Minoru stretched out on his apartment balcony, watching the sun come up as he dialed a number into his PINpoint.
“Moshi moshi!” his mother answered on the other line. She didn’t sound half asleep, and in the background, Minoru was pretty sure he could hear dishes clattering. So it was a pretty safe bet he didn’t wake her up this time.
“Hey, Mama. Got a minute? I’ve got a weird question.”
“I do.” She smiled. “Is this about your house-hunting?”
“No, no…” Minoru shook his head. Truth be told, he hadn’t really gotten all that far with house-hunting. Every time he tried to talk to Isamu about it, he got the strangest cold shoulder, and he couldn’t figure out why. “No, I was talking with Fredrik the other day, about kissing and I was trying to explain how gross it feels. And how gross a lot of other stuff feels. And, well… was I always like that?”
“Were you always disgusted by how certain things… felt?” She repeated thoughtfully.
“Yeah.”
“Hmmm… difficult to say. All babies are fussy, and toddlers can be quite picky about a lot of things simply because they’re toddlers.” She considered his question carefully. “Though, after a while, your father and I both started to see your individual likes and dislikes start to shine through.”
“Like, how?”
“Well, speaking of kisses, you were squirming out of those about the same time you were squirming your way out of diapers.” She thought back to when her children were young. “It wasn’t just kisses, though. Bath time was quite an ordeal when you were little. You weren’t a big fan of getting wet. Isamu absolutely loved to splash around like a little duck. And If I bathed the two of you together, neither of you were very happy.”
Minoru laughed at Isamu as a duck, but honestly had to admit, “I don’t remember that…”
Of course, there were plenty of similar memories of when they got a little bit older, and Isamu got his hands on a super soaker…
“No, you were probably too young to remember that. But I do.” Chichi chuckled a little in return. “Washing your hair when you were little was its own adventure. You’d be upset, I’d be drenched. Teaching you to do those things for yourself… that actually calmed you down a lot. It took a little longer, since you’d only use a tiny bit of soap or shampoo at a time. But it gave you more control over how it felt, and I think that made a lot of difference.”
“Huh.” Minoru scratched his head. Of course, he didn’t really give showers a second thought nowadays. Though, he also wasn’t above hinting to Ziggy that a package of Anthean soap just might be the best Christmas present ever. That stuff was amazing.
“It worked with a lot of the things you found unpleasant at first. Like putting on sunscreen. Or finger-painting. Or trying certain foods. Though if I remember correctly, when it came time for you boys to learn to shave, it was a little harder on your father.” She chuckled again. “He hated the feeling of a razor over dry skin. But he wanted to encourage you specifically by example.”
While his hair might have always been unruly, Minoru kept a clean shave and rarely cut himself in the process. Itaru did a good job with that one. Of course, there were other textures that Minoru learned to detest during his adolescence. There was absolutely nothing pleasant about, as his father eventually described it, the body cleaning its own pipes during the night. Fortunately it didn’t really happen all that often. But, ug, when it did…
“So, yes, I suppose in a way, you were always like that.” Chichi concluded, pulling Minoru’s thoughts out of a rather disgusting gutter. “You’ve always been bothered by certain textures, but you learned to adjust. Just as you have with everything else. Just as we all do. …Did that answer your question?”
“Yeah.” Minoru nodded. “Yeah, it did. Thanks!”
“Any time, dear.”
Minoru hung up the PINpoint, and hopped back in the window. If he was lucky, he’d have a chance to catch Isamu before he left for IRIS and ask about those new townhome brochures.
4. "Hmm... difficult to say."
“Moshi moshi!” his mother answered on the other line. She didn’t sound half asleep, and in the background, Minoru was pretty sure he could hear dishes clattering. So it was a pretty safe bet he didn’t wake her up this time.
“Hey, Mama. Got a minute? I’ve got a weird question.”
“I do.” She smiled. “Is this about your house-hunting?”
“No, no…” Minoru shook his head. Truth be told, he hadn’t really gotten all that far with house-hunting. Every time he tried to talk to Isamu about it, he got the strangest cold shoulder, and he couldn’t figure out why. “No, I was talking with Fredrik the other day, about kissing and I was trying to explain how gross it feels. And how gross a lot of other stuff feels. And, well… was I always like that?”
“Were you always disgusted by how certain things… felt?” She repeated thoughtfully.
“Yeah.”
“Hmmm… difficult to say. All babies are fussy, and toddlers can be quite picky about a lot of things simply because they’re toddlers.” She considered his question carefully. “Though, after a while, your father and I both started to see your individual likes and dislikes start to shine through.”
“Like, how?”
“Well, speaking of kisses, you were squirming out of those about the same time you were squirming your way out of diapers.” She thought back to when her children were young. “It wasn’t just kisses, though. Bath time was quite an ordeal when you were little. You weren’t a big fan of getting wet. Isamu absolutely loved to splash around like a little duck. And If I bathed the two of you together, neither of you were very happy.”
Minoru laughed at Isamu as a duck, but honestly had to admit, “I don’t remember that…”
Of course, there were plenty of similar memories of when they got a little bit older, and Isamu got his hands on a super soaker…
“No, you were probably too young to remember that. But I do.” Chichi chuckled a little in return. “Washing your hair when you were little was its own adventure. You’d be upset, I’d be drenched. Teaching you to do those things for yourself… that actually calmed you down a lot. It took a little longer, since you’d only use a tiny bit of soap or shampoo at a time. But it gave you more control over how it felt, and I think that made a lot of difference.”
“Huh.” Minoru scratched his head. Of course, he didn’t really give showers a second thought nowadays. Though, he also wasn’t above hinting to Ziggy that a package of Anthean soap just might be the best Christmas present ever. That stuff was amazing.
“It worked with a lot of the things you found unpleasant at first. Like putting on sunscreen. Or finger-painting. Or trying certain foods. Though if I remember correctly, when it came time for you boys to learn to shave, it was a little harder on your father.” She chuckled again. “He hated the feeling of a razor over dry skin. But he wanted to encourage you specifically by example.”
While his hair might have always been unruly, Minoru kept a clean shave and rarely cut himself in the process. Itaru did a good job with that one. Of course, there were other textures that Minoru learned to detest during his adolescence. There was absolutely nothing pleasant about, as his father eventually described it, the body cleaning its own pipes during the night. Fortunately it didn’t really happen all that often. But, ug, when it did…
“So, yes, I suppose in a way, you were always like that.” Chichi concluded, pulling Minoru’s thoughts out of a rather disgusting gutter. “You’ve always been bothered by certain textures, but you learned to adjust. Just as you have with everything else. Just as we all do. …Did that answer your question?”
“Yeah.” Minoru nodded. “Yeah, it did. Thanks!”
“Any time, dear.”
Minoru hung up the PINpoint, and hopped back in the window. If he was lucky, he’d have a chance to catch Isamu before he left for IRIS and ask about those new townhome brochures.