Snippets Nineteen: Talking to Dean

Mary was not sick for very long.  Life went on as usual.  Castiel kept an eye on Dean and his parents during this crucial time.  Mary did not go and see a doctor until October.  Mrs. George stayed with Dean, and John was at work at his garage. 

Dean was enjoying the book the elderly lady was reading to him.  He would lean over her shoulder and read some of it.  The young Winchester was picking out words at a faster pace.  Mrs. George knew he would be four-years-old in January and wondered if his parents knew how bright he was.

Castiel, watching the two reading the book, knew very well how intelligent Dean Winchester was.  He smiled as the young boy asked about words and pictures.  He hoped his charge had the opportunities to use his brain.

Mary arrived around 4:00, thanking her neighbor for caring for Dean.  She hummed a tune to herself as she prepared supper.  Dean sat on a chair in the kitchen watching her.  His mother turned and stared at him. 

“Dean, I stopped by the garage and talked with your Daddy this afternoon.  I need to talk to you too, Son.”

“’Yes, Mommy?”

“You remember how sick I was?”

Her son nodded and a small look of fear showed in his eyes.  Mary hugged him and sat down next to the boy.

“I’m all right, Dean.  I went to the doctor today.  I’m pregnant, Son.”

Confusion replaced the fear.  Dean tried to wrap his mind around the word, ‘pregnant.’

“What?”

“I’m going to have a baby, Dean.  You are going to have a little brother or sister.”

Dean Winchester sat back in the chair and thought about what his mommy had just told him.  Mary watched the expressions on his face.

“Dean?”

“Can I pick it out?  I want a brother.”

Snippets Eighteen: Mommy is Sick

It was still early morning, John had gone to work, and Dean was sleeping.  Castiel was letting his mind wander the house and yard, keeping an eye on things. 

Dean’s head lifted from his pillow and he blinked sleep from his eyes. 

“Mommy?”

The three-year-old jumped out of bed and ran down the hall to his parents’ bedroom.  He opened the bedroom door and, not seeing his mother, peeked his head in.   He heard noises in the master bathroom.

“Mommy?”

The noises continued.  The young man ran to the bathroom door and quietly opened it. 

Mary Winchester was kneeling on the floor next to the commode.  She was vomiting. Dean ran to her and put his arms around her.

“Are you okay, Mommy?”

“I’m just not feeling very well, honey.” 

Dean saw the tears in her eyes, and the sweat on her face.  He turned on the water faucet in the sink and wet the washcloth.  He didn’t understand about wringing out the excess water.  Carrying a dripping wet cloth to his mother, he washed her face. 

Looking up at her son, Mary smiled and took the cloth from him.

“Thank you, Dean.  Why don’t you go and get dressed.”

Castiel, standing in the doorway, looked at the woman on the floor.  It looked like the time was approaching.  Mary Winchester was pregnant.

Snippets 17: Easter Bunnies and Football

Dean woke up on Easter morning to the sound of church bells.  Most of the churches rang them, but this was not the normal music that was played.  He got on his knees at the window and looked outside.  People were walking down the street towards the Lutheran Church.  The children were dressed in fancy clothing and the women wore flowers on a shoulder. 

He looked across the street at the Montgomery children.  They were out in their yard with baskets, picking up something colorful from the grass.  Easter was not a holiday the family celebrated.  John had never understood Mary’s reasons.  She just said she would rather not.

This Easter, John was taking the family to the park for a picnic. Dean saw the baseball and gloves, but there was a new ball being put into the trunk of the car.

They found their favorite picnic spot and set out the blankets and food.  John and Dean played catch for a while.  Mary relaxed and watched them play, but also had a new book she was reading.  John walked over to the car and got the other ball.  His son stared at it.

“This is a football, Dean.  I’m going to teach you how to throw it like a quarterback would.”

Hazel eyes looked up into the man’s eyes.  The younger Winchester ran to his mom and asked for twenty-five cents.  Mary looked up at John and then back at her son.

“Why do you need twenty-five cents, Dean?”

“Dad wants a quarter back.”

Dean’s mom bit her bottom lip and looked in her purse for a quarter.  She handed it to Dean and he ran back towards his Dad.  John took the offered coin and his shoulders started shaking.  Dean watched his dad turn and walk off.   He looked puzzled as he went back to his mom.

