he seemed more fragile than her. But grown ups were dangerous in her mind.
Eugene? She looked at the boy as the man pulled him up. The man spoke to her and she gulped, though if she was supposed to run, now would be her only and best chance. However as he mentioned the cane, she looked at it and ended up picking it up. The hand on her back made her frown though she let him keep it there while they walked. She stood inside the house with the cane in one hand and the boat in the other, just looking around, stepping a bit back like she wanted to sink into the walls. She had her own home, a run down place where she could hide. There even was a car that had been left there that she slept in and used to keep warm during winter. Her clothes were dripping on the floor, rainwater and sewer water combined. The man came out of the bathroom and his question made her display the boat on flat hands. "Winston told me that if I could make something cool, I'd get two warm meals for free. So I've been working on this boat for months, trying to make it work. It's the first prototype that didnt sink, but I think it's mostly Captain Bottles that has made sure the weight is just perfect." she explained, her eyes glimmering as she was quite proud of it. She poked the Captain's lifted arm as if she was giving him a highfive. "Your son helped me get it, because I fell over a pebble and lost it down the stream."

Dexter chuckled as he watched the little girl interact with her own creation, but he was quite impressed. He gestured to ask if he could inspect it and if he could he would hum, nodding at the craftmanship. She was a clever girl, wasn't she? Having figured this out even though it had taken her months. "Well I know you had a deal with Winston," Dexter didn't know who that person was, but he also wasn't sure what else to call them, "but I might have a business proposal for such a young inventor as yourself." Dexter was good around kids. It was like he could relate to them in a way that other grown ups couldn't. It was as if the older people got, the more boring they evolved to be.
He handed the boat back to her, inspecting her a bit, "but to be an inventor, one must keep clean - How about a shower and some clean clothes?" he suggested. If she agreed he would lead her in to the bathroom, Eugene sitting in the tub with a washcloth on his forehead. He wasn't coughing anymore, but he was wheezing a little as he was breathing. Dexter showed the girl how to turn on the water within the shower and what soap she could use that wouldn't sting if she got it in her eyes. "I have to go find both you and Eugene some clothes," he said, letting her know everything that was going on so she could feel safe. He told her where to dump her dirty clothes and placed a big fluffy towel out for her on the sink.
Dexter left shortly, figuring that her and Eugene were roughly the same size he just took double of his son's clothing. She didn't look like she cared much for what type of clothes she got in to as well. Eugene was still sitting in the tub, blinking a few times as he was drifting in and out of sleep.

She handed him the boat a little hesitantly, she would not hold back any tears or tantrum should he break it, so her eyes warned him to be careful with it. "You know Winston?" she asked with wide eyes, because that meant that this man could be trusted. The notion that there was another business proposal made her smile a little brighter. He saw her as an inventor? It had a nice ring to it.
The mention of her being dirty made her wrinkle her nose. He was maybe right but she wasnt really sure what to say. But she agreed none the less. Then she wouldnt have to use the rainwater she was saving up for cleaning when she didnt bother to go to the local pond. She got into the bathroom and glanced in Eugene's direction, being left alone to do her business. She just threw her clothes to where she had been told to before she went under the stream, sighing as the water was warm and nice. She however didnt spend long, undoing her braid as it mostly kept her hair in place. Her hair didnt however stay long often, from all the kids that pulled at it when she got in fights. Or her accidentally burning some of it off - It was a mess. She got out once she was clean, wrapping the towel around her before she sat down next to the tub and the boy Eugene, poking his fingers a little as she just waited for the man to return with their clothes.

