Chapter Sixteen - Cooper and Dad

The weeks after camp had been fairly uneventful - quite frankly it rained too much in Welton. I hadn’t even seen the other Cubs since Camp and really only hung out with the other Beavers. The Kindies and Bobcats got along more now, and it wasn’t out of the question to see Liam or Ari play with us at the park. The summer was coming to an end and it seemed Dad had been busy with his new project.

Today was sorta a big deal though. This afternoon I was supposed to meet with the school to go over my summer homework. Honestly, I hadn’t come close to finishing all of it. The French assignments were borderline impossible - even the instructions were in French! I had been fretting over it all week but no one had told me what all the extra work was even for. I’d never had to do summer homework any of the other times we’d moved.

Dad must have noticed how stressed I was because the day before he told me we were going on a special trip before the meeting - just the two of us. I didn’t really understand why we had to go on such an important day. Surely whatever it was could wait? But he wouldn’t even tell me where we were going. I had decided to wear just a colorful T-Shirt and some cargo shorts. Mom had this whole other cutesy outfit I was supposed to wear for the meeting, but I wasn’t exactly desperate to put it on .

“Ready to go?” Dad asked me, poking his head into my room.

“Yup.” I said eagerly.

We went to the car. I gulped as Dad opened the back seat of the sedan. I had almost forgotten the argument from the night before. Sitting there attached to my usual spot in the back was a brand new bright red car seat. Mom and Dad kept calling it a booster seat, but I didn’t see any difference. It was for babies! “I thought that was a bad dream.” I pouted.

“Sorry Coop, I know you don’t like it but the rules are different here.” Dad said sympathetically, trying to stave off a similar tantrum to the one I’d thrown yesterday.

“I’m eleven.” I told him. “Can’t I sit in the front?”

Dad just shook his head. “Let me help you in - just the first time.” Dad offered.

I stood there, hesitant - an uneasy expression growing on my face. They had said yesterday that it was just like a normal seat, but it had a harness and everything! I wouldn’t even be using the regular seat belt like I had with the booster I’d been allowed to ditch two years ago. Dad took my wordless protest as tacit permission, picking me up under the arms and plopping me onto the seat. I wanted to fight back, but the ease with which he’d handled me just made me feel like a little kid. “Dad!” I whined. He had already started to weed my arms into the straps, adjusting them so they were tight against my chest.

“It’s okay Coop, you can do it yourself next time.” He told me and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

I groaned and wiped off the wetness the moment he turned around. Why was he treating me like such a baby this morning?

Dad started the engine and I looked poutily out the window, wondering where we could be off to. He started up the radio - a calming smooth jazz tune soothing my sulky attitude. I leant back into my new car seat, finding the squidgy soft material actually rather comfortable. Soon I was lingering somewhere halfway between wakefulness and sleep, the tight car seat harness rocking me tenderly back and forth like a baby in a bouncer as Dad’s car trundled down a dusty poorly maintained side road.

The next thing I knew we had ground to a sudden halt, my eyes springing open to the sound of Dad slamming the driver door shut. He opened my door, unclasping the harness and lifting me gently out of my car seat before I could fully comprehend what was happening.

“Daddy?” I mumbled groggily, feeling a little queasy as he stood me up on the tarmac. I rubbed my eyes, taking a clumsy step forward, but tripped over my feet. I grabbed on to Dad’s waist for support, ending up planting my face into his tummy.

“Woah there, sport!” Dad said cheerily, ruffling my hair and helping me stand up straight again. “Were you having a little snooze in the car there?”

I gave a hesitant nod, a little embarrassed to have dozed off like a toddler - but more just confused and disorientated. I chalked it up to the car seat. Without it, I had felt every little bump and jolt on the road, but sitting in that harness was like being ensconced in a cocoon of warm blankets floating in a vacuum. “I’m fine. Wide awa-…” I began, but was interrupted by a huge yawn, stretching one hand out high into the air and using the other to smooth my crazy mess of hair out of my eyes.

Dad chuckled, putting a strong arm around my shoulder. “Were you staying up late again?” he asked.

“No.” I lied, trying to look innocent.

“My tablet wasn’t where I left it.” Dad continued, giving me a knowing smile. My cheeks flushed a guilty pink, known when I was caught. “I won’t tell mom” Dad reassured. “Just don’t do it again! You need sleep to charge that super-powered brain of yours.”

