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Growth Quest- Baby to Toddler

Several times now, Wilde had come home from something to find a stack of his books scattered in a strange formation in the middle of his floor. Perhaps not such a strange formation, as indeed it looked as if they had been stacked and had fallen from some height. No, the strange thing was that this always occured in the middle of the floor. He had not understood what was taking place, but simply gathered them up, put them back on the coffee table or other nearest available flat surface, and gone to check on his young charge.

Yet this time he heard the loud thump over the Placebo blaring in his headphones. Tossing them aside, he sprang off the couch and followed the source of the noise. Upon entering the living room, he found Poe kneeling patiently on the floor and carefully picking the books up one at a time and placing them gingerly on top of the already growing pile- on top of his head! His expression was one of solemn concentration as he did this task, and Wilde watched with surprised fascination as the young baby, for surely he was still such despite his obviously increasing size, placed the last of the books and then, even more astonishingly, carefully and slowly stood up.

The books carefully balanced on top of his head, Poe took a small, shuffling step forward, and then another and another, until he reached the television stand, touched it lightly, and turned around to retrace his steps back the way he had come- the pile of Wilde and Poe and Austen sitting solidly on top of his scrunched ponytail. He glanced mildly at Wilde, but didn't pause. Wilde could do nothing but stare. He hadn't even realized the child could walk! Shows how much he knew about children.

This process of walking back and forth continued for perhaps ten minutes, before Poe picked up a small, neatly folded piece of paper, from where it had been sitting unnoticed on the television stand. Holding it in his hand, he slid one foot out and to the side, before doing the same with the other, and then moved into a very deliberate set of steps that Wilde quickly realized was a dance. The fan, for that was clearly what it was meant to be, was moved in a ceremonial and carefully executed way in front of him. If the infant faltered, Wilde wasn't aware of it. Poe seemed not to notice him at all by this point, eyes focused entirely inward.

But then the moment came- a corner of the carpet that had gotten pushed up during a step of the dance did the evil work of tripping the child, and down he tumbled with the books flying out before him and scattering on the floor in the pattern Wilde had now grown familiar with. The sound brought him out of his silence and he moved forward to help the child sit up. Poe didn't cry or fuss, but had an air of utter dejection and frustration about him. Wilde actually found himself pulling the child onto his lap and wrapping his arms around him.

"I'm really impressed," he confessed. "I didn't realize you could walk."

"Wanted to surprise you," Poe replied after a moment, sniffing faintly and bravely trying to cover it up. "I wanted to show you my dance."

"Well, you did that!" he replied, laughing softly in wonder. "You really are something else, kiddo."

There was a long silence, before, "You think so?"

"Absolutely." The wounded air about the child slowly evaporated as they sat there, and finally Wilde decided to make an offer. "Hey. Want me to read you a few of Oscar Wilde's fairy tales?"

Now the aura of the child was positively pleased. "Yes."

"Okay." And reaching out, he grabbed the book he needed from the scattered pile, opened it, and started to read.

Growth Quest- Toddler to Child

It started with a thump, a crash, and then a shocked silence. Wilde had been rereading Dante's Commedia and taking notes on a pad of paper so that he would have some topics to bring up at an upcoming literary conference when the loud noise reached his ears from the other room. Knowing Poe had been in there doing something or other- he never could tell as the child was always so quiet, he was quickly up on his feet, books and papers scattered everywhere, making his way to his charge.

At first sight, Poe appeared unhurt, though stunned, sitting, legs splayed, on the floor, eyes gazing uncharacteristically wildly at the mess in front of him. There were a few cd cases, a few books, and an upturned end table, which had caused the crash. At his side, his hand clutched a kitchen knife. And then Wilde saw it, a vibrant red arc that started at Poe's side and twisted about on the floor gracefully in front of him- the child's ponytail. Severed. A few strands were still sticking to the edge of the knife.

Wilde stepped quickly over his mess of belongings and knelt by the child, carefully taking the blade from him. "What happened?" he asked.

Poe looked up at him, then blinked a few times. "I... I was dancing. With the knife. And I don't know... what happened. Suddenly that table fell over, though I know I didn't touch it! And I was so startled my hand slipped and ... my hair..." He then did something amazing- he raised his hands and covered his face as if ashamed.

Wilde gently patted the top of his head. "Hey, it's okay kiddo. Hair grows back."

"I know," Poe sniffled. "But it should never have been cut! It's a mark of honor! Having my long hair!"

Ah, so it was linked to this mysterious 'honor' thing that Poe had become increasingly concerned with. What could he say to that? Yes, hair grew out. Poe was a rational enough child not to forget it. But it was a slight to his honor. Wilde didn't know what to say, so he reached out and pulled the growing child onto his lap and just held him as the small form shook with repressed sobs- still too brave to actually shed a tear.

After a long moment of this, Wilde said softly, "Okay, so we'll get you a bandana, okay? A nice black one that will cover your hair while it grows out. If it grows like you do, it shouldn't take too long. And tonight we'll watch Seven Samurai and eat popcorn. What do you think?"

Eyes red from holding in the tears, Poe looked up at him. "Seven Samurai?" His attention never failed to be roused by the three hour epic.

Sensing he had made a conquest, Wilde set the child down on the couch, quickly cleaned up the mess and hurried off to make popcorn and tea. Returning with aforementioned items, he turned on the movie- still in the DVD player from last time, and let Poe snuggle in against him to watch.

Two hours into it, the child had fallen asleep, so Wilde switched the movie off and carried Poe to bed. Tucking him in gently, he went back into the other room and gathered up the severed ponytail that he had set aside, and put it into a lovely box a friend had sent him from Japan. It seemed fitting. Then he went back to his studies.

The next morning he woke up at his desk, the edge of a book imprinting his face, and his eyes opened to reveal Poe staring at him, looking very pleased.

"Look! My hair grew back overnight!"

And it had, longer and more vivid than ever. But that wasn't the only thing that had grown. Poe himself was decidedly larger.

"We're really going to have to get you some new clothes soon..."