Castiel was laughing.  He really couldn’t help it this time. He never understood why the backs in football had to have strange names. He watched Dean run around looking in the bushes around the park, and remembered that his charge had seen the Montgomery children hunting for Easter eggs.  Castiel felt that Dean should know about Easter, but knew he’d have to wait until Dean was much older before he told him about it.

Dean couldn’t find the colored items the Montgomery children were finding, but when he looked under one bush, a rabbit ran out.  He fell backwards.  Standing up, the young man ran after the bunny, looking for a rabbit hole. 

His father walked up with the football, a grin on his face. 

“Are you ready to toss the ball, Son?”

“I’m lookin’ for a bunny hole.”

“A what?”

“In the cartoon, Alice went down the hole after the bunny.  I just chased one over here.”

“That’s not Alice’s bunny, Dean.  It’s the Easter Bunny."

Dean looked at his dad with a question in his eyes.  John shook his head.

“He doesn’t come to our house.”

The little boy turned towards his mom. 

“Mommy, the bunny doesn’t come to our house.  Did the turkeys tell on us?”

Snippets Sixteen: Dean's Understanding of Valentine's Day

Snippets Sixteen:  Dean’s Understanding of Valentine’s Day

Dean sat at the kitchen table listening to his daddy talking on the telephone.  John was talking to a restaurant and making reservations for two people.  After he hung up, he called a florist shop and ordered a dozen wine red roses to be delivered to the house.

John looked over at his son and told him it was Valentine’s Day and a man always did something special for the woman he loved.

“You’re too young to understand that, Son,” he commented as he left for work.

Dean thought for a long time about love and what a Valentine was.  He went up to his room and took down his piggy bank.  He had nickels, dimes, and pennies in the bank.  He filled his jacket pockets with the change and left the house by the back door.  He knocked on Mrs. George’s door and waited. 

The elderly lady came to the door and looked down at the golden head.

“Well, good morning, Dean.  Does your mama know you’re out?”

“No, Ma’am.  I need to walk to the store and buy somethin.’  Could you walk with me?”

“What are you up to, young man?”

“Daddy said a man was s’posed to do somethin’ special for the woman he loved.  I got to go to the store.”

Knowing it was Valentine’s Day, Mrs. George wondered who Dean’s young woman was.  She invited him in and went upstairs and called Mary.  Dean’s Mom had no idea why Dean needed to go to the store and did not ask her, but she trusted the lady who usually baby sat her son.

Mrs. George walked the young Winchester to the corner store.  The young boy spotted some very small heart boxes.  He picked one up and asked the elderly lady if these were for Valentine’s Day.  She said yes.  The hazel eyes lit up and he smiled a sweet smile and walked to the counter.

The man behind the counter looked down at him and smiled.  Dean raised up on his tiptoes and placed the box on the counter.  The man scanned the box and told him the candy was $3.98.  He almost laughed when the young boy began to haul fists of change from his pockets.  Dean was eighteen cents shy of enough.   Mrs. George put two dimes on the counter.

As they walked home, Dean thanked the elderly lady and walked into his yard.  There were some early flowers blooming in a pot that his mom had put outside to get some sunshine.  Dean picked a flower from the pot and snuck back into the house and went to his room. 

The young boy rummaged through a small bookcase in his room and found some paper and crayons.  He traced the candy box and colored the heart red.  He signed his name, the D backwards.

Taking his gifts, he went downstairs looking for his mommy.  Mary was having a cup of coffee in the kitchen and talking to John on the telephone.  

Dean entered and set the flower, candy and the homemade card on the table in front of Mary

Mary, asked John to call back.  She looked at the gifts and then at her son.

“These are for me, Dean?”

“Yes, Mommy. Daddy said a man does somethin’ special for the woman he loved.  I love you, Mommy.”

Mary cried softly and pulled her son into her lap.  She gave him a big hug and a kiss. 

“Thank you, Dean. This is the best gift I’ve ever had.”

Snuggling in his mom’s arms, Dean sighed in contentment, knowing he had done all he could for his ‘woman.’

Snippet 15: Visiting Santa

Dean was dressed in dark green slacks, a white shirt, red bow tie, and a light green sweater for his picture with Santa Claus.  He did not want his picture taken with the large man.
 

Mary asked him why he did not want it taken, and Castiel stood behind her watching the young boy. 