I nodded my agreement, relieved to have escaped punishment. If it'd been Mom, I’d have been banned from the tablet for at least a week. I looked around, confused to see that we had parked on the lot over from an otherwise empty building site - a few unmanned diggers and trucks, a spattering of half-constructed brick walls, and a series of freshly laid foundations scattered sporadically around a large muddy yard. “Where are we?” I asked, struggling to put two and two together.

“My project.” Dad answered, coming up behind me to feed my arms into a high vis jacket and plopping an over sized yellow hard hat atop my head - covering my eyes. “Thought you’d want to see what I’ve been up to all this time.”

I readjusted the hat so that I could see, nodding in understanding. Dad’s project was the whole reason we’d moved to Canada in the first place. From what I understood, his firm had been asked to design a brand new high school for the Welton district. Dad was in charge of the whole project, so we’d had to move out there so he could supervise the construction. This must have been the place where it was being built.

“It’s cool.” I enthused, though really it just looked like a big pile of rubble.

“It’s nothing much yet, Coop.” Dad laughed, “But in a few months there’ll be a whole new school here! Isn’t that neat?” He reached down, enclosing my hand in his warm grip and leading me a little further forward. “Stay close. Building sites can be dangerous - even when there’s no one working.”

I did as I was told and didn’t complain - even though I wanted to. Dad didn’t need to hold my hand. I wasn’t a little kid. I wasn’t going to just start running around like a misbehaving puppy in the middle of a building site. With Dad dragging me around, I felt just as little as I must have looked - wandering around in my over sized hard hat like a preschooler playing pretend.

I didn’t kick up a fuss however. I could hardly get a word in edgeways! Dad was talking my ear off, pointing out all the different sections of the build and explaining to me in excruciating detail the various stages of the construction process. I tried to look interested, but some of it was really rather boring. At least Dad seemed happy. It was a mystery to me how he could get so excited about roof tiles.

“Does this sound like the sort of thing you’d like to do?” Dad concluded, smiling from ear to ear. “When you’re all grown up?”

I bit my lip awkwardly, mulling over how to respond. I didn’t want to hurt Dad's feelings, but I could hardly pretend I was as excited about this stuff as he was “Not really…” I confessed.

Dad nodded. I thought he might have been offended, like he wanted me to ‘follow in his footsteps', but he didn’t seem to mind. “Did you have anything in mind?” He said smiling. “You could be a doctor or a lawyer…” He offered.

To be honest I hadn’t given it a lot of thought. I was curious why Dad was even asking me about this stuff. “Isn’t that a lot of school?” I wondered out loud. I didn’t want to spend years and years studying.

“It is.” Dad agreed. “School can be hard, can’t it?” Dad gripped my hand a little tighter as he led me through an area he said would soon be the school gym.

“Yeah.” I agreed. Those last few weeks, Mom and Dad had been relentless about me finishing my homework assignments, but I just couldn’t bring myself to focus on them. “It’s really boring.”

“How did the homework go?” Dad asked. The finality of his statement made me feel uneasy. A lot of the homework had been left incomplete or rushed in the final week.

I shrugged, not wanting to talk about it. “I think I would like to be a park ranger.” I said suddenly, changing subjects. It was the only job I saw where you get to be outside doing scouting all day, every day.

Dad chuckled. “That’s a great idea Coop.” He tugged my arm as I followed him through the flattened earth for the new school. “I never liked school either.” He told me.

I didn’t know that about Dad. I had always assumed it took years and years to become an architect. “Really?” I asked.

“Really!” Dad exclaimed. “Even had to go to summer school a few times.”

I looked at him, feeling a little worried. Was that what this was all about? Did I need to go to summer school? Sure, the summer homework had been boring, but at least I had got to do it on my own time. I couldn’t imagine losing my whole summer to more school. “I don’t need to do that, do I?” I asked him.

He gripped my little hand a little tighter. “No Cooper.” He told me. “It’s too late in the summer to start that anyway.”

I relaxed a little. He was right. School started in just a couple weeks - summer school would have been over by now anyway.

We walked in silence for a little while before Dad stopped and waved at a nearby woman - also wearing a hard hat and brightly colored vest - walking over from the car park. She waved back and started to come over to greet us. I was taken a little off guard as I recognized her. It was Akela, the Cub Scout Leader!

“Cooper, I would like you to meet Nicola. She’s the chair of the city council - which means she’s working on the high school with me.” Dad introduced me, placing a possessive hand atop my hard hat. “Nicola, this is my son Cooper.”

