simon_doctor | (no subject)

"Any thoughts on what color?" he asks amiably.

Another critical look. "The one you'd probably go with is dark gray, but I think somethin' in a real dark green might surprise you."

He considers that thoughtfully. "I might not object to dark green."

"No, but you probably would to a real nice pale blue." Glumly.

There's a tree nearby, and several small children running around it, under the watchful eye of parents and the gentleman in the chair who appears to be supervising the whole thing. But the point is what's under the tree: a sculpture without much rhyme or reason, made from wood -- the wood, one could guess, from the pile of ornately-carved scraps next to the sculpture. It comes up to Kaylee's shoulder at its highest point, and spreads over at least fifteen feet.

PUBLIC ART I GUESS reads the sign tacked to the tree, pick up some glue and work on it.

Kaylee's eyes gleam.

Simon glances across at her, starting to grin.

"Do you want to?"

"Maybe a little," she says airily.

While tugging at his hand.

"We've got time."

He comes along with the tugging quite happily.

She immediately sets about peering through the scrap pile, looking for the most ridiculously crenellated pieces possible.

"So we had a task today. Didn't we?"

"Putting together a package for Jordie," he agrees, leaning against the tree.

"Mm." She fishes out a couple of pieces, eyeing the closest section of the sculpture thoughtfully. "We want funny things, useful things...?"

He watches her, smiling.

"Probably some of each? And, you know ... things to give him an idea of what's out here."

"You get to do the useful things."

She gets a few fat pieces to use for a base. "I don't know what he'd find useful." Wry.

"So does that mean you get to do the funny things?"

Airily, as she bends to pick up a bottle of wood glue: "I get to keep all of 'em for myself."

He chuckles.

"How about if we find anything you particularly want to keep, we'll buy two? One for you and one for him?"

"Sure," she says vaguely. Her attention's more focused on an end of the sculpture that develops into a point. Bending some, she fixes a fat block to the end of a ledge, and begins to work outward.

He settles in contentedly to watch her work.

"What's it going to look like?" he asks, tipping his head at the part she's working on.

She looks up and blinks at him. "A wood sculpture."

It doesn't take her long to finish, at which point there's a sub-pointy bit off the primary pointy bit. Kaylee caps the wood glue, puts it back with the rest, and holds out her hand to Simon, satisfied.

He takes her hand, smiling. And swings their joined hands lightly as they step back onto the path.

"Where to first?"

Kaylee points with her free hand. "Down that way?"

There's a stall filled with carved wooden items (perhaps capitalizing on the proximity to the wood sculpture), ranging from dishes to toys to jewelry to small pieces of furniture.

Simon glances briefly at a rosary carved from wood so pale as to be nearly white, but shakes his head and moves on to examine a set of domino tiles.

With a small smile she picks up a little man hanging from two pieces of wood.

She squeezes the handles; the wooden man turns a flip.

There's a ... something on the table next to the dominoes, looking like a stack of wooden squares wrapped in brightly colored ribbons. Simon picks up the topmost square, and the whole stack unfolds and lifts along with it; the ribbons are short lengths, fastened to the wood and binding the squares into a chain.

"Here, like this," says the woman behind the counter. She reaches out and tilts the square in Simon's hand -- and a ripple effect goes down the chain as each square neatly flips in turn.

Simon blinks, and tries it again.

Kaylee looks over with a faint smile.

"Handmade?" she asks, and the woman nods.

She tilts her head, and looks at Simon. "What do you think?"

He flips the topmost square again, watches the ripple go down the chain in mild fascination.

"I think I see how it's done..."