“Santa not real,” the little boy told his mama and Santa’s helper.  The helper asked him why he thought that.

“Cause Santa  did not give me something to eat,”  Dean’s lower lip pouted out and the helper smiled at him and asked when Santa did this.

“I wuldn’t eat the big bird.  Daddy said I had to.  Mummy didn’t feed me for two days,’ Dean whispered.

Mary stood still, looking at her young son and the helper who was staring at him.  The last thing they needed was for Child Protective Services to think that Dean was being abused. 

“Honey, if you don’t want to get your picture taken, okay.  Let’s go get something good to eat at the food court.”

Dean held his mama’s hand and they walked to where the eateries in the mall were gathered.  Dean looked at the different places to eat and stopped in front of a bakery shop.  He pointed at the pie and asked his mama if he could try it.  Mary ordered a slice of apple pie and a glass of milk. 

Sitting at a table with Mary and Castiel watching him, Dean Winchester decided that he liked pie. Maybe Santa was okay too.  

Snippet Fourteen: Thanksgiving Dinner

The family headed toward the stairs, Dean still being carried across his father’s shoulders.  They entered the dining room where Mary had set the meal.  The young Winchester stared at everything in front of him.  His curiosity about the large thing on the platter was heightened by the knife and large fork that lay next to it. 

John took the knife and fork and began to cut the meat off the turkey, unaware of his son’s strong gaze.

  Dean reached out and touched the bird.  He look at his mother and softly whispered, “What?”

That is the turkey, Dean.  The young child’s eye grew wide and he swallowed hard.  His father set a slice of the meat on the small plate set aside for the young boy. 

Mary stared in surprise as her son shook his head ‘no’ in a violent gesture. 

“Dean, it’s all right.  It’s cooked like chicken.  You like chicken.”

“Chicken didn’t try to squash me.  No.”

John stopped cutting and stared at his son, “You will eat it, Dean.”

Dean jumped off the chair and screamed, “No!”  He ran out of the dining room and went upstairs to his bedroom and hid in his closet. 

Mary and John argued over Dean’s reaction.  John wanted to drag the boy back to the table and demand that he eat the bird.  Mary told him that the  past few days had been traumatic to Dean and she would not demand that he eat the turkey.

John Winchester snorted and told his wife, “If he does not eat it, he eats nothing.  Keep some turkey in the refrigerator.  When he’s hungry enough, he’ll eat anything.”

Castiel listened to the argument in the dining room as he sat outside of his charge’s closet. One simply did not starve a young child.  His righteous anger drove him to pace the floor.

“Father!  Why?”

“Dean will have many idiosyncrasies, my child.  It will drive his brother crazy.  Watch him when he is an adult.  This event, and what he does to provide for his brother will scar him and alter how he perceives food.”

“He’s a little boy.”

“Yes, my Son.  He is  He will still be a little boy when the cares of the world start to fall on his shoulders.”

Snippet 13: Thanksgiving Morning

Mary worked all morning on Thanksgiving dinner.  John was raking the yard and Dean was striving to put the leaves in bags for pick up on Friday.    His father grinned, watching the boy picking up leaves and putting them in the bags.  Dean would manage an armful, but three or four made it into the bag.  His father raked a large pile and  set down the rake.  He walked over to his son and picked him up and carried over his shoulder and dropped him into the massive pile of leaves. Dean squealed, and the angel sitting on the Impala, smiled.

John jumped into the leaves and began to wrestle with his son.  Dean’s childish voice could be heard.

Mary came to the door and called to both of her men.  Dinner was ready.  The older Winchester dusted both of them down, removing leaves.  He swung his son over his shoulders and walked into the house.

Dean giggled as his father set him on the living room floor and tackled him gently, both of them spending some time wrestling. 

Castiel watched his charge, smiling when he saw the glow of happiness on the young man’s face.  He knew that times were coming for the younger Winchester that would not bring happiness to him.  The angel wanted to hold him and tell him it would be all right, but he knew it wouldn’t be.  He sighed and thought, ‘Let him enjoy every minute he has  now.’

Mary walked into the living room and scolded both of her men and told them to wash up.  Dean giggled and ran up the stairs, chased by his father.  Castiel heard a loud thump and appeared in Dean’s room.  Both of the Winchesters were wrestling on Dean’s small bed. 

The angel laughed.  Mary was going to have a hard time.