I gave a sheepish little wave to her. She was sure to recognize me from beavers, right? “Hi.” I said quietly.

“Hi Cooper!” She greeted me cheerily. “I’ve heard a lot about you from your Dad.” She smiled at me.

“I’m just showing Cooper around before our big meeting at the school.” He told her. She nodded knowingly.

“What grade are you going into Cooper?” She probed nosily. Now I wasn’t so sure l if she recognized me or not. Did Dad already tell her my age at some point? If he didn't, what grade would a beaver even be going into? Three? Two? One? I looked at Dad for assistance, but to my surprise he just looked vaguely annoyed - as if she were intruding on some unknown touchy subject.

“Um, six.” I told her after a while, figuring it would be best to just tell her the truth. Taylor knew the truth as well. He’d probably tell her eventually if I didn’t. Maybe he already had.

“Oh, Great!” She exclaimed, looking a little surprised. Did she recognize me after all? Or had she just assumed I was younger from the look of me?. “I have a nephew in grade six as well.” she mused. No - she must not have known. If she remembered me from camp, she’d already know I knew Nate. I suppose it was true that we would be in the same class, too. That was a whole other kettle of fish. What was I going to tell Nate?

“Cool.” I told her, not knowing what to say.

“And what do you want to be when you grow up?” she interrogated, continuing along the same line Dad had started on.

I started to feel very awkward, fidgeting where I stood. I had been happy enough to share with Dad the thought I’d had about being a park ranger, but in front of Nicola it felt like a very silly idea indeed - like something a little boy would say. She was the leader of the city council, after all; and it seemed like Dad had brought her all the way out here just to talk to me. I felt like I should think up a job just as important - like a doctor, or a teacher, or a scientist. In the end, I just shook my head, giving an adolescent shrug of my shoulders. “I dunno…” I mumbled.

Nicola chuckled, giving a knowing look to Dad. “Your daddy tells me you like the outdoors.” she prompted, smiling down at me with a patronizing grin on her face. I shuddered. Why was she being so condescending? She must have known I was eleven! I just told her I was in Grade Six!

“Yeah…” I sighed noncommittally, pulling down my hard hat and looking down at the ground to hide my blushing face.

“Wonderful!” she steamrolled on, paying no attention to my bad attitude. “I’m going to be giving a little careers talk the first week of school, so maybe you can have a think about it before then. Okay?”

I didn’t say anything, just obediently nodding my head as I continued to stare down at the ground.

“Coop, use your words buddy.” Dad prompted, putting an authoritative hand around my shoulder and redirecting my chin up to look at Nicola.

“um…Yes Miss.” I squeaked politely, immediately averting my eyes again.

“Sorry, he’s not in a great mood today. Just nervous, I think.” Dad apologized on my behalf.

Nicola laughed it off, exchanging a few more pleasantries and some boring work talk with Dad while I continued to linger by his side - clinging on to his hand. I brooded bitterly on the whole affair. Sure, it seemed like Nicola hadn’t recognized me right then, but it was only a matter of time before she put two and two together. I trusted Taylor, but the way Nicola had acted at camp I wondered if it was safe to extend the same trust to her. It was a pretty juicy piece of gossip, after all - the eleven year old so wimpy he was still a brown-tail beaver scout! Would she tell the other parents? Would she tell Nate? I grumbled in fury. What did it matter anyway? From the sounds of it, the two of us would soon share a class. I shuddered in fear, already hearing his cruel mocking voice echoing in my head.

Eventually, we parted ways, Nicola giving me a cheery wave and tapping affectionately atop my hard hat with the palm of her hand. “Nice to meet you, Cooper.” she smiled. “Good luck with school!”

I muttered my own pleasantries as Dad led me away, otherwise staying silent until we were back to the car. “Why did you bring her?” I whinged as he buckled me into my car seat, sounding like a petulant toddler.

“Nicola?” Dad asked, confused. “I thought you two would get on. Didn’t you like her?”

“She’s the cub scout leader.” I complained “She knows about the beavers!”

Dad gave a sympathetic smile. “Oh, buddy. Don’t work yourself up. Welton’s not a very big place.” He gave me a final peck on the cheek as he closed the door, climbed into the front seat, and started up the engine. I kicked my feet in frustration against the constraints of my harness. What had he meant by that?