Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Everybody Hates Leon ❯ The Beach ( Chapter 6 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

The winter of 1989 was relatively uneventful for Leon and I. The Berlin Wall came down, but Leon wasn't very interested about that. Zigfried visited us almost daily. During those visits, it was almost like he was another person. Leon really seemed to have a positive effect on him.

During one of these visits (I think it was in April), Zigfried was particularly upset. He was having troubles learning how to read, and the incessant scolding from his parents didn't help him learn any faster. So I said, "Why don't you bring a book up here? I can give you extra lessons.'" Zigfried wasn't too thrilled about extra schoolwork, but he got some books from his room.

It was soon apparent that Zigfried desparately needed the tutoring. He could barely read ten different German words, and he could read no English at all. I decided to help ease him into the work by reading to him for a few minutes.

I had only read a few sentences when I noticed that Leon had become completely silent. He had been sitting on the floor babbling to himself, but was now focusing all his attention on the book. When I stopped reading to look at him, he started to whimper in protest. He returned back to his happy self when I resumed reading.

It wasn't long before I found myself holding both boys on my lap. If I even stopped to take a couple of breaths, Leon would start whining again. After a while, Zigfried got bored and left. Leon, on the other hand, listened to me reading until I had to stop to fix dinner. Even after all those hours of reading, Leon was a bit upset that I couldn't do more!

From then on, reading became a daily ritual in the apartment. Zigfried's grades at school improved significantly, so his parents had let up on the nagging almost completely. In fact, they were so pleased that they invited me to go to their summer home with them.

I asked if I could take Leon with me. Frau von Schroeder considered this for several days before finally giving in and saying, "Okay, you can take the baby. But you have to rent a different house, and we don't want to see it for even one second!"

The von Schroeders' beach house was located on the southern coast of France. They had their own private beach, so they wouldn't have to look at the nude sunbathers that are common on most European beaches. Fortunately, I was able to rent a separate house close enough to their beach that I didn't have to look at the sunbathers either. Their spot of land was big enough so I could take Leon to the beach and keep him out of the sight of Herr and Frau von Schroeder.

Zigfried, on the other hand, was always sneaking over to play with us. His parents never let him play like a kid his age should. He and Leon enjoyed digging large and random holes in the sand. Leon was getting old enough to crawl a good distance away before I noticed he was gone, so it was good that he was occupied.

On the last day of the vacation, I was looking for the kids. They had been digging yet another hole, but the hole was vacant when I checked for them. I wasn't too worried-the property was fenced off. Still, I wanted to find them before it got dark.

They hadn't gone far. They were sitting together, just looking at the ocean. Leon was sitting in Zigfried's lap. I snuck back in the house to get a camera and took their picture. It was actually the first picture of them together.

As soon as I was done snapping the picture, I called them inside. Zigfried had very pale skin, so he would get a bad sunburn if he stayed out much longer.

The first thing I did when I got home was develop the picture. This was Frau von Schroeder's opinion of it: "Well, at least it has good lighting."