***
“David, do you remember Sabrina?” Randall asks after we enter David’s bedroom.
It’s a big bedroom, more so than the bedroom I had as a child or any child’s bedroom I’ve seen. It looks like two rooms joined into one, in fact, one of them a fortress-inspired playroom with toys scattered on the floor and arranged on the shelves and another the actual bedroom with an army tank bed, a desk that looks like a rocket, a race car-inspired bean bag and a set of drums in the corner.
Not a very cohesive or organized room but it does seem to belong to a boy with a lot of imagination and a sense of adventure.
At once, I get a glimpse of this boy. He may be causing a lot of trouble but he doesn’t mean any harm. It’s all just play to him, all good fun, which means he isn’t so bad.
“Of course I do,” he answers his father with a pout as he sits on his bed. “I just met her, didn’t I?”
I wonder why he’s being so difficult.
“David, I’m warning you.” Randall points a finger at him. “You have to be polite to Sabrina and give her a chance.”
“Why?”
“Because I said so. You’ve already caused enough trouble for this weekend. Any more and you’ll…”
“What? I’m already grounded for the rest of my life, aren’t I?”
Randall crosses his arms over his chest. “Do you not want to use your computer for the rest of your life, too?”
He doesn’t an answer.
Randall sighs, then turns to me. “I guess he’s all yours. If you have any concerns about him, anything at all, you tell me, okay?”
“I will,” I assure him.
“Good luck.” He pats me on the shoulder before leaving the room.
I take a deep breath.
Okay. Where do I start?
Seeing the Labrador at the foot of his bed, I kneel in front of him. Maybe if I can earn the trust of his dog, I can earn his trust, too.
“Hello, there,” I say to the dog.
The dog just looks at me. Well, at least it isn’t growling.
“You’ve got a nice dog. What’s his name?”
David doesn’t answer.
I look at the dog’s collar. “Zombie? That’s a great name.”
“If you touch him, he’ll eat your brain,” David threatens.
I don’t cower. “Is that right, Zombie? Well, guess what, if you’re a good dog, maybe I’ll let you have a teeny bit of my brain.”
David snorts. “That’s crazy. You can’t give some of your brain to someone.”
“Who knows?” I shrug. “Some say we only use a small part of our brain, after all.”
Another snort. “Maybe you do.”
An insult but I refuse to take offense.
“Besides, crazy isn’t always bad. It just means you think differently.”
David creases his eyebrows. “You’re weird.”
“Weird isn’t always bad, either. Sometimes, it can be even fun.”
David says nothing.
I stand up, looking around. “Wow. You’ve got a really cool room, you know. I wish I had a room like this when I was little.”
Still nothing.
“So, what do you want to be when you grow up – a soldier, an astronaut, a race car driver or a drummer?”
“I don’t want to grow up,” he says.
“Ah. I felt the same way. Sometimes, I still wish I was a child. Still, there are things only grown-ups can do.”
“Like?”
“Like eating whatever you want and going where you want to go and staying up as late as you want.”
“Kristine let me stay up when she was my nanny,” David says. “Will you let me do that?”
Tricky question.
“We’ll see,” I tell him.
Why not? Even Mary Poppins bent the rules, I think.
“Maybe if you’re behaved.”
David frowns.
“You don’t like that word, do you? Can you tell me why?”
He keeps quiet.
“I guess the rules can be a bother sometimes. I used to hate them, too. But I found out they were for my own good. If you follow your father’s rules now then you can make your own rules later on.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Why not?”
“You’re just trying to be nice to me so you can stay in this house and have my dad’s money or my dad.”
I arch my eyebrows. “What?”
Is that the impression the previous nannies left him?
“You don’t have to be nice to me. I don’t care. I don’t need a nanny and I definitely don’t want one, especially not you.”
All right. I guess he’s finally bared his teeth.
That’s good, though. It’s good that he’s told me how he feels.
I clasp my hands together and approach his bed slowly. “Well, I think it’s good that you don’t need a nanny because I don’t want to be your nanny, either.”
He gives me a puzzled look.
“Frankly, I think you’re old enough to not have a nanny.”
“That’s what I told my dad.”
“But I do think you could use a friend and so could I. I’d love to be your friend.”
“Zombie’s my only friend.”
I glance at the dog. “I’m sure Zombie won’t mind sharing you with me.”
“Well, I don’t want to be your friend,” David says, glaring.
“Why not?”
“Just leave me alone, okay?” David gets off his bed and goes to his fortress, hiding inside the tower.
I exhale. All right. So, maybe this isn’t going to be easy but hey, we’ve only just begun.
I just have to keep trying.