Dexter chuckled as she seemed to trust him more, though he shook his head, being honest with her, "no, sadly not, but maybe you could introduce him to me one day?" It was an open suggestion and she could turn it down if she wanted to.
Eugene heard the shower going, and as more steam filled the room he felt better. His bath had essential oils and other ointments put in to it to soothe his aching lungs. As she got out of the shower he opened his eyes when he felt her poke his fingers. "I'm not dead," he said, wheezing slightly as he adjusted himself. He was a thin kid, perhaps even skinnier than she was at this point, but he clearly ate more than she did. Sitting up a little he looked at her with fever heavy eyes, smiling as he was happy to see the girl beneath the dirt. Her eyes were very pretty and though her hair was a mess, he didn't really mind that. "M-my name's Eugene," he introduced himself, feeling it was perhaps more proper to do so if she was staying here for a little while, "what's your name?" He had to cough a bit after that, leaning his head back against the tub. He had exhausted himself too greatly, but he was so happy to have someone his own age that actually seemed to talk to him.
Dexter came in, placing two sets of clothing down for the kids. Sighing he looked at the girl, hopefully having overheard them introduce themselves to one another. "We should let Eugene rest for a while ... Come now, get dressed; I've made some dinner so I hope you are hungry," he smiled, looking to his son who nodded. He knew he would get something to eat once his breathing had normalized more. "He's going to be fine, he just needs to soak for a little while to see if we can get rid of the fever," he urged the girl, walking back out in to the house. There were papers and drawings everywhere. Formulas and equations, drawings and gadgets. He guided her out to the kitchen where a big pot was brewing with soup. "Grab a bowl, I suppose a strong girl like you can eat a lot," he said, grabbing a bowl himself and filling it up, letting her decide how much she wanted.

She scoffed at his words, looking up towards the tub. "Obviously not. You wheeze like someone stuck a whistle down your throat." she said, looking back at his hand before she let her own fall. She just wrapped her arms around her legs again, resting her head on her knees as she looked up at him. He introduced himself but she had already heard his name before. He asked about her and she pulled back as it wasnt a comfortable question, but she had learned that she got weird looks if she said nothing. "I dont... Uhm... It's Jane." she just said. That was how the news had spoken of her. A Jane Doe child that was roaming the city of Churchill on the run from social services.
The man came in and she just nodded at his words, grabbing the clothes as he put them down, getting into the shirt before leaving the towel next to her. "Okay." she said as she got up. She glanced back at Eugene again, folding her lips like she was supposed to say something but she then just went ahead and out. She looked around, picking up a loose paper that caught her interest. "What do you study?" she asked. She couldnt really read, not that well. She was guided to the kitchen, looking at the pot with soup. She went up next to him, deciding on a big bowl even if it would make her stomach hurt later. She just wanted to be sure in case she wouldnt get another warm meal such as this one.

He chuckled softly, trying not to start up another coughing fit as she spoke about him having a whistle down his throat. It really sounded like that, didn't it? "It's very nice to meet you Jane," he said, not having minded her slight diss, if you could call it that. As the two left, he sat back in the tub, closing his eyes and resting more. He was hungry, but it wasn't too bad yet.
"Biology," he said as he scooped some soup to her. Dexter liked curiosity, and it was always more prominent in children. He had always wanted more children, but without Kaiya there he didn't see a point in having more biological. Besides the fact that Eugene needed a lot of care. "Do you know what biology is?" he asked, though not in a belittling way of looking down on her. She was a kid after all and she didn't look like she had had any formal education. If she didn't know he would explain it rather simply for her, she didn't need to know the extent of his research and how things had gone sour with Samuel. "Biology is the studying of the living," he put it, smiling as he sat down by a small humble table in the kitchen. He handed her a spoon and a glass of cold milk, she looked like she could need all the calories she could get. "I try and understand how things work, like why your arm is an arm and not like a wing from a bird," he explained, taking a spoonful of soup, blowing on it before he placed it in his mouth. Reaching over he grabbed some bread from a basket, offering her as well if she wanted. "But you, my dear smart girl, you remind me of a clever mechanic," he said, "I bet you could tinker something marvelous if you had the tools."

