Stream of Consciousness Saturday: “Ta”

Welcome back to another Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Pingbacks are apparently working once again. So, woohoo. We’ve got a visit to the vet and some grocery shopping on tap for this weekend. So, less than last weekend. And I’ve actually got a fiction idea brewing for today’s prompt of “ta”. I just finished outlining Break on Me, the next book in my Kurztown series, yesterday so these characters are still in my head.

“Tattletale.”

Gabriel laughed when his younger brother stuck his tongue out at their sister across the table. You’d think they were five instead of in their twenties. At least it was Chris and not him Lyndsey was going to aim her temper at this time.

“I didn’t realize it would be tattling, Lynd,” Chris said. “I’d figured you’d already told him.

Gabriel glanced down the table at his father, but Zachariah Saranno was keeping his thoughts to himself at the moment. Which was pretty much par for the course for him.

“That doesn’t mean you needed to be the one to tell him.”

“All right, kids,” Gabriel said, holding his hands up before the argument could devolve any further. And had rolls pitched at his head from two directions.

“Enough,” their father said, his voice low but not leaving any room for doubt he meant it.

These Sunday dinners had started twelve years ago. Before his mom’s death, she’d taken care of most f the meals and making sure they ate together. But, after the accident, there’d been a time where they all just seemed to drift through. Until his dad seemed to realize the rest of his family was falling apart. And one of the rules he’d laid down early was that there was to be no fighting at the table. Gabriel had missed a lot of these dinners, in his years of being in the Army. But, he hadn’t missed one since he’d been home.

Gabriel knew his brother was still irritated with him for giving the plans Chris had worked up to their father, even thought it had been nearly a month. More than long enough by his opinion to get over what he’d done, even if Chris hadn’t been ready to show them to anyone yet. He was at least speaking to Gabriel, but he was worried anything he said could set his anger off again.

“Where is this tattoo?” their father asked then held up his hand. “No. If I cannot see it now, I do not think I want to know.”

Lyndsey rolled her eyes at her father then pulled the shoulder of her shirt away. “It’s not bad, you guys. It’s just the back of my shoulder. And I’m twenty-two. If I wanted to put ink all over my body, there’s nothing you could do to stop me. It’s my body.” She looked back at Chris. “And Doren helped me design it. He’s your friend. You know it would be in good taste. He doesn’t design anything that isn’t.”

And Doren certainly had enough ink all over his body. And from what Gabriel knew, he’d designed all of them. So, he certainly had experience. Gabriel looked a little closer at the exposed tattoo now. A feather? With small splotches under it and what was that next to it…an inkwell. Not a feather, he realized with a laugh. A quill. Leave it to Lyndsey not to go for the typical butterfly or rose or whatever.

“It’s for Mom,” she said softly, “and for me.”

Of course it meant something. Doren would have made sure of that, too. He’d been thinking of doing something similar. Not necessarily for his mom, but the others he’d lost. So many. Maybe he’d take his ideas to Doren, too.

He saw his father’s eyes glistening. Even twelve years later, mentioning their mother brought that grief back up. “Let’s finish eating,” his father said, his voice a little rough now. But, he glanced back once at Lyndsey. “She would have loved it, though.”