Chapter 9
Cleo
They had spent the last hour and a half walking along the river path with the metal detector, and a bag to carry Sophie's treasure home in. They were talking the entire time. Cleo was in her element.
Sophie had gone through a gambit of emotions when it had taken them twenty minutes before the first real treasure had been found, instead of another bottle top.
It was at that point they had decided to search closer to the water’s edge (Cleo had ensured to get a waterproof metal detector for this very reason), in the hope that maybe the water itself would have washed something more exciting to the riverbank.
Sophie then squealed sporadically for the next hour upon unearthing several coins, a small bracelet, and something that Cleo was sure was a keyring loop, but Sophie insisted was a ring. For a very, very, large finger.
That being said, they had also managed to find four squashed cans, seven more bottle tops, a pair of very rusty sunglasses, twelve ring pulls, two lighters, and one very panicked conversation when Sophie pulled out the underwire of a bra and asked her aunt what it was.
While Cleo had vowed never to lie to her niece the day she was born, this was one conversation she figured she could avoid for now.
She convinced Sophie that it must have been part of a handle from a kid's sand bucket.
Sophie accepted the response, and Cleo stifled a considerable sigh of relief.
They separated their findings into two bags, one to keep and the other to recycle or discard. After making sure they had everything turned off, packed up, and sorted into the two bags, they started on their walk back to Cleo’s house.
“Did you know that the world is a giant magnet?” Sophie asked.
“I did know that,” Cleo replied, her niece’s shoulders sinking a little. “Did you know you can power a lightbulb using a potato?” Their favorite thing to do was try to ask the other a question they didn’t know the answer to. Almost exclusively science themed.
“Yes! We did it in class last week!” Sophie’s eyes nearly bulging out of her head as she realized her aunt hadn’t beaten her with the fact either.
“OK then smarty pants.” Cleo stopped walking, turned to face Sophie, placed her hands on her hips, smirked and narrowed her eyes at her niece. “What type of food is a bell pepper?”
Sophie tried to mirror Cleo’s stance but struggled to do so while holding the metal detector in one hand. “That’s easy Auntie Cleo, it’s a fruit! Everyone knows that if it has seeds on the inside and grows from a flower, that it’s a fruit.”
“How do you know so much about science? I mean, you’re only six—”
“Eight!”
“Sorry, eight,” Cleo said with a smirk, knowing full-well that her niece would correct her, and knowing she’d said it wrong on purpose.
“It’s because we got a new project teacher this term, and science is her thing.
It’s great! We do different experiments every Thursday after lunch!
” Sophie’s face lit up with excitement as she continued.
“Next week we’re doing the Volcano Eruption experiment!
There’s another eight weeks of experiments after that, then she moves to another school.
.. and does it all over again with new kids!
That's what I want to do when I grow up!”
Cleo could practically feel her niece vibrating beside her as she explained the various experiments she had completed. However, something about the description of the project teacher’s job rang a warning bell in the back of her mind.
“Soph, what’s your project teacher’s name?” Cleo asked lightly, though her pulse quickened.
“Miss Megan. She’s awesome!”
Cleo’s stomach dropped to her toes. That explains why her mom had run into her, but at least she knew the timeline for when she’d be leaving.
“That’s great,” she replied shakily, trying to keep her voice as steady as possible.
“Auntie Cleo, I’m thirsty, can we get a drink on the way to your house? Could we get a hot chocolate, maybe?” Sophie asked with puppy dog eyes, oblivious to Cleo’s inner torment.
“You know what Soph? That sounds perfect.”
Cleo walked along the same street she took every day from her house to work and back again, only this time with her niece by her side, she took the time to walk a little slower and actually take in the shops surrounding her.
It had been three years that she’d been walking this same stretch of street, but she always had so much on her mind that she never really paid attention to her surroundings.
The only reason she did today was because she’d been down at the river with the metal detector that she’d bought Sophie, otherwise she wouldn’t usually be in this part of town at the weekend.
She noticed several shops that piqued her interest, and she made a mental note to look up more when walking.
There was a camera shop which also sold telescopes.
She’d long considered getting one for her office, since the river view was free of light pollution and the winter stars always shone so clearly through her window.
Maybe she could take Sophie there one of the nights she had a sleepover at Cleo’s house, and they could spend the evening in their own personal planetarium. Hmm, now there’s a thought.
On the opposite side of the road, which Cleo never walked as she was a creature of habit, she noticed a music shop that she wanted to take Sophie to and show her all of the instruments.
Next to that was a stationary shop that she knew her mom would love everything in, and beside that was a sportswear shop.
Looks like her sister’s birthday gift would be easier to find next year.
“How about we maybe check out some of these shops later, after we grab a hot chocolate?” Cleo asked Sophie.
“Awesome-sauce!” Sophie explained.
They walked a few more minutes, noticing more shops, and swapping more facts with each other, until Sophie noticed the neon coffee cup sign above the front door of a shop.
“Look Auntie Cleo! Can we get a hot chocolate in there? Pleeeeeeease?” Sophie looked up with her signature large hazel eyes, made as large as humanly possible, with her head tilted slightly to the side.
“The puppy dog eyes again? I think I’m going to have to start limiting your use of those to only twice a day, kid.” Cleo laughed, because she knew Sophie wouldn’t be able to agree to such terms, and Cleo would never be able to hold her to them anyway. “OK, let’s see if they do hot chocolates”.
“Yesssss,” Sophie did a classic 80s power-grab in celebration, a consequence of being raised by Cleo’s twin brother.
A young woman slipped past them with a laptop bag, and the smell of coffee followed into the crisp air. Perfect, Cleo thought, smiling at her niece as she opened the shop door.