Biology? She just hummed but didnt really know what he was even talking about. She looked at the bowl of soup, feeling the warmth spread in her hands, but she would also like to put down the bowl before it got too uncomfortably hot. She sat down and listened to him explain, chuckling a little at the notion of pondering on why arms were arms. "It just is." she argued, lifting her arm, shaking it a bit as if that was how she could make a point.
She took the bread and broke it into pieces, dropping it into the bowl as well before she mixed it around. She didnt care if it made it turn mushy, she would still eat it. She hummed as he called her smart, not caring much for flattery when her stomach was hurting with hunger. "I could tinker something good if I just get food." she assured him, scooping up some soup with her spoon, just sticking it in her mouth, burning her tongue a bit. She was impatient with the heat, but would be mindful to blow on it when she continued to eat. "Why is he wheezing?" she asked, looking into her soup. Eugene hadnt seemed happy to talk about it so she felt a little bad to just be asking his father.

"Yes, but I want to understand why it just is," he chuckled softly. He didn't mind her lively character one bit, she seemed to not be brought down by the circumstances she was in. That could be both a blessing and a curse, but in the end that was something that only the years could tell.
He nodded at her assurance, taking some more to eat. Her question however made him sigh a little, looking towards the bathroom. His son would hate for him to talk about it, but he kind of owed this young girl some form of explanation after what she had seen. "We humans have two lungs," he said, grabbing two pieces of bread, holding them up in front of his chest to show her where they were located. "We use them to breathe, so every time you laugh or talk and even when you sleep, they work very hard to help you stay alive," she seemed to be a smart girl that could understand what that meant. He didn't like thinking of his son as weak, no his son was strong that was for sure. "Well, Eugene suffers from pneumothorax; It's a fancy name of saying that one of the lungs-" he said, squishing one piece of bread together to a small flat ball, "isn't working properly anymore." He left the two pieces of bread on the table in between them, letting the young girl inspect them if she wanted to.
"He still has both lungs, but just like that piece of bread, it doesn't really look or act like what it was before," Dexter could've been a great teacher, but he had learnt so much in teaching his own son. "So tell me, clever girl, what does that mean for Eugene's breathing?" He wanted her to use her brain and the knowledge he had just provided her with, but he would give her hints if she needed it.

She narrowed her eyes as he began explaining, looking at the bread as he presented them. It wasnt something she could directly imagine, but when she breathed in deep, she could feel something in her chest, fitting to what he was showing. She didnt know what to say so she just listened, however she put her spoon down to focus on his words. Seeing him crumple up one of the breads made her frown as she pondered how it would feel if whatever that filled in her chest would be if it was also crumpled up like that.
When she was asked a question she hummed in thought. She picked up the spoon and stirred the soup around. "He sounds like a whistle." was the only connection she could really make. It was easier for her to imagine like it being wires. "The wires are set wrong, so he makes the whistle noise." she said like she had made a grand discovery, scooping up some more soup to eat.

Wires? That gave Dexter an idea, "if the wires are set up wrong on one of your tinkers, what happens then?" he asked. Odds were they probably wouldn't work right and if that was roughly her answer he would nod. "I'm trying to find a way to fix his wires, but I lost most of my research a few years back," he said with a small sigh, finishing up his bowl of soup. It was about time he took Eugene out of the bath and checked up on his health. Getting up, he urged the girl to just be seated, though he wouldn't be mad if she followed.
Dexter headed out to his son, seeing him sit and breathing a bit more normally, not as wheezing as before. Helping him out of the bath he wrapped him in the towel, letting him sit on the edge of the tub as he drained the bath. "I'm hungry," he muttered tiredly, his fever had gone down but not disappeared completely. The father sighed, nodding as he handed the clothes to Eugene, the kid always insisting on dressing himself, stopping a few times just to catch his breath. "You want me to carry you?" he asked, but he shook his head not wanting to embarrass himself when they had a guest. And on top of that, a guest that he actually liked. "Alright, go ahead, make sure you eat your medication - I have to go in to town for a late meeting with an old friend," he said. Eugene looked at his father a little hurt. He hated when he left this late at night, but the house was probably the most secure place in all of the Blocks. Dexter left and Eugene grabbed his walking stick, getting out to the kitchen where he grabbed a bowl of soup, only filling it half way. He came over, placing the bowl down before he sat down in a chair, letting a small hook fold out so he could hang his cane over the back of the chair.
He started eating slowly, grabbing some bread that he dumped in it rather strategically so every other bite would be with bread on the spoon. "Are you staying here tonight?" he asked Jane, looking at her with curious eyes.

