There Are Flowers in the Garbage [Musebox]

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Expecting that school, both correspondence and not, was going to keep Howard and Diana busy was probably a vain hope. Howard's sleep schedule keeps him from usually having evenings free (either he's napping or he's zombified), but occasionally his and Diana's free time overlap. Tonight is one of those nights.

See, it's after Christmas, and the grocer down the street throws away most of the turkeys that weren't sold by that day. Some of them are well rotten by now, but some of them were frozen before they were tossed, and as such they're still more than edible. Howard told Diana about this heinous crime, and they spent the last night unable to really sleep without thinking of all the meat going to waste.

So tonight they're striking a blow for justice. Or for hunger. Whichever. Howard's donned black clothing to blend in with the background, and has brought his backpack and a shopping cart. At the very least they can get some emergency stores for the freezer. He waits outside Ian and Barbara's house for Diana, tapping his foot.

Comments

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard has to admire how Diana can eat cold toast without losing a single crumb.

"We won't do it again." By which he means 'get caught', of course, but hopefully they'll buy it.

[first_in_time]

Barbara gave Diana a look of complete disbelief. How could she sit there and simply ask that? The two of them were in such trouble, not only with their wards, but also with the authorities, and Diana just seemed to brush it away?! She looked to Ian for help.

[splendid_roman]

It did feel like they were repenting a bit too quickly, but Ian didn't want to sound too disbelieving and have them change their minds. "So what are you going to do about the grocer?"

[keep_surviving]

Diana shrugged. "Apologize, if that's what you want."

It wasn't a big deal for her. She was a good enough actor to make it sound as if she were really sorry.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard looks a bit like he'd rather gargle battery acid than apologize, but he nods along with Diana.

[first_in_time]

"Would you mean it?" Barbara asked, folding her arms.

[splendid_roman]

"And what if he doesn't accept it?" Ian added, "and wants you both to face a harsh punishment."

[keep_surviving]

"Probably not." She rubbed the back of her neck tiredly.

"I don't know. Not much we can do is there?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Run away to France and change our identities?" Howard grabs toast for himself and starts to eat it.

[first_in_time]

Barbara gave Howard a 'we're meant to be serious' look. What was the point in even apologising if they weren't going to mean it?

"Well, if you're not going to mean it, I can only hope that whatever punishment the grocer wants you to undergo is worth it. Maybe picking up rubbish, or volunteering in a shelter might make you reconsider theft in the future. And don't think for a moment that you'll be getting out of it! Even if Ian or myself have to drive you there and watch you do it."

[splendid_roman]

"Or something appropriate like working unpaid at the grocer's." Maybe that would give them an idea of how things worked. But he was all for a punishment that made sure they didn't do it again and didn't involve going to jail.

[keep_surviving]

"Whatever you thinks best." Diana said dismissively, taking a last swig of tea before using her piece of toast to wipe up the last bits of moisture collected in the cup. Another bad habit casually performed without a care.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Wait, are you serious about offering to have us spend more time with unsold food as a way to learn our lesson?"

Because Howard thinks that's just begging to have them get sent to jail again for theft.

[first_in_time]

"Maybe it will be a lesson in controlling yourself," Barbara pointed out, despite knowing that they would carry on stealing food. If they weren't going to be genuinely sorry, they weren't about to stop.

[splendid_roman]

"I'd far rather you learnt before you ended up in jail," Ian added. Although he'd see how things went in the morning before making any suggestions of punishment.

He yawned - it was technically morning already. "Perhaps we can all sleep on it," he said, and finished his tea.