How Green Becomes Wood

"Yeah," Daizi agreed softly, "when Ivy gets a little older... Is it Cairo you'd be going to then? Or near to it? My family would gladly host you until you had a place, if you do go."
 
She smiled, because she didn't have many other options, "Giza is wonderful. Not that I need to tell you that, you've been... I will miss you terribly if you go. You won't be able to see my daughter grow up. Well, you'll see it at a distance."
 
"Jack is eager to go. He hasn't been as successful as I have in making friends," Sally admitted. "He wants to continue with his career and mine and see us both flourish. Peter... He says he is okay if we go, but I don't know that I believe him. He's been a lot quieter and reserved since we told him."
 
Daizi nodded, taking a sip of water, "I'm sorry to hear Jack hasn't had an easy time making friends here. Dark and Cooger both like him, Dark just... isn't great at making friends. He's hard to get to open up. And Peter... I can easily imagine how difficult it might be for him. He doesn't speak Arabic, right? At least not fluently. It's hard to be that age and not be able to communicate or even read street signs."
 
"He knows a little, but not much," Sally sighed. "Not enough to carry on a conversation. He speaks French more fluently, not that that will help in this situation. I know I will be alright should we go. I will miss everyone so very much, but I am the type to lose myself in my work. It will be hardest on Peter, least hard on Jack, and I fall somewhere in the middle." She turned her glass around in her hand. "I guess it comes down to which choice I will the least regrets about."
 
"I wish I could make it easier for you. I don't suppose I need to advise you to write a pros and cons list... Although, it may be helpful if all three of you do, and then compile it into a master list." She tucked her hair back, "If you do decide not to go, you'll always welcome to visit with us when we go. Or even when we're not visiting, you'll have a place to stay, although the opulence of my family home may disgust you."
 
"I do not exactly come from a poor family, either, so I think I'll be able to come to terms with it," Sally said with a wobbly smile. The smile faded and she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Daizi, darling, I think there is nothing for it. I have no other recourse but to look into cloning myself."
 
"I guess so," Daizi laughed, but then coughed on the sound of it, "but I hope if you can clone yourself, your consciousness can switch from place to place, otherwise you'll still not get both experiences."
 
"We went to see the sculptures in Travis Park, and then when we went to dinner, we became the unwitting victims of a cruel prank," She replied, the same look of anger she had on Saturday clouding over her face, "It was difficult on my husband."
 
"They left little fireworks on the pavement, the sort that make a bang noise when you throw them down or step on them." She said, turning her head away, bouncing her leg, "It wasn't as funny as they seemed to think it was."
 
Sally clicked her tongue and muttered something very quietly. She took a moment then shook her head. "I suppose that is how people learn: by making mistakes that sometimes hurt others. As long as they apologize, which judging by your reaction, they did not."
 
"No. They didn't." She pressed her mouth into a line and said nothing for a few moments, "Do you know what it's like to listen to someone you love so much in so much terror, and not be able to really help, because what is really affecting him happened before you first met?"
 
"No, I don't," Sally admitted softly. "I can try to imagine it, but even then I don't think I can fully know. I do understand what it is to have someone you love be in pain, but not like that. I am so sorry for both of you."
 
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