Eugene didn't want for her to lose her belongings, but he felt a little selfish wishing she would stay here. At least until his dad returned. But he couldn't demand that of her so he just looked in to his bowl of soup for a while. He was rather tired, but part of him was a bit afraid of falling asleep if she was going to leave. "Thank you for playing with me today," he said. He felt like he had to say it, because he had felt included for once. Even though he had gotten sick, she hadn't left. She hadn't even looked at him like he was weird, but as if he was just some other kid. He liked that a lot. "I haven't really ... Ever had someone to play with," he confessed, taking another mouthful of his soup.
He was a shy kid by nature, even having walked up to her in the pouring rain had been a brave move for him. "Is your boat alright?" he asked, because that seemed to be what had bound them together today. Without her losing her boat, he probably wouldn't have met her. "I - uh - was actually thinking you could ad a small spring contraption to it so in case it's about to fall in to a drain again, it wont," he said.

She slid the boat across the table to him and he touched the small captain carefully, smiling a little as he really liked it. She said she would make one more for herself, and he nodded, "next time it rains, we can make them race," he said, feeling excited for the rain already. What a silly thing to look forward to, but next time he would be sure to be better dressed.
Then she said something that made his ears a little red, "I would like that," he muttered, sipping his soup. It didn't take long before he was reaching the last few bites, reaching over the table to grab a pill assortment box, opening up the one with today's day on it. Pouring the small amount of pills out in to his hand he ate them, downing them with a big gulp of milk that left a small mustache on his upper lip. Wiping it off he sighed, eating the rest of his soup. If she was done as well he would place the bowls in the sink, filling them with water. His father usually didn't mind doing the dishes. "Do you wanna see my room?" he asked as he folded in the hook once more, using his cane to move around once more. He would probably have to use it for the next few days with how this fever was coming and going.
If she agreed he would show her. It wasn't the biggest, but he had a decent bed and some small trinket on a table. He had drawings he had made himself of things he wanted to make but didn't yet know the mechanisms of. The boat he placed on his nightstand before sitting down on his bed, sliding his cane in to a holder he had made on the side of his bed. "Since I got the boat, I want you to have something too," he said, reaching under his pillow taking out a small crystal. He handed it to her. It was clear on all sides, virtually see through and it may not look like much. "Let me show you how it works," he said, turning off the light in his room so it was dark. He lit up a flashlight, pointing it at the crystal and from it sprang a great many rainbow beams.

"Some of them do, some of them just make me really tired," he said with a slight shrug. He didn't understand all of his medicine, but he knew that he had to take it to remain as healthy as he could be. He felt like he was constantly trying out new medication, and he knew that some of these pills in here weren't helping him as much as they were hindering him.
They got to his room, letting her fiddle around with the crystal, he couldn't help but chuckle. "Well, light travels differently when it goes through glass," he said, moving the flashlight around a bit to make the rainbows dance on his ceiling and walls. "Because the colors of light travel at different speeds, they get bent by different amounts and come out all spread out instead of bundled up," he said, not sure if she understood, but he hoped she did. Smiling he handed her the flashlight, his body already tiring from having eaten his pills. He hoped he wasn't being boring, but he was fighting the urge to sleep very much, and the fever wasn't helping much. "That's how you get a rainbow ... This one is different because I've made the prism inside interlock and that means more rainbows," disclosing that this was something that he had made.
Laying back on the bed he yawned, his tiny frame barely filling out the large bed. He could see the rainbows in the ceiling dance whenever she moved the flashlight. "Dad always say that after every rainy day comes a rainbow ... That if you are patient enough to wait through the rain, you get to enjoy something beautiful," he said, muttering a bit as he closed his eyes.